More than half a century ago, Congress passed the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Since mid-April, US president Donald Trump has twice invoked one of the law’s nearly forgotten provisions, ordering Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to investigate the possibility that...
Pompeo vs. WikiLeaks: It’s No Contest
Last July, while stumping for then-candidate, now-president Donald Trump, US Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) gleefully referenced nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails released by the transparency/disclosure journalists at WikiLeaks. “Need further...
We’re Asking the Wrong Questions About Syria
As I write this, two key questions remain unanswered, and a third mostly unasked, about a deadly daybreak attack on Khan Sheikhoun, a northwest Syrian city of (pre-war) 50,000. Hundreds were wounded and as many as 100 killed, apparently chemical weaponry...
Trump’s Foreign Policy: Obama’s Third Term, Bush’s Fifth
“Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti- war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances,” Illinois State Senator Barack Obama said in 2002. Later in the same speech: “What I am...
War Crimes: Key Decision Point for a New President
In 2011, American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were murdered – killed without charge or trial – on the orders of then-president Barack Obama. Two weeks later, al-Awlaki’s teenage son, Abdulrahman, also an American citizen, was murdered...
Who’s More Anti-American, Russia Today or the US Director of National Intelligence?
Someone should take US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper aside for a talk. He desperately needs to be told that when you’re deep in a hole, the first step toward getting out is to stop digging. Clapper’s been in such a hole since 2013, when...
Obama’s Christmas Gift to Trump: A Ministry of Truth
On the Friday before Christmas – the kind of time politicians pick to do things they hope you won’t notice – US president Barack Obama signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Along with the usual terrible, horrible, very bad, no good NDAA...
Trump on Military Spending: An Encouraging Sign
As on most issues, president-elect Donald Trump has been all over the map on military issues throughout his campaign and post-campaign pronouncements. One day he muses about disbanding NATO, the next day he promises to “rebuild” the US military, which is...
The Washington Post vs. ‘Fake News’: Pot, Meet Kettle
“Freedom of expression is a bedrock of American democracy,” the Washington Post‘s editorial board writes in a November 18 jeremiad, “but its irresponsible exercise can distort and destabilize our politics.” The Post‘s editors,...
War: The Islamic State and Western Politicians Against the Rest of Us
On July 28, London’s Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, aka “the Old Bailey,” announced the conviction of Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary on charges of “inviting support for a proscribed organization” (the Islamic State)....


