THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Speaking fiercely with a big stick

President Trump matched Kim Jong-un hyperbole for hyperbole Tuesday, answering the crazy fat kid boast for boast in a mutual pursuit of nuclear nouns, verbs and adjectives.

August 8, 2017

EDITORIAL: The summer of discontent

The steamy days of August are cooking up a summer of discontent. Like much of what lies beyond the front door, the reasons for the national angst are complicated and often contradictory. Raucous noise from the nation's capital plays a big role in how Americans see the landscape, but waiting for a wind to freshen the air above the Washington swamp might be a long wait.

August 8, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Get rid of RINOs

We currently have a small number of RINOS blocking the president's agenda — and the leadership does nothing. It's time play hardball, stop the talk and take action. First, strip those RINOS of their influential committee and chairmanship assignments. Second, let them know that there will be no Republican funds for them when they run for reelection. Lastly, change the archaic rules of the Senate and let those who oppose know we won, you lost. President Obama did it.

August 7, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Empower states to end Obamacare

I have followed Obamacare since its inception and now realize its purpose was to empower the federal government with our health care. That didn't work because it violated the Constitution. To reverse Obamacare, the Republicans must do the opposite: empower the states. That should be the premise and theme of the Republican health-care bill.

August 7, 2017

EDITORIAL: ‘Nobody kill anybody,’ but ‘nobody’ listened

As an injunction for personal morality, "Nobody kill anybody" lacks the dignity and solemnity of the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." But Baltimore is desperate for something -- anything -- to stanch the bloodletting on its streets.

August 7, 2017

EDITORIAL: Trying again with secession

If at first you don't succeed, secede. That's the latest message from California, where the idea of breaking up with the United States is the current rage. With Donald Trump in the White House attempting to "make America great again," the idea of returning to an era of freedom, faith and family is as antithetical to the cool crowd as a blue-light special at Kmart. The farther the Left Coast travels down the road toward "Calexit," the harder the climb back into the good graces of Americans for whom California is not as cool as it once was.

August 7, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Kurdistan not recognized state

A recent Washington Times special section includes a distorted map of the region straddling the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

August 6, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ‘War’ on police a cry for justice

There is no war on cops ("Why the war on cops is a war on all of us," Web, July 19). There is no "guerrilla action" being taken against our country's police force by the political left. And there is no widespread campaign to paint all law-enforcement officers with the same brush. But there is criticism. And it's largely fair.

August 6, 2017

EDITORIAL: A job for dedicated plumbers

Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared war, or at least a skirmish, on leakers last week, and it's about time. Leakers grow like weeds in Washington, and it was ever thus, but it's out of hand when The Washington Post prints leaked transcripts of the president's telephone conversations with foreign heads of state. Even Democrats say so, even if using the occasion to slip another needle into the president, or mock Mr. Sessions' motives.

August 6, 2017

EDITORIAL: Two loud cheers for clean elections

You might think every good citizen would cheer attempts to protect the sanctity of the vote. Many good men and women have died for the right to vote, and we all owe it to them to protect what their sacrifice achieved for all.

August 6, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: GOP losing adherents

The Republican Party and I are done. My friends and I are haggling over whether to un-register ourselves and totally opt out of the system or just sit on the sidelines until hell freezes over and the Republican Party supports its elected president. Absent a change of heart to support the president as the leader of the Party, I am resolved.

August 3, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Support your president

The recent headlines regarding Republicans backing off support of President Donald Trump are as wrong as the actions of the anti-Trump Republicans themselves. Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Mike Lee tried to derail Mr. Trump's nomination at the Republican Convention. Meesrs. McCain, Flake and Graham were part of the 'gang of four' that joined with Democrats to pass the Senate immigration-reform bill against the will of the majority of Republicans.

August 3, 2017

EDITORIAL: Resisting the blue pencil

James Lankford, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, was rightly incensed Monday by an ABC News online headline that "Jeff Sessions addresses 'anti-LGBT hate group' but DOJ won't release his remarks."James Lankford, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, was rightly incensed Monday by an ABC News online headline that "Jeff Sessions addresses 'anti-LGBT hate group' but DOJ won't release his remarks."

August 3, 2017

EDITORIAL: James Comey’s literary apology

James Comey has good reason to despise Donald Trump. He would hardly be human if he doesn't. The president cashiered him without ceremony, and nobody likes to hear "you're fired!" Now the director of the FBI until he was sacked has a book contract, and he's in the dilemma similar to that of Zsa Zsa Gabor's seventh husband. He knew what was expected of him on their wedding night, but despaired of making it fresh and surprising.

August 3, 2017

EDITORIAL: The road to reality in Pyongyang

The road to reality in Pyongyang leads through Beijing, and it's a road with many potholes. China doesn't want chaos in North Korea, but neither does it want to give up the means to profit from that chaos. Nevertheless, North Korea's second intercontinental ballistics missile launch last week caught the attention of the five countries with a stake in a stable Korean peninsula.

August 2, 2017

EDITORIAL: A good start on immigration reform

Why enact a law or write an executive order to reform a broken immigration system when a poem will do? President Trump endorsed new immigration legislation Wednesday, moving to a merit-based system, and it was greeted with predictable cries and squeals from advocates of open borders.

August 2, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A health care fit for everyone?

The best solution to Obamacare is to repeal it and not replace it. Get government out of health care and let the free market take care of things. But we all know that will never happen, because once you give someone something for nothing, you have a problem taking it away.

August 2, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Make students employable again

There has been much talk about the student-loan crisis. There is indeed a crisis, with nearly $1.5 trillion owed. Many of the students who have taken out these loans are not able to repay because they have 'gifted' themselves with degrees in various fashionable fields of so-called 'studies,' fields with no hope of leading to employment in the students' chosen (counselor-suggested) avocation. The solution to this problem is obvious but not easy.

August 2, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Trump’s on-track

Draining the swamp takes time, even if the swamp is in your own backyard. Look how many years the slime had been accumulating. Now we have someone who really cares about America and is doing his best to find the most trustworthy people with whom to surround himself. Gen. John Kelly is the latest such individual, as President Trump fine-tunes his staff, cabinet and administration.

August 1, 2017

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Let market call insurance’s future

After just seven years it appears we have a health care crisis because the federal government tried to manipulate and take over the health- insurance industry -- and failed. Now that the Republicans are at the helm of government, it is clear they squandered the past seven years by not having an alternative plan.

August 1, 2017