As Israel’s general election arrives, almost everyone seems to agree that it is time for a change in leadership. Critics are loudly calling for a new government to heal the country’s social fractures, mend broken trust, and move past recent trauma. That frustration makes sense. However, having spent my career studying public policy, institutional health, […]
Two 18-year-olds, one in Israel and one in America, both Jewish, are about to vote for the first time, a week apart. Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday; Americans on Nov. 3. One may be drawn to Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit. The other may be drawn to a candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists […]
In 1978, a 12-year-old girl told authorities her stepfather had raped her. A grand jury indicted him, but he fled the state and was never convicted. That girl is Amy Acton, now the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio. Last week, her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, put millions behind an ad in which Acton’s estranged […]
I served in the 101st Airborne, the 82nd Airborne, and Army Special Forces. I’m a disabled veteran and an Ohio voter. I expect candidates to answer hard questions about their records. I also care about what they’re willing to do to win. Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign has given me reason to question his judgment. Most of […]
In the early 1920s, Haj Amin al Husseini, the newly appointed grand mufti of Jerusalem, crystallized the expectation that the nascent Zionist enterprise would be crushed. Jewish immigration, sparked by a spike in pogroms, mostly in Eastern European lands, had been rising since the 1880s, and Arab opposition was quick to follow. But al Husseini, […]
As early voting gets underway, here’s the political advice I’d plant in every Democratic candidate’s brain: If you couldn’t mention President Donald Trump for five minutes, could you still explain why Americans should vote for you? It’s a question worth asking as Democrats fight to reclaim the House of Representatives. Opposing Trump is a powerful […]
Former President Barack Obama took to the campaign trail over the weekend to rejuvenate Democratic voters and take aim at President Donald Trump. He offered a snarky remark about Trump’s renovations to the White House that, like many of the criticisms Obama makes, didn’t really make any sense. The 44th president blasted Trump for installing […]
I’ve brewed beer in my garage, and Washington never objected. Had I added a still and made whiskey, the same government could have fined me up to $10,000 and jailed me for up to five years. On Oct. 19, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Congress may impose that rule, in Department of Justice […]
Strains between long-standing allies have become a familiar part of world politics, and they are now surfacing in the South Caucasus. Turkey and Azerbaijan, whose leaders like to describe their bond as “one nation, two states,” are quarreling over religious dress, national sovereignty, and accusations of political interference. The spark was a school dress code. […]
Washington’s prolonged passivity in the Mediterranean has finally come due. On Oct. 20, 2026, eastern Libya’s parliament ratified the disastrous and submissive 2019 maritime memorandum with Turkey, reversing years of opposition. Because the corrupt western Government of National Unity in Tripoli had already endorsed the same document, both rival administrations now jointly underwrite Turkey’s most […]
According to “redistricting expert” John B. Morgan, when votes are counted on Nov. 3, Democrats will have failed to make the midterm elections all about President Donald Trump. Thus, reports Morgan, who has observed elections at the precinct, county, state, and national levels since childhood, Republicans keep their majority in the Senate and perhaps in […]
On Oct. 23, 2026, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Iranian plots to kill Americans abroad had reached advanced stages. The Axios warning raises a larger counterterrorism question: How much does Washington understand about the clandestine networks capable of turning Tehran’s threats into operational violence? In counterterrorism, a […]
Last week, the Trump administration put a thumb on the scale in favor of reality and women’s health. This is much needed because politics often trumps reality in healthcare today — even in the most unexpected places. For my recent appointment with a breastfeeding center in Washington, the intake form questions didn’t ask about my […]
It’s not every day that FBI Special Agents (or retired Special Agents) get charged with felonies by the federal government. In fact, it is an extraordinarily rare occurrence. And when it happens, the charged offenses typically involve espionage or major financial crimes. But last week, the DOJ charged two former FBI senior managers, Nichole Floris […]
