A word association test might readily pair these two words: "Trump" and "deal."

In fact, most Americans probably identify President Trump with "The Art of the Deal," the ghostwritten book that contributed considerably to Trump's notoriety long before he became a politician. And a common theme of Trump's campaign relied on two assertions about ...Read more

There seems to be no end to nuclear crises these days.

As North Korea's Kim Jong Un plays nuclear chicken with the great powers, another dangerous moment is approaching. The world awaits President Trump's decision -- due Oct. 15 -- on how he will handle the 2015 deal with Tehran that curbed Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of ...Read more

A long list of healthcare experts says the Republican bill to dismantle most of President Obama's health insurance program would be a disaster. The American Medical Association is against it. Insurance providers are against it. Patient groups are against it. Sen. Bill Cassidy's bill, coauthored with Sen. Lindsey Graham, would cut federal ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- With apologies to Edgar Allen Poe, this is for those of you born after "the valley of the shadow," when vicious hordes attacked the sovereignty of this country by invading the American Embassy in Tehran.

It was a time when a novice like the one now governing in the White House faced a tough decision: whether to speak softly or use...Read more

Take it easy, you want to advise President Donald Trump when he says in a United Nations speech that the United States is going to "totally destroy" North Korea if it attacks us or our allies. But there is something you want to add.

Don't take it as easy as presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, who irresponsibly set us up for long-lasting ...Read more

While other people worried about what President Donald Trump meant when he discussed "sovereignty," and while other people wrung their hands and mopped their brows because he wasn't being polite to North Korea, seated in the front row at his inaugural speech to the United Nations, I heard this:

"It is a massive source of embarrassment to the ...Read more

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, Sept. 22:

Germany's national election Sunday has all the makings of a fait accompli. Chancellor Angela Merkel is on track to gain her fourth term, which would give her 16 years as Germany's leader. Martin Schulz, her closest rival and leader of the center-left Social Democrats, ...Read more

With momentum building for single-payer health care among Democratic voters and a growing number of 2020 hopefuls, Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled a "Medicare for All" bill last week. Immediately, a number of pundits denounced the legislation as an "unrealistic" "bloated" "disaster" full of "magic math."

Some of the naysayers are conservatives who...Read more

The debate over the future of our nation's Confederate past has been raging for some time.

And while the tactics and rhetoric of some who favor tearing down statues and renaming city streets, parks and buildings has ranged from inappropriate to outrageous, the arguments made by their more reasonable allies are worth considering.

It is more ...Read more

The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday, Sept. 21:

President Donald Trump made an impression in his Tuesday speech to the U.N. General Assembly. These speeches by heads of government and state, given the forum and attendance of world leaders and international figures, can be considered a statement of a nation...Read more

President Donald Trump could have used his maiden speech at the United Nations Tuesday to reassure allies he was capable of providing global leadership against 21st century threats.

Instead, he delivered a bombastic stump speech about guarding American sovereignty that was more suited to his faithful than to world leaders. He peppered his ...Read more

Everything you've heard about Mark Twain and me is true: I won't deny it. Twain and I have had a relationship for years.

An intimate companion in my academic work, Twain's line -- "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand." -- became my motto. As a resident of Connecticut, I have the good fortune to call myself a neighbor of Twain's ...Read more

Maybe I'm noticing kindness more because the world is such an insane and cruel place these days. Because not a day passes when something awful doesn't happen, like monster hurricanes and earthquakes that wipe out whole islands and communities. Among those killed in the Mexico City earthquake were 11 people who gathered in a church to celebrate ...Read more

"He likes us," Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said of his fellow New Yorker Donald Trump last week. This was after "Chuck" joined "Nancy" -- House Democratic leader Pelosi from California -- in a White House gathering that resulted in a deal on DACA reform, unless it didn't.

Whatever the interpretation of what happened during that ...Read more

Like the villain in a slasher movie, Senate Republicans keep coming for the health insurance of tens of millions of Americans. After Sen. John McCain's dramatic "no" vote seemed to finish off this year's attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a proposal by two senators with mostly unearned reputations for moderation -- Bill Cassidy, R-La., ...Read more

Businesses seldom raise wages due to a sense of corporate benevolence. Rather, wages rise when the demand for workers increases. This forces businesses to increase wages out of self-interest, to keep their employees from being hired away by competitors.

This basic tenet of economics explains why corporate tax cuts produce higher wages for ...Read more

One would think that federal lawmakers have enough on their plates tackling hot topics like immigration, health care and tax reform, but the U.S. Senate still found time to unanimously approve a resolution designating Sept. 25 "National Lobster Day."

The best way to celebrate this rare show of unity is to leave lobsters in peace. No matter ...Read more

Kill the Muslims. That's how the latest version of the Muslim ban is shaping up. Started shortly after Donald Trump made it clear to the world that Muslims were not welcome in the United States, other countries started their own, more brutal and deadly effective ban.

The Myanmar military maims and massacres Muslims as they run them out of their...Read more

The following editorial appeared in The Baltimore Sun on Thursday, Sept. 21:

Just when you thought the Republican plot to destroy the Affordable Care Act had been thwarted, Senate Republicans are angling to swing the ax again. Their new proposal is, if anything, even more draconian than their previous attempts to strip millions of Americans of ...Read more