"If you're not a socialist before you're 25," goes the expression, "you've got no heart. And if you're a socialist after 25, you've got no head." Retired Israeli Air Force Gen. Amos Yadlin wryly recalls the line in his office at Harvard University's Kennedy School, where he is wrapping up a semester as a senior fellow. Once an ace fighter pilot, Yadlin rose to deputy commander of the Israeli Air Force and since retirement has become one of his country's most widely respected defense experts.
There are still spaces available in the upcoming Better Arguments Event on Saturday, May 28. As described in the May 8 column, this event is designed to promote civil dialog at a time when I believe we really need it.The principles of Better Arguments are geared towards a civil exchange of p…
Doug Lambert’s letter to the editor suggesting a back-room deal is absolute fantasy. A commissioner (appointed by the delegation) shouldn’t resort to dishonesty, public or otherwise. Some facts...
One question nags at us: Is this a Rich Strike moment?
In the aftermath of a leaked Supreme Court draft majority decision prospectively overruling Roe v. Wade, the Left in the United States has gone into full-fledged panic mode. That outsized panic has manifested as a variety of unconvincing or blatantly immoral arguments: the argument that abor…
During the drive to Dnipro last week, we were diverted through some small towns along now torn up roads due to tanks and heavy artillery passing over them. It was raining, muddy, and we were stuck in a traffic jam next to a large, industrial train station. Stations such as these have been ta…
In his memoir "But He Doesn't Know the Territory," theatrical journeyman Meredith Willson recalls the eight long years he spent writing his homage to early 20th century life in the small-town Iowa of his youth. There were 30 revisions. There were 40 songs. And there were endless efforts to i…
Interested in civil dialog with your Belknap County neighbors?
All but lost in the cacophony of the news of last week — continued fighting in Ukraine, continued economic worries, continued strife over abortion — were three of the most important sentences of the season. They came at the end of a 1,300-word speech that began "Happy Sunday!" and addressed …
This week, an anonymous leaker violated generations of Supreme Court norms by passing on to Politico a draft decision by Justice Samuel Alito in Dobbs v. Mississippi, the case considering overturning Roe v. Wade (1973). That draft decision, reportedly supported by a majority of the Court inc…
Air raid sirens drown out our conversation, as we walk through the eastern Ukrainian town of Dnipro, but no one heads to the basements, and just after a week, neither do we. Kids spin around on electric scooters. Young Ukrainians, yet to be drafted, smoke cigarettes on street corners, and th…
The following is the Preamble of the United States Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to our…
One was gracious, the other garrulous. One was severe, the other soft. One was rail-thin; the other carried a spare tire around his waist. One never touched alcohol; one was a prodigious drinker. One was a Mormon, the other a Catholic. One spent his adult life in the cold winds off the Wasat…
This week, in one of the most shocking business moves in recent memory, Twitter reversed itself and decided to sell after all to Elon Musk, who paid some $44 billion for the privilege. The move was made, at least in part, for ideological reasons; Musk has been vocally critical of Twitter's m…
I found the April 26 Laconia Sun article about the county delegation “seeking a more harmonious relationship” with the Gunstock Area Commission a brilliant act of political theater, as Mr. Mike Sylvia asks as a “sign of good faith” that the GAC pay legal expenses incurred by Sylvia and the d…
When newly elected Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced last December that those entering certain indoor spaces would have to show that they had been vaccinated against COVID-19, there were some who believed it was simply outrageous for the mayor of Boston to try to protect Bostonians from a d…
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