During his first Asia visit as US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson made clear the Trump Administration’s intentions of abandoning prior American approaches to North Korea and adopting a hard line against the rogue state. Secretary Tillerson’s public and firm remarks were crafted for one purpose: to exact from Beijing necessary measures to reign in North Korea’s nuclear program.　Tillerson’s March 17 statement in Seoul -- that all options are on the table and pre-emptive US military action agains

Religion is very important to me. I’m not unusual. According to a recent Pew report, three-quarters of Americans said that religion was at least “somewhat important” in their lives, and well over half said that it was “very important.” Only 11 percent said that it was “not important.”　We in the US are privileged to live in a country where our respective faiths are generally protected and respected. Of course, there are the random acts of bigotry, like overturned gravestones, the heckling of men

As if the threats of terrorist ambushes, booby traps and truck bombs weren’t enough, one military expert thinks US troops abroad are facing another potent risk -- one that comes in 237-millimeter cans. In a post published by the Army War Institute at West Point, Sgt. Eddie Jackson warned that energy drinks such as Rip It, which has become ubiquitous at US military sites in the Middle East and Afghanistan, “have caused more physiological damage to soldiers than actual combat.”　As anybody who has

At 7:50 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, Azzedine Soufiane was gathered with his family and community for evening prayers. By 8 p.m., he and five other men, all fathers, were murdered by a Canadian right-wing extremist.　Less than 10 minutes separated a peaceful routine from the shock of death, in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decried as a terrorist attack in a Quebec City mosque. And like most terrorist attacks on innocent civilians in the West, the next day’s news should’ve been filled with storie

Elements of Donald Trump’s presidential style are already emerging and they must be discouraging to his critics.It’s easy to miss things that do not happen. But perhaps you too have noticed a decline in the number of trivial Trump tweets starting spats and news cycles many mornings.　Last week -- are you sitting down? -- Trump canceled a couple of media availabilities. A month ago, he turned down ESPN’s invitation to provide his own NCAA tournament brackets, a free public relations ride on basket

There’s a disconnect between the Republican Party leadership, President Trump, conservatives in the House, practical dealmakers in the Senate and those hard-core working-class voters who supported Trump’s election chiefly based on their hatred for President Obama.　　In fact, there are so many disconnections that Republicans’ plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act are starting to be reminiscent of a shade-tree mechanic who boasts as he takes apart a motor -- and then has no idea how to put it

Last week’s “A Day Without a Woman” truly bothered me, as did last month’s “A Day Without Immigrants,” but I could not place why.　But as I pondered my new role as “The Grinch Who Stole ‘A Day Without’” on the train, a realization was knocked loose from the back of my mind: I really take issue with just one word: “without.”　　For so many of our boardrooms and operating rooms, battalions and bylines, every day is a day without women. And immigrants. And people of color. And so many other groups who

Former Russian domestic intelligence officer Dmitry Dokuchaev won’t appear in a US court to face charges related to the mass 2014 hacking of the Yahoo user database. That’s because he already sits in a Moscow jail, accused of treason. Dokuchaev’s rare achievement in being wanted by both the US and Russian authorities sheds light on what is widely said in the West to be “state-sponsored Russian hacking,” but would more accurately be described as a combination of freelance theft and a concept know

President Donald Trump is a populist, a mix of conservative and liberal, and while the conservative side of him is already making the economy sparkle, the liberal side threatens its future. How things play out is anyone’s guess, but right now we can all celebrate a great February jobs report on top of high consumer confidence and zooming stocks.　　The heartening jobs data -- 235,000 new ways for Americans to earn a living -- was accompanied by a slight fall in unemployment rates and a slight budg

A beloved family member posted on Facebook that he loves making fun of the “dot-heads” in gas stations. Another family member, a cousin I had not seen in 40 years, connected with me and then posted disparaging comments about immigrants, African-Americans and “libtards.” Then another family member posted a “funny” cartoon of an SUV running over a crowd that read: “All Lives Splatter. I don’t give a f- about your protest.”　Every day in my classroom, I see what family members do not see: real faces