Since President Trump signed an executive order (Jan. 27), temporarily banning all travel from seven countries and suspending immigration of refugees from Syria to the U.S., much has happened in one week. Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen: “These countries,” the BBC News reports (Jan. 30), “were already named as ‘countries of concern’ after a law passed by...

Since last Friday (Jan. 27), when President Trump signed an executive order banning travel from seven countries for at least the next 90 days, this website has received a higher than usual response rate, largely due to a commentary I wrote last year. (Comments to this post are now closed.) Fact-Checking a Reader (Jan. 20, 2016), was written in response...

In the Tom Hanks Cold War drama, Bridge of Spies, U.S. attorney James Donovan is assigned to defend known Russian spy Rudolf Abel. After predictably losing the case, Donovan persuades the judge to give Abel a prison term instead of a death sentence. At some point in the future, Donovan reasons, the Russians may capture an American and Abel could...

On Friday (Jan. 27), President Trump followed through on one of his signature campaign promises. One year ago, this month (Jan. 20), I wrote about candidate Trump’s planned Muslim ban (Fact-Checking a Reader, which has elicited additional response since Friday). Here’s what Trump originally called for as stated in a campaign press release dated December 7, 2015: “Donald J.  » Read...

On March 4, 1865, near the end of a Civil War that divided the nation like no other in our history, President Abraham Lincoln stood to deliver his second inaugural address. Lincoln understood that the reconstruction of the South – both physically and emotionally – was the greatest priority. He addressed the thousands in attendance with purpose and eloquence. And...

Waiting at a small regional airport for a connecting flight, I passed through the security area and am sitting in the lounge waiting for the plane to load when another passenger, carrying two large bags, approaches the security check point. This was after 9/11, when security measures at airports had significantly increased. With no passengers standing in line, the large...

ci·vil·i·ty formal politeness and courtesy in behavior and speech. Last year, civility took a beating – from rallies to street protestors; from road rage to political rage. Civility was pushed to the back of the bus, and shouted down every time it requested just a little self-restraint and decorum. According to the Zogby Survey on Civility in U.S. Politics conducted...

While President-elect Donald Trump announced that his sons will run his company but make no new foreign deals, problems already exist. “At the Wednesday press conference where Mr. Trump described the company’s new structure,” The Wall Street Journal writes (Jan. 14), “he also said he had turned down $2 billion in property deals in Dubai to avoid any possible ethics...

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump held his first press conference since being elected. While the meeting was supposed to allow Mr. Trump to lay out his proposal on how he will unravel himself from his many conflict of interest issues, the conversation quickly turned to an intelligence briefing for Mr. Trump – specifically a 2-page synopsis of a 35-page report...

No one in modern American politics has used social media to influence an audience better than Donald Trump. His tool of choice: Twitter – the technological equivalent of a 1770 broadside. Long before he ran for president, Trump would use social media to preen before a television appearance. “Be sure to tune in and watch Donald Trump on Late Night...