“Chemistry is the study of matter,” Breaking Bad’s Walt White says. “But I prefer to see it as the study of change.” AMC cable series Breaking Bad, which ended its five-year run last night, tells the story of disaffected high school chemistry teacher Walter White who, after discovering he has inoperable lung cancer, decides to go into the drug business...

“We are probably going to have to bomb them,” the President said after looking at the U-2 photographs. He then turned to his special assistant, Ken O’Donnell. “You still think the fuss about Cuba is unimportant?” “Absolutely,” O’Donnell snapped. “The voters won’t give a damn about Cuba.” During my August break, I spent time reading Richard ReevesProfile of Power, a...

Scandal, political unrest, uncertainty. Henry Brooks Adams, an American journalist, was the grandson of John Quincy Adams and great-grandson of John Adams. His specialty was exposing political corruption in the late 19th century, and according to historian David McCullough, Henry believed the country was indeed, going to hell in a hand basket. “They went at each other on the floor...

By now, most everyone has heard of the 11-hour filibuster waged on the floor of the Texas state senate in Austin by Senator Wendy Davis to prevent passage of a bill that would effectively close most of the medical facilities available for abortion in the state. What most may not know is that this wasn’t Davis’ first time at the rodeo. Anyone...

President Obama formally nominated former Justice official James Comey to succeed Robert Mueller as the next director of the F.B.I. However, it was in 2004 that Comey nearly resigned his position as acting attorney general under George W. Bush. In March 2004, a gravely ill Attorney General John Ashcroft had been taken to a Washington hospital for gallbladder surgery. At...

Should the U.S. government be permitted to collect data on citizens such as e-mails, phone calls, as well as Internet activity for the purpose of intercepting possible terrorist actions against Americans? “Fifteen years ago, I would have been outraged,” a friend confides. “However, we live in a post 9/11 and Internet age where terrorists are actively seeking vulnerabilities to exploit...

When I first learned of Edward Snowden, the computer whiz of Booz Allen Hamilton who leaked hundreds, perhaps thousands, of classified documents from the National Security Agency (NSA), the first person I thought of was J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover created the most sophisticated, large-scale crime-fighting mechanism of its time. The FBI was a formidable presence that got results. However, as...

Just when you think things couldn’t get any stranger… they do! Yesterday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform heard testimony from Faris Fink, commissioner of the tax-collection agency’s small business and self-employed division. Fink was not there to testify about the wrongful targeting of conservative groups applying for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status. Mr. Fink was there to explain about a...

It’s become routine for Republicans in Washington to: a) discover an impropriety; then, b) examine if the president has any connection to it. Since his re-election, President Obama continues to deal with the fallout from three controversies: the deaths of four Americans at Benghazi, the questionable AP phone taps by the Department of Justice and the IRS scandal. Back in...

Last month’s revelation that the Internal Revenue Service wrongly targeted conservative groups who applied for tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(4) of the U.S. Tax code has done much to play into the conventional wisdom that the IRS does, indeed, target individuals and groups based on politics. Let me start by explaining to those readers who may be first-time visitors...