At the time of his retirement in 2010, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court John Paul Stevens was the oldest Justice then serving and the second-oldest serving in the history of the Court. This excerpt, from his latest book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution first appearing in The Washington Post (Apr. 11), offers both clarity and context...

There’s a moment in the Tom Hanks film Forrest Gump where Forrest does something incredibly dangerous. He repeatedly puts his life at risk to save five members of his unit in Vietnam. “Are you stupid, or something?” a military official asks. In a line that is repeated throughout the film, Forrest answers, “Stupid is as stupid does, sir.” I thought of that...

The final moments of the men’s final at the All England Club last Sunday were simply spellbinding. Every time Andy Murray made one incredible shot, each time he made the impossible look possible, cheers exploded from Wimbledon to Dunblane, Scotland, Murray’s home town. Murray took three straight sets from Novak Djokovic, the world’s No. 1 player in a Grand Slam...

Here’s Republican Senator Pat Toomey explaining why expanded background checks — an issue 90 percent of Americans support — went down to defeat. “In the end it didn’t pass because we’re so politicized. There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to...

Last week taught us a lot. We learned that in spite of increased security measures since 9/11, we are still vulnerable to attacks from individuals bent on changing our way of life. We learned that intelligent, seemingly normal teens growing up in a country that advocates freedom and liberty for all can still be susceptible to radicalization by others. We...

Here’s the fundamental, unequivocal position by the National Rifle Association on any form of gun legislation – NO. NO – to a provision that would renew and strengthen a ban on assault weapons. NO – to limit magazines to 10 rounds. NO – to making “straw” purchasing, (where an individual buys a weapon for another), and trafficking a federal crime. NO – to require background...

So, political courage does exist in Washington. After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) announced that he would be joining 13 other Republican Senators in a possible filibuster to prevent gun legislation from even making it to the floor for a discussion, yesterday afternoon six Republican Senators announced that they would not support their colleagues. Senators John McCain (AZ), Lindsey Graham (SC), Mark Kirk (Ill),...

This image has not been photo-shopped. The photo accurately shows Denise Tarrant holding her 2-week-old grandson, as she pays for dinner at All Around Pizza in Virginia Beach, Virginia last month (Feb. 18). Why is this grandmother openly “packing heat” in a restaurant? Well, she’s taking advantage of a 15 percent discount offered to any customer who walks through Jay Laze’s pizza establishment “carrying...

There is a sixth dimension, well-known to man. It is a delusion as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is as unsubstantiated as myth and as unreasonable as deceit, and it lies between the depths of man’s passion and the intensity of his anxiety. It is a dimension of fear; a well-charted area of the mind which...

The first seat belt law was established in 1970 in Victoria, Australia, making the wearing of a seat belt mandatory for both drivers and front-seat passengers. In 1981, Mercedes-Benz introduced the airbag as an option on its S-Class cars. On July 11 1984, the United States government amended Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to require cars produced after April 1,...