At a town hall meeting in the Pentagon last February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength.’” Talk about dumb. Many former officers, who are now free to speak out, argue that Hegseth’s Holy War against diversity in the military is profoundly self-destructive. In the name of bolstering our nation’s defenses, he’s making them weaker, not stronger.
HAARLEM, the Netherlands – These were the people we liberated during World War II, who enlisted in the Cold War, who agreed to welcome our bases, who embraced our movies and television shows, and who supported our fast-food establishments and business enterprises.
Recently I saw Congressman Frank Lucas in an interview with Oklahoma City television station KWTV. The topic was Fort Reno.
In the past week, as never before, President Donald Trump showed mastery of the legislative process. When his gargantuan tax bill was stalled, he went to Capitol Hill to deliver a double-barreled message. To the fiscal hawks, he said not to “mess around with Medicaid.” To bluestate Republicans, he warned against holding out for further increases in caps on state and local tax (SALT) deductions.
LONDON, England – Once, they loved us.
Sen. Josh Hawley is a deeply conservative and decidedly ambitious Republican from Missouri who hopes to run for president. In an extraordinary essay for The New York Times, he broke sharply from Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill who are promoting a huge budget bill that would slash popular safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps to finance trillions of dollars in tax cuts.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I’m a woman in my early 20s, just starting out in my career and trying to get my footing financially. My older sister, who’s in her late 20s, recently accepted a new job in Missouri and is planning to move soon, but she doesn’t have the money to make it happen. Now my parents and sister are pressuring me to cover her moving costs, even though I live in Los Angeles (where everything is expensive) and don’t have a huge income myself. They’re framing it like I should help because I’m “good with money” and live more independently than my sister, but it feels unfair to be treated like the family bank just because I’m responsible. I love my sister and want her to succeed, but I also feel resentful that I’m being put in this position, especially since she’s older than me and has had more time to get on her feet. How do I deal with this without damaging my relationship with my family or abandoning my own financial boundaries? – Family Bank DEAR FAMILY BANK: Suggest to your sister that she ask her new employer to cover her expenses – or at least some portion of them. She can tell them that she really wants to work for them but cannot afford the move without some financial help to get there. Next, either tell her you cannot pay her expenses or agree to pay a portion that you can afford. Don’t feel forced to pay for her move. If your parents feel so strongly about helping your sister, they should chip in.
Summer arrived suddenly. It was as if spring got shortchanged and we leapt from late winter into summer with nothing in between. I watched the gardeners wake with a start and begin tearing up their lawns and gardens with a fury, as if they had overslept and had to make up for lost time.
Freedom, sweet freedom, comes with a price. That price unfortunately has been paid for many times over the years by many good men and women serving in the armed forces.
The days after a pope’s death are hectic, and it’s a hard time for Vatican officials to examine complex, controversial documents.