Comparable to FDR-Churchill meeting, 1941 — We’ve seen much of this before: ground war in Europe; underdog country standing against overwhelming odds; a charismatic leader of underdog country inspiring his people — and the world — to hold fast in its faith of democracy. That was much of the story of World War II. It is…

Fighting a war without actually fighting. In the defense of democracy, we need to go all in. — In December 1940, the United States was the only major world power not yet involved in World War II. After Americans watched German aggression in 1939 and 1940, and Japanese imperial expansion in the western Pacific, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt convinced congress to approve a peacetime draft and military…

If they did, they got a nice symbolic victory; if they didn’t, the Russians look nefarious — or dumb. — Early April 1, 2022, a Russian fuel depot near Belgorod exploded and burst into flames. An inferno raged for hours. Quickly, Russian officials reported that Ukrainian helicopters had attacked the depot. They provided video that apparently showed Mi-24 helicopters (a type which both Ukraine and Russia use) firing missiles at…

They’re getting picked off left and right. — In 2022, it’s unusual for senior army generals to get killed on a battlefield. Technically advanced communications and diligent study and execution of logistics have made that a rarity. Except for the Russian army in Ukraine. As of March 20, 2022, just over three weeks into the war, Russia has…

And We Barely Noticed — Remember when Russia attacked American democracy? And we let them get away with it? It happened in 2016, long before COVID dominated our fears. But Russia did attack the United States to sway the presidential election for pro-Putin, neo-autocrat Donald Trump. Here’s an encapsulation of Russian meddling, written by Abigail…

It’s not supposed to get this cold in Texas, but it did. Now what? — February 2021 has been a disaster for Texas. Winter storm Uri rolled through on February 11, bringing ice, sleet, snow and sub-freezing temperatures clear to the Gulf of Mexico. The freezing weather first caused a 100-car pileup in north Fort Worth that left six people dead, then it crippled power…

We’ve got to do better. The next time may be worse. — Remember your eighth-grade civics class? You learned what a democracy is — a government run by the people. You learned what a republic is — a government that uses representatives to express the will of those people. And while we can make nuanced arguments about the effectiveness of our systems…

Joe Biden’s Covid-19 memorial service has already started to dispel the darkness. — It took a simple gesture to begin leading the nation out of the Trump years — the lighting of two double rows of lights along the reflecting pool in front of Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The gesture was simple, but at once also grand and poignant. It marked the…

Of course, he doesn’t know the true story of the Texas battle — Donald Trump went to Alamo, Texas, on January 12. Not the Alamo in San Antonio, but a small town on the Rio Grande named Alamo. He went there to inspect a little bit of border wall that his administration built. But, as his niece Mary Trump posits, he hopes people…