Good morning, it’s Thursday, April 19, 2018. In yesterday’s newsletter I wrote about a famous chapter in America’s founding — the midnight ride of Paul Revere — and today, in a passage reprised from my recent book, I’ll continue the story of “the shots heard ’round the world.” Alarmed about the militancy blossoming in Boston and surrounding towns, British Gen. […]

Trump’s Sanctuary Threat Could Answer Immigrants’ Prayers. Susan Crabtree reports on the potential backfiring of the president’s idea of releasing asylum seekers in Democratic-governed cities, many of which have said they would welcome the newcomers. What Newsom’s First 100 Days Portend for His Future. Bill Whalen weighs in on the California governor’s ambitions and the risky steps he’s taking to […]

On Trump’s ICC Win, Dems and Republicans See Eye to Eye. Susan Crabtree reports on the International Criminal Court’s decision not to prosecute the U.S. for alleged crimes in the Afghanistan War. Mueller Report Is Litmus Test for a Divided Society. Frank Miele writes that one’s expectations for the report, and ultimate reaction to it, reveals how much, or how […]

Good morning, it’s Friday, April 12, 2019, the day I furnish an inspiring or instructive quote of the week. I concede, as a few devoted readers have conveyed to me, that I have trouble keeping this format to a single quote. Well, friends, today is no exception: This morning I am invoking the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died […]

Good morning, it’s Monday, April 9, 2018. On this date in 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration introduced this country’s first astronauts to the media. Selected from 32 immensely qualified finalists, these seven brave Americans were chosen because leaders of the new agency believed they combined the mental makeup of Jackie Robinson and the flying ability of Chuck Yeager. […]

Good morning, it’s Saturday, April 6, 2019. At the end of each week, I provide a historical quote (or two or three) and today’s come courtesy of Booker T. Washington, born on this date in 1856 and an educator who founded Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now Tuskegee University. Many years before the civil rights movement gained traction in post-World […]

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, April 2, 2019. On this date in 1865, U.S. Army forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant ended a 10-month siege by overrunning rebel lines at Petersburg, Va. “I think it is absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position tonight,” Robert E. Lee stated matter-of-factly in a telegram to Jefferson Davis. Both men knew […]

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, March 19, 2019. On this date 40 years ago, future vice president Albert Gore Jr. stood in the well of the House of Representatives to discuss an innovative development in television programming. There was nothing remarkable about that in itself: At the time, Gore was a Tennessee congressman with a knack for getting himself on TV […]

Good morning. It’s Thursday, March 15 — the Ides of March, a day that in traditional Western literature, if not necessarily modern U.S. politics, recalls Julius Caesar’s death in ancient Rome. Are there relevant lessons, either from ancient Rome or William Shakespeare’s famous play, for our time? No matter how many of today’s world leaders alarm you, it’s a matter […]

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, March 13, 2019. Eighty-four years ago today, Nicholas and Helen Oprian, first-generation Romanian immigrants living in San Francisco, welcomed their only child into the world. They named her Virginia, a nice American name. She was my mother. Mom has been gone these past three years, and I’ve written about her before, so here we are at […]

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, March 7. Forty-four years ago today, the pressure was closing in on Richard Milhous Nixon. A grand jury had indicted seven former administration officials in the burgeoning Watergate scandal and named the president himself an unindicted co-conspirator. Talk of impeachment was heard on Capitol Hill. And although Dick Nixon was no favorite in Hollywood, he was […]

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, March 6, 2019. The immortal Ring Lardner entered the world on this date in 1885. He would grow up to be friends with F. Scott Fitzgerald, begrudged by Ernest Hemingway, become the patriarch of a distinguished journalism family, and practically invent modern sports writing. Ring Lardner also did a stint at the federal penitentiary in Danbury, […]

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, March 6. Fifty years ago today, a written communication was sent from the White House to Capitol Hill about the poverty and lack of opportunity within the nation’s Native American population. Under the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson, this communication was titled “Special Message to the Congress on the Problems of the American Indian: The […]

Good morning, it’s March 1, 2019, the end of a trying week in U.S. politics as discord and missed opportunities were the themes from Hanoi to Capitol Hill. And don’t get me started on Bryce Harper. It is, however, the beginning of a month that will bring us spring and big-league baseball, although little in the way of peace between […]

Good morning, it’s March 1, 2018. On this date in 1872, Yellowstone National Park came into existence. The land wasn’t new, of course. Neither was the sense of awe that its many splendors evoked in human visitors. What was new a century-and-a-half ago was the idea that such wondrous places should be preserved by the government in something approaching their […]

Good morning, it’s Thursday, February 28, 2019. On this date in 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first railway chartered in the United States. At a time when Baltimore was the nation’s second-largest city, its backers hoped to compete with New York merchants for western trade at a time when “the West” meant the Ohio Valley. Only two […]

Good morning, it’s Friday, February 23, 2018. Seventy-three years ago today, the U.S. Marines raised the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Captured on film by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, the image became an instant classic that helped buck up a war-weary nation. It is still an iconic symbol of the war in […]

Good morning, it’s Friday, February 16, 2018. Nine years ago today, a modern version of the Boston Tea Party emerged in U.S. politics. It took place in Seattle, not at Boston Harbor, and although it didn’t have anything to do with tea or British trade tariffs, it certainly concerned taxation. Taxes have long been a touchstone for fiscal conservatives in […]

Good morning, it’s Thursday, February 15, 2018. Today, Americans must absorb the shock — and resist the numbness that comes with familiarity — of another mass school shooting by a murderous young man with an assault rifle. As of this writing, the names of the victims have not been made public except for the assistant football coach at Florida’s Stoneman […]

Good morning, it’s Thursday, February 14, 2019. At 12:15 p.m. on this date in 1983, a crewman on the Neptune Jade, a 750-foot freighter on its way to Asia, noticed a blip on his radar screen. It signified the presence of another vessel 24 nautical miles away, which wasn’t unusual in that busy Bering Sea shipping lane. Except for one […]