How do nations sleepwalk into war? Often through lack of imagination. That is the thesis that impelled Adm. James Stavridis, a former NATO supreme commander, and Elliot Ackerman, a prominent fiction writer and decorated Marine…

President Joseph R. Biden has already had much of the membership of the United States Senate to the White House for meetings, consultations and conversations. That’s a natural thing for someone who is a creature…

Do you know anyone who had influenza this past year? Chances are you do not. Sure, plenty of people had the “stomach flu” with vomiting and diarrhea, otherwise known as gastroenteritis. Some people had colds…

It would be easy to dismiss President Joe Biden’s hopes for a return of bipartisanship as naive when one looks at the GOP record since he took office. Most GOP legislators still refuse to denounce…

September marks the 20-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist bombings. For most us, that Tuesday morning is seared in our memories. We can still recall where we were when we heard the news, scrambling…

I recently wrote a column discussing how baseless claims of widespread and systematic voter fraud hurt democracy in Kansas.   Readers statewide sent me thoughtful feedback. Some was positive, like the Republican county clerk who…

Despite elections and trials and pandemics, some things don’t seem to ever change. The national government pushes around state governments, with mixed amounts of success, and state governments push around city governments, usually with near-total…

Kansas might be frozen, but it’s not yet a cold enough day in tax-cut hell for some Republicans to repent. Last Tuesday, as temperatures outside fell to cattle-threatening single digits, a majority of Republicans in…

It always seemed unlikely that Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, would vote to convict the disgraced ex-president who, even from exile in Mar-a-Lago, holds sway over most of his party. But…

This week Iola received $350,000 to buy a new fire engine. Or half of one. Fire engines these days cost a staggering $700,000. The gift takes the form of a Community Development Block Grant awarded…