In 26 years of marriage, long-standing feuds have formed between my husband and me, never to be resolved. Which direction the toilet roll should be mounted. Where bowls go in the dishwasher. Whether it is insensitive to one’s passengers to insist on driving with the car windows down when the outside temperature is under 50 degrees.

OPINION

That we all gave some and that some gave all remains an elusive concept that will never occupy the consciousness of the 99.5% of the population.

OPINION

World leaders no longer trust America’s commitments — because they now no longer trust or respect the words and promises of America’s president. And Washington’s remaining respected and patriotic Republicans all know this; they just won’t admit it to you.

OPINION

Candidates will have good days, bad days and very bad days. But after day one, basically, it’s all downhill for almost everyone running, with the speed of decline dependent on many factors.

OPINION

A balanced U.S. foreign policy must promote strategic partnerships and accelerate innovative development across Latin America.

OPINION

The possibility is remote, but the candidacy of a former President Trump could happen unless the Senate takes steps to prevent it.

OPINION

In western China, the demolition of mosques and bulldozing of cemeteries is a continuing, relentless process.

OPINION

Without liaison offices or a similar de-escalation mechanism, a third summit that does nothing on denuclearization has no value for either side.

OPINION

It will continue to be a tightrope walk for those of us caught between a time when certain things were assumed to be private and a present in which many of those same things are definitely not.

OPINION

We represent the determination of my country to move to a brighter future. And just like us, Colombia is stronger thanks to the challenges it has overcome.

OPINION

It is only through cooperative efforts with other nations that we can ensure our security and theirs.

OPINION

However pure or impure his motivations may be, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey deserves credit for doing something other than keeping his palm outstretched.

OPINION

Once the facts are established, then lawmakers have to decide what they mean. If Trump abused the power of his office to pressure a foreign government to conduct investigations aimed at helping him win reelection, how bad is that?

OPINION

A thought experiment: Imagine that the president of the United States was a man named Ronald Stump, not Donald Trump.

OPINION

Military personnel and veterans inhabit a lofty place in American society. We know how to carry burdens. We should embrace the responsibility of being in public in uniform despite the difficulties.

OPINION

The loss of their leader will undoubtedly slow the resurgence, but developments in Iraq will give the terrorists something to cling to as they mourn him.

OPINION

The street protests that have hit Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt in recent weeks have a common theme: popular rage at the corruption of public officials.

OPINION

We cannot trust our foreign policy to amateurs.

OPINION

There is, perhaps, no greater sign of just how far the movement to forgive the nation’s $1.5 trillion in student loan debt has come than the fact that a Trump Education Department official is now jumping on the bandwagon.

Military families have been hitting civilian department stores and base exchanges in search of the perfect Halloween costumes for next week’s trick-or-treating. I am always amazed at the unbelievable selection of reasonably priced costumes for kids and adults nowadays. Options range from Attila the Hun to Sexy Mr. Rogers, and everything in between. Today, there is no excuse for not having a decent costume on October 31st. However, it wasn’t always so easy.

OPINION

In the public hearings stage, they will have to try a “greatest hits” strategy, getting the existing witnesses in front of the public for brief and pointed hearings.

OPINION

I’m mystified as to why, at a moment when 90% of Americans already have insurance, our presidential debates are focused so exclusively on expanding coverage rather than containing costs.

OPINION

Group solidarity based on shared detestations is fun, and because fun can trigger dopamine bursts in the brain, it can be addictive.

OPINION

The real danger is that both China and Russia possess technology that will make Iran’s already formidable military production even better.

OPINION

Trump calls Syria a “bloody sandbox.” He’s right about that. It is also a briar patch of warring tribes and sects, inexplicable ancient animosities and irreconcilable differences.

OPINION

Warren’s plan relies on more money and a shifting portfolio of mandates to improve performance at low-income schools. This approach has failed countless times over the last several decades.

OPINION

In the end, this is a political proceeding, not a criminal one. It’s about whether Trump is fulfilling his constitutional obligations and should remain in his job.

OPINION

America (for several decades) has used sanctions when it wants to be seen as taking action, as opposed to actually doing so. That’s not a mistake Russia makes. It intervenes with low visibility but punishing impact.

OPINION

Lessons of the crisis include importance of thorough, objective intelligence analysis and communicating effectively with opponents. Then and now, strong U.S. presidential leadership is essential.

OPINION

The Republican Party risks exile for longer than it has endured in the modern era if, in the absence of incontrovertible evidence of actual “high crimes and misdemeanors,” it deserts President Donald Trump during the campaign to remove him from office.

OPINION

As the 2020 election comes into sharper focus, one issue that seems to animate both sides — the Supreme Court — is once again taking center stage.

OPINION

The long battle between the Washington establishment and the Trump base over foreign policy took a crucial turn this week when President Donald Trump admitted he is prioritizing the opinions of his rally crowds over his own officials and the GOP when making important national security decisions.

“Oh no!” I gasped Oct. 6, in a crowded Rhode Island bar, as I watched 6-foot-5-inch Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph drop like a rag doll after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Ravens safety Earl Thomas.

OPINION

It’s virtually impossible to disentangle the strategic from the humanitarian aspects of a safe zone.

OPINION

If this country’s Fortune 500 companies value access to Chinese markets more than the vital interests of the United States, then it’s imperative for the American people to marshal both political and consumer power against them until those companies are forced to choose who they will serve.

OPINION

Mulvaney’s stab at survival may have been a smart move. A wise friend once told me, “Always tell the truth as soon as possible.”

OPINION

Though America was birthed by breaking free from a foreign power, historically it’s done little to prevent outside meddling in its democracy.

OPINION

While it’s true that the American economic system has enabled the creation of medicines that save and extend lives, the market isn’t working to keep those drugs affordable.

OPINION

Each week brings a fresh batch of polls about the 2020 presidential campaign, but it’s also worth taking a look at the prediction markets. They can be a very useful source of information, most of all as a check on the human tendency to overreact.

OPINION

Many of the causes of the political crisis in our country today stem from the failure of civil society to make people feel like they matter.

OPINION

Facebook must do more than stand in the reflected glory of those who sacrificed much to create our modern democracy.

OPINION

The latest Democratic debate provided a dramatic display of the divide between the advocates of revolution and restoration in the party’s presidential race. It also illustrated the contest’s revised pecking order.

OPINION

Strong personal opinions do not necessarily make for bad journalists, and old-fashioned, dispassionate reporting can be found in all corners, if you look for it.

OPINION

He doesn’t much care who runs other parts of the world or how they run it, as long as they don’t ask the United States for help.

OPINION

Essentially half of the United States expects the four debates will, in fact, be four ambushes by the combined forces of the Democratic nominee and the elite media operating in tandem, though not in explicit coordination.

OPINION

Tunisians have managed to keep their remarkable democratic experiment grinding along.

OPINION

At a gathering last Saturday night of military and intelligence veterans, one topic shrouded the room: President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish fighters in Syria who had fought and died to help America destroy Islamic State.

OPINION

North Korean strategists are counting on Trump and others around him to tire of the endless state of war on the Korean Peninsula.

OPINION

The American support of the SDF — no matter the great affection for the Syrian Kurdish fighters among U.S. politicians and military officials — was always in conflict with Washington’s need to keep Turkey on its side.

OPINION

No person has the power to compel through law another person to betray — even tacitly — his own conscience. A free society cannot survive if that much is not true.

OPINION

Most people wouldn’t think that entering a phone number into their account for security purposes might be used for advertising. That’s a good signal that companies shouldn’t do it in the first place.

OPINION

In Syria, Trump has set his desire to withdraw alongside an incongruous goal of pushing out Iranian influence in the country.

OPINION

Students and teachers deserve to go to school without fearing for their safety, but we need to think more deeply about what that means. Design features can enhance learning or inhibit it.

OPINION

When many of us veterans were on active duty, we approached matters both logically and strategically; our policymakers should take the same approach as it relates to this issue.

Like the founders of the U.S. alliance system in the mid-20th century, Americans look to these partnerships to keep the peace through deterrence and defense.

OPINION

The cascade of bad events could get worse if action isn’t taken quickly.

OPINION

The Kurds weren’t allies, it turns out; in Trump’s view, they were subcontractors.

OPINION

What has led us here? A rise in institutional corruption and normalized fraud. If our private and public institutions were healthier, we wouldn’t require singular acts of courage to halt wrongdoing.

OPINION

If Trump had read the Founding Fathers, he would know they saw foreign governments meddling in American politics as a threat, not an opportunity.

OPINION

We aren’t arguing for special treatment or cutting corners, just the simple right to follow our career calling while staying true to our religious identity.

OPINION

When Trump saw an opportunity to turn the tables and use Ukraine against former Vice President Joe Biden, his leading rival in 2020, he grabbed it.

OPINION

What Biden sought had international backing, and the loan guarantees were always tied to anti-corruption measures. What Trump did jeopardized our global diplomatic position and put Ukraine’s future in peril.

OPINION

The Scandinavian countries are now much more pro-market than enthusiastic American socialists would like to believe. By some measures, they even outscore the U.S. on their laissez-faire stance toward the private sector.

OPINION

An Iranian national has been granted her freedom and allowed to return home while at least eight individuals from the United States and Australia — as well as one from the United Kingdom — have yet to receive the most basic rights.

OPINION

Hypersonic weapons may ultimately find their niche in U.S. military strategy, but first the Pentagon must define their role and analyze potential alternatives.

OPINION

Black forgiveness is admirable when it is freely given and not demanded or expected. And the best response to black forgiveness is to prevent the harm that makes it necessary in the first place.

“C’mon, please go with me,” I begged Patti, “we’ll have fun, I promise.” But my best friend since 9th grade was skeptical. She thought our 35th high school reunion could be a bust. But she agreed to go, as long as we — our husbands, Patti and I — would make a speedy exit when the time was right.

OPINION

Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula ended with World War II. Seventy-four years later, South Korea, where the anniversary of Japan’s 1945 surrender is a national holiday, is jeopardizing its and Northeast Asia’s security in order to pursue war-era grievances concerning Japan’s exploitation of forced labor.

OPINION

The founding generation sought to ensure that this most heinous of offenses would be narrowly limited, and would never be a basis for high-level attacks on, or threats to, political opponents.

OPINION

Such a confrontation between the legislative and executive branches probably can only be resolved by the third leg of our government, the judiciary.

OPINION

Under pressure from Congress, 4,000 of the rare refugee slots will supposedly be reserved for Iraqis who worked for the U.S. military. But will they ever receive them?

OPINION

Democrats have decided that it’s politically safe to advocate for things that they probably supported years ago but worried wouldn’t fly with the electorate.

OPINION

Gerald R. Ford offered the most practical definition before he succeeded Nixon as president: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be.”

OPINION

Readers of the political winds should pay close attention to the way Fox News covers Vice President Mike Pence in the next few months.

When I was a teenager, I spent an inordinate amount of time staring out of windows, over the water, into the distance, up at the sky — pondering my place in the world. I was prone to feeling overwhelmed by minuscule problems, so contemplating the vastness of the universe comforted me by making my worldly worries seem insignificant. My favorite place to ponder was outside at night. I’d lie on a blanket in the grass and gaze intently at the stars, looking for patterns, movement and twinkling lights. On clear nights, there seemed to be billions of stars, each so bright against the black vacuum of space.

OPINION

The one-size-fits-all roadless rule is an unnecessary layer of paralyzing regulation that should never have been applied to Alaska.

OPINION

Iran’s breach of enrichment limits gives the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’s signatories cause enough to impose their own economic sanctions. These may not add much bite to the American sanctions, but the symbolism would be useful.

OPINION

For all the frenzied analysis of the risks that House Democrats in marginal districts are taking, it is equally important to understand the dangers facing ambitious congressional Republicans who have to decide whether to remain Trump toadies.

OPINION

The public is rightfully suspicious of the latest frenzy over supposed Trump transgressions.

OPINION

It took more than a year of Senate and House hearings for the American public to turn against Nixon. With the 2020 election just 13 months away, the Democrats simply don’t have that much time.

OPINION

Trump does not really want a Ukrainian probe in order to find dirt on the Bidens. He wants a spectacle to spotlight the “dirt” that’s already known.

OPINION

President Donald Trump is seen in the news as perpetually on the verge of being toppled by the latest scandal of the week. But not here in Hillsboro, Ohio, or places like it.

OPINION

The price of impeachment for Biden will be weeks, perhaps months, of nonstop discussion of his son Hunter Biden and Hunter’s activities in Ukraine and elsewhere.

OPINION

After 18 years of heartache, a counterterrorism-for-withdrawal transaction is likely to be the best deal the United States can get.

OPINION

The administration is the first to fully recognize that globalization hasn’t delivered for Americans and that China is an existential threat.

OPINION

An attack on Saudi oil fields is not an attack on us. It does not move us into a state of war by itself, the way an attack on America would.

OPINION

Somewhere, someone with a security clearance is watching the fate of the unnamed national security whistleblower and the fate of the alarm the whistleblower raised.