OPINION

Medicare-for-all is not, as the right-wing North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker recently charged, “an admission of Obamacare’s failure.” It’s a way to build on Obamacare.

OPINION

The great irony of the 2008 financial collapse is that Wall Street, whose reckless risk-taking drove the financial system over the precipice, suffered very few, if any, consequences for its actions.

OPINION

Developing true humanity — the ability to view relationships as shared rather than transactional, to see others as deserving of respect and goodwill — is the work of a lifetime.

OPINION

Lack of preparation, the research shows, is caused by cognitive biases that lead people to underplay warnings and make poor decisions even when they have the information they need.

Military Update

The VA has made many reforms in response to long neglected medical needs of a rising population of female veterans, according to a new report. But more improvements are needed, as women are carving out larger, more prominent places in the military and veteran spaces.

OPINION

It’s a Darwinian worldview. Never retreat; eat or be eaten.

OPINION

When Florence finishes with us, human need necessarily will displace the longing for our lost things.

OPINION

The war that began on 9/11 and continues today, was and is a protracted, shadowy conflict against irregular forces. By its nature, such a war forces difficult and divisive policy questions on any democratic government obliged to wage it.

OPINION

There is no cause more vital than keeping American lives safe, and bipartisanship will always be fundamental to that mission.

OPINION

For someone trying to convince the world of the righteousness of a cause, linking it to an ad campaign doesn’t help.

OPINION

Despite assurances from President Donald Trump, this may be a long and costly conflict with economic casualties mounting on both sides of the Pacific.

Opinion

We are reacting to today's extraordinarily unprecedented context, one that transcends traditional party politics. For many of us, keeping our mouths shut about what we see in our own country would be akin to not alerting our government to a threat from abroad. Failure to warn is the ultimate sin in the intelligence world.

OPINION

Though I count myself among those who think Hollywood should stay out of politics, I think the folks railing against “First Man” are wrong.

OPINION

The piece is an exercise in ego, though I have no doubt that the writer is thrilled with his or her own display of courage.

OPINION

At the top of the list is retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane, administration and congressional officials said. He is widely respected in Congress, inside the administration and by the president himself.

OPINION

Umpires have always been considered authority figures, like judges. But we have never been robots who simply call balls and strikes.

This is our nation’s first multi-generational war. We cannot look to past precedent on when memorials were built, as this conflict has no precedent.

OPINION

America as a nation is caught in the president’s destructive self-obsession, and this must stop.

OPINION

So these unelected and unknown officials, all appointed by a president they see as unfit, are now running the country without oversight and accountability? If that’s not a crisis, what is?

OPINION

This week, more than most of the Trump era, foundations are shaking.

OPINION

A big part of the solution is getting rid of fake accounts. But it’s also about attacking the spammers’ economic incentives to create false news in the first place.

OPINION

Like the GOP in 2016, it’s going to be a wild ride with an unforeseeable finish.

OPINION

If you missed Day One of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court hearing, just try to imagine a mud-wrestling contest attended by banshees howling at the referee.

OPINION

His opinion on the individual mandate provides hope that he at least understands the costs — legal and, yes, political — of precipitous judicial action.

OPINION

The paradox of the Trump presidency is that its very sleaziness has re-energized American journalism even while undermining it.

OPINION

Mueller may conclude the wisest course is simply to lay low for the next two months to avoid giving the president’s team additional ammunition. But if he does, it will be because he chooses to, not because it is required.

OPINION

The prolonged insistence on an absurdly low fatality rate allowed many to minimize the impact of the storm, failing to treat this extraordinary disaster with the urgency it warranted.

OPINION

Violence isn’t likely should Republicans lose, but impeachment probably is. This is what Trump anticipates and fears.

OPINION

This 11th-hour rediscovery of Syria is poignant, because it comes as America is mourning the death of Sen. John McCain, who anguished in his final years about America’s inability to check the slaughter there.

OPINION

Iran has displayed extreme inconsistency in deciding when it honors the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights.

OPINION

Too often, spouses and children are reduced to supporting actors in a celebratory narrative, with their own struggles rarely garnering much notice.

OPINION

Several steps would be necessary before proceedings against Trump became a serious possibility, and it’s always possible they’ll never happen.

OPINION

They deserve — we deserve — an answer, no matter how embarrassing or painful or damning the truth may be for countless members of the hierarchy.

Opinion

It has long been known that Qais al-Khazali had close ties to Iran and Hezbollah as he waged his long fight against U.S. troops in Iraq. But the extent to which he worked with the Americans who detained him in 2007 is shocking.

OPINION

This successful U.S. operation shows that, despite the partisan politics of Washington that dominates the daily news cycle, the men and women of the U.S. national security community continue to work hard and effectively to keep our country safe.

OPINION

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has introduced a paid-leave bill that would allow parents to collect Social Security benefits following the arrival of a new child, even if those parents are not retired. The benefits would be used to finance time away from work, and parents collecting them would be required to delay receiving Social Security payments by several months once they reach normal retirement age.

Military Update

In March 2016, Veterans Affairs received the latest in a series of scientific literature reviews from the National Academy of Medicine on Agent Orange-associated ailments. VA officials promised to review the results and that then-VA Secretary Bob McDonald would act on the Academy report’s findings by July 2016.

OPINION

Today, it’s not only difficult to imagine the Senate without John McCain, I don’t particularly want to try.

OPINION

In the assault on Trump, we have had the diminution of focus on issues counting for much more, such as the opioid epidemic.

OPINION

The political prospects for immigration reform have rarely been bleaker than they are today.

OPINION

Every year, over 200,000 veterans retire from active duty to transition back into civilian life. Of these, a significant portion has worked in highly technical fields and are distinctly qualified to excel in STEM jobs in the private sector.

OPINION

John McCain loved the political arena, identifying with the saying, “A fight not joined is a fight not enjoyed.”

OPINION

The only question this year seems to be how many state houses will turn blue in what looks like a good Democratic year — and how great the impact will be after 2020.

OPINION

It is not a good time for those who want to believe — in their faith or in their government.

OPINION

We’ve all been wondering how our legal system would cope with President Donald Trump — even as we awaited the broader verdict of public opinion that will come with the November midterm elections.

OPINION

It’s hard to overstate the importance of space in our military operations and civilian life.

OPINION

We will have to keep 14,000 or so troops there indefinitely, or we must be prepared for the emergence of another ISIS-like terror state.

OPINION

Laws, once stretched from their limited language and proper purpose, are difficult to pound back into shape.

OPINION

Selflessness is vital to serious service. This is particularly true in intelligence agencies, where risks can be mortal and stakes very high — including national survival.

OPINION

If he proceeds to trial in Washington, it will be a sure sign that, for whatever reason, he will not voluntarily tell Mueller what he knows.

OPINION

Complicity in the Holocaust was never his only choice. Many Ukrainians chose to suffer in German POW camps rather than inflict suffering on others.

OPINION

In today’s competitive labor market, it is crucial to balance military necessity with the ability of servicemembers to have greater influence over their careers. In the vast majority of circumstances, both interests can be achieved without sacrificing the distinct concerns of a servicemember or the legitimate demands of a military career.

OPINION

The real danger to NATO is not that Turkey will withdraw or pivot to Russia, but rather that it remains inside.

OPINION

The United States remains capable of imposing crippling punishment on regimes that wantonly challenge it.

OPINION

The United States has decreased its annual U.N. peacekeeping contributions by almost $300 million since Trump took office. Roughly a third of those savings would now be spent on his parade instead (though of course the money comes from different departments).

OPINION

In 1967, promoter Pervis Spann placed a crown on Aretha Franklin’s head and recognized her as the Queen of Soul. The accolade is easily justified.

OPINION

Expanding short-term insurance is just part of President Donald Trump’s larger agenda to improve health care choice and competition for Americans.

OPINION

For eight months, Donald Trump’s lawyers have pursued a lengthy delaying action, designed to damage public attitudes about special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe while hoping to push a final resolution of the issue of Trump’s testimony beyond the 2018 elections.

OPINION

The innocence of children was stolen, as was the church’s sanctity and the faith of congregants, many of whom are today asking how they can possibly continue to believe that this is the one true church that Christ founded through Peter.

OPINION

Veterans shouldn't have through jump unnecessary hoops to get the benefits they deserve. But the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing that to thousands of disabled veterans and wasting millions of dollars in the process.

OPINION

Observers ranging from scientists to lay people have equal opportunity to reflect on the significance of this latest giant leap into space.

OPINION

If we want to maintain a globally relevant fighting force and honor some of our most enduring and cherished national values, we must ensure that anti-immigrant rhetoric and sentiment does not seep into the very institution that is designed to defend and protect those values.

OPINION

The Pentagon is prioritizing retention goals in its effort to cut costs and is watering down its rewards for the most steadfast and devoted in its ranks.

OPINION

North Korea has skillfully driven a wedge between Trump and his administration, wooing the president with grand gestures while criticizing officials such as Pompeo who must work out the details.

OPINION

Humans are hardwired to be connected, and when those connections cannot be found, the result is emotional pain.

OPINION

As long as the original statues remain and serve as a rallying point, alternatives will not serve their intended purpose of making people think about the flaws of the original.

OPINION

While military dependents go to underfunded schools, no one is making a connection with students, teachers and local districts to make policies.

OPINION

Thus did the Cold War end because Reagan rejected the stale orthodoxy that the East-West military balance was solely about conventional land forces in central Europe.

OPINION

Gratitude for the tax cuts does not seem to be bringing Republicans to the polls. It is probably even less helpful in getting those white working-class voters who backed both Obama and Trump to side with Republican candidates for Congress.

OPINION

One striking result of a new study is how much the trait of conscientiousness matters.

OPINION

Actually, insider trading probably makes markets more efficient.

OPINION

Gradual integration for Serbia and Albania in EU and NATO, all on the basis of existing borders and boundaries, is the only way toward enduring stability in the region.

OPINION

Being chief diplomat for the most undiplomatic president in modern history can’t be easy.

OPINION

Criticizing another country, especially a friendly one, over human rights is complicated. And the question of whether to do it quietly or openly has long dogged diplomats.

OPINION

One day, their movement will succeed — and they will remember what the U.S. and its allies did to help them.

OPINION

This move is an important step toward setting reasonable, and badly needed, precedent around free speech.

Military Update

Two of the nation’s largest veteran service organizations hold opposing views on the Defense Department’s plan to tighten rules next year on the transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to servicemembers’ spouses and children.

OPINION

The Chinese are happy for the U.S. to keep building carriers and bombers, so long as they deploy the more advanced technologies that can disable those systems.

OPINION

For Sgt. Juarez, this was the Trump administration’s unique way of saying, “Thank you for your service.”

OPINION

The choices this administration is making invite foreign retaliation against U.S. exporters and use up fiscal capacity — even as the economy is growing rapidly.

OPINION

The VA electronic health record modernization has huge potential to be disruptive, and its failure would be catastrophic to both veterans and taxpayers, which is why Congress must exercise extraordinary oversight.

OPINION

Democrats may be locked in a struggle for the soul of their party, but that’s been true in almost every election cycle since 1828. What’s striking this time is how strangely polite they’re being to each other.

OPINION

Accusing people of overconfidence also assumes that intelligence is well-defined and quantifiable enough that there’s real meaning in comparing ourselves to an average.

OPINION

We should continue to exclude China, hold our opponents close, add new partners, and make inclusion in RIMPAC something that Beijing so wants to be part of it will change its ways.

OPINION

The path from Pyongyang to Washington may lead through Seoul.

OPINION

In the election campaign of 1920, Warren Harding championed three issues: tax cuts, immigration cutbacks and tariffs on trade. He also promised to roll back the progressive legislation of his predecessors.

OPINION

It’s important to remember that strong free-speech protections always have societal costs.