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Why Trump couldn't bring Iran to heel

Iran, a second-rate power in a state of economic collapse, just fought the U.S. to a standstill in a major military conflict. The disappointing outcome has echoes of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, in that a major world power hasn't been able to impose its will on a militarily inferior foe. ...

General Time is undefeated in battle

I am on a mudslide toward death. Well, we all are, really, when you think about it, but sometimes it just seems you're slipping down the side of the mountain faster than at other times. Like, for example, when you're approaching a birthday that starts with a "fif" and ends with crying in the car because the clouds are moving too quickly overhead. It's not as silly as it sounds -- though it is, admittedly, fairly silly. I had dropped off the kids at camp and was driving back to the house when I got to a stoplight. I looked up and saw shocking blue, scattered white puffballs drifting ...

It's time to pick up the torch of Washington, Lincoln and Kennedy

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy secured the top three spots for the most "outstanding" ratings among presidents in a recent survey of U.S. adults. What do the presidencies of the Virginia planter, prairie rail-splitter and Boston war hero have in common? All three laid out a dream for the future that broke with the past. They looked forward, not backward. Washington succeeded King George III as the head of the government of what had been the 13 British colonies. He was awarded that position based on accomplishment rather than heredity, by votes rather than ...

Not following the example of President James K. Polk

A president orders the onset of hostilities -- war -- without authorization of Congress and without much in the way of making a case with the public. His troops win important victories and decapitate large parts of the government of the enemy. But in the enemy capital, no one surrenders or ...