When President Trump announced the cancellation of all meetings with Iran, while simultaneously urging Iranian protesters to persist with the promise that “help is on its way,” the move was widely read as abrupt and emotionally charged. Yet the deeper significance of the decision lies not merely in its tone, but in its timing. This…
Why Wyoming’s Ruling Gets the Moral Question Wrong
The recent decision by the Wyoming Supreme Court to strike down the state’s abortion restrictions rests on a pivotal claim: that abortion falls within a constitutional right to make one’s own healthcare decisions. That framing is not merely a legal conclusion. It’s a moral assertion with sweeping consequences. And it is, in most cases, profoundly…
Power Without Righteousness Is Not Strength
Yesterday’s closed-door briefing to lawmakers on U.S. actions in Venezuela did little to resolve the most troubling questions raised by the operation. If anything, it exposed a widening gap between executive power and moral clarity. Members of Congress emerged divided not merely over tactics or outcomes, but over first principles: who authorizes force, what limits…
Kasuwan-Daji, Moral Collapse, and the Cost of Delayed Judgment
The massacre at Kasuwan-Daji village in Niger State, where armed attackers reportedly killed dozens, burned the local market, abducted residents, and operated for hours with little or no immediate resistance, is not merely another tragic headline from Nigeria. It’s a stark exposure of what happens when violence becomes normalized and the state’s protective role erodes…
Covenant, Coercion, and the Moral Shape of Peace
Russia’s vow to adopt a “tougher” negotiating stance—issued after blaming Ukraine for an alleged attempt to attack Vladimir Putin’s residence—should be read less as a reaction to new facts and more as a deliberate reframing of the moral terrain. By asserting victimhood without transparent verification, Moscow seeks to shift the burden of legitimacy, recast itself…
Credibility, Authority, and the Cost of Confusing Power with Truth
The controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s response to Russia’s claim that Ukraine attempted a drone attack near a residence associated with Vladimir Putin is not merely about diplomatic tone. It’s about something more foundational: how authority is exercised, how truth is discerned, and how public power either restrains or amplifies deception in moments of global consequence.…
When Government Authority Slips from Law into Moral Theater
The recent actions by Republican leadership in Texas and Florida aimed at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) deserve more than reflexive applause or predictable outrage. They require sober analysis. Whatever one thinks of CAIR’s activism, rhetoric, or policy positions, the mechanism being used against it should trouble anyone who takes constitutional limits seriously. These…
Power, Persecution, and the Cross
Yesterday’s U.S. strike against Islamic State–linked militants operating in Nigeria, reportedly carried out with the approval and cooperation of the Nigerian government, landed with the kind of moral thud that foreign-policy decisions rarely avoid. President Trump framed the action in part as a response to violence that has included the targeting of Christians, a claim…
Strength, Scruples, and the Question of Purity
President Trump’s decision to deploy U.S. forces near Venezuela has landed squarely in the middle of a long-running American struggle: how to exercise power responsibly in a world where every option carries moral risk. On the surface, the debate appears to be about strategy, legality, and geopolitics. Supporters emphasize deterrence, border security, and the disruption…
Andy Beshear, Political Moderation, and the Ancient Problem We Keep Pretending Is New
The quiet elevation of Andy Beshear as a potential future presidential contender tells us something uncomfortable but undeniable: America is starving for normalcy. Not perfection. Not revolution. Just leaders who sound like they inhabit the same reality as the people they govern. Beshear is being discussed as a possible Democratic standard-bearer precisely because he doesn’t…