Some Republicans have grown tired of fighting the rest of the world on climate change.　As economists, religious and military leaders, ordinary Americans and even oil companies have joined the push to lower greenhouse gas emissions, Republicans have, for the most part, resisted. But now, a group of conservative economists and former Republican officials are recommending their party reverse course -- dramatically. The US, they say, should enact a nationwide tax on carbon emissions. It’s a smart id

Feb. 12, 2017

These are interesting times to be a federal bureaucrat. You know, in the “may you live in interesting times” sense.　President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration unleashed a wave of dissent in the State Department -- and a warning from White House press secretary Sean Spicer that dissenters should “either get with the program or they can go.” US Rep. Patrick McHenry, a member of the House Republican leadership, sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen last week demanding tha

Feb. 12, 2017

Thank God that at least part of the US government is functioning as it ought to. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary freeze on the president’s misguided ban on travel from seven mostly Muslim countries and his suspension of refugee resettlements.　Ostensibly, President Trump wants to suspend the refugee program and freeze immigration from the seven countries in order to give his administration time to review how the government vets visa and asyl

Feb. 12, 2017

What is happening in eastern Ukraine is gaining attention for two reasons: the likely financial involvement in Ukraine’s affairs by President Donald Trump and some of his close advisers, and the fact that fighting there has resumed between US-backed Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists.　US support of Ukrainian government forces and Russian support of Ukrainian separatists is troubling. The conflict continues to evolve into a proxy war between Russia and the United States. Th

Feb. 9, 2017

Republicans in the US Congress and others in the party are apparently concerned that President Donald Trump, or perhaps voters besotted with the president, will target them should they oppose him. The truth is Trump has yet to demonstrate any kind of impressive capacity for inflicting political damage. 　Oh, yes, Trump is clearly capable of tweeting all sorts of nasty things about those he considers his enemies. He won‘t address their arguments; he’ll level petty, personal attacks. No doubt those

Feb. 9, 2017

Economists have come to rival even journalists and politicians in lack of public esteem. That might be partly because so many economists seem as interested in journalism and politics as in advancing their science. But there’s also a deeper problem: Far from advancing, the science of economics has been going backwards.Economists tend to be either practitioners or theorists. Practitioners on Wall Street, in central banks, and in government aim to say where the economy is headed and offer advice on

Feb. 9, 2017

Antagonism is mounting between today’s right-wing populists and a somewhat unexpected but formidable opponent: women. In the United States, much like in Poland, women’s rights have been among the first targets of attack by populist leaders. Women are not taking it lying down.Traditional conservatism in the West has largely come to terms with the need to grant women broad reproductive freedom. Today’s right-wing populist administrations, by contrast, are downright pre-modern in this regard, attem

Feb. 9, 2017

Of the many puzzles posed by Donald Trump’s administration, the role of the National Security Council is among the trickiest. The NSC usually tries to act as an “honest broker” among cabinet agencies. But how will it function under a headstrong president who sees his role as disruptor and tweeter-in-chief? This challenge falls to national security adviser Michael Flynn, a retired Army general who holds a position once filled by such luminaries as Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Sc

Feb. 9, 2017

Iran’s recent test of a medium-range ballistic missile is an early indicator it doesn’t fear the bellicose rhetoric of Donald Trump any more than it did the passive approach of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s immediate response -- National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said the US is “officially putting Iran on notice” -- seems straight out of the Obama playbook.　The president needs to get beyond his vague campaign statements about standing up to Iran. When the regime br

Feb. 8, 2017

President Trump would be ill-advised to sign a proposed executive order that exempts religious organizations that provide federally funded services from nondiscrimination provisions.　The exemption is supported by, among others, socially conservative organizations such as the Family Research Council and the Family Leader. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, has said of the president and the exemption, “He gets it. They will have to fix it and they will. I am confident they wil

Feb. 8, 2017

The Arab Spring may seem like a distant memory, but a new report by a team of Arab and American analysts argues that across the Middle East people still feel the same yearning for better governance and rule of law that motivated protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.The persistence of this vision of more modern and just government is important to remember, especially at a time when the Trump administration is so focused on the threatening image of Islamist extremism. The study is a reminder that m

Feb. 8, 2017

In the weeks since Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States, it has become clear that he intends to roll back the progressive-egalitarian agenda that is commonly associated with “political correctness” to the starting block -- not just in the United States, but globally. Stephen Bannon, Trump’s White House Svengali and former CEO of the extreme right Breitbart News, has long pursued this ideological project, and we now know that what he or Trump says must be taken both serio

Feb. 8, 2017

Of all the measures to improve gun safety, background checks are among the most reasonable and popular. House Republicans lost no time this week in voting to weaken them.　A bill approved on a mostly party-line vote in the House would rescind a rule on gun background checks that was initiated by the Barack Obama administration in 2012 and finalized in December. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill after its likely passage by the Senate.　The rule requires the Social Security Adminis

Feb. 7, 2017