[Other View] Investigate Trump’s Russia ties

To recap a few anarchic days in Donald Trump’s Washington: At least six agencies are investigating Trump’s ties to Russia. The president is deriding the spies. The spies are keeping secrets from the president. The White House is mulling a purge. Everyone is leaking to the news media. And no one has any answers.If there’s one certainty in this increasingly troubling episode, it’s that Congress must get to the bottom of it. The question now is how to do so in a way that instills confidence in the

Feb. 20, 2017

[Cass R. Sunstein] What impeachment meant to the founders

In light of the recent White House controversies, it is inevitable that some people are starting to wonder whether, at any point, President Donald Trump might be impeachable. The best way to answer that question is to bracket controversies about any particular president and to ask: What, exactly, does the Constitution say about impeachment?As we shall see, Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, was altogether wrong to proclaim that the president cannot be impeached unless he has broken the law

Feb. 19, 2017

[David Ignatius] Flynn may be gone, but serious questions remain

President Trump confronts complicated problems as the investigation widens into Russia‘s attack on our political system. But his responsibilities are simple: A month ago, he swore an oath that he would “faithfully execute” his office and “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s apparently easier said than done. In a rambling press conference Thursday and his blizzard of tweets, Trump has dismissed inquiries into his campaign‘s contacts with Russia and denounce

Feb. 19, 2017

[Bloomberg] The Fed Should Raise Rates Next Month

Inflation in the US rose in the year that ended in January by 2.5 percent -- faster than expected, and well above the Fed’s target of 2 percent. It was the latest sign that the economy needs a rise in interest rates when the Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee meets next month.Before the new inflation number, most analysts had thought the next rise would come later in the year. Afterward, it looked like a closer call, with trades in derivatives suggesting a probability of roughly 40 percen

Feb. 19, 2017

[Other View] Reagan’s Russian roadmap for Trump

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg have taken a tough line against Russia’s many recent provocations. Other than calling for all members of the alliance to pay their fair share of the military bill, however, they have offered no real plan of action.　Russia’s aggressions call for a stronger response. While Mattis is right to tweak the Europeans for slipping on defense spending, the metric that is repeatedly cited -- committing 2 percent of gross domes

Feb. 19, 2017

[Ramesh Ponnuru] Trump fails two tests of judgment and competence

Michael Flynn’s resignation as national security adviser has rightly received more attention, but it wasn’t even the first personnel snafu in the administration that week. It wasn’t even the first national-security personnel snafu that week. A few days earlier, President Donald Trump had denied Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s request that Elliott Abrams be nominated to be his deputy.These two stories tell us a few things about how the Trump administration operates.Trump wants loyalists. Flynn

Feb. 17, 2017

[Other View] Maduro’s inability to admit failure fuels Venezuela’s continuing collapse

For the first time, Venezuelans are at the front of the line in the number of asylum seekers in the United States. Given the sorry state of their homeland, it’s not hard to believe. The numbers tell the story of their ailing country.　According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service, 18,155 Venezuelans sought asylum in the nation last year.　That figure represents an increase of 150 percent from 2015, and six times more than in 2014, according to an Associated Press report.Today, it’s safe

Feb. 17, 2017

[Leonid Bershidsky] How to raise oil prices without really cutting

Oil producers appear to have pulled off quite the coup: the price of Brent crude has jumped more than 20 percent since late September while precious little has changed on the supply side.In November, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, notably Russia, agreed to the first production cuts in eight years. Nations have since complied with their commitments or even reduced output more than expected. Yet the changes are small in absolute terms, as January numbers rel

Feb. 16, 2017

Trump cabinet, inner circle, raise concerns; not confidence

It’s troubling enough that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III was confirmed as attorney general, considering he was rejected for a federal judgeship in 1986 because of his comments on race. But Sessions joins a list of Trump administration appointees and nominees who have extreme views or lack experience to run the agencies they plan to oversee.Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a billionaire, showed an embarrassing lack of knowledge about public education during her confirmation hearing.Housing an

Feb. 16, 2017

[Robert B. Reich] Trump's war on courts, press and states

With congressional Republicans in the majority in the US Congress and unwilling to cross Donald Trump, the job of containing Trump’s incipient tyranny falls to the three remaining centers of independent power: the nation's courts, its press and a few state governments.　Which is why Trump is escalating attacks on all three, seeking to erode public confidence in them.　After federal Judge James Robart -- an appointee of George W. Bush -- stayed Trump’s travel ban, Trump leveled a personal attack on

Feb. 16, 2017

[Dan K. Thomasson] Dear Donald, take a breath

We know it’s not easy being you, Mr. President.　Even the guy you nominated to the Supreme Court, your first attempt at building a solid conservative majority there, has taken a shot at you.　Everybody knows by now that Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found your remarks about some of his fellow jurists “demoralizing and disheartening.” And it’s obvious there are times you think being president trumps (pun intended) everything else, including the judicial branch of government

Feb. 15, 2017

[Chicago Tribune] Pastors and politics: How to revise the rules against campaigning by churches

Donald Trump would once have been thought an unlikely champion of religious freedom. But he staked out his claim at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, vowing to liberate churches to use their voices in political campaigns. His administration, he promised, would “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.”　If you’re not familiar with the Johnson Amendment, join a big club. It’s an obscure tax law

Feb. 15, 2017

[David Ignatius] Michael Flynn‘s star burns out

A strange and circuitous path led Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn toward his fateful telephone contact in late December with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and the flameout of what had been a distinguished military career. Military and intelligence colleagues who served with Flynn describe him as a brilliant tactician whose work in the shadowy Joint Special Operations Command a decade ago didn’t prepare him for broader challenges as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, from which he was removed i

Feb. 15, 2017

[Letter to the Editor] Effective way to deal with N. Korea

I just would like to thank The Korea Herald for publishing the Feb. 7 opinion piece “Amnesty for NK officials Kim’s strategic nightmare,” as I believe its message was very relevant and significant to Koreans. I hope the Korean government implements what is suggested there and achieves swift unification between the North and the South before the international world or media comes between us Koreans. I am the compiler of Robert Park’s book “Voice: Stop Genocide!” and I was glad to find Park’s rece

Feb. 15, 2017