back to top

Columnists

ROBERT L. MARONIC: President Trump Is Fighting The Last War – Part I

I think that President Trump's plan to build a “new class of American-designed battleships that will be the most lethal surface combatants ever constructed,” which was announced on December 22, is a BIG mistake.  That...

SCOTT DREYER: Conduct Your “Year In Review”

James Clear, in his award-winning book Atomic Habits, encourages his readers to conduct an annual...

FRED FIRST: Small Moments. Long Life

Images: In our eyes. On our minds. From our memories. Conjured in our dreams. Right...

BOB BROWN: Decoding the New “Structure of Feeling”

This is the time to marshal up hope for the New Year. Hope is wanting...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: The Heroism Of Ahmed Al-Ahmed At Bondi Beach In Sydney, Australia

Not all Muslims are bad people. In fact, most Muslims are good and decent people....

BECKY MAUPIN: Overwhelmed Doesn’t Mean Ungrateful

If you’re on social media for any amount of time, you pretty quickly see that there is mixed content. Some of it is positive...

BOB BROWN: When the Underdog Bites Has Rabies, and a Mean Owner

We have a strong human urge to identify with the “underdog.” There is nothing new about this tendency. The biblical story of David and...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Is Phase Two Of Trump‘s Peace Plan In The Gaza Strip Doomed To Fail? – Part II

Unfortunately, Trump’s present ceasefire as of October 9 is analogous to the armistice signed between the Allies and Kaiser's Germany on November 11, 1918,...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Is Phase Two Of Trump‘s Peace Plan In The Gaza Strip Doomed To Fail? – Part I

Phase one of Trump‘s twenty-point peace plan in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 9, called for a ceasefire, cessation of military operations, along...

FRED FIRST: Approaching the Longest Night

Yes, you’re right—if you’ve even noticed—that this space has been neglected for some weeks now, and it has been hard to figure out where...

A Life Well-Lived: Shirley Padgett Lester (1947-2025)

Shirley Padgett Lester of Vinton went to her heavenly reward October 4. Below is the powerful eulogy her daughter Kelly Kiser wrote and calmly...