THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: University of Michigan regulates ‘nice’ speech

The unwary, which includes most of us, should step lively if stumbling onto the campus of the University of Michigan. You might offend by saying "good morning" to someone who is having an awful morning. Your obliviousness to the pain of others would be unforgivable, if not yet illegal. Published February 10, 2015

10 Best Sniper Rifles

Sniper rifles are in use by military and law enforcement groups around the globe. The high powered precision rifles are designed to destroy targets at long range. Here are the world’s best: Published February 10, 2015

EDITORIAL: Obama waiting for Islamic State to attack U.S.

Denial is an effective way for dreamers and incompetents to deal with reality. Left to themselves to dream, incompetents are harmless enough, but they become instruments of debacle and disaster when they're put in charge of anything more complicated than making the coffee or taking out the trash. Published February 9, 2015

EDITORIAL: Colorado study shows risks of marijuana use

Certain Americans have a love-hate relationship with marijuana, and with the pleasure comes the pain. In Colorado, where residents have legalized the euphoria of pot, the unhealthy consequences of it are beginning to emerge. There's a warning for other states in the Rocky Mountain high. Published February 9, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Obama reveals true self at prayer breakfast

When a U.S. president enters the "lame duck" phase of his presidency, one good thing comes of it: the public gets to see who he really is. President Obama proved this at last week's National Prayer Breakfast when he equated slavery, segregation laws, the Inquisition and the atrocities of the Crusades to the actions of the Islamic State ("Obama and the National Prayer Breakfast," Web, Feb. 6). Published February 9, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Honor police, firefighters with national holiday

Currently our law-enforcement and fire-service departments do not have a single national day during which Americans show them we sincerely appreciate their dedicated service. I am proposing a day of appreciation for them, but not a new national holiday to honor both services. During our everyday lives it is these people's duty to protect our person and property from serious hazardous incidents. Over the years they have performed exceedingly well, even going above and beyond in many horrific incidents. The time to honor them is long overdue. Published February 9, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Donald Trump could lead U.S. forward

I read with interest "Mr. Trump buzzes the presidential radar" (Web, Feb. 4) in which Donald Trump came in fifth in a recent Drudge Report presidential poll. What's surprising to me is how, in this post-Romney era, Mr. Trump did not totally dominate the poll with at least 90 percent of the vote. Published February 8, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: More backward Obama priorities

In his latest speech during the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama appeared to be justifying the murderous actions of the Islamic State by comparing the terrorist group to Christians during the Crusades 1,000 years ago. Published February 8, 2015

EDITORIAL: Britain proposal to ban cigarettes logos from packages

The right of a company to sell a can of beans or a bottle of soda pop — or a pack of cigarettes — with trademarks ablaze is a no-brainer in a land of the free. But such freedom invariably makes a nanny's teeth itch. The Conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron in Britain can't resist the urge to scratch that familiar itch. Published February 8, 2015

EDITORIAL: Obama’s unemployment rate lies exposed by reality

Telling lies with statistics is so easy even a politician can do it. An economist named Darrell Huff once wrote a best-seller about it, "How to Lie With Statistics." Harry S. Truman identified three kinds of lies, "lies, damned lies, and statistics." That was more than a half-century ago, and the art and science of prevarication have only been improved through frequent use. Published February 8, 2015

EDITORIAL: Remembering Ronald Reagan

We once celebrated the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in February, until several national holidays were moved to Mondays so federal workers could get more three-day weekends. Then President Richard Nixon ordered that Washington's birthday still be observed on his birthday. Fervor always cools and now most of the states observe something called "President's Day" on the third Monday of the month, presumably even including Chester Alan Arthur and Rutherford B. Hayes. Published February 5, 2015

EDITORIAL: Three-parent baby uncorks unsettling future

The future arrives with such speed as purveyors of science fiction envy. Hence the baby with three parents. Heather can, in fact, have two mommies. Medical science is poised to take a bold step toward a human free of genetic disease, and with it a host of ethical questions about the collateral consequences of the brave new world aborning. Published February 5, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Refresh the GOP

It's time for a new Republican party led by younger, articulate, principled men and women. The current leadership on both sides of the aisle are frankly old fuddy duddies who with their fuzzy thinking have seriously screwed things up. They lost their way long ago. Old feuds and slights between individuals and parties need to be wiped away with this new generation. Published February 5, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fracking becoming mainstream

Thank you for publishing the article "Colorado liberals make peace with fracking, reject emergency moratorium" (Web, Jan. 28). The article was well done and very informative. Published February 5, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Cut off Palestinian Authority

The unwarranted Palestinian Authority effort launched this month in the International Criminal Court accusing Israel of war crimes for defending itself during the recent war in Gaza should bring immediate action from Congress ("Israel faces war by other means," Web, Feb. 1). Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has chosen to ignore all the agreements in the Oslo accords and now in a further step has attempted to delegitimize the Jewish state for responding to Hamas' terrorist attacks in a measured way. Published February 5, 2015

EDITORIAL: Obama’s Alaska oil drilling ban a bad deal for America

When the president announced his ban on oil drilling last month in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, he deprived the nation of access to 30 billion barrels of oil now and took 10 billion barrels of oil from future generations. The trade he offered was meant to help current American energy production efforts. Or so it seemed. Published February 4, 2015

EDITORIAL: Measles outbreak timing matches last year’s border surge

Measles is supposed to be dead and gone from the United States, having been declared "eliminated" by the Centers for Disease Control in 2000. But 15 years later, the disease appears to be back, not yet strongly and so far not with a vengeance. But it's back. Published February 4, 2015

EDITORIAL: ISIS burns Muath al-Kaseasbeh, Obama continues to deny terror threat

When Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was beheaded by ISIS last week, there was wide speculation that Jordanian intervention might spare the life of a second hostage, Moaz al-Kassasbeh, a Jordan Air Force pilot. ISIS militants had captured the pilot when his F-16 crashed in Syria in December during U.S.-led coalition strikes near Raqqa. Published February 3, 2015

EDITORIAL: Chenjerai Kumanyika challenges NPR’s ‘whitness’

The folks at National Public Radio are atwitter, and not just on Twitter, about something big and new for everyone to worry about. Some of the executives, producers, on-air "talent" and even some listeners are worried that "the NPR sound" is "too white." Navels all over the building erupted last week with the broadcast of a commentary by one Chenjerai Kumanyika, "Challenging the Whiteness of Public Radio." Published February 3, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Time FCC reconsidered ATSC mandate

In most any complicated issue, the devil is in the details. That is certainly the case with the continued defense of the ATSC television standard by the patent pool's operator, MPEG LA, which enjoys substantial licensing revenue. Published February 3, 2015