When the present pope adopted his regnal name, he explained the choice by reference to a 19th-century predecessor who used the papacy to address the great social question of his time.  In the 1891 encyclical,…

The August vote on Kansas Supreme Court justice selection will affect the course of our shared government and civic life for an age. That sounds like a big, overarching statement, but it has the benefit…

The U.S. Navy says it plans to buy 15 hulking “battleships” over the next 30 years. The number of such behemoths it actually needs comes closer to zero. The sooner Congress recognizes that fact, the…

If I had a 17-year-old, I’d see that they register to vote.  In Kansas, teenagers can register to vote now if they will be 18 by Election Day, Nov. 3.  It’s easy-peasy. Forms are  available…

Four years into the full-scale war, the world’s most capable militaries are coming to Ukraine to buy weapons. Ukraine and the Pentagon are moving to finalize a deal that would send Ukrainian-made drones to the…

Once in power, party members often develop an affliction called Myopic Fog. The condition presents as a compulsion to rewrite institutional rules. Common symptoms include electoral law manipulation, fixation on short-term advantage, and habitual overreaching.  Consider…

For decades there have been disagreements among constitutional scholars about whether a president can pardon himself. But Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, just gave President Trump something even better: pre-emptive exoneration from all potential…

While strolling through Denver Botanic Gardens this spring, I noticed a memorial bench with a curious bronze plaque inscription: “Marilyn Hickle Shaw — “All mushrooms are edible … some only once.” Did Marilyn actually die…

On April 26, 1986, the world experienced the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history: the explosion and fire of reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.  The accident was caused…

District court clerks are the workhorses of the state’s court system. They handle the bulk of the court’s day-to-day work and interact frequently with the public. They are good people doing good and often difficult…