COMMENTARY

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Obama's 'Katrina moment'

Obama's 'Katrina moment'

It has been a rough week or so for the Obama administration. From Benghazi to the tapping of reporters' phones to the IRS admitting that it targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny, the press...

 
Scandals put presidential credibility on the line

Scandals put presidential credibility on the line

When the storm of administration scandals first hit President Barack Obama, he offered a good impersonation of Claude Raines in "Casablanca," expressing shock that gambling was going on in Rick's...

Spying on journalists

Was it appropriate for the Justice Department to tap AP journalists' phones in pursuing a leak investigation?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Not sure

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Bad faith and Benghazi

Bad faith and Benghazi

"Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference -- at this point, what difference does it make?"

Why education should be considered a civil right

Why education should be considered a civil right

I recently spoke at a seminar at Harvard on the theme of education as a civil right. Among other things, the seminar conveyed the urgency as well as the intractability of the problem of low college completion rates for certain groups of young people in our society.

A new day for Maryland moms

A new day for Maryland moms

Mothers are very important people. They give us hugs and kisses; they put Band-Aids on our wounds; they hide special notes in our lunch boxes. They're so special and important that they even get their own day. Today, my two brothers — Matthew and Jacob — and I will celebrate our...

A better way for Towson to get around

A better way for Towson to get around

Downtown Towson is on the cusp of a building boom that will transform this suburban county seat into one of the most dynamic, cosmopolitan communities in Maryland.

Benghazi: The Obama spin continues

Benghazi: The Obama spin continues

"Bumps in the road." — President Barack Obama on the unrest in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East that included the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, an information officer, and two Navy SEALS.

Taxing Internet sales

Taxing Internet sales

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton signed the bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibited state and local taxation of Internet access and Internet-only services, the purpose was to promote the commercial potential of the Internet, especially for start-ups and small businesses. Congress...

Should we continue to be the indispensable nation?

Should we continue to be the indispensable nation?

In Hillary Clinton's farewell remarks in February on stepping down as President Barack Obama's secretary of state, she echoed one of her predecessors, Madeleine Albright, declaring America to be "the indispensable nation."

Save public input to help save the environment

Save public input to help save the environment

When first proposed about a decade ago, it seemed like a promising means to revive the Chesapeake Bay's devastated oyster crop: Bring in Chinese oysters, which are impervious to the diseases killing the native stock and also grow faster. If successful, the plan would resurrect an oyster industry...

In testing-dominated system, real learning comes outside the classroom

In testing-dominated system, real learning comes outside the classroom

It's Teacher Appreciation Week, the standardized testing season has mostly ended in the public schools this year — and what have we learned? Parents have learned that their first-graders are developing test anxiety. Teachers have learned that they need to tell parents to accept the fact that...

One-party rule in Maryland exacerbates jail scandal

One-party rule in Maryland exacerbates jail scandal

The evil that comes from a one-party state could not be more glaring than in the wake of the federal indictments over the corruption in the state-run Baltimore City Detention Center.

EDITORIALS

Smith Island denial

Even the most jaded observer must acknowledge there's something admirable about the desire of so many living on Smith Island to see their community survive and prosper. Residents of this marshy (and shrinking in both population and real estate) archipelago on the lower Eastern Shore have had to...

Baltimore's new downtown

Harbor East is moving farther east with baker-cum-developer John Paterakis Sr.'s announcement Friday that he will break ground this summer on a new, mega-Whole Foods and later on a new residential/retail building across Central Avenue from the glittering mini-city he has almost single handedly built...

The newest thing in Maryland horse racing: optimism

The Kentucky Derby winner and oddsmakers' favorite for the Preakness Stakes isn't exactly a Maryland horse, but he's close — Orb is partially owned by a Baltimore County businessman, and his sire spent some time in Harford County. Attendance at Saturday's races might or might not set an all-...

Taxing the tea party

Loyal readers of this page are likely aware that we have not been great supporters of the tea party movement. Too often, we have found those anti-tax crusaders who call themselves tea party patriots are simply rebranded John Birch Society members of an earlier time with all the extremist anti-...

Alcohol and traffic deaths

The entire undergraduate student bodies of the Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Naval Academy combined. The population of Bel Air, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The average attendance at a Hershey Bears hockey game (the highest in the AHL).

Maryland's model for gun regulation

Tomorrow, Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to sign into law the most comprehensive gun control legislation Maryland has seen in at least 25 years, a bill that will not only help guard against a mass shooting incident, like December's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but will also help fight the...

School reform 2.0

With city schools CEO Andrés Alonso's announcement last week that he is stepping down at the end of this school year, Baltimore finds itself in the market for a new leader who can continue and expand upon the reforms he instituted. Whoever succeeds Mr. Alonso will have a hard act to follow,...

Baltimore's noble but flawed hiring bill

On the face of it, City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young's local hiring bill sounds eminently reasonable. When Baltimore spends its residents' tax dollars, why shouldn't it do so in a way that supports hiring city residents, particularly considering the high rate of unemployment here?...

Stopping the cellphones that foster jailhouse corruption

Gov. Martin O'Malley's announcement of several actions he is taking to combat jailhouse corruption in the wake of the Black Guerrilla Family scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center is a positive step. It certainly would have instilled more confidence in the public if it had been his first...