Waltz’s foreign policy dance card — Avoid dangerous isolationism

The week after he won the White House, Donald Trump announced his national security advisor. It was 2016 and the pick was Mike Flynn, a man with an oddly pro-Russian worldview who only would last three weeks in the role, having lied to the vice president about talking to the Russians. Flynn was also under investigation for being an unregistered foreign agent. Later convicted of crimes, Flynn was ultimately pardoned by Trump.

Understanding ‘logos’ — The power of words

As the dust settles on another contentious election cycle, Americans are left to ponder the lasting impact of the countless speeches delivered by those vying for our votes. These orations, often derided as mere “campaign rhetoric,” are, in fact, far more profound. They represent a timeless exercise of the ancient concept of “logos” — the art of using words to paint vivid pictures, conjure entire worlds and shape the very course of our nation.

Tuesday’s election showed the democratic system works

Whether Wednesday morning brought jubilation or despair, American voters should agree that the nation’s electoral system worked. President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory came remarkably smoothly on Election Day. While there was some isolated trouble at polling places across the country, voting to a vast degree was orderly, safe and convenient, which should underscore public confidence in the result.

Biowearables are the future of personalized health care

People are hungry for information about their bodies. Nearly one-third of Americans don smartwatches and other wearable technology to measure things such as step counts, calories burned and heart rate, according to research published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.

San Francisco uses the ocean as its toilet and wants to flush a key environmental law

San Francisco has long used the Pacific Ocean as its toilet. In heavy rains, the city on the hill cannot store all the storm runoff and sewage that flows toward an oceanside treatment plant in a single old pipe, so some heads out to sea. Now, in a case with national implications, San Francisco is hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will allow it to pollute the ocean on occasion without violating the federal Clean Water Act.

What Lincoln can tell us about MAGA

Something is clearly happening with Donald Trump. Even a year ago, I don’t think he would have begun a rally with 12 minutes of rambling remarks about late golfer Arnold Palmer, concluding with a discussion of the size of Palmer’s penis.

Ticking down — The states take aim at TikTok

Last week, 14 state attorneys general, including New York AG Tish James, sued the social media platform TikTok for allegedly damaging young users’ mental health and collecting information about them with its service in violation of state and federal laws.

Hey, big spenders — Trump’s plans bust the federal budget

The Republican Party is the party of fiscal responsibility? It’s been a laughable idea ever since presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush have pushed massive, unpaid-for, deficit-ballooning tax cuts skewed to deliver the biggest benefits to the wealthiest among us.