We Asked William Barr Straight Questions. He Gave Crooked Answers.
I have served on the Senate Judiciary Committee for twelve years. I have never witnessed a performance like Attorney General William Barr’s on Wednesday. Here is what I saw. First, his testimony was an astonishing exercise in dissembling. Barr gave a head-spinning explanation of why he did not disclose in House testimony the letter in which […]
Putin and other authoritarians’ corruption is a weapon — and a weakness
Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, the world is once again polarized between two competing visions for how to organize society. On one side are countries such as the United States, which are founded on respect for the inviolable rights of the individual and governed by rule of law. On the other […]
Taxing Carbon Emissions
To the Editor: I must respectfully disagree with my friend John Barrasso’s Op-Ed article (“Cut Carbon Through Innovation, Not Regulation,” nytimes.com, Dec. 18). First, the referendum result in Washington State looked like more relentless campaigning by the fossil fuel industry against climate action; without that industry onslaught, the carbon tax referendum there would probably have passed. […]
Mergers should protect R.I. patients
We both remember when Rhode Island’s major banks were headquartered here in Rhode Island. They kept management decision-making and high-paying jobs in the state while supporting local law firms, accountants, and other service providers. Bank executives provided a strong core of local civic leadership. When the banks merged out of state, it weakened the economic […]
Stop Losing: A Senator’s Battle Plan for Beating the Right
World War II gave us flamboyant American heroes like George Patton and Douglas MacArthur, but Winston Churchill’s favorite American general was the quiet, wise, efficient George C. Marshall, whom he called the “organizer of victory.” Victory has traits. Victory must be organized. Organization requires strategy, preparation, tactics, training, and teamwork. Brave and able troops have […]
Bipartisan bill addresses opioid concerns
Every 25 minutes, a baby is born suffering from withdrawal because the mother is grappling with addiction. These children are heartbreaking victims of an opioid crisis that has taken brutal hold of communities across the country. Rhode Island hospitals, like Women & Infants in Providence, saw the number of babies born into opioid withdrawal nearly […]
The peculiarities of the US financial system make it ideal for money laundering
The lifeblood of criminal enterprises all over the world is revenue. Money fuels terrorists, transnational criminal organizations, and crooked kleptocrats. These criminals need to launder their ill-gotten gains. Although this dirty money often comes from the most corrupt, unstable countries in the world, it often ends up—ironically—in the United States. Why? Partly because we have […]
The Supreme Court must step in: Both major parties are testing American democracy by gerrymandering
In his final months in office, President Ronald Reagan spoke out about the dangers to American democracy of partisan gerrymandering, calling it on one occasion “a great conflict of interest to ask men holding office, elected from districts, to change the lines of that district to fit the new population changes.” Today, nearly 30 […]
Trump is in the back pocket of billionaires
In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said, “We have gone forward with a clear vision and a righteous mission — to make America great again for all Americans.” However, behind the scenes, President Trump is not calling all of the shots. While he golfs and tweets and watches cable news, several […]
Memo on FBI spying a dirty trick
As the president’s and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’s recent actions underscore, there is a concerted effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in U.S. elections and possible obstruction of justice. The FBI and the Justice Department have become targets of dirty tricks. The unfair charges are gutter politics: trashing […]
