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PUBLISHED: May 18, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com Delighting in one of the most awe-inspiring and exhilarating events of the year, tens of thousands of spectators attended a rainy Pimlico on Saturday, the site for the 149th Preakness Stakes. With a complex history that attracts both enthusiasts and newcomers alike, the Preakness, which was named after the winner of the Dinner Party Stakes in 1873, serves as the second leg of the Triple Crown. Maryland’s illustrious horse racing heritage is honored at the Preakness, which features the nation’s fastest thoroughbreds and most exquisite accommodations. “The Preakness is one of the highlights of the year, not just for the thundering hooves and heart-stopping finishes, but for the camaraderie and traditions that bring so many people from across the state and country together,” said legendary horse trainer, Bob Baffert. Gov. Wes Moore and first lady Dawn Moore were in attendance at the Preakness. The governor had recently signed legislation that would authorize Maryland to utilize $400 million in state bonds for the purpose of reconstructing the aged Pimlico Racecourse and transferring ownership to a state-operated, nonprofit organization. According to the state’s strategy, the Preakness will undergo a temporary relocation to Laurel Park in 2026 for the duration of the new facility’s construction, before returning to Pimlico in 2027. All eyes were on the horse that finished first in the Kentucky Derby, Mystik Dan. The photo finish in which Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Derby by a hair left supporters eager for more. Triple crown victories have not been witnessed at Thoroughbred Racing since 2018, when Justify and jockey Mike Smith won all three trophies. Unfortunately, Mystik Dan took second place in the Preakness Stakes, crushing the chances of a Triple Crown win in 2024. This year marked the return of renowned racehorse trainer Bob Baffert, who trained Justify, 2018 Triple Crown champion, and American Pharoah, the horse that ended an almost four-decade stretch of no Triple Crown winners. The hall-of-fame trainer has an extensive track record of producing successful horses, including a record-setting six Kentucky Derby victories, eight Preakness Stakes victories and three Belmont Stakes victories. This year, however, he did not race a triple crown contender. A controversial and widely publicized suspension befell Baffert in 2021, subsequent to the disqualification of his Kentucky Derby-winning horse Medina Spirit, for failing a drug test. Baffert denied the allegations but was suspended nonetheless. Of course, with every horse-racing event there must also be betting. Bettors from around the world and racetrack spectators wager tens of millions of dollars on the Preakness and the other Triple Crown races annually. Some remember the infamous outage that occurred at the Preakness in 1998, which prevented 91,000 spectators from placing bets, resulting in nearly $2.5 million in lost wagers for the racetrack. The atmosphere at Pimlico this year was electrifying, with roaring crowds cheering non-stop for the entirety of the event. From the first race all the way through the Preakness Stakes, there was no shortage of energy, laughter and fun. At the owner’s Chalet 2 suite, scores of celebrities and politicians — including Belinda Stronach, Gov. Wes and First Lady Dawn Moore, Mayor Brandon Scott , former and current Ravens Ray Lewis and Lamar Jackson, and record executive Kevin Liles — mixed and mingled as they watched their favorite horses prepare for glory; having fun, discussing life, meeting new and friendly faces, and celebrating together when they won. The Preakness Stakes is unmatched by any other racing event. It is a moment where heroes triumph, legends are made, and history is etched in stone before an electrifying crowd. And beyond the race, the Preakness is a reminder to us all that we can form deep connections around our shared love for competition and the beauty of tradition. Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

PUBLISHED: May 15, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com I salute Mayor Brandon Scott’s victory over former Mayor Sheila Dixon in the Democratic primary election, a de facto general election win in heavily Democratic Baltimore. The electrifying purpose of elections is not to win or lose, but to ensure that the people’s voice is heard and respected. One person, one vote; not one dollar, one vote. Thomas Jefferson elaborated, “The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris parties [the will of the majority] is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights; to consider the will of the society announced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt.” After a vigorous campaign in which competing arguments were on the table, Mayor Scott prevailed to win a second term by the consent of the governed. His post-electoral remarks bespoke a magnanimity and forward-looking resolve atypical of politicians. Mr. Scott is a mayor that Baltimore residents and the nation can be proud of. Mr. Scott ran no victory laps before the voting on May 14. Ms. Dixon attracted the support of key political figures, including an 11th hour endorsement of one-time mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, and Baltimore Sheriff Sam Cogen. Baltimore voters, however, are renowned for thinking for themselves unswayed by the glitterati. Mayor Scott confronts knotty challenges: crime, education, drug abuse and poverty. These are not unique to Baltimore and have plagued the city for many years.  There are no easy answers. As Baltimore’s acerbic sage H.L. Mencken quipped, “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” The Baltimore City Public School System has plunged below the suboptimal. Among other deficiencies are ghost students, grade manipulation, unjustified grade promotions and violence. Mayor Scott’s administration will be tasked with inspiring students to cherish reading and writing more than a Taylor Swift album or the awesome play of the Orioles and Ravens. Diagramming sentences should be a staple of classroom instruction. Athletic prowess should be subservient to communication skills. Baltimore’s literary giant Edgar Allan Poe should be celebrated and studied more than storied Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas. Students who master the arts of communicating or advocacy with brevity and Homer-like metaphors will succeed in any professional endeavor on which they embark. Crime disproportionately inflicts misery on the poor and underprivileged. Crime fighting is a community endeavor pivoting on trust and collaboration between police and citizens. Prosecutions fail without willing witnesses. And witnesses shy from testifying if they are not safeguarded from retaliation by criminal gangs. The police must respect citizens, and citizens must respect the police. “Freedom is participation in power,” Roman statesmen Cicero advised. In democracies, participation comes in large measure through voting. On that score, the May 14 voter turnout was disturbing. Only 20% of eligible Baltimore Democrats turned out to vote in the mayoral primary, a vertical fall from four years ago. Billions of people in unfree countries like China, Russia, Iran or North Korea crave opportunities to vote in free and fair elections for their rulers. Mayor Scott has earned applause for his victory.  But the citizens of Baltimore are equally praiseworthy for their unwearied devotion to law, civility and morality through the many vicissitudes of life. Everyone is a winner when government, by the consent of the governed, is venerated and honored. Two thousand years ago in the civilized world, the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum, I am a Roman citizen.  Let it be said that under Mayor Scott’s leadership, the proudest boast among cities will soon be “I am a citizen of Baltimore.” Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

PUBLISHED: May 11, 2024 | thebrunswicknews.com American college campuses are permeated with corrupted professors who themselves corrupt students. Without a doubt, college professors are the most dangerous people in America. They’re not dangerous because they challenge the status quo or encourage their students to think critically. On the contrary, they are dangerous because they encourage impressionable young college students to adhere to the doctrines of the professors they choose without giving them the chance to meaningfully challenge those doctrines. During the recent pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas protests on elite college campuses, thousands of students put up tents on private property, commandeered university-owned buildings, defaced private property and chanted disturbing, antisemitic rhetoric. But while we constantly talk about the actions of the students, we fail to recognize that these students aren’t alone but instead are educated and cheered on by their college professors. At Columbia University, many of the university’s professors joined the protests, donning orange reflective vests and standing alongside students in protest of Israel and — apparently — in support of the students’ right to free speech. Of course, these professors, like their students, are not constitutional scholars, yet they teach their students that what they’re doing is protected. The First Amendment does not protect the right to vandalize or trespass on private property, which is what these students were doing, or even make terroristic threats or aid a terrorist organization, which arguably many of these students did. The very idea that there were professors aiding the students in their illegal takeover of the university should sound alarm bells. Even in the face of the professors’ statements and actions, which were to the effect of “we support our students’ right to protest,” no rights were being violated. But you can be absolutely sure the impressionable college students seeing their actions and reading their statements feel more emboldened than ever and as though they were the ones wronged, not the scores of Jewish students who were barred from campus nor the many impoverished students unable to access the now-closed dining halls. There can be no doubt left now that students who witnessed their professors, people of great authority and respect to them, supporting a protest that resulted in the unprovoked stabbing of a Jewish woman in the eye with a Palestinian flag, chants of “death to America” and “globalize the intifada” (a violent uprising in which more than a thousand Israelis were murdered in the early 2000s), students claiming “we are Hamas,” and a significant number of students donning Hamas militant headbands will think any violence or violent rhetoric on their part is somehow justified. Look no further than the case of Russell Rickford, an associate history professor at Cornell University, who took a leave of absence after openly stating that the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks were “exhilarating” and “energizing.” He was seen back on campus, protesting in solidarity with the students and speaking in support of the students and Palestine. Why should a student feel afraid of being suspended — or even expelled — when a professor of the institution who met a similar fate is back on campus voicing his support of Palestine? One thing any college student — particularly one who challenges authority — will learn is that when that authority (the professor, the administration or even the student body) is overwhelmingly liberal, questioning dogma is a recipe for failure and being labeled an outcast. For a college student, a bad grade can make or break their college career, which, to college students, is the most immediately important thing in their life. Giving a college professor the ability to judge a student more harshly because they disagree or even simply question the professors’ beliefs is the perfect recipe for indoctrination. Let’s be clear, college professors should not be feared; they should be respected when they earn that respect, same as anyone else. The only power they wield is the title they were given by their institution — a title that can be quickly stripped away from them. To college students, these professors are the most academically accomplished people they know, so they follow them mindlessly; that’s why they are dangerous. Well-educated people are often the least intelligent. They are so confident in their ability to think critically that they have successfully convinced themselves that they can do no wrong. It is only when students have an honest professor who understands their fallibility that they can truly learn. Armstrong Williams is a conservative columnist and nationally syndicated radio host.

PUBLISHED: May 12, 2024 |www.baltimoresun.com Ralph Ellison wrote “Invisible Man” 72 years ago in 1952. But there is a modern parallel: Invisible Voters. They are the underclass that remains impoverished in drug- and crime-infested neighborhoods and schools. Election after election changes nothing, irrespective of extravagant campaign promises. The “war on poverty” has always received minuscule funding compared with the multi-trillion-dollar military-industrial security complex. Ponder this shocking fact: We spent more than $300 million per day for 20 successive years on that fool’s errand in Afghanistan, all to return a grislier version of the Taliban to power. Those wasted $2 trillion dollars could have ended poverty in America. But sadly, we salute power and killing more than wisdom, benevolence and compassion. The Bible teaches reverence and respect for the poor.  “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20); “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). But politics is a far cry from religion. In politics, the poor and underprivileged labor under severe handicaps. They lack the resources to make handsome campaign contributions or retain $2,000 per hour lobbyists to buy access and influence in the corridors of power. They lack the networks necessary to climb professional ladders based on personal connections. They lack the celebrity needed to attract attention and unbutton ears. But their disproportionate reliance on the government for their welfare means they are stuck, because the government seldom, if ever, delivers. Candidates routinely win elections without attracting or energizing the poor. Have you ever heard of an election lost because of underclass votes? In 1962, Michael Harrington published “The Other America.” Since then, we have fought an ostensible war on poverty without victory.  The other America remains a blight on our democratic republic. So what is the answer?  Our deliverance — America’s deliverance — is education, education, and more education to emancipate the poor from dependency upon unreliable government. That’s where funding should be directed, more than any other endeavor. Education is the meal ticket to success.  As the proverb goes, give a man a fish and you give him one meal. Teach him to fish and you give him a lifetime of nourishment. Birth into poverty is not an insurmountable barrier. Frederick Douglass became a towering intellect and journalist through his own efforts — an autodidact. Abraham Lincoln lacked any formal education, yet composed the masterful Gettysburg Address that will live for the ages. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery and climbed to the top of success in founding the Tuskegee Institute, where he passed on his learning to new generations. President Barack Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review. The Digital Age has made it vastly easier today to gain instant, costless access to the greatest thinking and discovering in the history of the world — just with a laptop. This is an opportunity for a cost-free, Ivy League-level (or come to think of it, better!) education for those willing to invest the intellectual labor. It is a matter of choice, not inheritance. As Thomas Edison advised, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” So let’s sweat some “human capital,” the greatest national security and economic asset of any nation. Human capital will triumph on any battlefield — social and cultural, as well as military.  We should thus create generous financial incentives for education through tax credits, vouchers and scholarships. This can be done without financial stringencies by redirecting a fraction of the trillions of dollars spent on the military-industrial-security state. We should have congressional and presidential medals of intellectual accomplishment, including one of the greatest accomplishments of all — teaching. We should celebrate reading, writing and ‘rithmetic throughout the year. And oh yes, that fourth “r,” respect. We should respect Socrates, Aristotle, Francis Bacon — and of course, Frederick and Booker T. — over warriors like Alexander the Great, Napoleon or William the Conqueror. Invisible voters must become both visible and vocal to spark such a revolution in education. They must vote for candidates who promise and deliver not a hand-out, but an educational helping hand. Change will take time because of fierce opposition from vested interests, like teacher’s unions and lavishly paid government administrators. A revolutionary educational journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. The time to take the first step is now. Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun. This column is part of a weekly series written from “The Owner’s Box.”

PUBLISHED: May 7, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com On a public safety community walk in Baltimore Tueday, Gov. Wes Moore said he intends to sign the long-anticipated juvenile justice bill that Maryland leadership hopes will put an end to the excess of criminal activity committed by juveniles. The bill, which was unveiled by Maryland’s legislative leaders this winter, garnered support from several key legal figures, including Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy. When asked about his becoming a law and order governor, Moore told me, “I think people should pay attention to what we said from our first days, when I said public safety was going to be the top priority for this administration, and we were serious about that.” The bill incorporates critical provisions that are anticipated to close major loopholes, thereby preventing juveniles from continuing to commit crimes without consequence. Critical provisions of the bill include the requirement for law enforcement to file a complaint with the Department of Juvenile Services in cases where a child, who is less than 13 years old at the time, commits a crime that “results in the death of a victim.” Additionally, the bill grants juvenile court the authority to grant probation extensions for children accused of misdemeanor offenses, up to one year, from the current duration of six months. Furthermore, in cases where a juvenile has committed a felony offense, the judge will have the authority to increase the probationary period by two years, up to four years, as opposed to the current one-year maximum. The bill’s provisions seem to directly contradict the progressive policies championed by embattled Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi. Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, a key voice in the debate, told me, “Having spent many hours talking to the governor about what’s going on in the juvenile system, [I know] that he is committed to fixing DJS, and he will do what needs to be done.” To many in Maryland, the signing of this bill is a critical step forward in securing the state’s future. The overarching sentiment is that, while many youths are capable of being saved, others remain unsalvageable. This legislation seems intended to strike a balance by ensuring a promising future for those young individuals who are amenable to rehabilitation, while also impeding the ability of those who appear content with relegating themselves to a life of criminal activity — including murderers and carjackers — to do so. “I want to be clear,” Governor Moore said to me, “we want to come up with the right type of thing where we have accountability for people who are breaking the law, particularly repeat violent offenders, but the answer isn’t that ‘let’s find a way to incarcerate every child,’ we want to make sure that we’re educating every child, supporting every child, supporting the families that the children are existing in. But there’s got to be accountability.” Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

PUBLISHED: May 8, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com Over the past several decades, the United States has seen a rise in power of the transgender movement. Once a small subset of the gay rights movement, it has now become mainstream and embraced by the left. As a result, the question “Can you define the word ‘woman’?” has become politicized. The roots of the modern transgender movement in America can be traced back to 1952, when Christine Jorgensen publicly announced that she had physically transitioned from male to female through gender reassignment surgery, turning her into an overnight celebrity.  The next year, the film “Glen or Glenda” debuted, with a promotional poster proclaiming: “I changed my sex!” In 1960, California chemist Virginia Prince launched a bi-monthly magazine titled Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress; it published for the next 25 years. Following the launch of Transvestia, the transgender movement experienced rapid expansion, as did awareness of it. In 1966, a group of trans women confronted police in a San Francisco cafe in response to perceived harassment, leading to a riot that spilled into the streets. Three years later, more riots erupted, this time in New York’s Stonewall Inn, with trans activist Marsha Johnson playing a pivotal role in the resistance. In the 1970s, Minneapolis outlawed discrimination against transgender people, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a transgender woman was eligible to play as female in the U.S. Open. In the 1980s, “gender identity disorder” was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), though the term was changed to “gender dysphoria” in the 2010s. Today, the term transgender is widely known, and the left has adopted it as a social cause, even though only 1.6% of adults in America assert that they are transgender or nonbinary, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. Younger adults within that group are most likely to identify as something other than their sex assigned at birth, with 5.1% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 saying they are trans or nonbinary. Despite the small number of transgender persons in the United States, the movement has permeated many facets of life. This can be attributed to changing education environments in classrooms and social media, among other factors. The “marked incongruence between their experienced or expressed gender and the one they were assigned at birth” is how the DSM defines gender dysphoria. Its cause remains unknown, and it does not have an agreed-upon course of treatment. The term “gender dysphoria,” has itself become a subject of political controversy. In some classrooms across the country, educators are raising LGBTQ flags and teaching students in the elementary age range that one’s designated gender at birth may not always reflect their true identity. Such a serious injustice necessitates immediate rectification and reform. Students in elementary school have limited knowledge regarding sexuality. Being informed that they could be a different gender is confusing to them, and, worse, it could influence them. It is worth noting that research, albeit controversial, has shown that as many as 94% of children who experience gender dysphoria eventually grow out of it and opt not to identify as transgender in their adult lives. However, according to the Trevor Project, a national organization dedicated to preventing suicide among LGBTQ youth, around 60% of transgender youth experience symptoms of depression and 70% experience anxiety. Depression affects the general population at a much lower rate of approximately 5-6%, according to the World Health Organization. In addition, around 0.5% of the general population in the U.S. has attempted suicide, according to the National Survey of Drug Use and Mental Health. Meanwhile, nearly half of transgender youth have considered suicide and nearly 20% have attempted it. The first question we must ask is: What is this depression caused by? Could it be, like the media would have you believe, that transgender rights are persistently violated? Of course not. On the contrary, transgender people are thriving. They are protected by numerous state laws, and they are often given more protections by schools than many other classes of students. Of course, we can’t forget drag story time, where libraries throughout the country invite males dressed in women’s attire to read books to children. It is absolutely unnecessary to expose children to males flamboyantly dressed in women’s clothing in order for them to hear stories. The mind of a child is sacred and must not be exposed to these sorts of things. It can corrupt the mind and may lead innocent children down the road of gender dysphoria and ultimately depression. Tragically, transgenderism has compromised the rights of biological women. Undoubtedly, women continue to advocate for equality in the United States as they face significant disparities in the workforce and in public life. However, prior to the complete realization of gender equality for women, transgenderism emerged and complicated the situation. As a result, males are now beating women in all aspects of life. Do you recall in 2015, when Caitlyn Jenner was named one of Glamour Magazine’s “Women of the Year”? The recipient of that award was not a woman who had struggled her entire life to be a woman in a world dominated by men. The recipient was a biological male formerly known as Bruce. Likewise, transgenderism has entered the realm of athletics. Unsurprisingly, biological males identifying as transgender have emerged victorious in athletic competitions against biological women on a multitude of occasions. Biological men have won significant accolades against biological women in swimming, golf  and even weightlifting, the sport that exemplifies strength disparities. Men who have undergone the “transition” from male to female are often found to have been mediocre, at best, among their male counterparts, but they prove superior when they begin competing against women. How about sex changes for minors? It should be obvious that the notion that a confused child should undertake surgical gender transition from their biological sex to an alternative gender is utterly absurd and repugnant to the average person. However, 54% of Americans oppose legislation that criminalizes providing medical care for gender transition to minors. Both science and common sense support the notion that it is not until the mid-to-late 20s, that the brain reaches complete maturity and development. This is the reason why children often engage in foolish behavior without contemplating the repercussions and why a contract formed by a child is deemed void in legal terms. Yet, when it comes to transgenderism, all of that goes out the window and delusion seems to take over. The facts are quite simple: Men are not women, and women are not men. This is the reality that everyone on Earth must face. Those who experience gender dysphoria need treatment, not encouragement in their confusion. For too long, America has allowed itself to be divided and degraded along lines of common sense by the transgender movement. Unless those with rational minds lose their reluctance to opine on the matter, the utter insanity of the the transgender movement will, like a cancer, continue to persist. Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

PUBLISHED: May 5, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com The United States Constitution was ordained by “We the People” on Sept. 17, 1787.  Emerging from the signing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, delegate and statesman Dr. Benjamin Franklin was accosted by intellectual socialite Elizabeth Willing. She inquired with animation, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin retorted, “A republic — if you can keep it.” Keeping it is hard work. Narcissistic sociopaths gravitate to politics. With rare exceptions to be counted on one hand with fingers left over, politicians are preoccupied with acquiring and retaining power for the sake of power. It provides them with artificial self-esteem to fill philosophically empty souls. Henry Adams observed, “Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.” The lust for power is insatiable. It never sleeps. Citizens must exercise eternal vigilance over their government servants to prevent the republic from degenerating into a de facto monarchy crowned with limitless power. James Madison, father of the Constitution, explained in Federalist 51: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.” We the People are saddled with a duty to police elected officials not only on polling day but on all days in between. Citizen inertia or indolence is irresponsible. Under the First Amendment, we enjoy the right to petition government officials for a redress of grievances via mail, email, phone calls, text messages, in-person visits, marches, or demonstrations.  Do not underestimate your influence. I know.  I have served in congressional offices.  Members pay close attention to thoughtful and informed arguments and the actions of engaged constituents.  The landmark civil rights laws of the 1960s were more the handiwork of citizen boycotts and marching in the streets than trailblazing by Members of Congress.  The latter followed the lead of citizens, not vice versa. Republican government requires politically informed citizens. You must follow what your representatives are doing or saying via newspapers, the internet, C-Span, the Congressional Record or otherwise. In the Digital Age, there is no excuse for citizen cluelessness of their representatives. You should demand that they explain every vote in committee or on the floor of the House and Senate, and respond to any critique or questions you raise. They work for you, not the other way around.  You should demand town hall meetings to question your representatives in person, with no filters. You should consider running for office yourself after mastering the Constitution and the office’s duties and prerogatives. At present, the quality of elected officials is appalling. We desperately need candidates without ulterior motives but committed to keeping the republic. You cannot escape politics even if that is your hope. Pericles admonished, “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” If all candidates are objectionable, write in an alternative to show that you are politically engaged but are casting a vote of no confidence across the board. It will be a signal to would-be candidates to enter the arena to attract informed citizens. You should organize teach-ins led by expert speakers on what government is doing right and wrong and what alternate courses of action are available. As Mr. Madison advised, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” But where are we today?  An editorial in the Wall Street Journal titled “James Madison Weeps” (Sept. 19, 2017) recounted the epidemic of First Amendment illiteracy among college students. Among American adults, only a small fraction can identify the three branches of the United States Government. To be honest, at present, speaking to citizens about the Constitution is like reading Shakespeare to cows. “The government you elect is the government you deserve,” Thomas Jefferson maintained. When it comes to keeping the republic, the buck stops with us. And we are failing. The republic is on life support. Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun. This column is part of a weekly series written from “The Owner’s Box.”

PUBLISHED: May 1, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com Baltimore will soon decide whether Democratic Mayor Brandon Scott deserves four more years. The decision could be swayed by a move Wednesday by former deputy attorney general Thiru Vignarajah, a late entrant in the Democratic primary. His is a tale of rare political selflessness. Some early dismissed Vignarajah as a featherweight candidate. But in just three short months, Vignarajah parachuted into the role of potential kingmaker. On Wednesday, he dropped out of the race, endorsing competitor Sheila Dixon in the process, providing her with a tailwind. It is a headwind for the incumbent Scott, who is nonetheless a formidable candidate. The mayoral race remains too close to call, with a recent poll by The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 and the University of Baltimore finding support for Scott and Dixon neck and neck at 38% and 35% respectively — within the margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 points. Vignarajah’s endorsement could make the difference. In the same poll, Vignarajah had 10% of the voters’ support, with his fans saying overwhelmingly that Dixon was their next choice. Whatever the outcome, Vignarajah has elevated the political discourse of the campaigning. The choice to exit was painful. Vignarajah speaks to the people of Baltimore with animation, eloquence and profundity. He expounds on universal pre-K, free college, slashing property taxes and opposition to Harborplace with signature clarity and persuasiveness. Two years ago, Vignarajah placed second in the state attorney’s race (edging out Marilyn Mosby) with 30% of the vote, winning a significant number of the city’s predominantly Black precincts. In the mayoral race, he significantly raised his profile and support among white voters, but displayed the courage and judgment to realize it was not yet his turn. Vignarajah has singlehandedly proven the viability of public financing in Baltimore, raising over $600,000 in just 12 weeks — more than his two main opponents combined. Notwithstanding his enviable political assets, he stepped aside for Ms. Dixon. He is a politician right out of central casting, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He’s an immigrant and son of Baltimore City public school teachers. From local public schools, he attended Yale University and Harvard Law School. He was elected president of the Harvard Law Review and was a law clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court. With this pedigree, Vignarajah has had countless doors open for him. But, as he said on the campaign trail, Vignarajah returned home to serve. He was a formidable federal and city prosecutor, never lost a trial, and was named a deputy attorney general of Maryland in his mid-30s. Vignarajah then moved to the private sector as a litigation partner at DLA Piper (Baltimore’s oldest law firm and today one of the world’s largest), was later named CEO of one of the country’s largest community development financial institutions and now is managing partner of the Baltimore office of one of the nation’s largest civil rights firms. Despite his luster, Vignarajah’s prior political runs have been thwarted by well-financed ad hominem campaigns run by PACs and opponents. They screamed that he was an excessively demanding and abusive supervisor with poor judgment. In this race, Vignarajah acknowledged difficult times and real mistakes, but emphasized his growing maturity through professional development and personal counseling. To err is human. To confess error is divine. When he endorsed Ms. Dixon, Vignarajah explained that redemption is a journey not an epiphany. He discerned in her a public servant seeking redemption through public service. But his support for Dixon was a vote of no confidence in her resilient opponent. By suspending his campaign, Vignarajah exhibited the selflessness that Baltimore dearly needs.  Too many politicians are driven by ulterior motives. I am confident that with his many talents, Vignarajah will soon be back on Baltimore’s political stage with a second act more exciting and dashing than the first. Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

PUBLISHED: April 29, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com At the American Music Awards In 2009, hip-hop mogul Jay-Z famously countered rapper 50 Cent, who had been taking public shots at him, with the now legendary words: “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t,” referring to his rival’s music sales. Numbers similarly discredit Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s crime reduction promises and assertions. Among other things, he pledged to slash homicides and shootings by 15% each year during his four-year term, a goal he met only once in his first three years. The question is: Are Mayor Brandon Scott’s misleading crime messages unwitting or intentional? During his first year, homicides and shootings increased. In the second year, the numbers remained flat. In 2023, his third year, numbers showed a plunge in homicides and shootings.  But who deserves the credit? Some say U.S. Attorney Erek Barron’s “Al Capone” style of prosecution on the federal level is responsible. Others credit State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, who entered office promising prison terms for illegally possessing firearms. But only rank partisans credit Mayor Scott, who took office in December 2020.Moreover, while homicides and shootings fell in 2023, many other categories of crime jumped in neighborhoods across the city, according to my analysis of Baltimore City Police Department data, including rape, aggravated assault, auto theft and burglary. Baltimore residents do not feel safe, according to opinion polls — including one released this month by The Sun, Fox45 and the University of Baltimore — regardless of the rhetoric Mayor Scott and his cronies continue to spout. Baltimore police numbers show a jump in crime in 221 of the 278 neighborhoods that make up Charm City. Only 46 neighborhoods witnessed crime reduction, while crime remained level in 11. Auto theft in Baltimore rocketed 133% in one year alone.  Mayor Scott’s ballyhooed redevelopment area around the Inner Harbor hosted 2,154 reported violent and quality-of-life crimes in the past two years. In Scott’s backyard of East Baltimore, communities such as Belair-Edison saw a 109% increase in property crime over the past year, while neighborhoods such as Berea — a tight-knit African American community — witnessed auto thefts increase by 675%. Little Italy and other historic areas witnessed a 500% climb in auto thefts and a 118% hike in violent crime during the last year. No neighborhood is safe, including communities represented by some of the city’s most influential politicians.

PUBLISHED: April 28, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com The decay in American education is an alarming national security threat. Many high school or college graduates know little more than their sexual orientation or Taylor Swift’s juvenile lyrics and strutting. They are unable to write a single, succinct, evocative sentence, like the magnificence of a “rosy-fingered dawn.” They could not pass the civics test required for naturalization. They do not know the fundamentals of citizen duties, including informed voting and participation in politics, eternal vigilance over their government servants, and petitioning for redress of grievances. They do not know the majestic, inspiring gospel of the Declaration of Independence. They do not know the United States Constitution or the separation of powers, its crown jewel finding expression in judicial review. They do not know The Federalist Papers, the greatest assemblage of political wisdom in the history of mankind. They do not know President George Washington’s Farewell Address or President Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address, both warning against the bane of extreme partisanship. Parents should be complaining about what’s not in school libraries and classrooms more than what is there. They do not know the unhappy history of the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Missouri Compromise, the Trail of Tears or Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America.” They have not mastered the Bible, the Holy Koran, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucius, Seneca or Epicurus. They are clueless about Aristophanes, Sophocles, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Plutarch, Chaucer, Shakespeare, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, John Donne, John Milton, Samuel Johnson, Balzac, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass and countless other literary giants. Parents should be complaining about what’s not in school libraries and classrooms more than what is there.  Indeed, if education was made vastly more demanding in reading, writing and arithmetic, there would be no school time remaining to squander on obscenity or sexual orientation. The survival of the United States is more and more a race between education and ignorance. Many in the new generation are incapable of self-government. They do not understand the importance of process over personality.  They are easily swayed by demagogues because their cerebral faculties have left their innate hormonal urges undomesticated. They are lonely, feel worthless, lack faith and believe in little beyond themselves. They crave being part of a cult more than marching to their own drummers. and searching for truth without ulterior motives and acting accordingly. Thomas Jefferson advised, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” President George Washington’s first State of the Union address elaborated: “Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours it is proportionably essential. To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways – by convincing those who are entrusted with the public administration that every valuable end of government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people, and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights; to discern and provide against invasions of them; to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; between burthens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness — cherishing the first, avoiding the last — and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws.” We desperately need a new birth of education. No student should be permitted to graduate from high school or college without passing an exacting civics test and writing a lucid essay about the principles of natural law and government enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. During the regular school term, students should be required to devote at least eight hours per day to reading or writing. Debate contests should be preferred to athletics, the thinker to the armored knight. Parents should be required to visit teachers monthly and be tasked to encourage and monitor the study habits of their children. They should read with them at least one hour each evening an age-appropriate book. Self-government without education and critical thinking is a fantasy.  Aristotle advocated state-supported public education for all to foster good judgment and wisdom. But education should not end in the classroom.  It should be with us every moment of the day like inhaling and exhaling. It is our deliverance from an animal, hormonal existence. Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun. This column is part of a weekly series written from “The Owner’s Box.”

PUBLISHED: April 24, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com As a career broadcaster and journalist, I’ve always believed that honesty wins a reader’s or viewer’s trust. Honesty may require confessing errors or reporting inconvenient truths. I am an unapologetic conservative. But I will never allow my political leanings to compromise my journalism. Edward R. Murrow is my model. As polarizing Trumpian politics was born, journalism took a hit on both sides. Opposition to Trump found expression in highlighting the allegations of Trump’s collusion with Russia but burying the conclusion that evidence disproved the allegations. Support for Trump found expression in giving prime time to hallucinatory claims of electoral fraud while ignoring 61 court decisions proving the contrary and the volumes of discovery that poured forth in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox News that resulted in a staggering settlement. The media is now suspect across the board — megaphones for liberal or conservative bias. A lengthy essay published this month in The Free Press by Uri Berliner, a senior business editor at the taxpayer-funded news outlet, NPR, highlights this evil. Berliner was suspended following the publication of his piece, and he later resigned, writing in a letter to NPR’s CEO: “I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years. I don’t support calls to defund NPR. I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism. But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cited in my Free Press essay.” Berliner’s essay elaborates on NPR’s unusual reliance on Congressman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and Trump’s greatest foe at the time of the Russian collusion investigation, as a major source for their reporting on the issue. Berliner counts around 25 Schiff interviews, and laments, “But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming.” The Hunter Biden laptop reveals a similar NPR bias. It contained credible evidence of Biden family influence peddling that was dismissed as Russian disinformation by relying on Biden intelligence poodles. NPR fumbled. It did no independent verification. Berliner writes, “During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump.” And finally, the COVID-19 lab leak theory — the supposed right-wing conspiracy theory that COVID-19 may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan and that it might not have had natural origins was similarly dismissed by NPR’s science team. According to Berliner, their reasoning was related to “the Bush administration’s unfounded argument that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, apparently meaning we won’t get fooled again.” Such journalistic malpractice is epidemic, whether about Russiagate, concocted claims of electoral fraud, Hunter Biden’s laptop or COVID-19. Speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil about anything disturbing to a journalist’s liberal or conservative dogmas. Journalists were once a proud few who fought back against tyranny and the lies that governments told. Now, many of them have become party political agents ready to be summoned into service at a moment’s notice, weaponized to advance a partisan political agenda through propaganda. Whatever happened to the truth-finding philosophy attributed to Sgt. Joe Friday in “Dragnet”: Just the facts, Ma’am.

PUBLISHED: April 18, 2024 | www.nexttv.com Depression-era regulations won’t protect local journalism in the digital age “Lost at sea” is how the National Association of Broadcasters recently characterized the Federal Communications Commission in deliberating a proposal for priority application review and processing for stations that met certain local programming thresholds. The NAB emphasized that local journalism and programming can be best saved in the digital age by abandoning its obsolete, Depression-era broadcast-ownership rules. Armstrong Williams, manager and sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations (Image credit: Howard Stirk Holdings) That theme also echoed at this week’s NAB Show. Curtis LeGeyt, NAB’s president and CEO, explained that a top priority was the education of policymakers (i.e., the FCC and Congress) on the pronounced marketplace imbalance in the fight for advertising dollars and program content between local broadcasters and titans like Google, X, Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, TikTok, etc. None of these giants is handicapped by the FCC’s ownership restrictions. That needs to change. In his NAB Show main-stage appearance, LeGeyt added that he works daily “to make sure that local stations across the country have the resources that they need to go and deliver on [their] mission. And that means giving our broadcasters a little bit more scale, the ability to compete with big tech.” I am the sole owner of seven television stations and co-owner of the Baltimore Sun newspaper. I agree with LeGeyt and NAB. Unless the FCC wants the broadcast industry to follow the newspaper industry over the cliff, its rules should recognize that radio and television stations compete for ad and program dollars not just with other local stations, but with gigantic content and distribution platforms with capital resources hundreds of times larger than the largest broadcast operations. As LeGeyt noted, “Washington, D.C., pretends that [broadcasters] only compete against one another for advertising dollars and for audience.” As the extensive record developed over the last 20 years in the FCC’s Quadrennial Regulatory Review process shows, the digital disruption of the media marketplace has fundamentally altered competition for audiences and advertisers. Television broadcasters compete with innumerable online and multichannel outlets. But the FCC’s rules impede local stations’ ability to compete successfully by effectively serving viewers. They are like the horse and buggy in the age of motor vehicles. The FCC’s rules impede local stations’ ability to compete successfully by effectively serving viewers. They are like the horse and buggy in the age of motor vehicles.” The broadcast industry’s ability to function in the “public interest, convenience and necessity” (Section 309 of the Communications Act) requires economic viability. Ownership restrictions uniquely saddling local broadcast stations impair “economic viability” and the public interest. Eliminating the FCC’s anachronistic ownership restrictions will stimulate the development and production of new content more efficiently, technological upgrades, a reduction in redundancy and a streamlining of operations to slash costs and achieve economies of scale. Local broadcasters will then have the means to survive temporary downturns in the economy. At present, giant ad platforms and tech companies that compete directly with radio and TV broadcasters for audiences dominate the market. They own leading audio and video-streaming services (e.g., Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, Spotify, YouTube Music) further providing a competitive advantage. They control the dominant consumer technologies (e.g., smartphones, smart speakers, connected-TV devices, etc.) used by hundreds of millions of Americans to access digital content. The FCC should write an epitaph to its backward-looking broadcast ownership rules. How can it ignore what all the world can see and daily experience in the marketplace for audiences and programming content in the digital age?