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PUBLISHED: March 26, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com We know the American or NATO storyline about the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin is the bad guy. He breached Ukraine’s borders, inherited from the Soviet empire, on Feb. 24, 2022, after forcibly annexing Crimea in 2014.  Mr. Putin has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court and has refused to nix the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. He has violated the international law proscription on wars of aggression and is a clear and present danger to democracy in Europe and elsewhere.  He further violated the 1994 Budapest Memorandum committing the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom to refrain from threatening Ukraine’s territorial integrity in exchange for its abandonment of nuclear weapons. President Putin systematically murders his political opponents both at home and abroad. United States President Joe Biden is the good guy. He has showered Ukraine with more than $75 billion in military and related assistance and shared intelligence to defeat Russia.  President Biden has characterized the conflict as a clear test for democracies around the world against autocracy and portrayed the Ukrainian resistance as part of a “great battle for freedom.” Mr. Biden has said of Russian President Putin, “For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power.” But let’s pause and reflect. Is the storyline true?  Is the war in Ukraine more complex? Are Mr. Biden and the United States the good guys simply because they are not Mr. Putin or Russia? Let’s start with the presumed sacredness of Ukrainian or other territorial boundaries. Why should they be sacred? Every boundary in the world has been drawn and defended by the sword. They are not ordained by heaven or any principle of international law. Ukraine’s boundaries have changed numerous times over the centuries. Russia’s Nikita Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, and Russia’s Putin took it back in 2014. The United States has not been averse to changing boundaries by force. Our boundaries expanded with the Mexican-American war, a conflict which Union General and later President Ulysses S. Grant deplored in his memoirs: “I…to this day regard the war [with Mexico] which resulted as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.” The United States supported the secession by force of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011, and Kosovo’s separation from Serbia in 2008.  It did not oppose the fragmentation of Yugoslavia into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Macedonia after the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980 by threats or use of force.  After World War I at the Paris Peace Conference, the United States accepted the redrawing of multiple boundaries from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Roman Empire and the Chinese Empire by the victors by force of arms. Didn’t the United States set a precedent for President Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine in its gratuitous 2003 war against Iraq? It was no threat to America’s national security. There were no weapons of mass destruction. The United States policy towards Iraq had been regime change since President William Jefferson Clinton and the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, notwithstanding that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a cost-free asset against Iranian hegemony in the Middle East. Then Sen. Joe Biden supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and as president continues to maintain thousands of United States troops there despite calls from the Iraqi Prime Minister opposing their indefinite presence. Who has the moral high ground in Ukraine?  Nobody? All bad guys to a greater or lesser degree? From time immemorial, international affairs have been little more than the strong doing what they can and the weak suffering what they must, as Thucydides observed in “The History of the Peloponnesian War” over 2,000 years ago.  British foreign minister Lord Palmerston added more than 150 years ago, “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” What is the national security interest of the United States in the fate of Ukraine? The Vietnam war discredited domino theories, e.g., if Ukraine falls, President Putin will invade and conquer all of Europe and maybe even the United States. Shouldn’t we heed the wisdom of Senator Henry Clay in explaining the United States opposition to assisting Hungary in its war with Czarist Russia in 1849: “Far better is it for ourselves, for Hungary, and for the cause of liberty, that, adhering to our wise, pacific system, and avoiding distant wars of Europe, we should keep our lamp burning brightly on this Western shore as a light to all nations, than to hazard its utter extinction amid the ruins of fallen or falling republics.” I am no longer certain Putin is the bad guy and Biden is the good guy in Ukraine. It’s complicated. Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.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: March 19, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com Mr. Trump’s relish for violence is sui generis in the history of presidential politics.  On March 16, he bellowed it would be a “bloodbath” for the United States if he doesn’t win in November: “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.” In other words, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol will be a tea party compared with what his armed MAGA supporters will undertake if Trump is not elected. True enough, Trump’s military metaphor was made in the context of economic dislocations in Ohio. But Trump has refrained from saying he did not mean a real, physical bloodbath. And he connected “bloodbath” to not being reelected, raising the specter of another Jan. 6th when he complacently watched violence at the U.S. Capitol for three hours without lifting a finger. Trump’s message sent by juxtaposing bloodbath with losing the election was obvious to all but the most obtuse.  Does anyone think Mr. Trump will expressly disavow that he was promising bloodshed if he does not win the 2024 presidential election? Are you surprised that former Vice President Mike Pence has nixed endorsing Mr. Trump despite his previous unwavering loyalty?  Nikki Haley has also balked at an endorsement. Mr. Trump is on the road to self-ruination unless he immediately declares he will actively oppose violence or bloodshed even if he loses the 2024 election. Don’t hold your breath. Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.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.

March 20, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com/ In December, South Africa filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, accusing Israel of committing genocide as a result of the scores of dead Palestinians that have resulted from Israel’s campaign against Hamas. In January the court ruled that at least some acts that South Africa alleged fall under the 1948 Genocide Convention and ordered Israel to take measures to prevent acts that would be considered genocidal.  However, it did not order Israel to cease its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, and the case is still pending. Both Israel and Gaza hailed it as a victory. Now, South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, has made a startling new announcement that citizens who return to the country who fought in the IDF will be arrested. “I have already issued a statement alerting those who are South African and who are fighting alongside or in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). We are ready. When you come home, we’re going to arrest you,” she said, according to the Times of Israel. This came after an earlier warning from South Africa’s foreign ministry that its citizens serving in the IDF, “can potentially contribute to the violation of international law and the commission of further international crimes, thus making them liable for prosecution in South Africa.” Campaigns supporting the same type of action in France are underway, though the French government is being far more reasonable on the matter, with its foreign ministry spokesperson, Christophe Lemoine, saying that “dual citizenship implies dual loyalty” and that France will not investigate “what French-Israeli citizens do regarding their military obligations in Israel.” When asked if France would prosecute its citizens should they commit war crimes in Gaza, he called the question “somewhat forward-looking” because it assumed actions that have not happened. “If they do commit these crimes and it is proven, I will answer you when the time comes,” he said. South Africa’s hard line is an extremely dangerous precedent. It is using its prosecutorial powers to punish dual citizens who serve in the army of a non-terrorist state. It is particularly troubling when you consider the fact that Israel heavily relies on foreign-born soldiers to serve in their already relatively small, but effective, army. It would be one thing if a South African pledged their allegiance to ISIS, al-Qaida, Hezbollah or another organization that is internationally recognized as a terrorist outfit that regularly commits heinous acts against innocent people. But it is an entirely different thing to serve in the IDF. Israel is not a terrorist outfit. They are a peaceful nation that has made great efforts to ensure that their campaign against Hamas does not affect innocent persons. Israel can hardly be blamed for killing innocent civilians in a hospital, for example, when Hamas intentionally stores their weapons there and when Hamas refuses to allow those innocent persons to leave when Israel warns them of an attack. South Africa does not understand this, and I can perhaps guess the reason why: because South Africa, like most developed nations, has not, since its formation, been under constant threat of destruction by neighboring countries. Now let’s be clear, it is an absolute tragedy that over 30,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, many of them children. It is a tragedy that over 70,000 people have been injured. But something South Africa needs to understand is that it’s not Israel putting Palestinians in harm’s way; it’s their own government, Hamas. That is the organization bent on committing genocide, which the United Nations defines as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.” Hamas is seeking to wipe out the Israeli people. Israel is understandably trying to eradicate Hamas. South Africa must cease its dangerous public campaign against Israel, lest it allow a terrorist group at Israel’s borders to flourish and expand. South Africa is making itself an unwitting pawn in Hamas’ war against Israel, and it doesn’t seem like South Africa is willing to change course. Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.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: March 17, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com Joe Biden’s presidency has no theme. He has been less a leader and more a human weathervane, who shifts daily with the political winds. Everything is driven by ulterior political motives to court popularity and to win reelection — even setting aside a seat on the United States Supreme Court for a Black woman, insinuating the appointment was not based on merit. But Mr. Biden exhibits admirable redeeming features. His entire life has been devoted to public service. His personal and family hardships have been overwhelming. He eschews the narcissism and pomposity that earmark political figures. He resisted exploiting the Super Bowl to advance his reelection chances. He has not, however, avoided the ravages of time. At age 81, Mr. Biden is at risk of aging 10 years in practical terms for each year he lives. Mr. Biden’s constitutional insincerity is pronounced. As senator, he vowed to champion the impeachment of President George W. Bush if Bush attacked Iran without a congressional declaration of war, as required by Article I, section 8, clause 11. But as president, Mr. Biden has claimed the power to initiate attacks on his say-so alone, whether against China, Iran, the Houthis or otherwise. To borrow from Shakespeare, upon what meat doth this our President feed that he is grown so great? President Biden’ habitual market interventions are ill-conceived, for example, the billions expended to promote semiconductor chip production.  He has forgotten Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations,” which was gospel to the founding fathers: “What is the species of domestic industry which his capital can employ, and of which the produce is likely to be of the greatest value, every individual, it is evident, can, in his local situation, judge much better than any statesman or lawgiver can do for him. The statesman, who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.” President Biden’s economic follies can be understood.  He is a professional politician who has never met a payroll and is clueless about free market incentives. He cannot make the waves go back. Biden is at least semi-senescent.  He looks mummified. He is 81 years old and anemic.  Special Counsel Robert K. Hur recently remarked on Biden’s serial memory lapses. His grip on reality appears to lessen by the day. Biden on immigration has been a fiasco. It has even led to the impeachment of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Illegal immigration has spiked to alarming levels. Illegal immigrant children are commonly employed in violation of child labor laws, giving unscrupulous employers a competitive advantage. Further, they are educated at public expense under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Plyler v. Doe (1982). A porous border invites terrorists like members of Hezbollah to infiltrate and perpetrate a bloody sequel to 9/11. President Biden is rolling the dice with our lives. States have a right to fight back in self-defense. At least half the states support Texas’ endeavor to police the border without regard to the U.S. Border Patrol.  A second civil war may be approaching. Over $75 billion has been contributed by Biden to Ukraine’s war effort against Russia with no light at the end of the tunnel. Mr. Biden is clueless about what “victory” should look like. His ulterior motive is to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin. But what then? There are no George Washingtons, Thomas Jeffersons, James Madisons or John Adamses in Russia. There never has been. There never will be. True or false: Russians believe they need a dictator to avoid incessant intramural strife or conflict.  Biden is making the American people pay for his fool’s errand in Ukraine. Its fate is irrelevant to the national security of the United States. If it was otherwise, President Biden would have asked Congress for a declaration of war against Russia. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a wild card. He could attract voters from Biden to hand victory to Trump. The United States’ ill-executed withdrawal from Afghanistan after squandering more than $300 million every day for 20 successive years of failure enabled Taliban’s return to power and capture of American weapons. But no one has paid a political price for this stupendous, criminal blunder that returned a second edition of the Taliban grislier than the first. What about Hunter Biden, including the infamous laptop, which 51 former intelligence officials falsely and recklessly disparaged as “Russian disinformation?” Add to that the tax fraud and firearm charges and notorious influence peddling.  Americans are asking, “are we seeing a dual system of justice at work?” Biden’s running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is more a liability than an asset. She has no accomplishments worth mentioning. As Democrat Walter Mondale said of Gary Hart, “Where’s the beef?” President Biden is spending the nation into ruination. The national debt has soared past $34 trillion, to be saddled on the backs of our posterity. Annual budget deficits exceed $1 trillion as far as the eye can see.  The federal government is crowding out private borrowing. Interest rates are climbing — especially for home mortgages. President Biden should remember that elections are about the future, not the past, and the future looks bleak by any military, economic, medical, educational or social yardstick. Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.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: March 14, 2024 | www.creators.com Over the past decade, the United States has seen a rise in power of the transgender movement. Once a fringe, left-wing movement premised on the idea that gender is a social construct and that it can be changed at a whim, it has now become mainstream. Today, the question "Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?" is now a political question. The transgender movement can be traced back as far as 1952, when trans woman Virginia Prince launched a publication titled Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress. Following that, the movement experienced rapid expansion, culminating in a riot in Los Angeles within seven years. The unrest originated as a retaliatory response to the Los Angeles Police Department, which was perceived to have engaged in harassment of the LGBTQ community. Then, in 1966, there was another riot. In 1969, another riot. Finally, as a result of the 1996 publication Transgender Warriors by American lesbian activist Leslie Feinberg, the term "transgender" gained widespread usage. Today, 1.6% of Americans, or 4,800,000 adults aged 18 or over, say their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth. However, that number is on the rise, as 5.1%, or nearly 15,000,000 young adults aged 18-29, fall into that category. This can be attributed to a litany of factors, including changing education environments in classrooms, social media and more. The "marked incongruence between (a person's) experienced or expressed gender and the one they were assigned at birth" defines gender dysphoria. As of now, gender dysphoria's causes remain unknown, and it does not have an established treatment. The term "gender dysphoria," which is frequently used in the medical field, has itself become a subject of political controversy. Today, despite the small numbers of transgender people in the United States, the movement has permeated nearly all facets of life. Educators raise LGBTQ flags in classrooms nationwide and educate students in the elementary school age range that their designated gender at birth may not always reflect their true identity. Such a serious injustice necessitates rectification. Students in elementary school have limited knowledge regarding sexuality; therefore, being informed that they could be of a different gender can be confusing to them — it can change them even if they never wanted to be changed. It is worth noting that around 80% of children who experience gender dysphoria as children eventually overcome it and opt not to identify as transgender as adults. In addition, depression among children who overcome gender dysphoria is extremely uncommon. 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 approximately 5%-6% of the general population. In addition, around 0.5% of the general population has attempted suicide, while nearly half of transgender youth have considered suicide, and nearly 20% have attempted it. But what causes this depression? Could it be bullying? Could it be that transgender rights are persistently violated? Of course not. On the contrary, transgender people are thriving. Their rights are enshrined in state constitutions, they are protected by numerous state laws, they are given more protections by schools than any other class of students; transgender people may have more rights than the average person. Of course, we can't forget drag story hour, where numerous elementary schools throughout the country have males dressed in scant attire read books about transgenderism to children. It is unnecessary to expose children to males in little 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, as we've seen, may lead them down the road of gender dysphoria and ultimately depression. Tragically, transgenderism has compromised the rights of biological women. Undoubtedly, women continue to advocate equality in the United States. Women continue to face significant disparities in the workforce and in public life. However, before the complete realization of gender equality for women, transgenderism emerged and complicated the situation. At this time, males beat women in all aspects of life. Do you recall 2015, when Caitlyn Jenner was named "Woman of the Year" by Glamour magazine? 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. It was taken from a biological woman by a man. Likewise, transgenderism has entered the realm of athletics. Transgender males have emerged victorious in athletic competitions against biological women on a multitude of occasions. Men have won significant accolades in swimming, wrestling, golf, snooker and even weightlifting, the sport that exemplifies strength disparities. Men who underwent the transition from male to female are often found to have been mediocre at best among their male counterparts. And how about sex changes for minors? It is plausible that the notion that a child could undertake surgical gender transition from their biological to an alternative gender would be utterly absurd and repugnant to the average person. However, 54% of Americans oppose legislation that criminalizes providing medical care for gender transition to minors. Science and common sense support the notion that by our mid-to-late 20s, the brain has reached complete maturity and development. This is why children often engage in foolish behavior without contemplating the repercussions, why a contract formed by a child is deemed void in legal terms, and why alcohol consumption hinders the development of children's minds. Yet, when it comes to transgenderism, all that goes out the window. Men are not women, and women are not men. This is the reality everyone on this Earth must face until their death. America has been divided along lines of common sense by the transgender movement: those who support it and those who do not. The rise of transgenderism will persist as long as rational individuals remain reluctant to express their opinion on the matter. Armstrong Williams is manager/sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year. To find out more about him and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

PUBLISHED: May 22, 2023 | www.msn.com I lost a dear mentor and unconditionally loyal friend Sunday, May 21, when C. Boyden Gray departed to become a bright ornament in the heavens at the age of 80. But the United States lost a national treasure more valuable than Fort Knox. I regularly dined with Boyden for over two decades. He poured forth with wisdom, erudition, encouragement and guidance like the Nile overflowing its banks. To the extent I have succeeded, it’s because I followed Boyden’s instruction. He was that unerring. Boyden was a humble man, but he had little to be humble about. He was in the top tier of the nation’s premier lawyers. He served as counsel to Vice President George H.W. Bush for eight years, followed by four years as White House counsel to President Bush. Boyden sat at the center of power in the White House for 12 successive years, a record destined to live longer than Barry Bond’s 762 career home runs. With the brilliance of Toscanini conducting an orchestra, Boyden navigated the 1991 Civil Rights Act through the extremes of Scylla and Charybdis, landing at an Aristotelian mean. He was the quiet force that navigated and pushed conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Boyden convinced President Bush in June 1991 to nominate Circuit Judge Clarence Thomas to the high court. He served as ambassador to the European Union under President George W. Bush and later special envoy to Europe for Eurasian Energy. Boyden was the very definition of a polymath, bettering the instruction of his illustrious father, Gordon Gray, national security advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. No one surpassed Boyden in assailing the economic albatross created by the omnipresent administrative state via Congress delegating legislative authority to unaccountable bureaucrats eager to create regulatory moats for their expected future employers — the revolving door taken to a new level. Boyden’s persistence in challenging the constitutionality of the sprawling administrative state is poised to be vindicated by the Supreme Court if it overrules the “Chevron doctrine.” It is unfortunate that Boyden will not be around to run victory laps. The profusion of superlatives that describe Boyden shroud his greatest trait, which should transform him from a hero to a legend: heartfelt decency and concern for everyone he encountered or befriended. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed “that one day my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” C. Boyden Gray labored every day towards that glorious end. I was a prime beneficiary. Armstrong Williams (@ARightSide) is the owner and manager of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the Year. He is the author of “Reawakening Virtues.”

PUBLISHED: March 12, 2024 | baltimoresun.com If you use TikTok, you may have seen a notification that said, “speak up now — before your government strips 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.” This came right after the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously, and on a bipartisan basis, voted 50 to zero to advance legislation that would require TikTok to completely divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or otherwise the app would be flat-out banned in the United States. Now, congressional offices are reporting that they are receiving thousands of calls from TikTok users as a result of the notification, with some threatening to kill themselves and at least one person threatening to assassinate a member of Congress. What TikTok doesn’t realize is that these tactics only further embolden congressional representatives to move on legislation faster. They know well that they’re the ones in power, not TikTok, and that they will never, ever, kowtow to the mob tactics that TikTok is using against them. READER POLL: If TikTok is banned because, as House Republicans say, it poses a national security risk, do you think Facebook should be banned too? Agree Disagree Not sure VOTE View ResultsCrowdsignal.com

PUBLISHED: March 13, 2024 | baltimoresun.com Hard work, passion, virtue and true grit mark the American heartland. Anecdotes, farm families spanning generations, and crop innovations speak volumes. They are all children of agriculture. Farming teaches faith in God, food cultivation, animal husbandry, the value of love, the richness of relationships and the growth of character. Farming offers time for reflection — an Aristotelian balance between nourishing and strengthening the physical body and deepening and improving our souls. From my earliest days, the farm was my classroom, and nature was my teacher. I learned to treasure my parents, a work ethic, discipline and sacrifice. A diminishing number of Americans are provided that chance today. Engaging in routine daily farm tasks and providing care for the animals instilled accountability and highlighted the precariousness of life, illustrating how it can be abruptly lost or extinguished over time. It further imparted the importance of nurturing your fate and the necessity of diligence and industry to accomplish your goals. I have never forgotten these lessons. The farm also cultivates family togetherness, i.e., if we do not all hang together, we will all hang separately. My family of 10 has no bad blood. For our entire lives, we have been close, an intimacy that grows by the day. Our devotion to God and the lessons we imbibed on the farm unite us. It was under the vast, blue vault of heaven that I felt most connected to nature and in harmony with my family. It was an awesome spiritual experience and celebration of family. Numerous references in the Bible establish a nexus between farming and God — thereby illustrating the interdependence of the nature of earth and spiritual development. Within the book of Genesis, God positions man in the Garden of Eden with the instruction to tend to and maintain it (Genesis 2:15). Since creation, humanity has been saddled with a responsibility to cultivate and maintain the land; 2 Corinthians 9:6 emphasizes the principle that you reap what you sow: “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” This verse speaks to the law of harvest, a concept as true in the spiritual realm as it is in the physical world of farming, where the investment of effort, care and resources dictates the yield. Farming imparts ethics and patience. It has been a privilege to have lived with the knowledge and skills I gained on the farm. It has made me a diligent professional and prosperous entrepreneur who knows how to innovate to overcome complex challenges. After learning how to manage a farm, everything else is as easy as pushing water downhill. Daily labor consists of harvesting crops, caring for livestock, and waking up before the break of dawn. It means working in sweltering heat with no shower breaks. Nothing else compares. Farmwork puts life into proper perspective. All troubles are provisionally set aside. You derive solace from the woes of the world, discover tranquility and calm, and discover the answers that have been long hidden. When you listen to the farm noises — the cows mooing, the dogs barking, the cats meowing — epiphanies come. The United States is forgetting the value of agriculture in all its moods and tenses. Processed food diminishes health. Farmland is gobbled up by the Chinese government. The number of American farmers is plunging. America is losing its signature identity. No man is an island, entire of itself. Our deliverance is in unity — E Pluribus unum. Agriculture teaches the hard truth of necessary interdependence and collaboration with the elements and with others. But division has become America’s watchword at our peril.  Turning back to acclaiming agriculture is a necessary first step to alleviating our alarming divisiveness. Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.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 one of two he writes monthly about culture and politics, in addition to his weekly Owner’s Box column.

PUBLISHED: March 7, 2024 | dailysignal.com The New York City Legislature, following in the footsteps of Washington, D.C., passed a groundbreaking bill into law in 2022. The law would have allowed any lawful permanent resident or green card holder to vote in a New York City election. That law was met with legal challenges as quickly as it was passed, which was to be expected, given that it flagrantly infringed upon the state’s constitution. The Constitution of New York states unequivocally, “every citizen shall be entitled to vote … .” This provision’s meaning is so obvious that it has been painful to see the far-left liberal New York City Council pass a law that violates it. It is evident that the New York City Legislature misplaced its reading glasses, as it would not have enacted a law that contradicts the New York Constitution in such a bizarre way. The majority opinion, authored by appellate Judge Paul Wooten, stated, “The plain language of this provision provides that the right to vote in ‘every election for all officers elected by the people’ is available exclusively to citizens.” Unsurprisingly, pro-immigrant organizations denounced the decision, calling it “shameful” and saying it “disenfranchise[s] residents.” Disenfranchises? Really? This remark is as illogical as it is absurd. The only people disenfranchised by this law are United States citizens. Voter disenfranchisement entails impeding an individual’s ability to exercise his or her right to vote or diminishing the value of his or her vote. The reason the Electoral College is reviled by the Left is because, according to its worldview, it confers greater value on specific votes than others, especially in smaller states. The right to vote is sacred. However, the Left has forgotten that it must be earned, not given. Not earned in the conventional sense of passing a test to acquire, like the racist literacy tests of the past; rather, acquired through enduring the complexities and challenges associated with being a citizen. Becoming a citizen is not a simple task. Individuals must either be so lucky as to be born in the United States, or endure a laborious and sometimes yearslong application process. There are discernible indicators in both processes that demonstrate an individual is prepared and deserving of the right to vote. A person born in the United States has lived and grown in that country. He or she has gone through the government-mandated educational system and complied with the laws of this country for his or her entire lives. They have fulfilled their responsibilities through compliance and, in the case of some, hardship brought upon by our laws. Individuals who obtain citizenship have demonstrated their readiness to undertake substantial obligations and sacrifices to integrate into a foreign nation. They have sworn allegiance to a new nation after navigating a complex legal system, and many have become proficient in a foreign language. Nothing of the sort applies to noncitizens. There are undoubtedly many noncitizens loyal to this country, but they, like everyone else, must undergo the same process to demonstrate that they have earned the right to vote. It is inequitable to accord equal weight to the votes of transient individuals who enter the country for economic purposes, return their funds to their country of origin, or who are mere public charges, in comparison to those who have sworn allegiance to the United States and who have gone through the process to become a citizen. Through the news, we tragically witness the disloyal individuals who come here and commit heinous acts daily. Migrants assaulting police officers, MS-13 gangs wreaking havoc on the population, migrants stabbing innocent people in Georgia. These tragedies have become routine occurrences. Should these individuals, whose sole intention is to cause harm or act selfishly, be permitted to vote? Undoubtedly not. Should individuals who immigrate in pursuit of economic prosperity gain the right to vote? Eventually, but only after enduring the same trials and tribulations that each and every American has also endured. The foundation of the United States is immigration. Each of us is an immigrant in some capacity. Our right to vote has been acquired through either our unwavering allegiance to the United States or our successful completion of the trials and systems established by the country. If an individual claims your vote lacks significance, you should explain the arduous journey you undertook to earn that privilege and the actions you undertook as a citizen. It just might persuade someone to reconsider their position. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

March 8, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com/ Former President Donald Trump is now the de facto Republican nominee for the presidency in 2024, after Nikki Haley threw in the towel Wednesday. Trump’s MAGA stalwarts are convinced that he is a lion killer who will demolish the mummy-like Joe Biden in November. But is this belief a case of the wish fathering the thought? Do recent elections show Trump is more a headwind than a tailwind for Republican candidates? Among other things, reflect on the losing candidates Trump endorsed in the 2022 elections. U.S. Senate Trump-endorsed candidates: Mehmet Oz — defeated in Pennsylvania by John Fetterman. Don Bolduc — defeated in New Hampshire by Maggie Hassan. Leora Levy — defeated in Connecticut by Richard Blumenthal. Gerald Malloy — defeated in Vermont by Peter Welch. U.S. House of Representatives Trump-endorsed candidates: Bo Hines — defeated in North Carolina’s District 13 by Wiley Nickel. Steve Chabot — defeated in Ohio’s District 1 by Greg Landsman. Madison Gesiotto Gilbert — defeated in Ohio’s District 13 by Emilia Sykes. John Gibbs — defeated in Michigan District 3 by Hillary Scholten. Yesli Vega — defeated in Virginia’s District 7 by Abigail Spanberger. Karoline Leavitt — defeated in New Hampshire’s District 1 by Chris Pappas. J.R. Majewski — defeated in Ohio’s District 9 by Marcy Kaptur. Sandy Smith — defeated in North Carolina’s District 1 by Don Davis. Robert Burns — defeated in New Hampshire’s District 2 by Ann McLane Kuster. Sarah Palin — defeated in Alaska’s At-Large District 2 by Mary Petlota. Jim Bognet — defeated in Pennsylvania’s District 8 by Matt Cartwright. Gubernatorial Trump-endorsed candidates: Kari Lake — lost to Katie Hobbs in Arizona. Tudor Dixon — lost to Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan. Doug Mastriano — lost to Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Lee Zeldin — lost to Kathy Hochul in New York. Dan Cox — lost to Wes Moore in Maryland. Geoff Diehl — lost to Maura Healey in Massachusetts. Tim Michels — lost to Tony Evers in Wisconsin. Darren Bailey — lost to J.B. Pritzker in Illinois. Scott Jensen — lost in Minnesota to Tim Walz. Mark Ronchetti — lost in New Mexico to Michelle Lujan Grisham. Derek Schmidt — lost in Kansas to Laura Kelly. State executive Trump-endorsed candidates: Kim Crockett — defeated in the Minnesota secretary of state election by Steve Simon. Kristina Karamo — defeated in the Michigan secretary of state election by Jocelyn Benson. Would the Republican party have fared better in the 2022 elections if Donald Trump had been benched? After the elections, Congressman Jim Jordan was shellacked in his quest to succeed Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker despite Trump’s high-octave support. Even in the 2020 election cycle, Republicans recaptured control of the House, while Mr. Trump was defeated by anemic Joe Biden. Moreover, Trump confronts 91 felony charges in four jurisdictions with some trials set to conclude before November balloting. The probability of conviction on at least some counts is high. Many of the prosecution’s witnesses were Trump appointees or loyalists. Trump has already lost a civil fraud case with hundreds of millions of dollars in crippling penalties and interest before New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, and twin sexual assault-defamation cases initiated by Jean Caroll including damages approaching $90 million. Will Americans be willing to vote for a candidate convicted of felonies and possibly serving jail time?  Maybe. Socialist candidate Eugene Debs attracted nearly 1 million votes in 1920 while serving prison time for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. And Trump indeed might defeat Biden in November in an election — like choosing between a trip on the Titanic or a flight on the Hindenburg. Trump’s electrifying attraction is his scorn for the mainstream media and the haughty eastern establishment.  But it is one thing to burn a barn down. It is quite another to build a barn for the ages.  Don’t Trump’s gifts suit the former but not the latter?  How many of Trump’s initiatives have survived the Biden presidency?  You can count them on your hand with fingers left over. Brimming with charisma and brio, Trump came from the political wilderness in 2016 to win the presidency, seeming to many the nation’s deliverance from proliferating woes.  But is his comet-like rise destined to crash when his hyperbolic bombasts and panaceas collide with reality?  Haven’t we seen the likes of Trump before?  Father Charles Coughlin? Huey Long? Wendell Willkie? Joseph McCarthy? George Corley Wallace? Might Trump prove to be a flash in the pan who disappears like the Cheshire cat without even a smile in Alice in Wonderland? Let us hope, as a Persian proverb instructs, “This too shall pass.”

March 3, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com/ Indoctrination is the antonym of critical thinking. It is the bane of our schools and of our political culture. It arrests intellectual maturation and the search for truth without ulterior motives. The starting point of critical thinking is always asking and answering “why” before proceeding to “how.” The starting point of indoctrination is never asking “why” and simply following orders or robotically regurgitating what is presented as gospel with no evidence or reasons. Indoctrination is when children are terrified into unthinkingly echoing teacher or parental dogmas because acting as an ignorant king or queen is a presumed teacher or parental prerogative that is blasphemy to question. Indoctrination kills intellectual curiosity and arrests mental development. Children should be taught there are no bad questions, only bad answers. Indoctrination is the father of supreme evils. It is the following orders defense of every war criminal or gangster, like Adolf Eichmann of Holocaust notoriety. It reduces man to a reptile without scruples against the most reprehensible acts that characterize every dictator. Indoctrination enabled Russian President Vladimir Putin readily to find conspirators to murder Alexei Navalny and to shoot down Malaysia Air Flight 17 over Ukraine. It enabled slavery to flourish for centuries. Critical thinking, in contrast, is the mother of enlightenment and morality. It recognizes that all men and women are born equal, that the DNA of the species is the same everywhere, that everyone’s station in life should correspond to their character and accomplishments without more, and that the beginning of wisdom is the acknowledgment that “I could be wrong.” Critical thinking is the locomotive of intellectual advancement. It enabled the replacement of the geocentric theory of the universe with the heliocentric. It enabled Newton’s discovery of the laws of motion and Einstein’s general and special theories of relativity. It enabled the Divine Right of Kings to be superseded by popular sovereignty and government by the consent of the governed. Indoctrination in white supremacy, in contrast, gave us Jim Crow, the KKK, separate-but-equal, and Black lynchings for a century after the Civil War Amendments. And white supremacy is not yet dead. Indoctrination in antisemitism begot persecution of Jews, the lynching of Leo Frank, Kristallnacht and the Holocaust. Indoctrination in misogyny fathered the burning of witches and the exclusion of women from education, the workplace and professions. Schools should be role models in critical thinking where a free marketplace of ideas flourishes. Viewpoints that are hated by some or a majority should be addressed on their merits, rather than their speakers murdered by ad hominem attacks. But schools have degenerated into Chinese re-education camps to indoctrinate youth in fact-free intellectual dogmas currently in vogue through name-calling, ostracism and concocted accusations of bigotry. Socrates is the hero of critical thinking. He uniquely appreciated what he did not know and searched for truth accordingly. He took the hemlock in lieu of a vegetative, subhuman, unexamined life. Education’s finest hours are in creating young clones of Socrates as the best defense against the human propensity for indoctrination, an earmark of intellectual sloth. Voltaire next to Socrates should be celebrated in the classroom. He reportedly related the sentiment, “I wholly disagree with what you say and will contend to the death for your right to say it.” Thomas Jefferson also entered the Valhalla of critical-thinking giants in declaring, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of men.” Critical thinking recognizes that a man who does not grow wiser by the day is a fool, that to err is human but to acknowledge and correct error is divine, that truth is a process or state of mind that understands that all knowledge should be provisional depending on new facts or more refined deliberation. Truth knows no statute of limitations. The greatest danger to our democracy, enlightenment and justice is in schools that indoctrinate under the false flag of education. But indoctrination will end only when parents demand their children be taught critical thinking — to question everything and to accept nothing at face value. Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.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.”

February 28, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com/ Here’s a common scenario you might have encountered: You’re at the grocery store, your cart filled with items, only to discover at the checkout counter that they either charge for bags, or they don’t provide them. Maybe, even, the bags they offer are so flimsy that they’re not even worth using. So, to save money and trouble, you buy a large reusable bag made of non-woven polypropylene, a very thick plastic, much thicker than the traditional plastic bag. Perhaps it has a cute design on it, maybe it’s holiday-themed or has cats or dogs on it. You then go home, unpack your groceries, and throw your new bag in the closet. But then, the next time you go grocery shopping, you realize that you forgot your new bag, and now you have to buy a new one — and the cycle continues. This is the reality that people face in over 500 cities — including Baltimore — and 12 states across the country, where single-use plastic bags are banned in favor of more environmentally friendly alternatives. But do these laws work? According to one study in New Jersey by Freedonia Custom Research, a business research division for MarketResearch.com, the answer is a resounding “no.” In fact, the study found that the plastic bag ban didn’t just fail to work, it actually caused plastic consumption to increase nearly threefold. The Freedonia study looked at the bag ban in New Jersey, which was implemented in 2022. At the time of the law’s implementation, it was considered the strictest in the nation, banning stores from providing not only single-use plastic bags but also paper bags (for certain businesses), along with polystyrene foam food containers and cups. It also restricted the distribution of plastic straws unless requested by a customer. Many residents supported the ban at the start, saying it was good for the environment. However, almost immediately, the negative impacts of the laws began materializing. Consumers soon began realizing they were forgetting to bring the reusable bags they already bought on their prior trip bags to the grocery store, and those who had their groceries delivered were being forced to pay for the pricier, higher-plastic bags. According to Freedonia’s report, while “total bag volumes declined by more than 60% to 894 million bags … [six times] more woven and non-woven polypropylene plastic was consumed to produce the reusable bags sold to consumers as an alternative.”  Such bags are sold at three times what they cost to make, and so many are sold that their sales comprise between 1-2% of total retailer sales in New Jersey. Single-use plastic bags cost approximately one penny to manufacture, while paper bags cost between 4 and 5 cents. Reusable plastic bags, on the other hand, can cost around 10 and 25 cents to produce, depending on the size of the bag and volume of the purchase, and are meant to be used approximately 100 times before needing to be thrown out. The report found that customers used these polypropylene bags an average of two to three times each and that 15 and 20 times more plastic is used to create each reusable bag than their single-use counterparts. Polypropylene is a man-made, petroleum-based plastic material that was discovered in 1954. It is not biodegradable,  and the rate of post-consumer recycling of polypropylene worldwide is only about 1%, leading to significant amounts of polypropylene ending up in landfills. In 2021, global landfills received 400 million tons of plastic, 40 million of which, or 10%, came from the U.S. Worldwide, polypropylene accounts for 28% of these plastics, making it a significant contributor to plastic waste. Plastic generally takes approximately 500 to 1,000 years to decompose, even though its useful life is only around 10 years. In Maryland, roughly a half dozen jurisdictions have implemented plastic bag bans that allow customers to purchase paper bags for a small fee. Baltimore City’s “Comprehensive Bag Reduction Act” went into effect in 2021; Montgomery County’s in 2022, and Baltimore County’s in 2023, along with the town of Easton, on the Eastern Shore. This year, bans in Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties joined them. While the intentions behind single-use plastic bag bans are noble, seeking to minimize the impact associated with plastic bags and encourage the use of sustainable alternatives, they don’t appear to be doing the job, as evidenced by a study of New Jersey’s law. Policymakers around the country are forced to grapple with making sweeping environmental laws whose outcomes are uncertain. These laws, while ambitious in their aims to reduce pollution, often face challenges in practical implementation and effectiveness. As more data becomes available from studies like the one in New Jersey, policymakers must adapt and refine their strategies in pursuit of effective and sustainable environmental protection measures. Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.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 one of two he writes monthly about culture and politics, in addition to his weekly Owner’s Box column.