"An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us."

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

"It's time to take a brief break from President Trump. Whatever you think of him, there's no denying that he dominates the news cycle. We seem to assume that the nation's future depends on Trump's fate, for better or worse. The reality is otherwise: The nation's future also hangs on larger economic and social trends that no president can shape.

"A new report from the congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC) reminds us of this. The report examines the nation's 'social capital.' Now, social capital is an obscure academic term that, essentially, signifies the ability of people to work and play together -- to cooperate and connect with others. The stronger a society's social capital, the less isolated and powerless people feel. The news here is cautionary; our social capital is depleting. ...

"The institutions that provide social stability and personal contentment seem to be in retreat. The fact that one-third of children are raised by single parents cannot be good. Neither is the loss of confidence in major institutions. As private institutions weaken, pressure mounts on government to fill the void, but the effect is to place more demands of government than it can meet, contributing to its unpopularity.

"To some extent, the future of the United States depends on Trump. But it depends even more on how these social and economic trends evolve -- how we cope with them and whether we become a more cohesive society or a more contentious one. Trump is not destiny. For better or worse, we are."

"American democracy has been corrupted, and if not cured, the disease will be fatal. There is no other conclusion to be drawn when the public is deceived on the scale that was revealed (but ignored) by James Comey. The stunning truth is that the American political and media establishment allowed a phony story -- that they knew was phony -- to dominate our political discourse for months. When James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, he revealed that he had informed many important Congressional leaders that there was no investigation of President Trump and the Russians underway, even as MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times, and the Washington Post daily carried stories alluding to an imaginary investigation.

"None of these informed leaders spoke out! They allowed a make-believe tale intended to harm the legitimacy and therefore political power of President Trump to dominate mindshare in the nation's collective political conversation."

"Watergate it wasn't. Not even Clarence Thomas versus Anita Hill. This was Jim Comey's revenge tour and the former FBI boss threw every bomb, punch and handful of mud he could find at Donald Trump.

"Three hours later, the president was still standing. A little dirtier, to be sure, but stronger because he survived the much-anticipated onslaught.

"Consider the day from the partisan angles. If you started as a Trump supporter, you still are. You were buttressed by the disclosures that the media got lots of big anti-Trump stories wrong, and not surprised that Comey, like much of the permanent government, was against the president from the start.

"At the end of the day, you're wondering, Where's the beef? Where's the crime? ...

"Even worse for the left, Comey confirmed that Trump was not under personal investigation in the Russia-collusion probe. That had to hurt like Election Night all over again, with Hillary Clinton losing again."

Read entire article here.

"Ahead of former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, the committee released the seven-page prepared statement Comey provided on Wednesday. While it's clear that Comey and his allies believe the statement is proof that President Donald Trump acted inappropriately, and perhaps even illegally, the statement itself is a much bigger indictment of Comey's own behavior over the last six months. Not only does Comey's statement corroborate Trump's claim that the former FBI director told him three times that the president was not being investigated by the FBI, it also reveals the Beltway game Comey was playing with the investigation. ...

"The most damning aspect of Comey's prepared testimony is his admission that he deliberately refused to inform the public that Trump was not being personally investigated by the FBI. Comey's justification for this refusal to publicly disclose material facts -- that those facts might change -- is laughable, especially in light of Comey's 2016 two-step regarding the investigation of Hillary Clinton. ...

"Comey's own words reveal in lurid detail the game he was playing. They reveal that Trump's claims about the investigation, and his claims about Comey's characterization of the investigation, were completely accurate. They reveal that Comey was giving one impression to the president and Congress in private and deliberately allowing an entirely different one to gain currency in public. Comey's mistake wasn't in thinking the Beltway two-step was the best way to keep his job. His mistake was assuming that Trump wouldn't dare to stop dancing."

Read entire article here.

"On Thursday morning, James Comey returns to a very familiar forum, and a very familiar conundrum. The former FBI director will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his observations of the FBI's investigation into possible Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election, and especially whether any attempt to influence him by President Trump played a role in his abrupt termination. Comey has an opportunity here to publicly air any grievances over his firing, free of the professional requirements for discretion during open investigations.

"So, will what he has to say make any bit of a difference? The problem for Comey is that both Democrats and Republicans have spent nearly a year attacking him for failing to exercise professional discretion when it mattered, and politicizing the FBI as a result. So whether his testimony will have any sway depends on whether he can overcome his massive credibility problem. ...

"The Senate Judiciary Committee recently sent Comey a letter requesting answers to seven questions related to his meeting with Trump, along with any memos he wrote contemporaneously to record the contents of their conversation and any other such memos written after meetings with then-President Barack Obama and officials at the Department of Justice. According to online news site Circa, Comey politely declined to answer those questions on the basis of now being a 'private citizen.' If that's true, some on the Intelligence Committee might question why Comey wants to talk to them about Trump but not to the Judiciary Committee.

"In other words, we can expect a lot of drama this week on Capitol Hill. Whether any of it moves the needle on these controversies remains to be seen, but given the damage done to Comey before this, don't expect to hear much that will stick."

"Political media and DC elites often forget that the average American family is struggling to save for the future -- and in fact almost half couldn't cover an unforeseen $400 expense. Despite the fact that millions of men and women across this country are working second and third jobs, they are struggling to feed their families.

"Those Americans -- from Western North Carolina to Ohio to Pennsylvania to Michigan -- aren't focused on the latest breaking 'news' on the Russia investigation. They care about seeing results and solutions that help their businesses survive -- and grow. They care about having access to high quality, affordable health care. They care about lower taxes that allow them to keep more of their paychecks. They care about the safety and security of their family.

"And, in Washington, we have done an abysmal job of maintaining our primary focus on those issues. Passing important policy that impacts every day Americans requires consensus building, marketing our ideas to constituents through media and building coalitions of support. With the constant focus on Russia, big important policy items like tax reform have been stalled."

"Former FBI director James Comey is formally refusing to answer questions submitted to him by a bipartisan group of senators, suggesting he no longer must do so as a private citizen.

"Comey sent an email from his private account last week rebuffing the seven questions that had been submitted to him by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and the committee's ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein after Comey's final testimony as FBI director to the panel last month. Comey was fired by President Donald Trump shortly after his appearance. ...

"The 'private citizen' excuse was considered unusual by the senators since numerous former government officials have testified before Congress in recent weeks."

Read entire article here.

"Call in the cops. Release the tear gas. Make arrests. Convict the arrested. Give the convicts real punishments.

"Repeat those steps, again and again.

"That's how colleges and the civil authorities with jurisdiction over them should react to campus protests that turn violent, or that block free access to public spaces, or that physically interrupt people's work or 'occupy' their workspaces, or that shut down the right of others to speak.

"It is long past time to overrule mob rule, to protect the rights of interested listeners to listen, to insist that words and viewpoints are not violence and should not be met with violence. And it's time to teach spoiled brats that they are the ones abusing an unearned privilage - the privilege of higher education - if they use force or its threat or even their vocal cords to deny free speech to others that the agitators denounce for being 'privileged.'"