The Brady Bill's only effect will be to desensitize the public to regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.

This week, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized control of the Yemeni government, heretofore pro-American. In September, they overran Sanaa, the capital. On Tuesday, they seized the presidential palace. On Thursday, they forced the president to resign.

When under attack, no country is obligated to collect permission slips from allies to strike back.

Americans are not intrinsically imperial, but we ended up dominant by default: Europe disappeared after the Second World War, the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991, so here we are.

Obama is a man of first-class intellect and first-class temperament. But his character remains highly suspect.

If [Bush's] successors don't screw it up, within 10 years NASA will have us back to where we belong -- on other worlds.

Clashes of values and the struggle for primacy constitute a constant in human history that accounts for that other constant - conflict and war.