Opinion

It’s no secret that American political discourse has been dogpaddling in a sea of irrelevance. Now and then, a story of great importance takes over if it involves drama and colorful personalities. The almost-coup in Russia would be an example.

Today is the 179th day of 2023 and the eighth day of summer. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1914, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, sparking World War I.

Dear Annie: I’m 42 and, due to having epilepsy, have never been able to live on my own, without my parents. I haven’t had any kind of social life for the past 13 years. My illness began the year after I graduated high school, and it gradually got worse with time. I have lived with my mom through childhood, and from my senior year of high school until I was 38, I lived with my dad. Now I’m back living with my mom.

I’ve always felt that my husband was my greatest fan and biggest cheerleader. He has supported me while I chased my dreams. Through chronic illness and little-tono income, he’s had my back. My marriage is the foundation from which many of my ambitions were launched. It is my solid rock bed of support for chasing career aspirations.

Dear Editor, At the State Department of Education, there is a big push to get rid of “Social emotional learning” programs in schools. SEL is a program for mid-high students to help pre-teens to learn accountability for their behavior and to modulate their pubescent emotions.

Today is the 178th day of 2023 and the seventh day of summer. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1829, British chemist James Smithson died, leaving an endowment for “the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” In 1844, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder, Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum were murdered by an anti-Latterday Saints mob at the jail where they were being held in Carthage, Illinois.

By Taking Records That Did Not Belong to Him and Refusing to Return Them, William Barr Notes, Trump ‘Provoked This Whole Problem Himself’ Donald Trump picked William Barr as his second attorney general largely because Barr had criticized special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. Barr still agrees with Trump that the Russia probe was a “witch hunt.” The former attorney general takes a strikingly different view of the federal indictment against Trump that was unsealed this month, which Barr calls “very, very damning.” In contrast with many other prominent Republicans, Barr says the outrage is not the indictment but the “reckless conduct” that prompted it.

DearAnnie: I have two stepgrandchildren, a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. My grandson is completely out of control and was recently expelled from high school for truancy and drug use. My granddaughter was recently caught vaping in the school bathroom and was expelled for a short period of time. There are days when she refuses to get up and go to school, and when she does, she often skips her classes.

Are America’s 45th and 46th presidents politically invulnerable? That’s a conclusion you might come to from the response to the indictment of Donald Trump on June 8 and the guilty plea by Joe Biden’s son Hunter announced on June 20.