David Keene
Columns by David Keene
Current version of Joe Biden should not be running for president
It's time to ask whether former Vice President Joe Biden is up to the job he's after. Published March 15, 2020
Playing coronavirus politics: China puts Taiwan and world at risk
Nowhere are the potential risks of putting politics above all else more acute than in dealing with the various flu-like pandemics that have a tendency to emerge first in China and then spread to surrounding countries and the rest of the world. Published March 3, 2020
Democratic presidential wannabes pander to Bernie Sanders and the crazy leftists
Love him or hate him, Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders is the genuine article. He believes what he believes while the rest of the contenders look like what they are; panderers espousing views they adopted not out of principle, but for this campaign. Published February 27, 2020
The depressed, dismal Democrats have forgotten how to have fun
For whatever reason, the current Democratic field isn't entertaining and certainly doesn't seem to have much fun. Their parties, like their debates, must be dismal affairs. Published February 22, 2020
Iowa Democrats may turn to Michael Bloomberg
Voters may turn to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg of all people if Mr. Biden is seriously wounded in the early going and no one emerges from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as a clear front-runner. Published February 1, 2020
The people of Taiwan have a country and are dedicated to keeping it
Communist rulers in Beijing have vowed since 1949 that they will retake Taiwan which they describe as a "breakaway province" by force if necessary, Published January 20, 2020
Virginia’s ‘Second Amendment Sanctuaries’
Elections have consequences. Virginia, which for decades had been considered reliably conservative, is now firmly in "progressive" hands and quickly morphing into one of the most liberal states in the East. Published January 7, 2020
The trouble with wind farms
Wind farm operators have routinely overestimated the salvage value of their windmills and underestimated the costs involved in removing them to get permitted jurisdictions to lower how much they are required to put aside. Published January 1, 2020
China attacks minorities within its borders
China is actively persecuting and imprisoning and terrorizing millions of Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China. Published December 4, 2019
Elizabeth Warren’s ridiculous plan for student debt
Elizabeth Warren's multi-billion-dollar plan to cancel some $640 billion of student debt is a case in point, amounting to little more than a thinly disguised attempt to buy the votes of younger, higher earning, college-educated voters. Published November 29, 2019
If the presidential election depends on Wisconsin, Trump supporters are ready
Trump supporters in the Midwestern states who will decide whether President Donald J. Trump will win a second term next November are organizing, undergoing training and preparing to begin knocking on doors this winter. Published November 25, 2019
If Elizabeth Warren doubles the tax burden, Americans will suffer
If Ms. Warren somehow makes it to the White House, however, those who are ignoring the reality of what she is promising or threatening on the campaign trail are in for a real shock. Published November 12, 2019
Kamala Harris’ nosedive
California Sen. Kamala Harris' seems willing to do anything she thinks might help claw her way back into the top tier of Democratic presidential wannabes. This was on full display recently in South Carolina. Published November 4, 2019
Hillary Clinton’s conspiracy theories
In the 1950s, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy believed there was a Soviet agent lurking under every bed and began naming some without much proof. Critics were correct to lambast him, but today's Democrats would embarrass even McCarthy. Published October 28, 2019
Why a new common sense criminal justice reform bill must be passed into law
A federal judge can ignore an acquittal if he or she decides the jury was wrong and "a preponderance of the evidence" suggests the defendant might actually have been guilty. Published October 14, 2019
What the Hong Kong protesters know
Few Americans today remember what is known as "Black Ribbon Day," when more than 2 million people in Communist Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania joined hands in an unbroken human chain that stretched some 420 miles to protest the Soviet occupation. Published September 5, 2019
When a psychiatrist suffers from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’
Dr. Allen Frances, former chairman of the Psychiatry Department at Duke University, exhibits all the symptoms of what Trumpsters like to call the "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Published August 29, 2019
Beto O’Rourke and Kirsten Gillibrand’s ‘progressive’ fantasies about guns
The idea that Americans have a constitutional right to own and possess firearms appalls today's progressives. They believe that if they could just rid the nation of guns, then armed robberies, gang violence, mass shootings, rape, violent crime and maybe even suicide would vanish and we could all live peacefully ever after. Published August 20, 2019
Remembering Bill Schulz, the iconic Reader’s Digest editor
Soon after Bill Schulz, the longtime Washington editor of Reader's Digest, retired in 2003, I joined him for lunch at his favorite table at Washington's Palm restaurant. As we were seated, I told Tommy Jacomo, the restaurant's iconic maitre d', "This one's on me." He looked at me and at Bill and replied, "About time, don't you think?" Published July 25, 2019
Why the administration’s workforce development program matters
President Trump owes his 2016 electoral victory to support from millions of frustrated and even angry middle class voters living in what coastal elitists like to refer to as "flyover country" who were tired of being ignored. Published July 24, 2019
