Austin Bay: Part 1: Consequences of America losing a war to China

It is foolish to believe an intense war involving China and the U.S. would be confined to the Taiwan Strait and end with Taiwan's loss. In the scenario, missiles hit regional U.S. bases — meaning Japan, South Korea, Guam, perhaps Australia, Singapore and Hawaii.

Shining some extra light on this Tuesday’s election

Froma Harrop: Online women have to be tough, starting as teens

Anyone on social media, or a simple email account, can be subjected to bullying and cruel comments, many of them anonymously sent by cowards. Women are favored targets for crude remarks. That's a simple given of the digital age. Teenage girls would be advised to reassess what apps they use. Meanwhile, all sensitive women who insist on living online must toughen up. Adolescence would be the right place to start.

Bob Neal: The Countryman: Can we shake it without breaking it?

I'm not arguing against disruption or even against breaking things. And certainly not against moving fast. I'm a basketball fan, after all. But I believe the pace of disruption may have risen up so much that we can't keep up with it. As our heads spin, we may grab for answers that wouldn't make a lick of sense if things moved slower. And broke up less.

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Power unrestrained serves only itself

The police are esteemed — rightly — for being first responders, for running toward danger. But that is not, and cannot be, a get-out-of-accountability-free card. We’d demand answers from the janitor or short-order cook who behaved as if rules were for other people. Why is it so hard to hold to the same standard men and women in whom we vest such sweeping authority?

Rich Lowry: Rationality is not a white male thing

The New York Times ran a report the other day on the canceling of University of Chicago geophysicist Dorian Abbot for his dissenting views on affirmative action. The paper quoted a Williams College geosciences professor, Phoebe A. Cohen, who supports Abbot's shunning. She explained her dim view of academic freedom thusly, "This idea of intellectual debate and rigor as the pinnacle of intellectualism comes from a world in which white men dominated."

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Condoleezza Rice wants to move on

The forces that animated the events of Jan. 6 did not spring from nowhere. Nor did they disappear into mist when the clock struck midnight. We face a clear and abiding danger, one we ignore at great peril. With all due respect to Rice, if we don’t treat this with the seriousness it deserves, we won’t have a “better America” to move on to.

Cal Thomas: How many more?

America is fragile. Its values must be renewed in every generation, or we risk losing them. What is happening at what used to be our southern border is a scandal and a disgrace. Administration officials need to enforce the laws they took an oath to uphold.

The problem with ranking schools

The data displayed in ranking tables imply that if only the leaders of a particular school would offer more AP classes, improve student-teacher ratios or raise test scores, then theirs could be among the "best" schools. This simplicity is appealing: It implies a clear silver bullet for school improvement. It also paints a picture of schooling that is divorced from reality.

Everywhere we go, we leave a trail of trash. Here’s what you can do to help.

Inspired by San José State University student Edgar McGregor's work and his Twitter presence, people from all over the world have begun to pick up a bag or bucket in his honor.