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Quids and quos gone wild

WASHINGTON — It’s fair to say at this juncture that America’s Quid and Ukraine’s Quo have been caught in bed together. The fevered search for a damning quid pro quo since the White House released a readout of Donald Trump’s July 25 telephone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — in which Trump requested an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter — has proved productive. A series of text messages provided to Congress by former U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker irrefutably shows a clear quid pro quo. Full stop. Contrary to White House ...

35-year-old surprise

Dear Annie: We received a shocking message on our answering machine a few days ago. A woman called and identified herself as a possible daughter from an affair 35 years ago. Later, a woman left a message saying she was the mother. I have not been in contact with this woman for 31 years! Later, I told my wife of 30 years, to whom I have been faithful. When I made those vows, I meant every word of them. But I felt that I should call the daughter back, as I respect the courage it took for her to call a total stranger and request that I take a DNA test with her. My wife blew up! She ...

This impeachment won’t work

This is not a column about impeaching our current president. This is a column about the impeachment process and the history of the legal route our nation is obliged to follow to oust a federal official. In the 231 years since the U.S. Constitution was ratified, Congress has seriously considered impeachment only a handful of times — just 19, to be exact. Most of the cases involved federal judges accused of “high crimes and misdemeanors” like being habitually drunk, showing blatant favoritism on the bench, using the office to enrich themselves, committing perjury or filing false ...

Hostile husband needs to stop

Dear Annie: I am 28 years old, and recently celebrated my second wedding anniversary. I have been with my husband, Tom, for a total of five years, but due to immigration trials and tribulations, we have only been living together full time for two-and-a-half years (first in the United States and now in the United Kingdom). My issue is my husband’s relationship with my beloved 9-year-old cat, Whiskers. When Tom first began to visit me, prior to our engagement, and then live with me in the United States, he had no issue with Whiskers — loving him and accompanying him outside into ...

Talker needs to listen to his wife

Dear Annie: My husband loves to talk. He’s known for it. Friends who drive past our house and see him outside usually stop to talk to him, often for an hour at a time. He’s one of those people who’s “never met a stranger.” Many times, I have seen him have long conversations with people he’s just met at the farm store — or just about anywhere. This love of conversation does not appear to carry over to talking to his wife, though — unless it’s a conversation he started. I am expected to respond to everything he says, but it doesn’t work that way in return. He has ...

Life can improve, even during impeachments

Underneath the clash and clang of controversy over presidential impeachment, public policy and personal initiative can slowly and seemingly imperceptibly improve life in America. That was the case two decades ago, amid the swirling arguments over the mostly party line impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton and the Senate’s mostly party line refusal to remove him from office. This 1998-99 controversy occurred as conservative welfare and crime control reforms were vastly reducing — far more than their advocates had expected — welfare dependency and crime control in America’s ...