This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareJames Kirchick is a visiting fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and author of “”President Trump’s decision to U.S. troops from Germany has prompted a surfeit of lamentation from foreign policy elites. Yet most of the commentaries overlook an important factor: the opinion of the German people themselves.According to released this week, 47 percent of Germans support reducing the number of U.S. soldiers on their territory. One in 4 are happy to say auf Wiedersehen to them all....…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareJames Kirchick is a visiting fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and author of “”President Trump’s decision to U.S. troops from Germany has prompted a surfeit of lamentation from foreign policy elites. Yet most of the commentaries overlook an important factor: the opinion of the German people themselves.According to released this week, 47 percent of Germans support reducing the number of U.S. soldiers on their territory. One in 4 are happy to say auf Wiedersehen to them all....WW…

Think of the American Civil Liberties Union during the last two decades of the 20th century, and a certain type of person invariably comes to mind: shrewd, thick-skinned, and possessed of an unwavering—some might say irritating—commitment to principle. The men and women of the ACLU were liberals in the most honorable, but increasingly obsolescent, meaning of the term. They understood that the measure of democracy lies in the impartial application of its laws, and were prepared to defend anyone whose constitutional rights were trampled upon, irrespective of their political views or the...…Think of the American Civil Liberties Union during the last two decades of the 20th century, and a certain type of person invariably comes to mind: shrewd, thick-skinned, and possessed of an unwavering—some might say irritating—commitment to principle. The men and women of the ACLU were liberals in the most honorable, but increasingly obsolescent, meaning of the term. They understood that the measure of democracy lies in the impartial application of its laws, and were prepared to defend anyone whose constitutional rights were trampled upon, irrespective of their political views or the...WW…

The most destructive and enduring slander against gay men is that they prey on children. Boys Beware, a 1961 educational film distributed to schools across the country, offers a glimpse of the menacing place which the homosexual occupied in the postwar American public imagination. The film follows a young boy named “Jimmy,” who after a baseball game with his friends hitchhikes a ride home from “Ralph,” a friendly, mustached man in sunglasses. The next day, Ralph waits for Jimmy in the same spot, and buys him a Coke. A week later, Ralph takes Jimmy fishing and shows him a few dirty pictures,...…The most destructive and enduring slander against gay men is that they prey on children. Boys Beware, a 1961 educational film distributed to schools across the country, offers a glimpse of the menacing place which the homosexual occupied in the postwar American public imagination. The film follows a young boy named “Jimmy,” who after a baseball game with his friends hitchhikes a ride home from “Ralph,” a friendly, mustached man in sunglasses. The next day, Ralph waits for Jimmy in the same spot, and buys him a Coke. A week later, Ralph takes Jimmy fishing and shows him a few dirty pictures,...WW…