Columns

    Leaders from 40 countries came to Paris on Jan. 11 to lead a million Parisians in a march to protest the murder of Charlie Hebdo journalists the previous week. German Chancellor Angela Merkel came to Paris as did Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was there as was Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, president of Mali, a Muslim majority country in North-Western Africa. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was also there and he and Keita shook hands.

The House of Representatives kicked off the 114th Congress this week, eager to work with the new majority in the Senate and take action on several jobs bills. The House is focused on solutions to the problems faced by the American people – solutions that spur job creation and lay the groundwork for a stronger, more vibrant economy. That focus was reinforced by the legislation approved this week.

    People like to talk about a new year as if it were a clean slate. It isn’t. Stuff from the old year always carries over into the new. Sometimes it’s the fruit, or consequences, of what we did in the old year. Often, it’s unfinished business.

Did you hear the joke about the Christian school that – rather than take the Lord's advice and turn the other cheek when it felt abused – actually hired lawyers and went to court instead?
    Sadly, in Lynchburg, it's not a joke at all.