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Willie Nelson Reflects On 7 Decades Of Songwriting In New Book

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Willie starts with the words. It’s one of the surprising revelations in Willie Nelson ‘s new book, “Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs,” an examination of the 90-year-old country legend and soon-to-be Rock & Roll Hall of Famer ‘s seven decades of songwriting. While his guitar is practically an extension of his body at this point, he has always started the writing process by thinking up words rather than strumming chords. To him, it’s doing the hard part first. “The melodies are easier to write than the words,” Nelson told The ...

Israel Facing Difficult Choices

When Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was struggling over when to order the D- Day invasion of Europe in 1944, he wrestled with uncooperative weather, but also worried that any more delays could possibly lower morale and reduce troop readiness. For Israel, more delays in invading Gaza and destroying Hamas’ ability to commit new acts of terror against the Jewish state is only one of several considerations faced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his military leaders. Israel is at a moral disadvantage because it cares about preserving human life, while its enemies celebrate ...

Great Success in Cutting Deficit

Joe Biden has been so good at cutting the deficit that it clocked in at $2 trillion last year. The president likes to boast about how much he’s reduced the deficit — and, in his more careless moments, the debt itself — but he’s really presiding over a historic period of fiscal profligacy. His self-congratulation about reducing red ink is about as reliable as his self-valorizing stories about his academic achievements. Biden was taking his victory lap when the deficit had dropped to about $1 trillion from its pandemic-era highs of roughly $3 trillion, thanks to the ...

Is It Possible for a New Speaker to Reinstate an Old Norm?

After a little more than three weeks, House Republicans have finally elected a speaker. He’s Mike Johnson, first elected to the House in 2016 from a district in northwest Louisiana. He’s almost unknown to the public, has a right-wing voting record and has been a supporter of Donald Trump. How he does as speaker, whether he moves appropriations bills as promised, his skill negotiating with a Democratic president and Senate — all this is obviously unknown. The speakership is an odd political post, one of just two internal congressional offices mentioned in the Constitution. It ...

Maine Residents Pray, Reflect Days After Mass Shooting

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Church bells rang Sunday as Maine residents gathered at somber and sometimes joyful services to pray and support one another following a traumatic week in which a fellow Mainer gunned down 18 people in the worst mass killing in state history. The Rev. Daniel ...

How Extreme Weather May Have Affected The Pumpkins You Picked This Year

HUDSON, Colo. (AP) — Alan Mazzotti can see the Rocky Mountains about 30 miles west of his pumpkin patch in northeast Colorado on a clear day. He could tell the snow was abundant last winter, and verified it up close when he floated through fresh powder alongside his wife and three sons at the popular Winter Park Resort. But one season of above-average snowfall wasn’t enough to refill the dwindling reservoir he relies on to irrigate his pumpkins. He received news this spring that his water delivery would be about half of what it was from the previous season, so he planted just half ...