When I tuned in to an NFL game last night, the pre-game ritual that attends every big sports event was underway. Someone sang the Star Spangled Banner, a huge flag was unfurled, fans stood with hands over their hearts. I don’t remember if jet fighters flew over the stadium. To most, it’s a show of ...
My editor and old friend emailed me this morning about Trump’s latest outrages.You may have missed them given the dizzying pace of authoritarian bombast from the White House — executive orders, threats, insults, boasts, firings and lies — lobbed almost hourly. On Aug. 25 Trump signed an executive order to eliminate “cashless bail” in ...
Most of us who grew up in the mid-20th century are accustomed to talking about political issues as if they only amounted to differences on policy. Consider the issue of the minimum wage. Republicans and Libertarians would argue for a low or nonexistent minimum wage and refer to Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” metaphor to ...
It will take some time, perhaps years, until we know what role our government played in Israel’s decision to attack Iran on June 12. Did Israel simply give us a heads-up about its plans, then go ahead without our encouragement? Did we “green light” its operation in advance? Did we encourage Israel? Did ...
Last November Americans elected a presidential candidate who promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. The candidate demonized certain kinds of immigrants and flagrantly lied about them to whip up his rabid base. He was careful, mind you, not to demonize immigrants from predominantly white European countries and a plurality of American voters flocked to the ...
At 2:40 AM on the morning after our country first elected Donald Trump to be our President, David Remnick of the New Yorker wrote these words. I have kept them by my desk for the past 8 years. The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for ...
Before the recent French and British elections fade from the headlines, and before the maelstrom of our own unending political war, let’s take a moment to reflect on what happened in Europe. Britain On the surface the election in the United Kingdom went as predicted, but there are some interesting tidbits to glean from the ...
Back in January 2020, I posted a blog titled Musings on 2020. You can find it in the archives. It reviewed the candidates competing to take on Trump in the 2020 presidential race. Here’s what I said about Joe Biden 4½ years ago: “ Sanders and Biden are too old. I have said that until ...
With each day bringing more vexing news about the US presidential election, you may have overlooked some troubling election events rolling across Europe. There, like here, right-wing populist movements similar to MAGA mania are gaining momentum. The truth is, “vexing” and “troubling” aren’t heavy enough words for what’s going on on both sides of the ...
Before last week it didn’t much matter that Congressman Mike Johnson was a scary, far-right extremist — an ideological clone of fellow congressman Jim Jordan, without Jordan’s in-your-face demeanor. Johnson’s ultra-conservatism hadn’t attracted much attention because of his obscurity among 434 other members of the House. But now that he’s been elevated to the ...
