From the Left
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Donald Trump at Half-Staff
"When I stand here today, about to take the Oath of Office, the flags at half-staff remind me of the long line of presidents. In particular, I am reminded of President Jimmy Carter, a man of honor, compassion and duty, a veteran, a man of deep faith, a fighter for human rights, a man who loved one woman his whole adult life, and a man who ...Read more
Bill Press: Holding California wildfire victims hostage
One of the great joys of living in Washington is access to the great Smithsonian museums, all free to the public. But no matter where you go in Washington, you can’t escape politics. As I realized again this week, visiting one of the greatest art exhibitions I’ve ever seen, “The Impressionist Moment,” at the National Gallery.
Over five ...Read more
The Resistance Learns to Relax
When Donald Trump took over the White House back in January 2017, an appalled opposition started a movement called "the resistance." Its purpose was to stop Trump's worst excesses. Some may recall the massive Women's Marches and other anti-Trump demonstrations.
This time, past resisters are saying they are exhausted. Efforts to revive the ...Read more
Is Los Angeles Toxic?
While I've been mainlining local news to see if my house, on the edge of an evacuation zone, was going to survive, my daughter (who I've been staying with) has been doing research on the air. As depressing as it has been to see these fires destroying my adopted hometown, it's been worse to hear my daughter's reports on the air around us, and ...Read more
Heartbreak Cities in the New Year
2025 is a full year so far.
If you grew up in the beautiful (but parlous) land of Los Angeles and live in Washington D.C., the moment feels like paradise lost.
Seeing your hometown burn to the ground on screen, with high winds showing no mercy and leaving vast swaths of city life destroyed, makes tears run dry as fire hydrants.
Nothing will...Read more
The Billionaire Bros Do the Immigrant Worker Two-Step
One thing you can say about Donald Trump is that he's absolutely clear on his furious opposition to immigrants taking American jobs.
Except, of course, when the corporate honchos profiting from cheap immigrant labor are billionaire funders of Trump's campaigns -- or, hello, when Trump himself is doing the hiring!
A work permit program called...Read more
Gullibles' Travels: Trump Routs America. Americans Yawn
The Supreme Court's narrow vote to permit a New York state judge to formally pronounce a practically meaningless sentence on Donald Trump pursuant to a jury verdict convicting him of 34 felonies was hailed by some as promising news, that there remain institutional guardrails constraining the 47th president from doing anything he wishes after ...Read more
The Reality Hollywood Can't Change
We recall the catastrophic fires in Maui almost two years ago, then the horde of unusually violent hurricanes trashing Florida's west coast. To the surprise of many, those storms unleashed cataclysmic flooding in western North Carolina, up there in the mountains. All these extreme weather events were tied in part to warming temperatures. As ...Read more
'I Thought That Death Was Imminent'
*Jean Paul is a pseudonym. All names have been changed to protect those identified in this story.
I hail from Cameroon, a beautiful country tucked away in Central Africa that's sometimes called "Africa in miniature" for its diverse geography, culture, food and languages. Sadly, since 2016, this diversity has also contributed to conflict between...Read more
Will Trump Get Credit for Biden’s Successes?
Trump will try to take credit for the Biden economy. Don’t let him. And don’t let Republican enablers of Trump or the media give him credit, either.
In 2017, Trump inherited a strong economy from President Obama and never stopped congratulating himself for it. He claimed that “we created the greatest economy in the history of the world.�...Read more
Fire!
What was Donald Trump's reaction to the deadly and devastating wildfires literally burning down a county that didn't vote for him?
This is what he wrote on Truth Social.
"Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt...Read more
Stoking Division Amid Disaster, Trump and His Minions Betray America
The solidarity of American communities in the face of catastrophe, whether natural or manmade, is an aspect of our national character that most of us cherish. We never tire of stories about our fellow citizens upholding one another at the worst of times. We venerate the firefighters, emergency service workers, law enforcement officers and ...Read more
Jimmy Carter’s Funeral Brought a Rare and Much-Needed Vision of Peace
When he showed up at the Chicago Tribune one day in early 1976, James Earl Carter, Jr., was announced by one of our young newsroom copy clerks as “that governor from Georgia who thinks he can run for president.”
Yes, as a young reporter in that newsroom, I remember Jimmy Carter as a former peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, and a former ...Read more
In Divisive Times, Science Brings Us Together
We're living in divisive times. It's something said so often that it's become cliche. But collaboration across divides still happens, and the International Space Station is a great place to witness this in action. The ISS is entering its 25th year with crews on board modeling scientific collaboration on global research projects. Crew members ...Read more
Oohhh, Canada
President Narrowly Elected Donald Trump wants to buy/annex/conquer/steal the entire country of Canada.
There is a lot to be said for this idea, principally because it's so magnificently stupid. It's not average stupid, like eating in a restaurant with rat traps in the dining room. It's stupid like ordering the ratatouille in a restaurant with...Read more
Two Presidents in Washington: One Welcome, One Not
Here’s how I’d sum up this week in Washington: I wouldn’t walk across the street to say hello to Donald Trump. But I waited in line for two and a half hours, most of it outside in 29-degree cold and snow, to say goodbye to Jimmy Carter.
And I was hardly alone. Washington’s dignitaries celebrated Carter’s life on Tuesday afternoon. But...Read more
Young Men Who Don't Leave Home? Is Mama a Reason?
Young men are not launching -- that is, growing up as traditionally holds -- at the same rate as young women. Among Americans ages 25 to 34, about 20% of the men are still living with their parents compared with 12% of the women. Fewer young males than females are attending college or job training.
There are theories on why more girls are ...Read more
The Routine of the Rule of Law
This year, Jan. 6 was a routine day. Congress certified the election of Donald Trump. They did it in 30 minutes, instead of the overnight session in the wake of riots four years ago. As one Democrat put it, there were no election deniers on the Democratic side. The rule of law triumphed, routinely. Imagine how different it might have been had ...Read more
Pardons Turn the Truth Around -- Then and Now
Yes, I was there on Jan. 6, 2021, in the sacred temple of democracy when a mob's deadly rampage darkened democracy and injured 140 police officers in a president's plot to undo the election he lost.
That was the best day of President-elect Donald Trump's life: crowd size, TV ratings, a siege, all of it for three hours. That tragic day burns ...Read more
Jimmy Carter's Light Exposes Donald Trump's Darkness
You're not fooling me, Jimmy Carter. You did that on purpose! Dying when you did, I mean.
You chose last month to grab the global political spotlight once more to make a statement with the only Earthly move you had left: checking out. What better way to make people ponder the state of political integrity in America than to reflect on how the ...Read more