From the Left
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Blind Loyalty
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he has President Joe Biden's back. It's almost enough for me to take him off my list of possible successors to the incumbent president. Having Biden's back is not a matter of loyalty.
Biden has been a fine president. He inherited a country in crisis, roiled by the pandemic, and righted the ship of state. The ...Read more
How Biden Could Salvage His Candidacy
President Joe Biden's unsteady performance in last week's presidential debate has sparked a debate of its own between Democrats: between those who believe the president's chances of reelection have dropped so dramatically that he should be replaced as their nominee, and loyalists determined to stay the course lest the fragile coalition between...Read more
In the ‘Omnicause’, Colliding Causes Can Defeat Each Other’s Purposes
When does political protest seem to become an end in itself?
Climate firebrand Greta Thunberg, 21, seems to raise that question when looking at photos of her arrest last month outside the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden.
Wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh scarf and shouting, “Shame on you,” in a show of solidarity with the pro-...Read more
Biden Dies for Honor
Honor is the lost virtue. Honor, in the minds of our ancestors, was that thing beyond religion, beyond laws, beyond self-preservation, that thing that would make you stand and die rather than retreat.
Honor had some oddly twisted variants. Men banged away at each other with pistols, dueling over their honor. A man "defended a woman's honor" ...Read more
Hiking the Trails and Honoring My Roots in Hocking Hills State Park
"For every park, there's a story of someone who saved it from becoming something else." Ever since I read these words in Jenny Odell's book "How to Do Nothing," I've wanted to find the stories of such people.
I love parks, and I love all that they bring to our lives. So when my Aunt Mary suggested we go hiking in one of her favorite spots ...Read more
Stop Obsessing Over Population
Americans have this big obsession over population numbers. One reason is that reports related to population come with numbers. Numbers give politicians and journalists something concrete to either agonize or crow over.
The problem with this approach is that the numbers don't necessarily reflect the living reality of people being counted. ...Read more
‘Project 2025’ – A fair warning of a Trump presidency
This is how bad ideas, fueled by politicians desperate to curry favor with Donald Trump, can turn draconian.
Behold “Project 2025.”
Immigration attorneys have long been sounding the alarm about a 900-page policy draft written by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Our nation’s system of laws and policies governing ...Read more
King Trump
"With fear for our democracy," Justice Sonia Sotomayor concludes in her brilliant dissent in Trump v. United States, "I dissent."
She is right. Very frighteningly right.
After reading what happened at the oral argument, I knew what was coming. The court was looking for a way to carve up the baby, giving some form of immunity to former ...Read more
A Tragedy in Two Acts
MADISON, Wis. -- The presidential torch passed from Dwight D. Eisenhower, who seemed ancient at 70, to vigorous young John F. Kennedy, 43, a Bostonian who spoke these stirring words on a bright new day, snow glistening on marble: "Let the word go forth from this time and place ... that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans...Read more
Why Louisiana's Kids Won't Listen to Their Pious Governor
For us Texans, there's nothing new about Bible-thumping politicians bedeviling us with the foolishness of their dogmatic Christian piety. A century ago, for example, a proposal was made to offer bilingual education to Spanish-speaking school kids. But it was quashed by the governor, who solemnly declared: "If English was good enough for Jesus ...Read more
The Sad Reality? Biden Needs to Make Way for Another Democratic Nominee
I never thought I would be writing a column to urge Joe Biden to step aside.
But his painfully poor performance in his debate with Donald Trump last week forced me to face a very uncomfortable truth. His debate showing was a capital-D disaster.
The horrible truth: Biden needs to bow out.
I don’t say that easily because, as someone who’s ...Read more
Pride: 3 Guys and a Homeland
At sunrise last Oct. 7, 20-year-old Natanel Haziz was enjoying a day off from service in the Israel Defense Forces, joining masses of other young Israelis dancing at the Nova Festival, an outdoor dance party in southern Israel, a few miles from Gaza. First came hundreds of Hamas rockets fired at Israeli civilian centers. Then suddenly there were...Read more
Democrats Will Be OK If They Want To
Bad debates happen, as Joe Biden's supporters say. But that wasn't a debate. Biden stood there in an apparent cloud of fatigue, while Donald Trump lied his way throughout, ignoring the uncomfortable questions, of which there were several.
Biden says he's staying in the race, and for Democrats, that should be that. Here's what his campaign ...Read more
The Supreme Court Just Declined To Protect Emergency Abortion Care for Pregnant Patients. Here's What To Know.
The Supreme Court declined to issue a ruling in Idaho and Moyle, et al. v. United States. Instead, it sent the case back down to the lower courts where anti-abortion extremists will continue to fight to strip pregnant people of the basic right to emergency care, including when their life is at risk.
While the court's decision temporarily ...Read more
May I Have a Word With You?
I want to try to reassure you about this country.
I know that you’re worried and upset. You have every reason to be. Donald Trump is a vile human being, and he got away with a tsunami of lies Thursday night. Joe Biden didn’t come across with the vitality he needed to show.
I have no idea whether Biden will get his mojo back or the ...Read more
Is This Really the Best We Can Do?
It was painful to watch. Two men vying for the most important job in the world. And neither of them making the cut.
Trump was Trump -- just as expected, bragging and blustering, lying and threatening, refusing to say he would accept the results of the election, defending the Jan. 6 rioters. It is no exaggeration to say he is a threat to our ...Read more
Our Weirdly Random Employment System
Serendipity plays such a starring role in our lives that we never stop to ask ourselves whether we ought to accept it. A random event, especially one that turns out to be your "big break," becomes a charming story -- even though, really, such happenstance is an indictment of a system that is no system at all.
Donald Sutherland, The New York ...Read more
It’s Time for Biden to Do the Right Thing
This is the column I never wanted to write.
Let me start by admitting that I was one of those who complained most loudly when CNN scheduled this year’s first presidential debate at the end of June. It didn’t make any sense to put Donald Trump and Joe Biden on stage that early in the season, I insisted. By June 27, neither would have been ...Read more
Love, Loss and 'A Dog's Purpose Forever'
The day we got our bloodhound puppy, Maggie, I looked at my husband and said, "We're going to have to say goodbye to her one day." Everyone who has ever loved a dog has felt this kind of anticipatory grief. We know that a special bond with a dog comes with an expiration date. Or does it?
There's a new book coming out in September by Cathryn ...Read more
The Next Generation of Glizzies
It hasn't made it to my part of the urban Northeast yet, but the word "glizzy" has emerged as something you can call a hot dog.
It seems to have come from Washington, D.C., where the hard guys call a Glock pistol a glizzy. A hot dog is about the size of the extended magazine you use in a Glock pistol.
In the beginning was the gun, and the ...Read more