ArcaMax

The Democratic Party's low approval ratings have sent a stern message to its members. But what is it? Is it a failure to loudly fight an unpopular president on every matter? Is it anger over the party's previous obsession with boutique causes -- transgender rights, for instance -- while downplaying broad economic concerns? Or is it the lack of...Read more

The pictures are almost too painful to look at: the starving children and their desperate mothers, the frail and emaciated hostages, the memories of the bodies on Oct. 7.

And for those who have loved Israel, have planted our trees as children and celebrated Israel's victories as adults, there is the pain of seeing the world, including its ...Read more

Donald Trump's conquering of the country is complete. The blows he's inflicted on American democracy will take a lifetime to heal.

The president fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief, a woman, for a poor jobs and growth report. That is a death knell -- or a deep chill -- for honest government officials.

He shut the Corporation for ...Read more

In 2018 my newspaper died. Well, actually, the emaciated carcass of the Austin American Statesman still had a feeble pulse. But its journalistic voice and soul were gone, stripped out by the notorious financial predators of Gannett, the huge media conglomerate that had recently bought the paper.

Happily, though, the Statesman has made a near-...Read more

That Gazans subsist in misery is indisputable, and Benjamin Netanyahu's apparent decision to dispute it is incomprehensible. It's dishonest, and it undermines Israel's government's credibility. Those who maintain that Israel, despite the impossible position in which Hamas' genocidal invasion has put it, must nevertheless do all it reasonably can...Read more

How nice to have the Sydney Sweeney "great genes" controversy. It is happily of no consequence, which is just what we need for escape from unhinged behavior spilling out of Washington.

Donald Trump's sending nuclear subs toward Russia, a likely distraction from his tangle with Jeffrey Epstein, is something I don't want to think about. Not far...Read more

As announced in a letter from the Department of Defense, the Trump administration plans to use Fort Dix, the U.S. Army post that is part of the triservice Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, to detain immigrants. The South Jersey military base will hold up to 3,000 beds for use by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

With this expansion to Fort...Read more

Laura Loomer, the right-wing influencer and conspiracy theorist who describes herself as "pro-white nationalist" and who is so far out there that she herself could not make it through the vetting process for a job in either the Trump campaign or the Trump administration, has some new scalps to add to her collection. She is the self-appointed ...Read more

When Donald Trump pardoned the Jan. 6 gangsters upon returning to the White House, he proved that he is capable of any depraved act to protect himself. So while everybody should be outraged by the prospect of a presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, nobody should be surprised. There is no dishonor too low for him.

The 63-year-old Maxwell ...Read more

In certain traditional societies, troublesome individuals who were perceived as threats to communal harmony were labeled as "witches." To restore calm, accused witches were sometimes reintegrated into society via a ceremony of ritual cleansing. Other problematic people, particularly those whose socially unacceptable behavior persisted, were ...Read more

Unless you're roasting marshmallows, it's hard to think of fire in the woods as a good thing. We all watched wildfire devastation play out earlier this year in Southern California, and many dealt with poor air quality as smoke drifted into the United States from fires burning in Canada. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that since Jan...Read more

"I'll have a small decaf black coffee, no sugar, and a croissant," I told the woman behind the counter.

I was in a nice place, a coffee shop and restaurant. In back of the place is a store that sells a lot of French groceries, and I go there to buy French caramels and cookies.

The 20-something woman behind the counter mumbled just a little, ...Read more

When Elon Musk and his first wife talked about how many children they would have, Justine reportedly said she wanted one or two. "But if I could afford nannies, I'd like to have four."

Musk reportedly replied: "That's the difference between you and me. I just assume that there will be nannies."

And that's also the difference between the tech...Read more

"No government -- regardless of which party is in power -- should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," Harvard President Alan Garber said in April. He's right. That is not a principle that should be negotiable.

Reports have surfaced this week that ...Read more

Happy 64th birthday (Monday) to the 44th president, Barack Obama.

Effortlessly cool, the first Black president proved a soaring speaker up there with John F. Kennedy, and the bringer of the Affordable Care Act.

Also on the record: Obama never played hard against Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and others. That flaw cost us dearly.

Everyone is...Read more

Some outrages are so outrageous that I don't even want to talk about them. But that's when we must speak out.

Indeed, let's rage against our government's wholly unprincipled embrace of (and direct participation in) the Israeli government's ongoing massacre of the Palestinian people.

-- Israel's ruthless, two-year invasion of Gaza has already...Read more