ArcaMax

There are no good answers to the current situation in the Gaza War. President Joe Biden is trying to use a pause in weapons shipments to force Israel to do more to protect civilians against "collateral damage" that a bombing campaign in Rafah would no doubt entail. But United States military officials admit that that is easier said than done. ...Read more

It is a truism bordering on a cliche that the Israeli state and Palestinian resistance organizations have inflicted violence upon each other, claiming the lives of thousands of innocent people on both sides. Media coverage of the carnage has been anything but evenhanded, however.

Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, Western media ...Read more

Nobody likes Big Oil, a monopolistic and heavily polluting industry with a legendary history of abusing its excessive power that can be traced back over the past hundred years.

But Donald Trump has promised to be the oil industry's best friend -- if its bosses give him a billion dollars.

In the latest instance of the former president's mind-...Read more

Erma Bombeck was right when she said, "It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else." I thought of this quote when my friend Gina Barreca recently asked on social media, "Writers: Why is it hard to hit 'send' even after all these years?"

Barreca has written or edited about 20 books, has written countless columns and she's Board...Read more

I hope someday to be 100 and writing myself a birthday column, but I'm a ways from that event.

What I am is 67 and writing myself a birthday column, which is serious enough. I've been writing this column for 15 years now, and that also seems like a serious number.

Hell, they're all serious numbers. The number of years you are when you get ...Read more

Is it fair to ask teenagers to give up sports and parties to care for parents or other older relatives? That's an important question these days, because so many now do.

The Wall Street Journal reported on a 15-year-old high school kid, Leo Remis, who is helping his disabled mother. Leo flexes her muscles to prevent blood clots. When her hands...Read more

She came out of the bathroom and he had stripped down to his underwear. He was waiting for her on the bed. He didn't ask about using a condom, and he didn't use one. Afterward, her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't fasten the straps on her shoes. She didn't say no, but then she didn't say yes either. No nonconsent, but a clear imbalance...Read more

You know the way Shakespeare created a portrait of a family's hard feelings in King Lear, his tragedy about a raging, storming English king with three daughters? That play, set in Gloucester, speaks to me now of how Congress and the country are falling apart.

It even takes me back to the Civil War.

Shakespeare got it right. Conflicts and ...Read more

Woe is us (the American people) for having our jewel of a national Postal Service saddled with a corporate-minded postmaster general, Louis DeJoy. Formerly CEO of a private shipping contractor, DeJoy's chief qualification for running this invaluable public service is that he's been a major donor to Republican politicians -- including Donald ...Read more

In 2023, Kansas enacted a law attempting to define "transgender" out of existence by restricting the definition of a "woman" to the biological function of producing ova. Not only does this definition negate the experiences of trans women and girls, but it also excludes entire categories of women who are not transgender, such as post-menopausal...Read more

A favorite quote from the recent campus conflicts comes from Adam Young, a freshman at the New School in New York. After student trespassers were arrested and hauled to police headquarters, he complained, "This is not OK ... We're 18 years old."

Adam, there are 17-year-old Marines.

The pro-Palestinian protestors have every right to rail ...Read more

I read all the updates from the reporters in the court room. But it just isn't the same as watching it yourself.

I want to actually see it. I want to see how Donald Trump reacts when he hears his former aides testify. I want to hear for myself the testimony of the witnesses against him, and the cross-examination. I want to judge for myself ...Read more

There are more Democrats than Republicans, more liberals than conservatives, more progressives than MAGAs. But you'd never know that from looking at our politics. From abortion to the minimum wage to war, the Right wins the important arguments.

How do they do it? Verbal abuse. Right-wing bullies name-call, they hector, they doxx, they blacklist...Read more

Back in the antediluvian era of American politics, perpetrating dirty tricks was considered proof of bad character and potentially disqualifying for public office, depending on circumstances.

But as with so many other aspects of public life, the rise of former President Donald Trump heralded a steep decline in political ethics and the way ...Read more

My son brought home a bookmark from school promoting the school's spring book fair -- and it doubled as a coupon to a fast-food restaurant. This isn't the first "free kid's meal" coupon my son has gotten. It's a pretty common thing, and after the book I just read, it annoys me.

"Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn't Food" ...Read more

A judge with a keen grasp of the obvious recently found possible felon/president Donald Trump in contempt.

After 40 years as a reporter/columnist, I haven't had to type "possible felon/president" very much, but I didn't have to type "climate change" or "nonbinary" either. Things change.

Trump, who has an at best slippery grasp on reality, ...Read more

The Biden administration recently stopped a plan to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes. The excellent arguments for why they are dangerous were overcome by good arguments for why making them illegal didn't make sense.

In a world of optimal health, no one would be smoking menthol cigarettes or any cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration ...Read more

The helicopters were whirring in the sky last night over the UCLA campus as violent clashes broke out on the ground between pro- and anti-Palestinian demonstrators at the on-campus encampment that UCLA had tolerated for far longer than it should have. A university's first responsibility is to educate, and that means creating a safe and secure ...Read more

The Luncheon Society intrigued me by its very name. My grandmother attended women's society "luncheons."

So how could I refuse a Zoom invitation ("you might enjoy") out of the ether to join a virtual conversation mixing yesteryear and tomorrow?

Speakers and guests are all over the map. Somehow Bob McBarton, the ebullient host, curates ...Read more