ArcaMax

Eternal vigilance is the price of paranoia, and that's why I check my garage carefully every day.

I check the garage because I figure if we get mice, that's where they're gonna get in first.

We had mice in our last house. We had them for about two weeks, and then the exterminator we hired killed them all, and we had a couple of small cracks ...Read more

There they were, dressed in hot pink, waving signs, banging on a cane.

If that is what counts as resistance, we are all in trouble.

The fact is that by showing up, the Democrats gave the president an audience he doesn't deserve. Would they all have shown up at a Donald Trump campaign rally? That's what it was. He doesn't deserve the respect ...Read more

Have you ever gone to a party that transports you back in time? I've attended two in one week, in Santa Monica, California, and Washington, D.C. I'm missing the '60s of my childhood something awful.

Time trips took me to Madison, Wisconsin, and Harlem in New York, where our family and friends were making America anew. Those are places where ...Read more

Once again, Sen. Bernie Sanders is showing that he's a leader who actually leads.

While top Democratic Party lawmakers are hunkered down in their Washington bunker, immobilized by the President Donald Trump-Elon Musk oligarchic coup on America's democracy, the feisty "little-d" democrat from Vermont is out in grassroots America, rallying ...Read more

"My heart has always been truly convinced," Marquis de Lafayette declared 250 years ago, "that in serving the cause of America I am fighting for the interests of France." The French nobleman put his life where his mouth was, volunteering for George Washington's Continental Army as his country provided critical support for our war for ...Read more

Across the country, right-wing groups are working to dismantle long-standing anti-discrimination protections and statutory mandates by targeting what they broadly refer to as diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA). These attacks on DEIA are not new. Rather, they're part of a broader strategy to discredit DEIA and weaponize the ...Read more

The president and JD turned a meeting that was supposed to make nice in the White House into a segment for Fox News as they openly shouted at Ukraine's leader for not being thankful enough for America's aid and Donald Trump's leadership. After Vance accused him of being "disrespectful" by being insufficiently thankful, Trump joined in, telling...Read more

For this essay, let's not debate the pros and cons of our new old president. Detailing specific reasons that many Americans are upset with/scared of/annoyed by President Donald Trump and the Republican Party would be a distraction from a point that desperately needs to be made. Suffice it to say, millions of people are angry, disappointed and ...Read more

Just in time for Women's History Month, there's an essay collection called "Fast Famous Women" releasing March 4. I'm honored to have contributed a chapter about iconic humor columnist Erma Bombeck. However, what's perhaps even more special about this collection is its editor. Gina Barreca, who holds a doctorate in English literature, is at ...Read more

I went out to buy envelopes Tuesday.

When you're semiretired, as I am, those small tasks become the day.

"Well," you say to your wife when you wake up, "I gotta go buy some envelopes today."

I walked to a chain drug store. They had envelopes. You got a box of 100 for $2.99.

The woman behind the cash register looked, as my father used to ...Read more

The "he" in this case was Rusty, an ornery old mutt who didn't do the cute doggy things that get clicks on social media videos. He wouldn't "sit." He'd rarely lick my face. And if a baby was gurgling nearby, he'd go the other way.

But Rusty had two things going for him. He was part Chihuahua, which meant he was small with a cute face. ...Read more

Good for Janet Mills, the governor of Maine. On Friday, at the White House, she did something that too many politicians have been afraid to do.

She stood up to President Donald Trump and stood for the rule of law.

The issue was Trump's threat to cut off federal funding for public education unless states comply with a recent executive order ...Read more

"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly." - William Shakespeare, "Macbeth"

"Quickly" is the key word for Macbeth as he muses before the bloody murder of King Duncan of Scotland. He must do the deed with his dagger by night, while the court sleeps. Act now or not at all.

"Quickly" is the passcode for Elon Muck ...Read more

The Trump-Musk administration thought they could just stomp on us and our Constitution, replacing democracy with a MAGA monarchy. But they had not reckoned with one fearsome opponent: Sen. Chuck Schumer.

The Senate's top Democrat says he's getting "furious" about the GOP's oligarchic coup attempt. Wow, he might even fire off one of his ...Read more

What remained of the bodies of 32-year-old Shiri Bibas, her 4-year-old son Ariel and her 9-month-old baby boy Kfir were returned to Israel last week. Autopsies showed that they had been brutally murdered by Hamas and Islamic Jihad after they were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, and dragged, terrified, into Gaza. Hamas, which held the two Bibas boys ...Read more

NIMBY stands for Not In My Backyard. It's often employed as a shaming tool to portray those unwilling to turn their neighborhoods over to developers as selfish or even racist. It's a weapon in efforts to plow through zoning laws put in place to preserve a sense of community and the comfort of continuity.

Some peddlers of builders' interests ...Read more