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Hamas's Stunning Victory
Hamas's victory over Israel will go down in history as one of the most stunning upsets in the history of modern warfare. It will be studied by future resistance groups for instructions on how a guerrilla army can achieve its aims despite facing an adversary with seemingly insurmountable advantages in weaponry, technology, funding and ...Read more
Let's Stop Pretending to Be Shocked
Pretending to be "shocked" by junior Republicans revealing their inner Klansmen must be a challenge, at this late date, for anyone who has been paying attention. Perhaps some of the GOP officials proclaiming their disgust over the disclosure of thousands of racist, antisemitic, homophobic, misogynist and, yes, Hitlerian texts exchanged by ...Read more
White Bread and Tortillas
There's a corner store in your neighborhood. Some people call it a "bodega," but those people want to destroy America.
The place sells lottery tickets, soda, cigarettes, ice cream on a stick, a small selection of canned goods, beer, milk, candy, frozen pizza, single rolls of thin toilet paper and other goods you need to run a modest but not ...Read more
'No Kings' Day: Time to Take to the Streets!
Good friends: I guess there’s a first time for everything. This column is a two-fer: the first time in more than 25 years that I’ve devoted a column to more than one subject, and the first time I’ve used a column to promote any event. But the times demand a break with business as usual.
If there’s any way possible, I urge you to take ...Read more
Janet Mills Happens to Be a Lot Younger Than Bernie Sanders
So Democrat Janet Mills, governor of Maine, is running against Susan Collins, the state's Republican senator since 1997. An established political figure would be running against another established political figure, yet the current reportage for Mills tends to start off with "77-year-old Janet Mills." Collins happens to be 72.
The Democratic ...Read more
What Next?
President Donald Trump is flying high. He calls it a "historic dawn of a new Middle East," resolving "3,000 years" of conflict, even though, in his speech to the Knesset, he couldn't stop himself from insulting former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for their "hatred toward Israel," saying they could never have done what he did.
...Read more
Dark Donald, Bright Diane
A man and woman, each 79, are in the news this week: President Donald Trump and movie star Diane Keaton. Could they be more different?
They are the dark and light sides of the baby boomers, who did so much to shape the contours of our culture and history.
Let's start with Trump. For the first time ever, on Oct. 13, Trump boosted the sum of ...Read more
America's History, Says Lord Trump, Is Exactly What I Say It Is
Our country's magnificent National Park System has been called "America's greatest idea."
These 433 treasures -- along with our rich diversity of national museums and historical sites -- each have their own stories to tell. But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, for together they express America's egalitarian spirit and "little-d...Read more
Your Questions Answered: How To Push Back on Abuses of Power
In his first nine months back in office, President Donald Trump has abused his power to attack our neighbors and communities, suppress free speech and create a climate of fear. The president has deployed military troops and federal agents into our cities. He has threatened nonprofit organizations, universities and political opponents who don't ...Read more
Happening Here: Trump-Ordered Indictments Put Us in Tyrant Territory
In 1940, then U.S. Attorney General Robert Jackson gathered the nation's federal prosecutors in the Justice Department's Great Hall to remind them of the solemn role their morality and disregard of politics in decision-making played in protecting American democracy. The responsible, apolitical exercise of prosecutorial power, he emphasized, is...Read more
Trump Loves Farmers Into Bankruptcy
At a 2018 press conference in New York City, Trump said of American farmers, "I love them, and they voted for me, and they love me. ... And they said, 'We don't care if we get hurt, he's doing the right thing.'"
During his 2025 joint address to Congress, Trump said, "Our new trade policy will also be great for the American farmer -- I love ...Read more
Pam Bondi Faces Critics, 'Burns' Them
A lot of political figures are understandably nervous about facing a Senate committee probe.
Not Pam Bondi.
In more than four hours of testimony Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee, she responded to the most polite questions with the air of contempt worthy of her boss, President Trump, who tends to react to the idea of accountability as ...Read more
They’re Calling it a ‘Hate-America’ Rally
You know Trump Republicans are worried when they slam a planned protest — more than a week before it occurs.
Last Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson described this coming Saturday’s No Kings rally as the “hate-America” rally that would draw “the pro-Hamas wing” and “the antifa people.”
I’m sure these phrases have been distributed ...Read more
Trump Is Abusing His Power To Build a Dangerous National Policing Force
The Trump administration continues to escalate its deployment of military troops and federal law enforcement to cities across the country. We are witnessing the build-out of a national paramilitary policing force that could be used to intimidate people and consolidate President Donald Trump's power.
This week alone, the administration placed ...Read more
Trump Faces His Generals
When President Donald Trump dropped the bizarre suggestion last week that the military should use American cities as “training grounds” to fight what he called “an enemy within,” it sounded almost like old news.
After all, Trump has talked like this for years. "Don't take him literally," some would say. Or, that's just Trump being Trump...Read more
What's at Stake as the Supreme Court Takes Up Transgender Sports Bans
Over the last five years, politicians across the country have targeted transgender people and our families. They've banned our health care, censored our speech and made schools less safe for transgender students. One of the most consistent focus areas for many of these politicians has been the rights of transgender student athletes, ...Read more
The Conflict Entrepreneurs Behind Our Broken Politics
I have long become accustomed to what I call the "BTMF” reflex whenever a great, newsmaking calamity or outrage happens.
That’s short for “Blame the media first.”
As a long-tenured journalist, I try not to take it personally. Yet sometimes the complainers have a point, and we in the news business would do a better job and provide ...Read more
Protecting Free Speech in the Face of Government Retaliation
The Trump administration is enthusiastically abusing its power to intimidate anyone who criticizes its policies, and to silence those who won't fall in line. Now, using a long-standing government tactic, the administration is leveraging a tragedy to justify its censorship campaign.
The government is villainizing and threatening to punish ...Read more
Free Speech Under Fire Again Because We Need It
Remember when President Trump vigorously defended free speech — before he turned against it?
Remember how he sparked cheers when his second inauguration speech grandly promised to “immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America?”
“Never again ...Read more
How Expanded 287(g) Program Turns Local Police Into Deportation Agents
The Trump administration is quietly using a program called 287(g) to turn local police and sheriff's departments into arms of its deportation machine.
This week, the Trump administration hit a milestone of 1,000 participating state and local agencies. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is aggressively recruiting for this deportation-...Read more




















































