From the Left

/

Politics

Rep. Ken Buck’s Sudden Retirement Yet Another Setback for a Reeling GOP House Leadership

From the Left / Clarence Page /

Ken Buck is fed up.

The Republican lawmaker from eastern Colorado already announced (last November) that he would retire from Congress at the end of his term. But now that apparently is not soon enough.

On Tuesday, he abruptly surprised many on Capitol Hill — particularly fellow Republicans — by speeding up his timetable. Now he’s ...Read more

For One Night, Biden was the Media Master While Trump was Fumbling

From the Left / Clarence Page /

Ah, such embarrassment.

Presidential campaigns will always surprise you, but I didn’t expect Donald Trump, a tireless master of media, to be tripped up by his own social media platform.

Trump had announced before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address began that he would supply his own special commentary in real time on “Truth ...Read more

Immigration is On Americans’ Minds. And Politicians Are Seizing the Opportunity

From the Left / Clarence Page /

When I saw Donald Trump take an interest in the horrible killing of a Georgia nursing student, I was swept by a profound sense of having been here before.

In 2015, Trump made a national cause out of the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly by Jose Ines Garcia-Zarate, a migrant in the U.S. illegally. Garcia-Zarate was later...Read more

Trump’s Bizarre Pitch to Black Voters is Martyrdom Marketing

From the Left / Clarence Page /

How about this for a novel campaign pitch? “I’m being indicted for you, the Black population.”

Yes, that’s Donald Trump, the former, and possibly future — Heaven help us! — president, in full roar during his recent and stunningly insulting speech billed improbably as a targeted appeal to Black voters.

In the annals of political ...Read more

Frozen Embryos Are People? In the World of Politics, at Least

From the Left / Clarence Page /

An Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are “children” offers a sad example of the age-old law of unintended consequences.

Instead of simply protecting the developing life of the embryos to help childless couples become parents, the court’s move throws the procedure’s future — and the national abortion debate — into a ...Read more

Fani Willis and the Court of Public Opinion

From the Left / Clarence Page /

Fani Willis should have known better.

It doesn’t take a law degree to know that the appearance of impropriety can be just as damaging as the real thing. Sometimes worse.

That’s particularly true in a “heater case,” which is courthouse slang for a case that attracts an inordinate amount of media focus. Needless to say, it is hard to get...Read more

On Trump’s Befuddling Hold on the GOP and the Fizzling of the ‘Never Trump’ Movement

From the Left / Clarence Page /

I’m so old that I can remember when moderate Republicans such as Colin Powell, former secretary of state, clung to hopes that Donald Trump might “grow” into the presidency.

I don’t hear much talk like that nowadays with Trump leading the polls for the Republican nomination again and his remaining opponent Nikki Haley not expected to win...Read more

Economic Gloominess in Spite of Upbeat Data Also Affects Immigration Debate

From the Left / Clarence Page /

When we think about the economy, it’s not just numbers that matter. It’s also how we feel about the numbers.

Public discontent about the economy, even as the economy is growing and unemployment is low, has been President Joe Biden’s persistent headache.

I thought about this contrast between hard numbers and soft feelings as I spotted the...Read more

How to Fight Donald Trump as a Republican and Survive

From the Left / Clarence Page /

What? Nikki Haley is still in the race?

Yes, despite pressure from her fellow Republicans to drop her challenge to front-runner and former President Donald Trump, the former South Carolina governor sounds determined to stick around awhile — and as insurgent bids go, she’s not doing badly.

She may be well behind the former president in ...Read more

Joe Biden’s Campaign Could Use Some Star Power. Paging Taylor Swift?

From the Left / Clarence Page /

President Joe Biden’s team looks to Taylor Swift for a touchdown. Considering the obvious ability that pop star Taylor Swift and her NFL star boyfriend, Travis Kelce, have shown for stealing the limelight, it comes as little surprise that, without even trying, they have generated their own conspiracy theory, too.

Long-standing conspiracy ...Read more

When Partisan Politics Leave Migrants Out in the Cold

From the Left / Clarence Page /

As a long, dreaded January chill made life on Chicago's streets unthinkable for waves of migrants bused north from Texas, city, state and federal officials engaged in a new round of finger-pointing and buck-passing.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told reporters Monday he was “deeply concerned” that Chicago officials had no plans to open new ...Read more

Where the Civil War Never Seems to End — Our Presidential Campaigns

From the Left / Clarence Page /

I wrote before about Nikki Haley and her gaffe in December about the causes of the Civil War. But the subject still strikes a chord with me.

Haley’s apparent sensitivity around offending GOP voters who don’t want to be thought of as racists, combined with the continuing debate around Jan. 6 and what it meant, has me wondering how much we’...Read more

Donald Trump, Unifier? That’s a New One

From the Left / Clarence Page /

In striking contrast to his usual bombast, Donald Trump’s victory speech in Iowa sounded surprisingly humble, a quality not often associated with the former president.

He also looked and sounded a bit tired, but still jolly, as he thanked the crowd of caucusgoers for their support and made an unexpected plea for the nation to “come together...Read more

When DEI Spells Opportunity for All, It’s Not so Scary

From the Left / Clarence Page /

Why is DEI upsetting so many people when so few people seem to know what the heck it really is?

Such is the confusion I perceive in the dialogue that two well-known rich guys who love to tweet recently had with each other on X, formerly Twitter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk poked Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban on Thursday as the two got ...Read more

When It Comes to Slogans, Pro-Palestinian Activists Should Stick to Those Whose Meanings Aren’t Disputed

From the Left / Clarence Page /

As someone who has appreciated the power of protest and activism on achieving progress in the U.S. and the world, it’s hard for me to watch the current high emotions over the Middle East devolve into arguments about the meanings of slogans.

Not only are those at loggerheads over Israel and Hamas taking the temperature to extreme levels, they ...Read more

Norman Lear’s Comedy Helped Diverse Americans Tune In To Each Other

From the Left / Clarence Page /

For many of us old enough to remember Archie Bunker’s living room chair before it became a Smithsonian Museum exhibit, Norman Lear helped television comedy get over its fear of real life.

Lear, who died Dec. 5 at the ripe young age of 101, wrote and produced “All in the Family” and many other shows that dared to mix political and social ...Read more

Why the Paucity of Men on Campus is a Problem and the Beginnings of How to Respond

From the Left / Clarence Page /

You can learn a lot about social changes by looking at one yardstick in particular: the shifting male-female ratio in college enrollment.

For example, in 1970 men outnumbered women on campus, accounting for 57% in four-year institutions and 59% of undergraduate enrollment in two-year institutions, according to the nonprofit National Student ...Read more

Coming to Terms with Henry Kissinger’s Legacy — It’s Complicated

From the Left / Clarence Page /

Over his century on Earth, Henry Kissinger left a big mark, love him or hate him. And a lot of people sure did hate him.

Take Anthony Bourdain. The late celebrity chef and TV personality is back in the public eye with the reminders of his long-ago takedown of Kissinger, who died Wednesday at age 100. But when I think of the Vietnam War ...Read more

GOP Does Its Best to Show Us How to Normalize an Insurrection

From the Left / Clarence Page /

Well, it took long enough. House Speaker Mike Johnson has finally started releasing 44,000 hours of security footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault that many, including me, hoped would shed more light on what really happened on that chaotic day.

Unfortunately, it took barely more than a nanosecond for former President Donald Trump and ...Read more

Elon Musk Not So ‘Absolutist’ About Free Speech When it Comes From His Critics

From the Left / Clarence Page /

Too bad. I seriously have been considering buying a Tesla but you-know-who, the company’s famous CEO, seems determined to drive me away at top speed.

In that, I am not alone. Billionaire Elon Musk is facing a wave of backlash for a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter until he ...Read more

 

Comics

Adam Zyglis Dana Summers Drew Sheneman Andy Marlette Christopher Weyant Bill Day