ArcaMax

One of the best things that ever happened to me was when my parents sent me to Salesianum, a private boys’ high school in Wilmington, Delaware. It’s a great school, I got an outstanding education, and I learned a set of good, solid values that have guided and shaped my entire life.

At the time, Salesianum, or “Sallies,” was not only an ...Read more

It’s hard to know what to say about House Republicans moving to impeach President Biden, except: it’s insane; it’s totally evidence-free; it’s pure revenge for two impeachments of Donald Trump; and it’s the most outrageous abuse of congressional power in our lifetime.

Impeachments used to be rare. Now they’re almost standard ...Read more

Republicans believe they’ve found the winning argument for 2024. They can’t argue with President Biden’s record, because most of his legislative victories had the help of Republican votes. They can’t make the case that the economy’s a disaster, because it’s not. It’s stronger than ever.

Nope. Republicans are basing all their hopes...Read more

Republicans believe they’ve found the winning argument for 2024. They can’t argue with President Biden’s record, because most of his legislative victories had the help of Republican votes. They can’t make the case that the economy’s a disaster, because it’s not. It’s stronger than ever.

Nope. Republicans are basing all their hopes...Read more

Americans of a certain age will remember the fun of coming up with a new oxymoron. Three of my favorites were “airline food,” “military intelligence,” and “jumbo shrimp.”

The game is back! Under hapless Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans have come up with a brand-new oxymoron: “Biden crime family.” It’s a huge ...Read more

Working on a special project this week, I happened across a definition of the Lilliputians that Jonathan Swift encountered in “Gulliver’s Travels” – “men of six inches in height but possessing all the pretension and self-importance of full-sized men. They are mean and nasty, vicious, morally corrupt, hypocritical and deceitful, jealous...Read more

Sitting on the beach with a good book isn’t the only way to beat the heat. Sitting in an air-conditioned movie theater is another one. And there are two good reasons for doing so this summer: “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie.” Or, as wags have it, “Barbenheimer.”

If you haven’t already done so, saddle up. You must see both of them, ...Read more

Some people don’t know when to quit. Like today’s MAGA Party (there is no more Republican Party). For 50 years, they worked every possible political angle to kill Roe v. Wade. Last year, they finally succeeded when the Supreme Court, by a vote of 6-3, announced its Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade and turning abortion politics over to...Read more

It started when Barack Obama was in the White House. So often spotted wearing earbuds, reporters starting peppering him with questions about what he was listening to. Not some learned treatise about constitutional law, as it turned out. But music! Great, hip, popular music!

Whereupon Obama put out his first playlist, which he now does every ...Read more

The other shoe’s about to drop. In fact, by the time you read this, it may have already dropped. Donald Trump’s been informed by the Justice Department that he’s about to be indicted yet again – this time, for his role in the January 6 insurrection and assault on the U.S. Capitol.

We don’t know what charges DOJ will actually bring ...Read more

It’s true. There are a lot of candidates for the title of this year’s dumbest senator. My list would include Ted Cruz (R-TX), who brazenly escaped to sunny Cancun while millions of Texans were freezing during a fierce winter storm that shut down the state’s electric grid; Ron Johnson (R-WI), who was caught trying to have his staff hand-...Read more

There’s a crucial, overlooked aspect of Daniel Ellsberg’s legacy that’s very much worth saluting, you might say: his transformation from a believer in the Vietnam war to a horrified opponent of it, ready to risk prison time to bring classified truth about its pointlessness into public awareness.

Ellsberg, who died on June 16 at age 92, ...Read more