ArcaMax

Interesting headline in The New York Times: "In an Unequal Economy, the Poor Face Inflation Now and Job Loss Later."

This headline appeared on Aug. 8, after more than 50 straight days of falling gasoline prices, the biggest inflation fear. Once exceeding $5 a gallon, the price of gas in many states was already down below $4 a gallon.

As...Read more

For decades, conservative politicians had a free ride on the abortion issue. They could tell their "pro-life" base that they were doing all they could to ban the procedure -- while not scaring the pro-choice majority. As long as Roe v. Wade protected the right to an abortion, the talk about outlawing it was just talk.

Now that Roe is gone, ...Read more

Many cat lovers argue that it is cruel to make felines stay indoors. I'm in the opposite camp. We say that letting the kitties outside is cruel -- and not just because coyotes and speeding cars threaten them. It's because cats kill birds, chipmunks and other small mammals in shocking numbers.

This is not a new tension. In 1949 then-Illinois Gov...Read more

What? Good news in the fight to save the planet from rising temperatures?

Yes. It comes in the form of a bill than pleases both Sen. Joe Manchin and the Natural Resources Defense Council. It gives the senator from West Virginia some political chips -- basically, money for West Virginians and a slightly looser leash on fossil fuels. However, ...Read more

A friend asked her therapist whether her new romantic interest, 17 years her senior, was "too old." He responded, "Too old for what?"

Those wise words could also apply to President Joe Biden, about whom many are asking the same question. Pushing 80, Biden may be slower than he was. Then again, he's not a contestant on "Jeopardy." A president ...Read more

Sitting in the AC, I look out the window and smile as dogs being walked collapse under the shade of my Norway maple. And who could blame them? Would any of us want to be out in this harsh heat wearing a fur coat?

This has been one of the few times I've given thanks I'm not in Paris. That's because, though much of Europe is baking, Paris is ...Read more

Kim Kardashian got very, very rich by adopting features associated with Black women. Racial blurring is her marketing device.

One such feature is a large rear end that she obtained surgically. Thus was launched a strange circular trend. Black and Latina women already so endowed have joined others in butt augmentation surgery. In sum, they are ...Read more

It's hard not to admire Elon Musk, currently the world's richest man. I wouldn't mind seeing less of him, though.

There are those who dislike Musk because he is rich. I don't mind rich people, especially those who make fortunes doing amazing things.

I would like Musk better had he kept Tesla's headquarters in California, rather than move them ...Read more

The very tech companies that created the ability to do office work from home want their own people back at the ranch. Apple Inc. made headlines last spring when it told employees working remotely from home during the pandemic that they would have to return to the office.

This was rich coming from the company that had just produced an ...Read more

Last time most of us looked, "bodies with vaginas" could be more simply described as women. Same went for "pregnant people" and "birthing people." But transgender activists are insisting that the word "woman" be replaced with these more complicated descriptions.

The politics behind these demands -- and the submission to them by such mainstream ...Read more

Democrats see glimmers of hope for the midterms as recent Republican "victories" on guns and abortion -- on top of the leadership's astounding attacks on the democracy -- continue appall the broader public. Yet prominent Democrats continue to commit unforced errors that hurt their cause.

Democratic voters tend to be more educated and ...Read more

The price of gasoline is not Joe Biden's fault, nor did it break records. Adjusted for inflation, it was higher in 2008 when Republican George W. Bush was president. And that wasn't Bush's fault, either.

We don't have to like today's inflation, but that problem, too, is not Biden's doing. Republicans are nonetheless hot to pin the rap on him. ...Read more

Perhaps the most permanent image to come out of Tuesday's hearing into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was of the cleanshaven Chief of Staff Mark Meadows bustling about to help Donald Trump overthrow the United States government.

What do you want, sir? Do you want me to call the limo or would you rather I facilitate the end of American ...Read more

"There are more tears shed over answered prayers than unanswered prayers," St. Teresa of Avila said. Republicans may soon learn just how that works.

It used to be that Republican politicians with no fixed views on abortion could pray loudly for an end to Roe v. Wade. They knew that their stances would please abortion foes while not alarming the...Read more

The debate over gun restrictions bothers me for two seemingly contradictory reasons.

One is that little has been done to ban mass killing machines outright. A bipartisan proposal in the Senate would at least limit access by the mentally ill. What it wouldn't do is prevent the not-yet-certified insane from buying these guns. The worst mass ...Read more

"Fortune favors the brave" was the slogan for Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency company now laying off hundreds of workers. Its now-famous Super Bowl ad starring Matt Damon flashed images of a mountain climber confronting a blizzard and astronauts ready for takeoff -- but no explanation of what cryptocurrency is, much less its risks.

I've seen ...Read more

It's easy to find people who say gas prices will keep them from driving. They're on the roads.

That is an early hint that the "crisis" of high prices at the pump is less dramatic than the testimonials make it. And if history is any guide, it is temporary.

Florida is seeing a record number of tourists. They are driving, and they are flying in, ...Read more

What can you say about the president's gallop to decarbonize the economy other than "giddyap"? Climate change is an existential threat to this country and world.

But policy must be nuanced. On his push to build infrastructure for electric vehicles, President Joe Biden should consider a lighter touch on the crop.

We specifically refer to his ...Read more

A bad habit in our public discourse is to simplify voter behavior according to party labels. Thus, we have a semiclueless headline in The New York Times that reads: "California Sends Democrats and the Nation a Message on Crime."

The California voters are overwhelmingly Democrats. A more accurate take would have been, "Most California Democrats ...Read more

It's not just Republican voters who are defending a few honest members of their party against right-wing assault. Democrats have pushed back left-wing jihads against their moderates. Note the failure to knock off a conservative Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar, in a recent primary.

This should not have surprised anyone familiar with his South Texas...Read more