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In "The Decameron," seven women and three men leave plague-tormented Florence for a villa in the hills, where they tell one another bawdy stories. Written nearly 700 years ago, the tale remains fresh, as affluent New Yorkers try to escape the coronavirus outbreak by moving into their second homes at the beach or in the woods.

But there are two ...Read more

Milan is the V-8 engine of Italy's economy. Known as an industrial and financial powerhouse, Milan is also famous for its foul air. Now the city and its region, Lombardy, have become the epicenter of Europe's coronavirus pandemic. To stop the virus' spread, factories, offices, restaurants and bars are closed. People are ordered to stay at home. ...Read more

As the coronavirus stops normal life, trapping more Americans in their homes, some have raised the specter of another health threat: loneliness. Before this crisis seized our anxieties, much discussion centered around the dangers of perceived social isolation and feeling cut off from others.

A 2015 analysis by Brigham Young University found ...Read more

If Bernie Sanders were amassing a nearly insurmountable lead in the delegate counts, I have little doubt that he would be saying to Joe Biden: "Democrats have spoken. Time to drop out and help the team."

But doing what he expects of others is not Bernie's way. As in the past, he can stay in, waving the implied threat that not adopting his ...Read more

We who oversee the care of elderly friends or family know what stress is all about -- in normal times. It's a hard job, physically and mentally. Even for those who can hire others to help out, there remains worry about paying good wages to keep good people, and coordinating doctor visits and prescriptions.

Intensive caregiving is known to ...Read more

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hitched her star to Bernie Sanders -- and vice versa. AOC brought a young, hip Latina vibe to the elderly Sanders' rallies. Photogenic and enjoying a massive social media presence, she joined Bernie in the far left's crusade to take over the Democratic Party.

Joe Biden now commands a nearly insurmountable lead in ...Read more

Was being a woman Elizabeth Warren's problem? That's the wrong question. Here's a better question: Was playing the protector of all damsels from that infamous rake, Mike Bloomberg, her problem? It was one of them, for certain.

Look what's happening in the world. Warren was a candidate of ideas with a strong understanding of the financial system...Read more

I know this is an outlier story. It's about Brooklyn brownstone couples who pay over $2,000 for professionals to choose and care for their houseplants. Houseplant designing is actually a service being offered to the urban and suburban gentry. One such "Plant Doctor & Stylist" charges an hourly rate between $125 and $175. Those are psychotherapy ...Read more

Mike Bloomberg was elected New York mayor two months after the outrage of Sept. 11, 2001. He took over a city reeling with grief and suffering economic losses tied to the terrorist attacks. Rather than lay off public workers who had performed gallantly in the crisis, he raised taxes on the well-to-do.

The conservative media beat him up with ...Read more

In 2016, candidate Donald Trump promised to repeal Obamacare and replace it with "something terrific." The replacement never materialized. The repeal, however, had been making progress in a piece-by-piece fashion. President Trump has made a frontal assault on the Affordable Care Act by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike it down altogether. ...Read more

Bernie Sanders' clash with the hospitality workers union did not start the history of bad feelings about him in Nevada. That started four years ago. Both involved thuggery wherein nasty Sanders followers harassed other candidates and their backers with misogynist and racist delight.

Worse than these outbursts are Sanders' two-faced responses to...Read more

Like all candidates, Democrats focus their campaigns on what they will do if elected. Progressives often accuse Joe Biden in particular of wanting to take America back to the Barack Obama years. And it's true that Biden often portrays his candidacy as a restoration of the era in which he served as Obama's vice president.

But that's not a bad ...Read more

Bernie Sanders was supposed to run away with the New Hampshire primary. This is his kind of state, where Democrats are mostly educated liberals. Yet the national celebrity from next-door Vermont bested Pete Buttigieg, recently an unknown from Indiana, by less than 4,000 votes. It appears they are both walking off with nine delegates. And that ...Read more

My friend in Omaha, Nebraska, assures me that a disturbing phenomenon once focused on the coasts has invaded the heartland. He speaks of young couples where the woman is nicely dressed and her male date or mate is in slob mode. The women are neat and stylish, often wearing some (or a lot of) makeup, but their male partners are in soiled ...Read more

The Iowa caucuses have long been nearly useless as a measure of Americans' preferences for the next president. This year it has been more useless than usual.

The next star of the Democratic contest will be New Hampshire, whose people are also overwhelmingly white and whose Democrats are more liberal than average. At least there, ordinary busy ...Read more

To get onstage at the last Democratic debate, a candidate had to have received contributions from at least 225,000 donors. That disqualified Mike Bloomberg. He has only one donor: himself.

That rule sounded nice and democratic with a small "d," but actually, it is a highly flawed way to measure a candidate's ability to win a national election. ...Read more

A lot of things are going wrong on this planet, and a lot of those problems are made in China. The deadly coronavirus is being linked to "wet markets" that traffic in wildlife. Not only have these markets enabled the virus to pass from animals to humans but they have also contributed to the decimation of the world's wildlife.

The coronavirus ...Read more

Democrats could use some cheering up now that their conventional politicians are locked in fierce ideological battle. The moderate Democratic majority fears that an aggressive left could saddle them with a zombie candidate sure to lose to President Donald Trump. That person could also cost them control of the House by hurting down-ballot ...Read more

Bernie Sanders' campaign recently stabbed Elizabeth Warren in the back. She was the Vermont senator's comrade in arms. It also threw a pack of lies at Joe Biden, tarring him as corrupt with zero evidence. As former Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin told Politico, Sanders "will play dirty." The Democrat added, "I'm concerned that we're seeing a replay ...Read more

It needs pointing out that Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All plan bears little resemblance to Medicare. The Vermont senator undoubtedly exploits the word "Medicare" to obscure the radicalness of his single-payer proposal. Medicare, after all, is very popular.

Those who admire single-payer systems -- which do have their virtues -- should own up ...Read more