From the Left
/Politics
Bring Kevin Spacey Back to the Movies
It all started with a claim by Anthony Rapp that while attending a party in the home of Kevin Spacey in 1986, the actor got drunk, threw him on a bed and jumped on top of him. Also an actor, Rapp was 14 at the time, and Spacey was 26. Spacey denied that happened.
In the wake of the charges, Spacey's talent agency and publicist dropped him. ...Read more
Harris Must Reach Into Her Law and Order Past
What follows here assumes that Kamala Harris carries out her stated intention to "earn the nomination" and not pretend that the crown is only in the shop. This gives her an opportunity to craft her image as a centrist with a spine, the sort of Democrat who can win national elections.
The Democratic nominee has two automatic advantages. One is...Read more
The Far Left Won't Be Badly Missed
The hard-line pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime has been protesting against, of all people, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Where did the New York congresswoman and Vermont senator go astray? Didn't they denounce Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide"? Didn't they call for halting military aid to Israel?
They ...Read more
Biden's Economy Is Superior in Just About Every Way
In overseeing the American economy, President Joe Biden has shown himself to be an amazing manager. It's all there in the numbers, especially when placed next to those of his predecessor. And should Biden win a second term and show himself to be not as sharp as he was four years ago, small matter economy-wise. He has a high-caliber ...Read more
Trump Can't Undo the Damage He's Done to Reproductive Rights
Try as he might, Donald Trump can't blur the hard reality he forced upon American women. He vowed in 2016 to get rid of Roe v. Wade and succeeded. As a result, American women lost a half-century right to end an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy.
Some of the harsh truths turn into nightmares. When Nicole Miller, mother of two and 20 weeks ...Read more
Thou Shalt Not Misuse the 10 Commandments
Walking through Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island, I came upon a moss-covered monolith listing the Ten Commandments. This was some time ago, but knowing the objections then being made to placing religious artifacts in public places, I thought, "This stone won't be here for long."
It was removed in 2004.
My feelings were mixed ...Read more
Stop Obsessing Over Population
Americans have this big obsession over population numbers. One reason is that reports related to population come with numbers. Numbers give politicians and journalists something concrete to either agonize or crow over.
The problem with this approach is that the numbers don't necessarily reflect the living reality of people being counted. ...Read more
Democrats Will Be OK If They Want To
Bad debates happen, as Joe Biden's supporters say. But that wasn't a debate. Biden stood there in an apparent cloud of fatigue, while Donald Trump lied his way throughout, ignoring the uncomfortable questions, of which there were several.
Biden says he's staying in the race, and for Democrats, that should be that. Here's what his campaign ...Read more
The Squad Could Use Some Quality Control
Jamaal Bowman's loss was the Democrats' gain. A member of the left-fringe Squad, his primary defeat removes at least one irritant to the Democrats' quest to take control of the House. And if his replacement with a moderate marks the beginning of the end for the Squad, well, bravo for the victor, Westchester County executive George Latimer.
...Read more
Older Voters May Rescue the Democracy
The mystery of why older voters are polling strongly for Joe Biden is not a mystery at all. True, they tend to be conservative and have traditionally preferred Republican presidential candidates. White voters over 65 voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
The reason these conservative voters appear to be for Biden this time is simple. ...Read more
Cameras Watch Our Public Spaces, and That's OK
I have before me a "traffic summons" from my city's police department. It features three pictures, two of the back of my car and a close-up of the license plate.
"Please take notice," it reads, "that the vehicle described and pictured herein was detected and recorded by an automated school zone speed monitoring system as exceeding the lawful ...Read more
Biden's America Is Doing Fabulously Well
Life is not perfect in Joe Biden's America, but when was it ever perfect? Just looking at the numbers, though, things are pretty great.
Stock prices are hitting record highs. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 50 years. Violent crime -- murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery -- has dropped to a near 50-year low. The net worth of ...Read more
Anti-Imperialists Ignore Russia Using Africans as Cannon Fodder
Vladimir Putin doesn't have enough Russians to maintain the full fury of his barbaric assault on Ukraine, so he is sending African workers and students to the frontlines, threatening the visas of those who won't go.
One must ask why the anti-Israel left, so sensitive to racist practices less obvious than this one, aren't setting up tents and ...Read more
How the Little Guys Lose Under Trump's Tax Plan
The late Sen. John McCain didn't much like Obamacare, but in 2018, the Arizona Republican pulled it out from under then-President Donald Trump's hatchet. Why? Because McCain saw the "skinny repeal" measure as a sneaky attempt to eviscerate the health coverage of little guys to free up money for tax cuts favoring the wealthy.
Hold that thought...Read more
Biden Finds Muscle on Securing the Border
Heaven knows, President Joe Biden's early mixed messages on the border have been a frustration for many supporters, as well as gift to the other side. One of his missteps early on was to ease the process for claiming asylum.
Predictably, a surge of migrants entering illegally ensued. Some genuinely needed refuge. But masses used the lax rules...Read more
The Manhattan Jury Pool Isn't All That Liberal
A rumor's going around that the Manhattan jury pool could not have produced 12 peers willing to give Donald Trump a fair shake. And that explains the jurors' decision to find him guilty on all 34 charges in the hush money case.
That rumor is unfounded, however. It is true that there are far more registered Democratic voters in Manhattan than ...Read more
Masks Off, Everybody -- Almost Everybody
At least 18 states don't allow people to go about their streets wearing pointed Ku Klux Klan hoods. The white costumes serve the double purpose of racial intimidation and hiding the identities of the creeps inside them. Most of those anti-masking laws were passed early last century in response to Klan violence.
Today's masking controversies ...Read more
Christian Cooper Could Charm the Birds From the Trees
The mere mention of some people's names brings a smile to my face. Christian Cooper's brings several.
"My name is Christian Cooper, and I am a birder," is how he opens his National Geographic series "Extraordinary Birder."
I've done some "lite" birdwatching in my time but still didn't expect Cooper's ornithological tours to be so addictive. ...Read more
Should Trans Women Use Women's Locker Rooms?
To what extent should a transgender woman be treated the same as women who started life as female? That depends.
Let's start with a definition. A trans woman is someone assigned male at birth but who identifies as a woman. There is a transitioning process that can include legal, social and personal changes to live and be recognized as a woman...Read more
Democrats Should Let MTG Be the Republicans' Problem
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's nasty remark about a fellow congresswoman's appearance was characteristically stupid. But the Georgia Republican is hoist on her own petard on such a regular basis, why would Democrats want to stop her?
You may have seen the video of the House Oversight Committing hearing in which MTG said to Jasmine Crockett, a ...Read more