From the Left
/Politics
Ron DeSantis, Anchorman
He sat in an anchorman's chair for the publicity stunt, but he is no friend of the free press. With the words "speak truth" flashing behind him, and with guests who had sued The Washington Post and Fox News joining him, the Florida governor and would-be presidential candidate denounced what he called "the leading purveyors of disinformation in...Read more
The Stormy Daniels of It All
Donald Trump did what many men do when confronted with extortion from a woman he may or may not have had a sexual relationship with.
He paid her to remain silent.
There is nothing inherently criminal about that, unlike so many other things Donald Trump did -- like inciting a riot or trying to fix an election or hiding classified documents ...Read more
Wellesley Is for Women
Wellesley College, my alma mater, is one of only 30 women's colleges left in the country. Should it stay that way?
This week, students overwhelmingly passed a non-binding referendum calling for open admissions to all nonbinary and transgender students, and for making communications more inclusive by using the word students or alumni instead ...Read more
Swastikas on Campus
It was the third incident in three weeks. The first two were on men's room bathrooms, where swastikas and ugly words were scratched on the walls. Then there was the whiteboard outside a student's dorm room, with a swastika and a picture of Adolf Hitler, posted while the student was sleeping.
"It's really making this living situation feel ...Read more
Israel and the Independent Judiciary
Israel is being torn apart by the political battle over an independent judiciary. If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing colleagues have their way, the courts will effectively serve at the will of the legislature, subject to being overruled and replaced by a one-vote majority. The purpose of the "reforms," according to the ...Read more
What's Wrong with Drag Queens: Playing Politics with Prejudice
A friend on Facebook posted a picture of Bob Hope in drag, entertaining the troops. No Republican legislators in sight. No protests. No problem.
Comedian Melissa McCarthy is right. In a viral post, she defended drag queens. Why not? We've all been entertained by drag shows all our lives.
Why all of a sudden is this a national danger ...Read more
Donald Trump's Fighting Words
Former President Donald Trump lost an important round with the Justice Department this week, when the department chose to file a brief not taking his side in the fight over his responsibility for the Jan. 6 riots. The department generally takes a broad view of executive privilege. But even a broad view has limits.
The lawsuit in question, ...Read more
Fox News and the First Amendment
After decades of listening to conservatives attacking First Amendment libel law as the liberal media's license to lie, it's tempting to join the chorus that is cheering each new discovery of an incriminating email from Fox News, especially since my own longtime employment as a Fox News contributor ended abruptly when I represented the boss. ...Read more
Trump and the Curse of the Front-Runner
Donald Trump is about to discover the flip side of being the front-runner in a potentially crowded field.
The good news is that front-runners often win, even if they have to claw their way to the finish line. The bad news is that they have to.
He can't lose.
As the fat old man in the race, he has to win every contest. Truth be told, winning...Read more
A National Divorce?
This is what Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had to tweet on Presidents Day:
"We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat's traitorous America Last policies ......Read more
John Fetterman's Diagnosis
He set out to be the senator from Pennsylvania -- not a spokesman for people with disabilities, which he unintentionally became after suffering a life-threatening stroke, which became an issue in the Senate race and has posed challenges as he adapted to his role in the Senate.
And then last week, he announced that he was checking into the ...Read more
Teenage Girls
It has never been harder to be a teenage girl. The latest study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is terrifying. Twice as many girls as boys felt persistent sadness in the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey given to 17,000 high school students, the highest rate in a decade.
One in 3 girls reported seriously considering ...Read more
Trans Families as Targets
Do families with trans kids need to move out of red states?
This week, legislatures in three more states targeted trans kids, expanding the political effort to use transgender issues as the latest wedge in right-wing politics. Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota joined two dozen states in considering legislation that would prohibit gender-...Read more
Old-Fashioned Civility
The president didn't seem to mind. When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene couldn't restrain herself from calling out "liar," he was ready. When others started booing, he took them on.
The president smiled and veered off his teleprompter. He was at his best. Let Biden be Biden. But what does it say about us?
The British do it this way, I suppose. ...Read more
Are Democrats Worried About Kamala Harris?
According to The Washington Post, the official watercooler of the chattering class, "some" Democrats are worried about Vice President Kamala Harris after her first two years in office. She hasn't, according to the various prominent insiders being quoted anonymously (lest she recover, of course) stepped up sufficiently, as the second-in-command...Read more
What Republicans Offer On Abortion is No Choice At All
At its winter meeting, rather than acknowledge that its extremism on abortion may have hurt it in the midterm election, the Republican National Committee doubled down on its anti-abortion stance.
According to the RNC, the problem was that Republicans weren't extreme enough: "Instead of fighting back and exposing Democratic extremism on abortion...Read more
The Charges Against Alec Baldwin
Should Alec Baldwin have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of the cinematographer on the movie set of "Rust"?
To answer that question, you need to know what he knew or should have known at the moment he pulled that trigger.
This is what we know. He pulled the trigger. He did the act that caused death. Act and ...Read more
What's Good for the Goose Should Be Good for the Gander
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. It's the latest game in Washington, being played out every time a document is found in a garage or a room near a garage in Wilmington, Delaware, as the relics of 40 years in public life are searched for random classified documents. And so the game goes.
They both have special counsels.
They ...Read more
George Who?
Back in the '90s, my ex-husband wrote a movie about a con man who discovers where the money is and runs for Congress and actually gets elected. The movie, "The Distinguished Gentleman," was very funny. In real life, it's not so funny. I wonder if George Santos ever watched it.
This week's developments in the George Santos saga only underscore...Read more
Thanks, Harry
I'm not a fan of the privileged prince, to say the least, but with his latest book, I feel like we all owe a debt of gratitude to the spoiled prince. After all, most of us come from less than perfect families, like the prince. The difference is that we deal with it privately, quietly, hopefully in a way that allows us to work through our ...Read more