ArcaMax

While COVID-19 is taking up much of the news cycle, there are other things that must be attended to as well. This week's report by the FBI Office of the Inspector General gives the FBI a zero for its performance in reviewing 29 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications.

The bottom line is that the FBI is not following procedures...Read more

My mom grew up in what she called a middle-class family, with one car, hand-me-downs for the children and an ice cream cake for her 16th birthday. She endured polio as a small child, pulling herself up to watch the other children play outside until she gained enough strength to go outside as well. She didn't complain often and was determined to ...Read more

For most of us, the amount of change and information we have absorbed in the past few weeks is overwhelming. As humans, when we are overwhelmed, we are scared; when we are scared, we panic; and when we panic, we tend to make bad decisions. Our first goal should be to slow down and just breathe -- even if it's only for a few seconds.

Then slow ...Read more

Our country spends over a trillion dollars a year on anti-poverty programs. We address the symptoms, providing food, shelter, health care. But it's time to face the fact that many of these programs are not working. Our poverty rate hasn't changed in half a century.

Money does not appear to be the solution. Sure, it helps, and no, we should not ...Read more

In politics, it's often not who you want to vote for but who you don't want to vote for, and while policies are important, personality drives a lot of the decision-making. Often pollsters ask, "Does the candidate care about people like me?" Now they ask, "Does the candidate care about the same people I care about?"

The ability to connect with ...Read more

What a week's it's already been. The coronavirus is spreading in Asia and has moved into Europe, disrupting conferences and businesses. Stocks fell over 6% in the first two days of the week, and the Democratic National Committee held a debate in South Carolina prior to the Saturday primary and Super Tuesday next week.

It's only Wednesday.

The ...Read more

We have two dogs as part of our household. Bunny is a 20-pound rescue whom our daughter, Maggie, found seven years ago. Bunny is quick, excitable, fun and can jump a very long way. She likes getting petted and will jump in your lap if requested -- but not for long. She's the barker in our home. She barks at visitors, squirrels, people walking by...Read more

Two states, Iowa and New Hampshire, have taken part in the 2020 Democratic nomination process. The Iowa Democratic caucuses were a debacle. The technology didn't work; the results had to be re-tallied; and with the delay, the final results didn't mean as much as they could have to any specific candidate. The process also left the Democratic ...Read more

We've had enough political news in half a week to last a month or more, but we know the velocity will only increase until the election. On Monday, Republicans and Democrats in Iowa participated in caucuses. President Donald Trump won the Republican caucuses in a landslide (somewhere north of 97 percent). This was not and is not news.

The news ...Read more

Last November, I encouraged readers to approach the national challenge of impeachment with thoughtfulness, confidence, purpose and empathy. Unfortunately, most Americans appear to have approached it with ranting and raving in either agreement or disagreement. But we still have time to give the Senate trial the seriousness it deserves.

This week...Read more

This week, the juxtaposition between the Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump and his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is surreal. The first is an attempt to remove Trump from the presidency; the second was an incredibly powerful speech that focused on the success of our nation and his presidency. It ...Read more

We need to differentiate between experiences and facts. We know that our individual perspectives affect how we experience events, but do they also affect the underlying facts?

The answer is no. Facts are facts.

So, for example, one person might experience exceptional service at a restaurant, but another person might experience terrible ...Read more

Late last January, a short video showing Catholic high school boys and an indigenous drummer in Washington created a media and social media flurry. The video documented a confluence of two marches (the March for Life and the Indigenous Peoples March) near the Lincoln Memorial. It showed a group of teenage boys standing and smiling as the ...Read more