Thank you, universe, for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist.

Where would we be in poorly led, COVID-ravaged Florida without Fauci's consistent advice to take the highly infectious virus seriously?

We all would be swimming in the petri dish of ignorance and denial that our mediocre local, state and federal leaders...Read more

Nothing really feels normal in this world of Not Anymore, even if some of the behaviors recommended or required are, ironically, starting to get old in how they inhibit interaction, in how they go against the grain of the way we've lived ... forever.

Most of us know to wear a mask, know to avoid crowds, know to remain socially distant, know ...Read more

They're getting ready to blow up the balloons for next month's Democratic and Republican national conventions. Ah, the balloons! The classic grand finale drop symbolizes the end of these quadrennial gatherings, much the way the Times Square ball drop is an essential part of New Year's Eve.

And that, critics point out, is what's wrong with ...Read more

COVID-19's seemingly inexorable march across the country has many Americans feeling helpless and hopeless. In surveys conducted by the Census Bureau from June 18-23, 48% of respondents reported they felt "down, depressed or hopeless."

No wonder. For months we've been bombarded nonstop with news stories of rising case numbers and public service ...Read more

The blockbuster Supreme Court term that just ended was a (nearly) unmitigated disaster for movement conservatives. Chief Justice John Roberts declined to overturn precedent on abortion rights. Conservative activist Justice Neil Gorsuch showed he would join the court's liberals when the statutory text tells him to. The natural question then is, ...Read more

In America's first century, when travel was arduous and news was mostly local, making decisions with people of other cities and states, and sharing the opinions of your neighbors back home, required a formal gathering of citizens from near and far. It's one reason behind the creation of the Electoral College, and why political parties began ...Read more

It was 15 years ago this week that the Republican Party almost took an exit ramp on the long, dark highway from Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy to Donald Trump's white nationalism.

On July 14, 2005, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman stood before the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored ...Read more

Bay Area health officers' retreat and fractured approach to slowing the spread of the coronavirus isn't working. It's confusing residents and undercutting respect for the counties' health orders.

The results are clear: Too many people are ignoring the disparate rules as Bay Area coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are rising rapidly. It's ...Read more

In my role as an attorney for a law firm that handles personal injury cases related to toxic environmental exposures, I see the problem caused by polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, firsthand.

The majority of my clients are former firefighters who have been diagnosed with kidney or testicular cancer as a consequence of long-term exposure to ...Read more

The renewed shutdowns and restrictions ordered by California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week may not be as far reaching as the March stay-at-home measures, but they will be no less devastating to a state still reeling from the first round of pandemic closures.

Nevertheless, Newsom took the correct approach for the moment.

Who's to blame for our ...Read more

A football team finally discards a despised and derogatory name, and the U.S. Supreme Court unexpectedly holds Congress to account for promises more than a century old. These two decisions, one symbolic, one legal, should provide some genuine hope that despite so many challenges, society is capable of positive change.

The first reform may seem ...Read more

Let's consider Mike Pence. Steadfast. Loyal. Vice president extraordinaire -- if you are of Donald Trump's political persuasion, whatever that is. And head of the federal coronavirus task force.

Oops.

We're to believe what Pence says. Not the facts.

Repeatedly, Pence has said of this historic pandemic what the facts simply do not support: The...Read more

When President Donald Trump commuted Roger Stone's sentence of 40 months in prison for lying to Congress and tampering with a witness, he crossed into new territory dangerous to the republic.

Trump terminated Stone's sentence through the exercise of the pardon power provided to the president by our Constitution. Although Trump has previously ...Read more

Another presidential election is approaching, which means Russian election interference is back in the news. Maybe you've already made up your mind about your favorite candidate, and so you're immune to the social media messaging being circulated by Russian trolls -- right?

Not exactly. Russian trolls aren't only targeting behaviors, like ...Read more

After a disappointing spring in which kids at home learned far too little, the Los Angeles Unified School District will keep its campuses closed for at least the start of the new school year.

The surge in Los Angeles County COVID-19 cases has been too big for the schools to work around, according to Superintendent Austin Beutner. As good as ...Read more

Roger Stone has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. But it's the current president, Donald Trump, who had Stone's back when on Friday he granted a commutation of the 40-month sentence his friend was facing for lying during the Russian investigation.

In doing so Trump turned his back on the justice system and, ultimately, the American people ...Read more

From the Trump administration perspective, suddenly forcing international students out of the country must have looked like three wins in one. It would have ejected mostly non-European immigrants, advanced the administration's new demand that schools reopen their campuses despite the threat posed by COVID-19 and financially and academically ...Read more