It’s time to put 2022 to bed. It was yet another Annus Horribilis with the war in Ukraine, the worst inflation in decades, some horrific SCOTUS decisions and climate-related natural disasters. The darkness was mitigated by the year's significant legislative accomplishments, a not-too-bad November election outcome (considering the predictions), and the resumption of much normal …
Month: December 2022
2022 departures leave big shoes to fill
As a longtime journalist (and it's still in my DNA), I have sometimes succumbed to the reporter's credo that bad news is good news and good news is no news at all. Having spent a couple of decades in that specialized part of journalism - opinion writing - , my job has been to point …
Donald Trump: focus shifts to DOJ
Yesterday's January 6th Committee hearing, its final one, was certainly historic. Never before has a House Committee referred criminal charges against a former President to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution. Yesterday, it did just that, referring Donald Trump, attorney John Eastman and possibly others for obstruction of an official proceeding, the central moment …
Warnock wins. Sinema goes Independent. Still time to exhale?
Whew! Senator Raphael Warnock was reelected to the United States Senate, giving the Democrats a 51-49 margin. But wait! Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, concerned about holding her seat in 2024, just switched from Democrat to Independent. So the numbers are now 50-49-1. Even with Vice President Kamela Harris's tie-breaking role, Warnock's win was all the more …
Continue reading Warnock wins. Sinema goes Independent. Still time to exhale?
Books to curl up with in cold weather – pt. 2, non-fiction
The Scheme by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D, R.I.) is a stunning, sobering and, indeed, chilling account of how the radical right, funded by dark money, has captured the U. S. Supreme Court. It is a well-documented review of the decades-long campaign by ultra-wealthy billionaires like the Koch brothers and the organizations they funded (think The …
Continue reading Books to curl up with in cold weather – pt. 2, non-fiction
Books to curl up with in cold weather – pt. 1, fiction
The holiday season signals a time for relaxation, fewer meetings, fewer blogs, and more time for friends, movies and reading. Here are some recent offerings in the latter category. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet, draws again on her ability to breathe life into an historical figure and lure the reader far …
Continue reading Books to curl up with in cold weather – pt. 1, fiction
Marjorie Arons-Barron 