editorial board deserves some praise for revealing its process for endorsing in the Democratic Presidential primary. Some, far smaller, newspapers started years ago to post their candidate interviews on their websites. Last night, The Times expanded its weekly documentary, "The Weekly," from 30 minutes to one hour, to provide a video including several candidate interview …
Continue reading New York Times comes down squarely on both sides
Though cynics may mock it as a bit theatrical, the somber demeanor of House leaders delivering the the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate did fit the gravity of the event. Understanding the importance of the message conveyed by the picture, the pit in my stomach only grew as Chief Justice John Roberts and then …
Continue reading Senate proceedings against Trump a trial for us all
Joe Kennedy’s decision to try to unseat the U.S. Senate’s leading voice on climate change has opened up a scramble for Kennedy’s fourth district seat in Congress. It’s a race with a lot of talent, including a man who brings a combination of lofty idealism and a track record of translating those ideals into reality. …
Continue reading Khazei congressional candidacy seems like the real deal
It wasn’t just Buffalo’s NFL Wild Card loss yesterday that got me thinking about long-suffering Bills fan Tim Russert, who set the gold standard for a tough but fair Sunday news show interviewer. When Chuck Todd eventually became his successor on Meet the Press, I was heartened. For years, Todd had been a data-driven analyst …
Continue reading Missing Tim Russert; Chuck Todd disappoints
2020 vision gives us clarity to see the world around us. 2020 hindsight is a way of understanding where we got it wrong in the past. Today, my New Year's gift to you is a list of headlines I hope to see in 2020. Some are the triumph of hope over experience. Some are aspirational …
Yesterday's message? It was a sad day for the country but a good day for Constitutional democracy. The Democrats greeted the approval of two Articles of Impeachment with the solemnity and gravity the event warranted. Donald J. Trump will be forever branded as one of three United States Presidents to be impeached, indicted for abuse …
Continue reading House work continues despite impeachment process
After an expected vote for impeachment in the House of Representatives, the fate of Donald Trump will move to the U.S. Senate, where the prospects for the triumph of Constitutional values are bleak and where GOP stalwarts like Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have already violated their oaths of impartial …
Continue reading U.S. Senate: Profiles in Courage or Cowardice?
Sometime in the next 24 to 72 hours, Time Magazine will be announcing its Person Of The Year. One of the early favorites at Ladbrokes online betting was Greta Thunberg, the eloquent Swedish climate change activist. She is clearly deserving, and the award could heighten focus on the looming existential crisis, but the bookies, if …
Continue reading Nancy Pelosi for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. The author of The Underground Railroad has done it again, this time with a story of a prison-like reform school in Florida. Worse-than-Dickensian abuse occurred throughout this narrative, based on the real-life revelation five years ago about the Dozier School for Boys in the Florida panhandle town of Marianna. …
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. If you enjoyed Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge , you will love reading Olive, Again, the sequel. Oh, to be able to write like Elizabeth Strout! Olive is sui generis……..except I find in myself an occasional alarming similarity to some of her traits. There’s still her craggy, occasionally harsh humor, …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 