The room — 14 feet, 8 inches wide and 13 feet long — has no windows. It had been a restroom at the Monticello home of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia. But now, the small room adjacent to Jefferson’s, the one historians believe once belonged to Sally Hemings, will be restored and given its due, as will the enslaved […]
Opinion: Demanding Dignity From Leaders Comes With a Complicated History Read More »
Some Americans believe in small government — until they don’t. Remember the conservative mantra, “government is the problem?” Well, toss out that way of thinking for a group of leaders — some elected, some appointed — who want to create a complicated new arm of government bureaucracy, one that reaches into how and how often
Opinion: Democracy — With Big Brother in the Voting Booth Read More »
It’s an intractable issue in the news daily, so the proposed, much-debated and now-delayed Senate Republican health care bill had to do something to answer the opioid addiction crisis in America. Add to that the basic political realization that in many of the states that supported Donald Trump and Republicans, a high percentage of people are hurting
Opinion: The Politics of Drug Policy Read More »
When Barack Obama burst onto the national stage and consciousness with his eloquent speech of unity at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, listeners delighted at its deliberate thoughtfulness — the flip side of the George W. Bush “everyman” style. (And yes, that the polished orator was the child raised without a father and the other
Opinion: Of Shakespearean Lessons and Art That Makes Us Think Read More »
House Speaker Paul Ryan offered the excuse “He’s just new to this” for Donald Trump after former FBI chief James Comey’s testimony that the president has done and said things that were inappropriate, even if they don’t turn out to be illegal. It sounded like something you would say in defense of a toddler who dives
Donald Trump — the Affirmative Action President and His Enablers Read More »
When my parents were good Republicans — my mother a party activist, in fact — the label meant something entirely different than it does today. It was the party of Lincoln, imagine that, and the GOP tolerated differences with a tent that was indeed big. You could be pro-civil rights and fiscally conservative, a working-class
Opinion: What Exactly Do Republicans Believe in Besides Trump? Read More »
We crave the hard-to-get while ignoring the one who has stuck with us through thick and thin. In a letter to the DNC chair, a group of black women — activists, community leaders and elected officials — has accused the Democratic Party of falling into that too-often-true cliche. Who can blame them? Shades of “Moby-Dick” in the
Opinion: African-American Women Call Out the Democratic National Committee Read More »
The redrawn congressional districts in North Carolina turned out to be too racially driven for a Supreme Court dominated by conservatives — with Justice Clarence Thomas siding with the majority. Who’d have thought it? But the fact that it’s arguably a toss-up, in some judges’ reasoning, how much the Republicans in the state legislature used race
Opinion: Democrats May Be Too Optimistic About 2018 Gains Read More »
While the Trump administration is in a state of perpetual turmoil, some of its promised policies are proceeding as planned. Support from a Republican Congress is softening with each cringe-worthy headline about slips, leaks and feuds; still, its members, mindful of the president’s loyal base, are proceeding with caution. And when you step back from
Opinion: Trump Policies on Voting and Criminal Justice Quietly Move Country Backward Read More »
Is everyone exhausted yet? The one thing America could count on was that Trump, as promised, would put on a surprising show. But not even four months into the Trump presidency, the one surprise is how depressingly familiar the playbook has become. The hopes and dreams that candidate Trump promised to fulfill? Hold off on
Opinion: Trump’s Reruns — ‘Slippery Ethics, Harsh Pronouncements and Shiny Gilt’ Read More »
