“Big Tent Party.” The words still ring in my ears. It was the 1992 GOP National Convention, which I covered at the Houston Astrodome, and the party wanted us all to know it welcomed all sorts. Thirty years later, the party has become, without apology, a closed…
Mari Oliver is my hero. Me and Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Abe Lincoln and so many people of consequence. Much more consequence than, say, responsible figures at her school who harassed her because she would not recite the Pledge of Allegiance as Texas requires classes to do. Much more consequence than the lawmakers who made…
The purpose here is not to defend Madison Cawthorn. Madison Cawthorn is indefensible With Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert and Paul Gosar, he’s a member in good standing of the Congressional National Embarrassment Caucus. The Republican from North Carolina is 26 but acts a decade younger. This tendency got him in…
When it comes to courage under fire, the pithiest sayings all seem masculine. As in, “Bigger man than I,” or, “That’s some cajones.” None of course apply to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. From her forbearance amid a withering Republican offensive in her confirmation, let’s just say the lady’s got…
One would think Ken Paxton had sufficient issues unto himself. Securities fraud for one. At least a grand jury thought so. For two, allegations of abuse of office and bribery. So assert some of his former staffers. And then there’s the issue of conspiring to nullify 81 million…
Question: Since when did acting like an oaf become an audition for higher office? Ooh, ooh. I know that answer. It was when a candidate mocked women, mocked disabled people, bartered in crass comments about foreigners and people of color. And then that candidate, to America’s shame, ascended…
Forever logged in video history: Walter Cronkite sitting a nation down to report the death of a president. Edward R. Murrow standing up a Red Scare demagogue. And now: Tucker Carlson checking off reasons not to hate a warring madman. You might not have…
“Denazification and militarization.” Vladimir Putin cites such reasons in his bid to crush a neighbor nation. Nazism – those frightened masses cramming the exits to Poland. Militarization – those hunting rifles dusted off to confront invading tanks. “Nazism” in a peaceful democracy with its Jewish president.…
Adam Lanza just wanted a sporting chance. He had only so much time to kill once he entered Sandy Hook Elementary. His schedule had been pinched by having just shot his mother dead. What’s a tormented individual to do? Remington Arms had the answer: the Bushmaster…
When he said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” Martin Luther King Jr. was as serious about patience as he was about persistence. Patience: a hefty ask in a tormented year like 1968. But at least the word “wait” was in our…