Perhaps this is the summer that finally renders climate change real. Flooding and soaring temperatures across the nation have made global warming indisputable. The problem, as always, is how to reach political consensus on an action plan. Republicans want to plant a “trillion” trees; Democrats want to limit carbon emissions. If the nation’s response to […]

Edmund Burke, a famous British representative to Parliament in the 1700s, found himself criticized in a debate for voting on the unpopular side of an issue. He responded that it is the “happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. […]

The Chinese have an expression that I’ve always liked: “No coincidence, no story.” A story should contain some kind of strange or unexpected twist; if it doesn’t, it’s not much of a story. Here’s mine. A month ago, I surprised my friend Pete at the hospital where he was getting his last set of infusions […]

For more than two years, Donald Trump’s most patriotic MAGA true-believers have been accepting with unshakable trust what they were sure was rock-solid evidence that their leader really won reelection. They genuinely believe they’ve seen all the proof they need that the 2020 election was stolen from them. They have seen the videos on the […]

CBS News recently proclaimed that “kids in the U.S. and around the world are in crisis.” Self-harm among youth is on the rise, and enduring problems like bullying and sexual assault continue to wreak havoc. Young people feel the impending doom of climate change and await the day when their school is assaulted by an […]