William Butler Yeats, the greatest English-speaking poet of the 20th century, foretold our own political crisis in “The Second Coming,” his penetrating depiction of Ireland a century ago: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.” The “best” now are the Democratic Party elite, who even before the June […]

It’s time, Joe. It’s time to end your campaign. This is not about you; this is about the future of .American democracy. By the way, I’m not alone, A recent poll revealed that 56% of Democrats share my view. Consider the possible scenarios if you insist on staying in the campaign: First, you lose the […]

Her name was Jeannette, and she had brilliantly made lots of money in the stock market in the early 1900s, which she’d obviously taken out just in time, because all her friends, neighbors and relatives who’d kept their funds invested went into the hopper when the Great Depression hit. Jeannette knew of the formerly well-heeled, […]

Being far away from home in Iceland and Britain for the last two weeks was perfect timing. Just as President Biden was proving to the whole country that he’s incapable of being president for another four years, or another week, I left the madness of American politics and flew off to Europe for a vacation […]

“If you could master any language in the world, what would it be?” “C++.” It’s a classic programming joke. The humor is ironic: language skills are less important than technological ones. Humor, I’m told, doesn’t flourish in tech. Computers can’t understand it. And, some would argue, neither can engineers. But the computer bit isn’t quite […]

Last week, Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat , author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” commented that “one of the most alarming things” about “Project 2025” is the blatant admission that Donald Trump did not accomplish everything he intended to in his first administration. “They got a slow start […] so their codeword is ‘day one,’ ” […]

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana recently signed legislation into law that requires a poster-sized display of the 10 Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities. The law should ultimately be struck down by the Supreme Court, but with the current justices, one never knows. Legalities aside, […]