Russia is reeling from the worst terror strike on its soil in a generation following an attack on March 22, 2024, that killed at least 137 concertgoers in Moscow. The attack has been claimed by the Islamic State group. And despite Russian authorities expressing doubt over the claim, U.S. officials told The Associated Press that they believed ISIS-K, a South and Central Asian […]

Israel is part of America’s political culture. Since its creation in 1948, support for Israel has been constant and bipartisan. But that is now changing. For some, this support might have grown as a reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust. For evangelical Christians, Israel as the Jewish homeland would be an essential element of […]

Hurricane Hanks on Anna Maria Island is the kind of place the name suggests: Florida casual, wizened regulars perched on bar stools, waitresses (yes, the term is correct at a place like this) who call you “sweetie” and “hon,” and burgers piled high like a Dagwood sandwich. A “Hey, just relax” vibes permeate the place. […]

Have you ever wondered what it must feel like to be very well known? Maybe you already are, so you do know. I wonder if it’s as fun as it appears to be. An awful lot of people have attained fame over the years, some good, some not so good. The fame, or really renown, […]

It was this time four years ago that our world turned upside down. Returning home from a trip in early March 2020, I noticed a few people wearing masks on the airplane. Despite my public health training, I remember thinking that perhaps they were overreacting. Boy, was I wrong. While we had been reading about […]

A growing number of Americans think the American Dream is out of reach, but I think they are wrong. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, only 36% of voters said the American Dream still exists, way fewer than the 53% who believed so in 2012. Half of the poll’s respondents believed that America’s […]

I’m looking at a map of Maine depicting the variance of temperatures from normal during “statistical winter,” which for some reason begins Dec. 1 and ended this year on Feb. 29. The state appears to be on fire. That doesn’t seem likely since the calendar is just turning toward spring, but there it is. Nor […]

There are lots of thankless odious jobs in America — sanitation worker, septic tank repairman — but surely none are worse than cleaning up Donald Trump’s serial excrement. That goes double for his top female acolytes, who are tasked with defending a thrice-married adulterous crotch-grabbing rapist currently on the hook for $92 million in defamation […]