If TV writers had been on strike during the run up to the 1976 election, it’s possible that Gerald Ford wouldn’t have lost to Jimmy Carter. Ford was a punching bag for NBC’s new “Saturday Night” (later “Saturday Night Live”) beginning with its debut when Chevy Chase coined a campaign slogan for Ford: “If he’s […]

As an undergraduate at Hobart College, Dick Brautigam had the opportunity to make a presentation to the French Club. One young lady caught his eye. “She was wearing a red sweater,” he recalls. “She was so beautiful. I went up to her after the talk and bummed her last cigarette.” That move marked the beginning […]

June may turn out to have been an especially historic month. Unusually, at least five events took place that are changing the U.S. and the world. Amazingly, only one of them was related to a current armed conflict and, in that case, not a single member of the American military was under fire. The historic […]

When I was a young adult living under my parents’ roof, my late father always made sure I had Beanee Weenees, Vienna sausage, potted meat and other such snacks to take to my graveyard-shift factory job. Of course, I appreciated the display of paternal love; but Chris van Tulleken, author of “Ultra-Processed People,” would probably […]

Toward the end of June, major decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court come fast and furious, to the point where it’s difficult to do more than note each one and move on to the next. An exception, though, is two important decisions on voting rights, both written by Chief Justice John Roberts. Together, they provide […]

THE CONVERSATION — On June 23, 2023, 16 months into Russia’s war with Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s now disbanded potent mercenary fighting force and a protégé of Russian President Vladimir, turned his troops on the Russian military and, ostensibly, the Kremlin itself. Within 24 hours, though, Prigozhin had aborted his march to Moscow and […]

I get why the Republicans are so obsessed with Hunter Biden. They don’t much of anything else. Inflation is down, job creation is up, the deficit is down, the Dow is up, Joe Biden’s achievements (especially on infrastructure) are kicking in, and the GOP has chained itself to an espionage criminal defendant. So it’s no […]