commentary

And now let us speak of the current lame-duck session of the 112th Congress. Daily we witness the death throes of the final assemblage of this particular group of elected...

Journalists often exaggerate by using the phrase “shattered lives.” But when it comes to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, it isn’t an exaggeration. What parent in their worst dreams...

It’s a bad week when my first reaction to what happened in Newtown was, “Oh, another one.” It’s a bad week when I asked myself what was stopping something like...

BOSTON — In the early 1980s, Tip O’Neill played the same role that John Boehner does now — speaker of the House, while a popular president from the other party...

Why do so many lawmakers in Congress oppose raising taxes on America’s wealthy, even just a little? The answer: We’ll never really know for sure. Lawmakers might oppose tax hikes...

It was an ugly spectacle in Lansing, Mich., the other day. A Republican lawmaker predicted blood on the streets. Profanity-spewing Chamber of Commerce goons went after union demonstrators. Anarcho-capitalists tried...

As yet another make-believe Washington “crisis” looms, it’s tempting to suspect that the most fraught interludes in American politics derive from turning government into a TV show. Artificial deadlines, imaginary...

It was “Christmas in July” for me when I was about 14 years old and accompanied my mother to the local Thrift Shop. Amongst the other antiques and second-hand treasures,...

When tragic deaths occur under intense media scrutiny, there is often a reflexive grasp at greater meaning. But our pent-up desire to address serious, overarching problems, sometimes leads to a...

How could she possibly do it? How could nurse 46-year-old Jacintha Saldanha possibly take her own life after two Australian radio DJs using bad accents crank-called a hospital in Great...

How are the “fiscal cliff” negotiations going? Reportedly, Republican leaders and President Barack Obama are in a stare-down. However, many rank-and-file Republican members have blinked, apparently ready to fold a...

It’s possible to have a strong hand and still overplay it. As Republicans see things, that’s what President Obama is doing in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations. In private conversation, some...

Michigan gave birth to the United Auto Workers. The union was founded at a convention in Detroit in 1935. After its famous sit-down strike in Flint, Mich., in 1937, the...

We’re running out of time to arrange our New Year’s parties. But how can we, with all the uncertainty about the “fiscal cliff? Obviously, that’s the preoccupation of each and...

We just saw some $6 billion spent on the most expensive election in history. I’ve recovered from the drama, and I am trying to get my head straight. I thought...