Back in the antediluvian era of American politics, perpetrating dirty tricks was considered proof of bad character and potentially disqualifying for public office, depending on circumstances. But as with so many other aspects of public life, the rise of former President Donald Trump heralded a steep decline in political ethics and the way that campaigns […]

Woody Guthrie’s prescription for inequality in America was straightforward: “Rich folks got your money with politics. You can get it back with politics.” For Guthrie, “politics” meant more than voting, since both parties routinely cough-up candidates who meekly accept the business-as-usual system of letting bosses and bankers control America’s wealth and power. It’s useless, he […]

Justice Samuel Alito thinks presidents are kings and must be protected against those who would disrupt their peaceful retirement. What planet is he living on? In his questioning on Thursday in the Trump immunity case, he made perfectly clear whose side he was on. “If an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election […]

We have entered a new social media hell, where online creeps run sadistic schemes targeting high school kids. Since late 2021, their ruses have driven at least 20 young people, mostly boys, to take their lives. One victim was a 17-year-old star athlete at Marquette Senior High School in Michigan named Jordan DeMay. As reported […]

Historical analogies rarely carry much weight, especially in a time when so much about politics has changed so rapidly. To compare what is happening in 2024 to events that occurred over half a century earlier hardly seems useful. It mostly isn’t. And yet the election of 1968, whose outcome proved disastrous for America and the […]