Powerful politicians have this bad habit of elevating members of their family – or the family of friends – to high office. Sometimes the chosen kin or friend’s kin has fine qualifications. But the sense that their inside track gives them advantages over others with equally fine qualifications leaves a bad taste. It’s also un-American. […]

When I first met Madeleine Albright in the early 1980s, she was still making dinner for the boys. The boys being the members of what we used to call the “priesthood”: the out-of-power Democratic national security team, which, with the exception of Madeleine, looked very much like the priesthood, then and now. The priesthood used […]

What is to be done about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his deranged spouse? That vexed question arose again this week when the Washington Post revealed dozens of text messages exchanged by Virginia Thomas, the right-wing jurist’s wife, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during the period following the 2020 election. Those […]

In his bizarre rant on why he had to invade and savage a peaceful neighbor, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of trying to force “false values” on Russians. Such attitudes, he said, would “erode … our people from within” and “are directly leading to degradation and degeneration.” Putin was referring to the West’s […]

The average price of gasoline has jumped over $1 since Vladimir Putin moved his army to the border of Ukraine. One dollar. And change. Nationally, the average price of regular gasoline is now $4.30 a gallon. Kid stuff. In California, we pay much more. The Golden State charges gold for gasoline. Good luck getting change […]