Hearings are now underway in the Senate on Donald Trump's various nominees to fill out his administration, but so far it has all felt like it is leading to a very foregone conclusion. American politics has gotten so tribal that Republicans are now willing to overlook just about anything for one of their own, no matter how deeply disqualifying such things would have been in the past. Trump will quite likely get almost all his picks confirmed, no matter what disturbing things exist in their past.

Read Complete Article »

The debate over transgender athletes has now moved from the campaign trail to the Republican Congress, as the House of Representatives just passed a sweeping ban on transgender girls and women in sports, after Republicans spent an enormous amount of time and money running on the issue in last year's election. But one very important point in this debate is simply not being heard by most people -- the actual scope of the situation. Here is how the Washington Post started its article today on the bill moving through the House:

Read Complete Article »

Maybe it's time to bring back the concept of adversaries settling their insults with a good old-fashioned duel? That's the thought I have been having while watching the flurry of playground tantrums and unrestrained bullying spewing forth from the highest ranks of MAGA supporters. Maybe Steve Bannon and Elon Musk should just count off ten paces and take potshots at each other -- they could even make it pay-per-view and make a fortune! Well... whomever was left alive might, at any rate.

Read Complete Article »

In an extraordinary confluence of events, America mourned one former president as his body lay in state in the United States Capitol, while another former (and soon-to-be-again) president was sentenced after being found guilty of 34 felonies by a jury. Jimmy Carter had become almost the personification of decency in his post-presidential life, while Donald Trump has always been the personification of something a lot more tawdry.

Read Complete Article »

Will TikTok be banned before Donald Trump even takes office? That is the question the Supreme Court will hear tomorrow. As things stand, a law will start to shut down TikTok in this country on the 19th, unless the company divests itself from ownership and control by the Chinese government. Which isn't very likely to happen in the next ten days. But the politics of the situation have been rather convoluted, so it's hard to predict what will happen or what the fallout will be in Washington.

Read Complete Article »

Two years ago, for Presidents' Day, I wrote the following article in celebration of Jimmy Carter. At the time, he had just entered a hospice to live out his remaining days. He lasted almost two more years, reaching the impressive benchmark of turning 100 years old -- the longest any U.S. president has ever lived, in fact. And as the nation pays its respects to Carter before his final journey home to Plains, Georgia, I thought it was worth running this again. I have no idea if any other American president will ever make it to the century mark, but Carter's real legacy was not just a mark on a calendar, but the mark he made after he left office. And I have serious doubts whether any other former president will ever even get close to matching the good that Jimmy Carter did in his post-presidential career. He truly set the gold standard in that regard. His compassion for his fellow human beings was an inspiration to all, and I will always be grateful for his example of all the good a politician can still do after they leave office.

Read Complete Article »

Donald Trump's "Day One" in office is now less than two weeks away. He promised American voters a lot of action on his first day, but in the past few weeks he seems inordinately focused on some rather odd (one might say: "downright bizarre") goals. He has become a big fan of expanding America in what can only be called imperialistic fashion -- adding Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal to the American map. Today he floated a new idea, this one not a land-grab but instead of a sort of water-grab: he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America," for no particular reason (other than to annoy Mexico, one assumes).

Read Complete Article »

In this frozen season of the year, we look (as always) to the ice-festooned shores of Lake Superior, for the annual List Of Banished Words. The good folks at Lake Superior State University provide this annual list as a tongue-in-cheek effort to get people to stop using words and expressions that have jumped the shark to the point of now being just downright annoying (case in point: "jumped the shark").

Read Complete Article »

Donald Trump is a master at deflecting attention. Over and over again, he trots out some outrageous idea or catchphrase, and the media all goes chasing after it because they seemingly can't help themselves. Meanwhile, the things Trump is actually doing don't get much attention, which is the whole point of the exercise.

Case in point is Trump suddenly championing a twenty-first century American "Manifest Destiny," where he has set his sights on three pieces of real estate he'd like to add to the United States: Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. Spoiler alert: none of these are serious proposals. None will actually happen. And yet they are being treated seriously (or at least semi-seriously) by people who really should know better by now.

Read Complete Article »

Welcome back to the second of our year-end awards columns! And if you missed it last Friday, go check out [Part 1] as well.

Read Complete Article »