ArcaMax

When Franklin D. Roosevelt began his first inaugural address 92 years ago this month by asserting his "firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," he was rallying his countrymen to overcome the paralyzing fear that had settled in after over three years of the Great Depression. That president wanted to ease Americans' fears. ...Read more

Bernie Sanders can draw a crowd. No doubt about it. And as Democrats continue to feel their way out of the Trumpian swamps, you can't blame them for wanting to vent in large groups. Sanders has amassed them in Nebraska, Iowa and Arizona and has said things ripe for the political moment.

Addressing President Donald Trump: "I'm not going to ...Read more

The government has long claimed that Fourth Amendment protections prohibiting warrantless searches don't apply at the border. The American Civil Liberties Union takes issue with this position generally, especially when it comes to electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops. Our smartphones store detailed accounts of our conversations, ...Read more

There is an obvious answer to what California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing. He's running for president. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. He is nothing if not ambitious. He's termed out as governor and in two years will be looking for a place to land.

But he's doing it all wrong, and it's offensive to the very base he is going to ...Read more

In high school, when we studied the separation of powers, I asked my civics teacher: "What happens if the executive branch ignores the judiciary?" He didn't have much of an answer.

It has happened before. One famous case was Andrew Jackson's refusal to enforce a Supreme Court ruling overturning Georgia's seizure of Cherokee lands. "(Chief ...Read more

An attorney I used to know told me how he figured out when to go home.

"When I can't pronounce 'judiciary,' I should pay my tab and leave," he said at the 8 p.m. end of his "after-work drink."

"Habeas corpus?" I said to him.

He laughed.

"You can say habeas corpus when you're too drunk to walk," he said.

What you can say when you're drunk ...Read more

Chuck Schumer is right, and James Carville is right. They don't want the Democratic Party getting pulled into MAGA's cyclone of ruinous policy. To get to safety, they are reining in the left flank for whom the fight is all. The hotheads don't recognize that bad timing loses battles.

Senate Minority Leader Schumer took a good deal of incoming ...Read more

"For more than two centuries," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Tuesday in an extraordinary statement, "it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

"Not appropriate," huh? That's really going to scare them....Read more

Republicans in Congress are ceding their constitutional power to the president, so says the "politerati."

Yes, but there's the rub: 10 Senate Democrats joined Republicans, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. He changed his mind the day before.

The Senate 10 sacrificed the minority's sole power to check the president. Senate Republicans ...Read more

A classic bumper sticker posed this alarming question: "Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"

What we're in today is an Orwellian basket to political hell, propelled by President Donald Trump himself. He has assembled a cohort of anti-democracy zealots, who are autocratically cutting off people's fundamental freedoms --...Read more

Since it's been over 70 years since Sen. Joseph McCarthy used his power as chairman of a Senate investigative committee to bully and crush citizens at his whim, the closest younger Americans can come to visualizing the truly thuggish abuse of power to destroy dissenters may come, of all places, from a popular musical. "Wicked," which opened on...Read more

Years ago, a contest was run for the most boring newspaper headline. The winner was "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative," which appeared in the April 10, 1986, edition of The New York Times. "Worthwhile initiative" is a snooze-worthy phrase. Adding a reference to the quiet and restrained country to the north was seen as draining the last ounce of ...Read more

This week, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a statement saying it would cut nearly 50% of the department's workforce. These new layoffs occur at a moment when President Donald Trump has vowed to eliminate the ED and withhold funding from any other entity that incorporates diversity, equity and inclusion in educational practices ...Read more

They call it "Cancer Alley." It's an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that connects Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The name stems from the fact that the area's residents have a 95% greater chance of developing cancer than the average American. Some 200 petrochemical and fossil fuel operations are located in the area. About 25% of the ...Read more

"Nothing is more dishonorable for a civilized people than to let itself be 'governed' without resistance by an irresponsible clique of rulers devoted to dark instincts." These words open the first communique of the White Rose, a collective of young Germans in Munich, including brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, clandestinely opposing the...Read more