ArcaMax

Pitiful.

That's the best I can say about ABC's decision to settle the defamation suit that Donald Trump brought against ABC News because star anchor George Stephanopoulos said he had been held liable for "rape."

Trump's claim: he was not held civilly liable for "rape," but for "sexual assault."

In fact, the judge had already rejected Trump'...Read more

There's one thing Donald Trump can't take away from me.

I'm ready for living in a reality where a knock on the door could take you and your rights away. I'm prepared for violent Jan. 6 offenders in prison to be pardoned on Trump's first day. I'm even braced for freedom of speech -- and the press -- to ebb toward being things of the past.

...Read more

America has endured a long panorama of corporate greed -- from the East India Trading Company to the Robber Barons, Gordon Gecko Wall Streeters to Elon Musk. But down at the bottom of raw greediness today, you'll find the insatiable profiteers of the private nursing home industry.

Of course, many providers deliver honest, truly caring service...Read more

It's in vogue since Donald Trump's election last month to suggest that using words like "autocrat" or "strongman," let alone "fascist," to describe the once and future president is bad form at best and terribly out of line at worst. The problem with this suggestion is what the president says and what he does; other than that, there's no ...Read more

Is Daniel Penny a Republican, a Democrat or something else? As of this writing, his political leanings remain a mystery. Republicans clearly want to adopt the white Marine veteran who strangled a threatening Black passenger on a New York City subway car. They may deny it, but the racial dynamics created a desired optic for their warm support. ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump has said that he intends to issue an executive order to end birthright citizenship for millions of children. Trump's campaign website states that, to qualify as a citizen, any baby born after his executive order would need to have at least one parent who is a citizen or lawful permanent resident. Scholars across ...Read more

What does it mean that an alleged murderer has become a folk hero, that literally millions of people in this country have taken his side -- in social media, at least, if not as potential jurors -- in a case of cold-blooded murder? What does it mean that the McDonald's employees who reported him have had to resort to police protection to deal ...Read more

The arrest of a suspect in the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a street in midtown Manhattan leaves some questions unanswered. But the gleeful reaction to the executive's slaying leaves nothing subject to interpretation. Many Americans feel they have been treated so shabbily by the health insurance industry that they ...Read more

The publication last week of a new and innovative report on the causes of colorectal cancer could not be more timely, coming as it does when Americans are debating whether what we eat is killing us prematurely -- and whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" slogan should qualify him to serve as secretary of Health and Human ...Read more

We put up our Christmas tree on Nov. 9 this year. Right after the election. I cannot remember a time when I've been more eager for the holiday season. We have holiday favorites playing on Alexa and in the car when we're driving around town. This holiday season feels like a post-election balm, a well-timed return to everything the season ...Read more

Money and power are persistent. They grind toward the twin goals of more money and power. They are not distracted, and they can identify their enemies.

The people, which is the rest of us, are not so focused. We're not always sure who our enemies are, and we're limited in the kinds of hell we can raise. The key feature of a "popular uprising"...Read more

The late 1970s were a sad time for America. The Vietnam War had just ended. Big cities fell in the grip of crime and neglect as the 1975 fiscal crisis pushed New York City to the brink of bankruptcy.

New York uniformed police, angry at the mayor's budget cuts, handed out "Welcome to Fear City" leaflets at the airports. Featuring a hooded ...Read more

The first woman combat veteran to serve in the Senate, and a sexual assault survivor, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst understandably had serious questions about the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.

Initially, she said he would "have his work cut out for him" to be confirmed and told Fox News that she was not yet a "yes" on his bid,...Read more

The New York Times, NBC News and the "legacy media" have got to change with the Trump times -- before Donald Trump takes power in six short weeks on Jan. 20, 2025.

One CBS News presidential historian commented on air after Trump's cruel 2016 "American carnage" inaugural address: "That was the best speech Trump ever gave."

In plain sight, ...Read more

Former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King was renowned for his frequent malapropisms and contorted logic.

For example, he once refused to back a bill pushed by loan-shark lobbyists -- but he pledged that it if the legislature passed the thing, he would sign it. Well, the bill did pass ... but Bruce vetoed it! The lobbyists swarmed him, crying that he...Read more

The cold-blooded, targeted murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as he walked into a Manhattan hotel early last Wednesday morning has grabbed national attention, focusing some of it on America's troubling embrace of simple cruelty, and of violence.

There's chilling video circulating widely of the hooded, masked assassin pulling out a ...Read more

There is no condoning the cold-blooded murder of a UnitedHealth Group executive in predawn Manhattan. Moments after Brian Thompson was shot dead, a torrent of unsympathetic posts flooded social media. I was surprised by both the brazen attack and the unveiled congratulations to a killer. The reasons for the anger, however, I understood very ...Read more