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Under the Big Top in Manhattan, Trump's the Ringmaster
There's a three-ring circus playing in a Manhattan courthouse right now, with Donald Trump taking the role of the hollering ringmaster leading the show.
As he juggles multiple indictments -- on accusations of everything from election interference to misuse of campaign funds -- he directs his trained bears in Congress to gum up the works and ...Read more
Parents Need -- And Have -- The Right To Make Mistakes
Do parents have the right to make a mistake?
That's the question at hand when we talk about medication and surgery for gender dysphoria in children. But it's not an issue that begins when kids enter puberty. Parents start making high-stakes medical decisions, ones that have lifelong consequences, virtually the moment their children are born. ...Read more
IVF: The New Republican Nail for Their 'Pro-Life' Hammer
My husband and I started trying to have children when I was 33.
I was older than some first-time moms I knew, but I was also younger than plenty others. My husband and I were both healthy, and there was no reason to suspect we'd have trouble conceiving. In fact, I was so confident of our success that for my birthday that first year, I asked ...Read more
The Ultimate Culture Clash at the Root of Rural Rage
What is cultural identity and why is it so important?
We're grappling with that question in the United States, and the implications of our national culture wars are being felt in every sector -- from politics to labor to entertainment.
The latest example of this intensifying strife came after the publication of "White Rural Rage," a book ...Read more
Ronna McDaniel's Flameout and the Death of Gatekeeping
This week, Ronna McDaniel flamed out.
Maybe it was less of a conflagration doused by tidal waves and more of the fizzling death of a cheap firework, but either way, whatever plans she had for becoming a talking head ended abruptly. She was an NBC contributor for less than a week, or 30% of a Scaramucci (as he put it on social media) before ...Read more
Fishing in the Tainted Pond of Politics
My state ghosted the primary.
Well, not everyone did, but more than enough did to make turnout historically low. Nearly four out of five registered voters in Chicago, for example, skipped the election. (That's to say nothing of the folks who never registered in the first place.) The figures are a bit embarrassing, but I can't help shuffling ...Read more
Dining Out at the Critter Cafe
I have a critter problem.
The specific variety of critter that's troubling me? I don't know.
I know only its aftereffects, the holes bitten in our trash cans and the smallish, slightly oblong droppings the villain leaves behind.
It's tough to identify the culprit because our backyard is a veritable menagerie of suburban wildlife, playing ...Read more
Keep Our Humanity, Whatever the Cost
In a world that seems determined to strip us of our humanity, how can we keep it?
I've asked myself that, recently, thinking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's words about the ways the Russian invasion has changed him, has changed his people. He candidly shared the struggle he says he faces in keeping his humanity.
"War is a ...Read more
Growing Up Is the Saddest Thing of All
It occurred to me today that childhood is the long process of separating from your mother -- first from her body, physically, and then slowly, over many years, emotionally, moving from her life into your own.
I've always listened when parents say the years go by quickly, but I've never heard, not until now, when my older son is taking his ...Read more