ArcaMax

When I told my neighbor that my son had sisters 15 and 19 years older than him, her eyes flew open. She wasn't shocked; she was so relieved to hear this and had questions. Her son is about to turn 2 and she's been feeling the pressure to have another baby now instead of waiting. Women hear so much advice when it comes to children, and one of ...Read more

This morning, I had breakfast in a street corner joint called "Rosaria's." Rosaria is the woman who owns the place. She cooks. One of her daughters waits tables. One of her nieces waits tables.

I paid $8.99 for a pulled pork omelet that came with hash browns, toast and coffee. There was plenty of pork in the omelet, and the waitress came by ...Read more

The Democratic National Convention has been a lively dance party featuring the usual lineup of partisan speakers. Barack Obama, as usual, charmed the crowd, mocking Donald Trump's obsession over crowd size with a subtle but unmistakable hand gesture.

One of the most moving speeches, however, was a quiet address by Stephanie Grisham. Trump's ...Read more

It was that kind of night. The Obama Magic was on prime display.

Warning the country of the kind of attack that they should expect Kamala Harris will be on the receiving end of, Michelle Obama said:

"My husband and I sadly know a little something about this. For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. ...Read more

Picture Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, as young, beautiful Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," being blown away in a storm and, in the end, coming face to face with the scary wizard.

And there he is, a blowhard behind a green curtain, shouting into the wind. In the movie, the wizard looks like former President ...Read more

"Big Boss Man," an old song by blues legend Jimmy Reed, still packs a potent political punch for today's working class:

You got me workin', boss man, working 'round the clock

I wanna little drink of water, but you won't let Jimmy stop

Big boss man, can't you hear me when I call?

But then, Reed urges workers to see how small the ...Read more

On the bright side, the Trump era has doubtless reinforced the age-old nostrum that in America, absolutely anyone can be president. Shallow, unread and uninterested, fundamentally infantile and deeply narcissistic, Donald Trump's enduring lesson to America is this: just say anything.

And say anything Mr. Trump has. The Carnival Barker-in-...Read more

Joe Biden's decision to leave the Democratic National Convention right after opening night makes sense. Being president is a full-time job, and he has to get back to the office.

But the more sexy story is that Biden's decision to not stick around reflects bitterness over how party officials pressured him to withdraw from the race. That he ...Read more

For the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has made LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of its policy agenda. Among other efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has consistently sued states to block anti-trans laws and policies, including asking the Supreme Court to lift bans on medically necessary health care for trans adolescents.

...Read more

Donald Trump, with his familiar rants and raves, is definitely boring. But it's beyond that.

He is a man who is out of control. He often sounds demented and divorced from reality, raising the question of whether he really is suffering from progressive dementia. It certainly sounds like it.

For weeks now, his aides and allies have been urging...Read more

Anyone who has experience haggling at a flea market has intuited the basics of negotiating. If a seller offers the item you want at a fire-sale price that you're unlikely to find elsewhere, smile, pay the asking price and walk away before they change their mind. If the requested price is many times higher than you're willing to pay, just walk ...Read more

Every reader has a favorite book and a favorite author. Every parent has a one they'd love to pass on to their children. In our family, that author is W. Bruce Cameron, and in a plot twist, he's an author my daughter and I discovered together.

Cameron's book "A Dog's Purpose" hit the shelves in 2010, and though an adult novel, it quickly became...Read more

"Come and listen you fellers, so young and so fine

And seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mines

It will form as a habit and seep in your soul

'Til the stream of your blood is as black as the coal."

-- Merle Travis, "Dark as a Dungeon"

It's a coal mining song, is what it is, a hill ballad, a labor song, a lyric of damp and dust and ...Read more

The Harris-Walz campaign radiates sunshine and good times to come. Donald Trump, on the other hand, spreads gloom through his lame insults and crazy delusions. What's happening is that Trump's nastiness now bounces like a pink Spalding ball off the Democrats' reinforced concrete of jubilation. The superior crowd sizes and tightening poll ...Read more

"Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating."

So wrote Judge Mark C. Scarsi in issuing a preliminary injunction this week to three Jewish students who sued...Read more

With one word, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz changed the public conversation: "joy." That word stumped and trumped former President Donald Trump's brand of rage. He looks fit to be tied in that very long red tie.

When Walz joined Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate, he thanked her for bringing back the joy in politics. He added, the ...Read more