ArcaMax

Mercury Stardust visited my local library last weekend to talk about her New York Times No. 1 bestselling book "Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair." The TikTok star and "Trans Handy Ma'am" is a transgender woman and home repair expert who serves her video tutorials with a side of social justice and humor. I'm glad I got to ...Read more

Two days ago, I went out to get trash bags because I needed trash bags, a prescription because I needed a prescription and cookies because I like cookies.

The kind young woman behind the drugstore counter handed me my prescription in a little white bag, stapled shut.

"Do you want a receipt?" she asked.

I go to one of those drugstores where ...Read more

Thomas Jefferson referred to the U.S. government as a "common house" that provided the people protection and stability. Donald Trump is trying to evict Americans from that comfy home by making it hard to get benefits that should be thought of as a right.

Witness the slashing of basic government services in the name of deficit reduction, or ...Read more

The news came via email, without further explanation, from Ian Simon, the head of the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice. The email, obtained by Politico, says this:

"We are writing to let you know that the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice will be closing as part of the administration's reorganization coming this week. We ...Read more

The grand terrace of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts overlooks the river, where you can catch a breeze and mingle at intermission. The first April symphony is a sweet Mozart and Mendelssohn concert.

Please tell me the center will still be open.

Along with the skilled federal workforce, the 47th president is murdering a precious ...Read more

Eeeeeek, there's a mouse in the house! Oh wait -- it's just Little Mike Johnson. He's harmless.

Mike is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which used to be a vital part of America's national government. The Constitution empowers the House to oversee the federal budget, public policies and the actions of presidents. But Johnson has ...Read more

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the world's richest man, have unleashed global chaos with mass firings and funding freezes as they attempt to eviscerate the U.S. government. Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, has revealed significant problems -- within its own operations, that is. This week, Musk's DOGE team ...Read more

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