ArcaMax

Presidential elections of yore were not like this one. Would the media kindly get that into their collective skull? Many journalists seem to think that the reluctance of Kamala Harris to sit down for searing in-depth interviews on "the issues" is a major issue.

The one she did with CNN rested on the old gotcha questions. Harris said that she'...Read more

Hawaii charges tourists a variety of taxes and fees. It may soon add a $25 climate tax visitors would pay when they check into a hotel or short-term rental. It's meant to address the environmental impact of mass tourism and help in the rebuilding of Lahaina, the Maui town devastated last year by wildfires. You see a lot of griping about the ...Read more

How is it possible that the Teamsters still haven't made an official presidential endorsement? Really, are they going to choose Donald Trump, who conned them into believing he'd help save their pensions? Or Kamala Harris, whose boss, Joe Biden, actually did -- and to the tune of $36 billion? Doesn't sound like a tough decision to me.

I used ...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

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

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

The 2024 presidential election, we are told, will be decided in a handful of battleground states. The race is so tight that a single Electoral College vote could determine the outcome. And that explains the great focus on Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, which often votes Democrat but not always.

Nebraska is one of only two states that ...Read more

Republicans handed Usha Vance the unenviable task of cleaning up her husband's history of hostile comments regarding women. Alas, she tried.

Specifically, Usha attempted to dismiss J.D. Vance's trashing of "childless cat ladies" as a "quip." A "quip" is a witty or clever remark, often characterized by its brevity. Had Donald Trump's running ...Read more

When Republicans took control of the House in January 2023, their first order of business was a bill was to cut additional IRS funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. President Joe Biden fought them off and managed to retain $60 billion of that needed money.

Had Republicans succeeded in keeping the IRS enforcement budget at starvation ...Read more

It all started with a claim by Anthony Rapp that while attending a party in the home of Kevin Spacey in 1986, the actor got drunk, threw him on a bed and jumped on top of him. Also an actor, Rapp was 14 at the time, and Spacey was 26. Spacey denied that happened.

In the wake of the charges, Spacey's talent agency and publicist dropped him. ...Read more

What follows here assumes that Kamala Harris carries out her stated intention to "earn the nomination" and not pretend that the crown is only in the shop. This gives her an opportunity to craft her image as a centrist with a spine, the sort of Democrat who can win national elections.

The Democratic nominee has two automatic advantages. One is...Read more

The hard-line pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime has been protesting against, of all people, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Where did the New York congresswoman and Vermont senator go astray? Didn't they denounce Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide"? Didn't they call for halting military aid to Israel?

They ...Read more

In overseeing the American economy, President Joe Biden has shown himself to be an amazing manager. It's all there in the numbers, especially when placed next to those of his predecessor. And should Biden win a second term and show himself to be not as sharp as he was four years ago, small matter economy-wise. He has a high-caliber ...Read more

Try as he might, Donald Trump can't blur the hard reality he forced upon American women. He vowed in 2016 to get rid of Roe v. Wade and succeeded. As a result, American women lost a half-century right to end an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy.

Some of the harsh truths turn into nightmares. When Nicole Miller, mother of two and 20 weeks ...Read more

Walking through Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island, I came upon a moss-covered monolith listing the Ten Commandments. This was some time ago, but knowing the objections then being made to placing religious artifacts in public places, I thought, "This stone won't be here for long."

It was removed in 2004.

My feelings were mixed ...Read more

Americans have this big obsession over population numbers. One reason is that reports related to population come with numbers. Numbers give politicians and journalists something concrete to either agonize or crow over.

The problem with this approach is that the numbers don't necessarily reflect the living reality of people being counted. ...Read more

Bad debates happen, as Joe Biden's supporters say. But that wasn't a debate. Biden stood there in an apparent cloud of fatigue, while Donald Trump lied his way throughout, ignoring the uncomfortable questions, of which there were several.

Biden says he's staying in the race, and for Democrats, that should be that. Here's what his campaign ...Read more

Jamaal Bowman's loss was the Democrats' gain. A member of the left-fringe Squad, his primary defeat removes at least one irritant to the Democrats' quest to take control of the House. And if his replacement with a moderate marks the beginning of the end for the Squad, well, bravo for the victor, Westchester County executive George Latimer.

...Read more

The mystery of why older voters are polling strongly for Joe Biden is not a mystery at all. True, they tend to be conservative and have traditionally preferred Republican presidential candidates. White voters over 65 voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

The reason these conservative voters appear to be for Biden this time is simple. ...Read more

I have before me a "traffic summons" from my city's police department. It features three pictures, two of the back of my car and a close-up of the license plate.

"Please take notice," it reads, "that the vehicle described and pictured herein was detected and recorded by an automated school zone speed monitoring system as exceeding the lawful ...Read more