Monthly Archives: November 2016

In the Land of Ostriches

Who needs newspapers when the president-elect can tweet directly to millions of Twitter followers news that is uncorrupted by the professional media? Trump’s latest unfiltered fabrication came Sunday, when he announced that he had “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” That’s a big if. But the man […]

Questions in Search of Answers

If Facebook can develop software to suppress real news in China, why can’t it deploy software to suppress fake news in America? Facebook has been much in the news lately – facing accusations ranging from influencing the presidential electionto “contributing to the balkanization of America” by “[narrowing] our sight-lines and reinforcing what we already believe” to cozying […]

The Other Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. This is the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the […]

At Last, Chris Christie Gets a Job Offer

After months of disappointment, the New Jersey governor is said to finally be in line for a top administration job. According to unidentified sources, Donald Trump will appoint New Jersey Governor Chris Christie his official food taster, a position President Franklin Pierce discontinued in the 1850s. “Nobody died,” Pierce said at the time, “and my […]

A Tribute to Our Children

Wednesday morning’s headline came like a punch to the solar plexus. For my children, though, and many of their friends and children of my friends, the election results came as more than a momentary loss of breath. They were devastated. “I’m terrified and so deeply sad,” a young friend texted me. They had recoiled from […]

The Long Drive Home

Well, I didn’t do much good in Pennsylvania. When I arrived last week, the now-disparaged polls had Hillary up by four points. When I left yesterday, Trump had carried the state. Note to Democratic Party: Don’t send Blaines to swing states (I use the plural because my sister and brother-in-law went too). Meanwhile, while I […]

Notes from the Field

Sometimes I think God sent Donald Trump to help me get comfortable with my mortality. He has poisoned the civic discourse in ways from which we won’t soon recover. But I’ll be shuffling off this mortal coil far sooner than the younger people who will have to clean up his mess. That’s just one statistically […]

On the Road

For one night, at least, baseball was America’s game again. After rain and lost leads and 108 years, the Chicago Cubs are what we Americans have always called “world champions,” even though Cleveland is only a five-hour drive from Chicago, along I-90 across the old Rust Belt from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, from one […]