ArcaMax

The Biden administration recently stopped a plan to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes. The excellent arguments for why they are dangerous were overcome by good arguments for why making them illegal didn't make sense.

In a world of optimal health, no one would be smoking menthol cigarettes or any cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration ...Read more

The helicopters were whirring in the sky last night over the UCLA campus as violent clashes broke out on the ground between pro- and anti-Palestinian demonstrators at the on-campus encampment that UCLA had tolerated for far longer than it should have. A university's first responsibility is to educate, and that means creating a safe and secure ...Read more

The Luncheon Society intrigued me by its very name. My grandmother attended women's society "luncheons."

So how could I refuse a Zoom invitation ("you might enjoy") out of the ether to join a virtual conversation mixing yesteryear and tomorrow?

Speakers and guests are all over the map. Somehow Bob McBarton, the ebullient host, curates ...Read more

A farmer friend of mine once bemoaned the fact that the Democrat we'd both supported for president, Bill Clinton, was hugging up Wall Street and stiffing family farmers. "I don't mind losing when we lose," my friend said, "but I hate losing when we win."

Agreed. Yet, losing in politics is sometimes a prelude to winning, calling not for ...Read more

AI is nearly impossible for us to escape these days. Social media companies, schools, workplaces and even dating apps are all trying to harness AI to remake their services and platforms, and AI can impact our lives in ways large and small. While many of these efforts are just getting underway -- and often raise significant civil rights issues ...Read more

This is not directly about the issues animating the "pro-Palestinian" demonstrations at many colleges. Rather it's about the air of privilege filling the sails of hypocrisy on which many ride.

Start with the masks that protestors use to hide their identities. And from whom? In many cases from future employers who may object to their singling ...Read more

Justice Samuel Alito thinks presidents are kings and must be protected against those who would disrupt their peaceful retirement.

What planet is he living on?

In his questioning on Thursday in the Trump immunity case, he made perfectly clear whose side he was on.

"If an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election knows that a...Read more

It's too bad we can't monetize censorship, because we truly live in a golden age of speech suppression. In this deeply polarized society, the one thing we can all agree upon is that people we disagree with need to shut up.

Officially, freedom of speech is a key commandment in our national civic religion. We love free speech -- in the abstract. ...Read more

Historical analogies rarely carry much weight, especially in a time when so much about politics has changed so rapidly. To compare what is happening in 2024 to events that occurred over half a century earlier hardly seems useful.

It mostly isn't. And yet the election of 1968, whose outcome proved disastrous for America and the world, looms ...Read more

In my quest to eat healthier as an adult, I've encountered a lot of meat and dairy alternatives along with low-fat and sugar-free treat options that claim to be better choices. Many of these products are also marketed as organic. Like the almond milk I buy. I choose not to eat mass-produced animal products because of the unethical and inhumane ...Read more

Thirty years ago, I was in a garment factory, covering the visit of a Portuguese dignitary who was in the factory because it employed a large number of Portuguese immigrants.

The dignitary approached a short, muscular man who worked in the plant and greeted him smilingly in Portuguese.

The man spat out a single sentence in Portuguese and ...Read more

Public parks belong to the public, right? A billionaire can't cordon off an acre of Golden Gate Park for his private party. But can a poor person -- or anyone who claims they can't afford a home -- take over public spaces where children play and families experience nature?

That is the question now before the Supreme Court case, Grants Pass v....Read more

The one thing you could always say about Donald Trump was that he was "big." He commanded the stage. His vigor -- or the appearance of vigor -- made him appear younger than Joe Biden, even though they are only a few years apart. He was able to roll over scandals and missteps that would have derailed a smaller candidate.

The civil trials didn'...Read more

"Every single member (will) vote their conscience."

Conscience, did you say? House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) words cut cleanly through the House of Representatives noise. Seldom are they told to rise above the partisan rabble.

After months of darkness and delay, Johnson did the right thing for the nation and world. He opened the gate ...Read more

And now: A special report from the Department of Really Bad Ideas. And this one is a doozie.

It comes from Hizzoner Eric Adams, the present mayor of New York City. Like mayors everywhere, Adams is routinely expected to respond to city council members, state reps, members of Congress and other elected officials who ask for help on city issues ...Read more

Every year, thousands of asylum seekers from diverse corners of the world seek refuge in the United States. Many -- such as Indigenous people from Latin America and Africa -- are fleeing persecution based on the languages they speak and their cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Their ability to access the asylum system has life-or-death ...Read more