When I wrote about the tragic murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, I noted the tremendous outpouring of sentiment saluting them not only for their contributions to the entertainment industry but also for their role in the community and their humanitarian work. I did mention that there was one notable dissent, and said I'd talk about it in the future.

This was first posted last year and drew a very positive response. The Holy Land seems fairly quiet at this moment and my fingers are crossed that it will remain that way. In this time of turmoil, …

How do you explain the inexplicable? It had already been a horrific weekend. On December 13 a mass shooting at Brown University’s Barus & Holley Engineering Building in Providence, Rhode Island left two students dead and nine others injured. The gunman remains at large, and a multi-agency manhunt is ongoing. The next day a terrorist mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia…

The Secretary of State is considered the senior advisor to the president. Dean of the cabinet. He is fourth in the line of succession to the presidency. The first Secretary of State was none other than Thomas Jefferson. The current holder of this key office is Marco Rubio, the 72nd secretary. He used to represent Florida in the U.S.

The Supreme Court, or rather the six Republican justices on the Supreme Court, have handed Donald Trump another victory. They issued a stay, blocking the order of a three-judge panel in Texas, which found the recent reapportionment of the state's Congressional districts to be racially motivated and therefor illegal. The six, has been their pattern all year, issued their order in the dark of night on the…

Someday someone will produce a study that will try to quantify how many people died as a result of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s war on vaccines, medicine and science. Tens of thousands? Millions? It is hard to predict. Donald Trump, implementing the Project 2025 plan to destroy the federal government, has appointed the worst possible people to run the executive agencies.

Democrats thought they had a good issue. They'd pass still another continuing resolution to reopen the government in return for an agreement from Republicans to extend special subsidies for insurance policies bought through the Affordable Care Act. They misjudged the willingness of Donald Trump to continue his war on America by inflicting more pain on the American people. Cut food assistance for more than forty million Americans?

I remember how proud I was the day I reported to work at WBBM-TV, the CBS owned and operated station in Chicago. It was in October 1974. I was to start my first "real," that is, "post school," job. My position was "Assistant Political Analyst." That was a fancy title for an entry level job more commonly known in newsrooms as a "legman." Legmen, and legwomen, assist senior reporters and columnists as needed.

Anywhere from five to eight million people turned out for the second "No Kings" protests across the nation. The rallies took place in over 2,600 locations across the United States. I have first or secondhand knowledge of protests in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. They were peaceful. Crowds were almost jubilant at having an opportunity to voice their opposition to the actions of the Trump administration.

I fell for Diane Keaton the minute I heard her speak that line in Annie Hall. She won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as the title character in Woody Allen's 1977 classic. Keaton's wardrobe, her own creation, started a whole new trend of women utilizing men's clothing that made a mark on fashion and popular culture that survives today.

He's in the groove. Donald Trump finally has his production line going and he's serving up indictments like he's working the griddle at the local fast-food joint. On October 9, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. The charges relate to allegations involving a mortgage loan.

The first Monday of October is upon us. This is the day the Supreme Court begins its new term. The justices have been on recess and away from the Capital since the end of June. But they have had a busy summer. We just don't know much about what they were doing. The Supreme Court is shrouded these days. Literally and figuratively.

A former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been indicted on the direct order of the President of the United States. Let that sink in. I'm sure that this thing happens all the time in Russia. Or China. Or North Korea. Or Japan. But I can't think of anything comparable ever happening in the United States of America.

Free speech is a pain in the rear. Always has been. Always will be. It is a nice idea. If you have freedom of speech, you have the right to say whatever is on your mind without fear of repercussions. But there is a rub. It also means the guy standing next to you has freedom of speech.

If you want to take a master class in film, you need only watch the movies of Robert Redford. Redford passed away peacefully on September 16, at the age of 89, at his beloved home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah. He was more than a Hollywood icon. He was a visionary who reshaped American cinema and left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.

I am in shock. OMG. I find myself agreeing with Ted Cruz, Republican, Senator from Texas, in his takedown of Tim Kaine, Democrat, Senator from Virginia. In a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Kaine took issue with the opening statement of Riley Barnes, who has been nominated to serve as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor.

It is hard to believe it is 24 years since the 9-11 attack. In many ways, it seems to be ancient history. Many of my students were not yet born on that day. But in other ways, it seems like just yesterday. I have written about my experience on that day before, and I will not repeat that lengthy reflection now.

The post above was made on his personal social media account by the man 77 million Americans sent back to the Oval Office. It was repeated by the official account of the White House. It is literally a declaration of war by Donald Trump on a major America City. MAGA apologists have been scrambling to pass it off as a joke, a cute and meaningless quip.

The charts above are certainly things Donald Trump did not want to see. Unemployment rate up. Total employment down. They come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' report on employment in the United States for August. Just last month the July report, showing a slowing economy, led Trump to fire BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. I wrote a few weeks ago that it was a case of shooting the messenger.

As the nation celebrates Labor Day, Donald Trump is escalating his attack on the federal workforce by trying to strip union rights from more federal employees. Trump signed an executive order targeting workers at key federal agencies like the National Weather Service and NASA, arguing for a “national security” exemption to circumvent collective bargaining rights. This is part of Trump's broader strategy to diminish the power of labor unions, which have long been essential advocates for workers' rights and protections.

The tourist season in Washington, officially the "District of Columbia," begins in April, about the time the cherry blossoms bloom. The nation's capital is especially beautiful at that time. It is when school children from all over the nation arrive on a traditional trip to see the places they are familiar with from the news and to see the documents, faded though they may be, that were written to create the world's first Constitutional democratic republic.

John Roberts and his Republican colleagues have granted a kid with ties to criminal hackers, Ed "Big Balls" Coristine, live access to every American's Social Security data.

Every damn day. That's what it seems like. Every damn day the man seventy-seven million Americans voted back into office does something more outrageous than the day before. It is exhausting. Trump eviscerates environmental protections. He accuses former President Barack Obama of treason. He rips up labor agreements. He plans to privatize Social Security. He forces the Smithsonian to take down an exhibit that includes his two impeachments.

The world lost one of its greatest space explorers with the passing of James Arthur "Jim" Lovell Jr., who died peacefully on this week at the age of 97. Lovell embodied the spirit of American exploration and the courage to venture into the unknown that defined the golden age of space exploration. Lovell's extraordinary career spanned four spaceflights that helped write the early chapters of humans in space.

The date will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.