ArcaMax

About a week after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was released, offering insights about the direction our country is headed. After the troubling political violence we have witnessed recently, it is not shocking that a majority of those surveyed believe we ...Read more

Just after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a New York Times/Siena poll found that Americans believe polarization is the second most serious challenge facing the nation. (The economy came in first.) As recently as one year ago, fewer than 1% of registered voters cited polarization as a national problem; this year, 13% said it was the most ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Have you watched the news today? Oh boy.

The Trump administration's invasion of Chicago. Attacks on houses of worship. The government shutdown. The murder of Charlie Kirk. The division of a nation that was supposed to be "indivisible." All this and more weighs on the hearts and minds of many Americans.

I need a break. So today, ...Read more

In the stock room at Division Vapor in Portland, Oregon, a sign affixed to a metal rack holding various nicotine solutions reminds employees to "Censor Before (You) Stock!" The sign alludes to state regulations that require merchants to obscure allegedly child-enticing images and words before displaying vaping products to their adult customers...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Two years? It feels more like 20.

Another person who feels that way is Maha Shbeir, who worked as a doctor at Nasser hospital in Gaza. She recently told a reporter for the Associated Press that she feels as if over the last two years she has seen two decades' worth of pain, tragedy, suffering and hunger.

"I've seen cases of ...Read more

Shortly after I wrote my recent column about Ohio State University football players baptizing students at an "Invitation to Jesus" event in Columbus, a friend emailed me with a link to a story from the "CBS Mornings" series "The State of Spirituality" featuring reporting from award-winning journalist Lisa Ling. This particular story, by Ling ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Republicans are pushing two conflicting narratives at once, and the double talk has them flummoxed and tongue-tied.

The first narrative is that Democrats are weak, ineffective, out of touch and totally irrelevant to the politics of today. As President Donald Trump might put it, "they choke like dogs."

The second narrative is ...Read more

FBI Director Kash Patel portrays James Comey's indictment as a response to "the Russiagate hoax." Yet on their face, the charges against Comey have nothing to do with the investigation that earned the former FBI director a prominent spot on President Donald Trump's enemies list.

The Justice Department reportedly is contemplating charges ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Americans have talked a lot lately about the ugly phenomenon of political violence. As well we should; people should not feel unsafe because of what they believe.

Nevertheless, now we need to pivot and confront something we don't want to talk about because it can be even uglier: religious violence. People also should not feel ...Read more

There are few things the old me liked more than a meaty discussion about the American Founding. The history was interesting for its own sake but also essential guidance for the present and future. Or so I believed for decades.

The other day, a podcast in my feed addressed these matters and I had to turn it off. Reflections on the Founders no ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- When I heard that a sniper had opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, I was disheartened and concerned. But I wasn't the least bit surprised.

The agency has been drawing a lot of attention to itself over the last several months as its agents desperately try to fulfill an arbitrary and absurdly ...Read more

"When 97% of the stories are bad," President Donald Trump declared on Friday, "it's no longer free speech." When TV networks "take a great story" and "make it bad," he added, "I think that's really illegal."

Trump was wrong on both points. And in groping toward a justification for the regulatory threats that preceded Jimmy Kimmel's expulsion ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- President Donald Trump is notorious for falling to pieces over small things. But oddly, his petty rants sometimes touch on big topics.

The trouble is that the noise caused by the small often drowns out the substance of the big. This presidency is all about distraction. The president who can't stand a slight is an expert at ...Read more

With the 2025 college football season underway, the Ohio State Buckeyes are hoping to defend their national title and once again forge their way through the playoffs. Their path to the title of beating four ranked teams was epic last year, especially after a disappointing loss to Michigan. Their victories over Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The first rule of communications strategy goes like this: If you don't define yourself, your enemies, adversaries and competitors will gladly do it for you, and often in unflattering terms.

That's true with businesses, causes and nonprofit organizations. It's especially true in politics, where another version of the same idea ...Read more

In separate attacks this month, the U.S. military blew up two speedboats in the Caribbean Sea, killing 14 alleged drug smugglers. Although those men could have been intercepted and arrested, President Donald Trump said he decided summary execution was appropriate as a deterrent to drug trafficking.

To justify this unprecedented use of the U.S...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Dear America, I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Really, I don't. Uncle Sam and I have always been on good terms.

But I must ask: Can migrants to the United States get a do-over?

More than a century ago, my Mexican grandfather and his parents chose the United States over Mexico. Unable to make a living in their own country -- ...Read more

As I watched the sorrowful and horrifying news reports of the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk while he was speaking at Utah Valley University, I thought about how political violence and gun violence are driving our nation to a dangerous edge of no return. Other media outlets did a rollcall of recent shooting ...Read more

The rush to exonerate Trump from the implications of the Epstein birthday book message reveals a contradiction at the heart of MAGA.

In the immediate aftermath of the Wall Street Journal July scoop about the smarmy message Trump included in the book of friendly tributes assembled in 2003 for Jeffrey Epstein's fiftieth birthday, Vice President ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Brace yourselves. The story of political violence in America is not as bad as you think. I'm afraid it's much worse.

It's not just that awful things happen. It's that when they happen, many Americans get unhinged. We have trouble being honest, staying rational and not going too far in one direction or another.

If the tragic tale...Read more