The Politicization of Everything

There is a quote that is often attributed to former U.S. Representative Barney Frank: "'Government' is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together." When Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick quoted Rep. Frank at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, I just rolled my eyes.

The Right Can’t Defend Trump’s Behavior

By now you may have noticed the difficulty many conservatives have defending everything President Trump does and says. I'm not just referring to the big policy moves, most of which conservatives can support fairly easily .

Major Media Remain in Denial

Since Donald Trump's election, the major media have been trying to figure out what they did wrong, given their fawning coverage of Hillary Clinton and their anti-Donald Trump stories. Didn't they help twice elect Barack Obama? Why didn't the formula work this time? Mostly the media blame voters, talk radio and Fox News, never themselves.

Short Circuit: Bill Aims to Deep-Six 9th

How big is the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals? The San-Francisco-based circuit is so big that it represents nine states, including Nevada, 20 percent of the U.S. population and 40 percent of the nation's land mass. It's so big that Congress has looked at bills to split the circuit since 1941, and it's so big that none of those measures have succeeded.

The President and the Courts

Last week, in a public courtroom in the federal courthouse in Seattle, the states of Washington and Minnesota -- after suing President Donald Trump, alleging injury caused by his executive order that suspended the immigration of all people from seven foreign countries -- asked a federal judge to compel the president and all those who work for him to cease enforcing the order immediately. After a brief emergency oral argument, the judge signed a temporary restraining order, which barred the enforcement of the president's order everywhere in the United States.

Trump’s Continuing War on His Own Credibility

Asked about Melissa McCarthy's portrayal of him on "Saturday Night Live," White House press secretary Sean Spicer had some advice for the actress: "Dial it back." May I suggest the president adopt that phrase as his administration motto? So far, Donald Trump has made it a practice to obliterate every known limit and pump up every grievance.

Impeach Trump: Letter to the editor

Activists rally against President Donald Trump's reported plans to loosen Wall Street Regulations and repeal the Dodd-Frank Act outside of Goldman Sachs headquarters in Lower Manhattan, February 7, 2017 in New York City. Impeach Trump : President Trump should be impeached.

A 21st-century Glass-Steagall? It’s called the Volcker Rule

During the presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump called for a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act. While that Depression-era law required the complete separation of commercial and investment banking, it is unclear exactly what now-President Trumps envisions in a modern version.