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Editorials and columns

Civilized or savages?

Birthdays, at my age, now 73, are a far cry from those of my youth. Back then there were the birthday parties, the sleepovers and of course the presents, but more importantly it was the beginning of your future, a future full of dreams and adventures all wrapped up in feelings of immortality. ...

Crossing the line: When political power confronts moral authority

There are moments in political life when rhetoric stops being merely provocative and begins to test the boundaries of institutional respect. President Donald J. Trump's attack on a sitting pope invites comparison to one of the most consequential overreaches in modern American history: when ...

Building a better sandwich

When I was a child, my older brother would sometimes ask - aka, tell - me to make him a sandwich. And my mother, shaped by a time when traditional roles were more firmly drawn, would reinforce the request. As a schoolgirl, I didn’t have the language for what I felt. I only knew something ...

Trump v the Pope

As far as showdowns between popes and secular leaders go, President Trump versus Pope LEO hardly rates. LEO hasn't forced Trump to come see him and stand for three days in the snow, the way Pope Gregory VII did to Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, in 1077. Nor has he issued an interdict, a ...

Trump is turning Iran into an anti-globalist superpower

If Team Trump has dragged itself to the negotiating table with Iran, it's not because the U.S. is winning this war. One side of these talks features top Iranian brass. The other, two real estate agents (Steve Witkoff and Jared "Gaza Riviera" Kushner), Vice President JD Vance who's fresh off ...

How to reverse societal decline

Retail stores locking up items is the symptom of a much larger problem. I recently went to Walmart and had ibuprofen on my shopping list. I went to the medicine section and -- groan -- saw this $5 item locked behind glass. There were a couple of other people already waiting, so I looked ...