One of the striking contradictions of President Trump’s tariffs is the way his chorus claims their rousing success even as he carves out hundreds of exceptions. Rarely has a President worked so hard to cover…

Should old acquaintance be forgot? It’s a New Years question etched in dichotomous reflection as we find ourselves thinking back and looking ahead at the same time.  A conundrum summed up by When Harry Met…

I know boats. Catamarans where water laps at your legs. Fishing boats with bright colors and splintered seats. Even though I grew up in the heart of Silicon Valley in San José, California, I come…

We’re once again approaching the annual resetting of the Doomsday Clock. Last January, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a group of very smart people, moved the hands of their…

There is a children’s story I used to read to my daughters when they were 3 and 4 years old. It comes from Arnold Lobel’s “Frog and Toad” series and involves a big batch of…

Before we turn to the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion last week blocking the deployment of Texas National Guard soldiers to Illinois, let’s work through a thought experiment. Imagine we are not living with the Trump…

The states along the Colorado River are proving the truth of the famous adage often attributed to Mark Twain: “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.” At the end of the year, the…

Is U.S. policy legitimizing Hamas? That’s the question to ask nearly three months after the October cease-fire, as the terrorists show no sign of disarming. Instead Hamas negotiates with White House envoys and regional powers…

The business of shipping goods around the world has suffered shock after shock since 2000, culminating in the effective closure of the Red Sea and Suez Canal two years ago.  Don’t say it too loud,…

Every year around this time, the noise starts to drop. The pace eases a bit. Families gather, neighbors reconnect, and people who disagree on just about everything still manage to pass plates across the same…