The partial government shutdown has forced some federal workers to move money around to pay for food and rent. No surprise there. What’s shocking is the many who don’t have the money to move. They have no financial cushion to cover even one month’s worth of ordinary expenses. Don’t they have any savings, any savings […]

The kids are bratty, the parents fighting, the homes a mess. It’s remarkable how American domestic life can breed so much dissatisfaction amid so much plenty. Foreigners have made an industry of observing this paradox and offering Americans fixes. Restoring tranquility and, frankly, dignity is the goal. Start with the Japanese commissar of decluttering, Marie […]

We who follow immigration policy closely know that the wall is a dumb idea. Closing much of the government over it is dumber still. Why is the wall a dumb idea? It would be expensive. It would be unsightly. It would be environmentally destructive. More to this point, it would be ineffective. First off, an […]

A new medical device may change almost everything we think about making babies. It may also sweep away the current controversy over abortion while creating new ethical dilemmas. We speak of the artificial womb. Also called a biobag, an artificial womb is a big plastic sack filled with synthetic amniotic fluid. A tube going into […]

The right can’t stop talking about the incoming youngest member of the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The left isn’t much better. You know AOC. She rose from obscurity to instant celebrity as a self-described socialist running for Congress. The former waitress did it with a brilliant campaign combining social media genius with just showing up. In […]

A federal judge in Texas just threw out the Affordable Care Act root and branch. If the decision were to survive legal challenges, an estimated 17 million Americans could lose their health coverage. Uncounted others would face monstrous premium hikes as protections for pre-existing conditions vanish. Upheld, the ruling would rocket Republicans toward their goal […]

It often starts off easy. For me it did. An elderly friend needed some help with food shopping and dealing with the cable company. He has no family to speak of, and his close friends have died. Pushing 90, his thinking had obviously slowed, but he could still shave, bathe and dress. So I volunteered […]

An ad on ABC’s “Live with Kelly and Ryan” shows a little girl dragging a teddy bear to her mom at an elegant dinner table. The mother hugs her again and again. Then up pop the words: “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” A Patek […]