The long 2016 presidential campaign, in which ten agonizing months still remain, has in many respects felt like two parallel campaigns-one Democratic and one Republican-that are occurring in two different countries. This is the case in part because at this point in the election cycle, with the possible exception of...

It seems like every time we look up, there is another incident of domestic terrorism, and specifically, to use the language that President Obama has been perplexingly wary of using, radical Islamist terrorism. From the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013, to the more recent shooting in San Bernardino, the "lone...

The recent murderous rampages in Colorado Springs, Colorado on November 27th and in San Bernardino, California on December 2nd, are, tragically, part of a string of mass shootings throughout the U.S., that are now so commonplace that American schools regularly hold lockdown drills. Politicians across the political spectrum are so...

The terrorist attack in Paris, and the increasingly deadly and complicated conflict in Syria (made even more complex by the recent shooting down of a Russian plane by the Turkish military after that plane flew into Turkish airspace) has led many observers to note that Republican primary voters are now...

The most interesting question asked so far in the four Republican debates did not come from any of the moderators. Rather, it was posed by Rand Paul during the fourth debate following an explanation by Marco Rubio of his policies regarding tax credits and military spending. Mr. Paul asked the...

The horrific attack by ISIS in Paris on Friday, November 13th means that 2015 will end similarly to how it began -- with the barbaric killings of Parisians at the hands of Jihadists terrorists. 2015 has been a very difficult year for Paris and for France in general, and the...

One of the most famous moments in baseball history occurred in game one of the 1954 World Series when New York Giants centerfielder Willie Mays made a spectacular catch, followed by an equally extraordinary throw, of a long fly ball off the bat of Cleveland Indians slugger Vic...

For much of the early months of the presidential campaign, it was almost impossible to discuss politics with a group of more than three Democrats before somebody intimated their "theory" that Hillary Clinton would drop out due to some scandal, poor poll numbers or other mishap to give way to...

In the last few weeks Hillary Clinton has seen her campaign buoyed by a very strong debate performance and a Benghazi committee hearing where she clearly got the better of her political tormentors. She quickly reaped the benefits of those political victories as two minor candidates, James Webb and Lincoln...

The New York Mets, buoyed by an extraordinary quartet of young starting pitchers, are back in the World Series. This Mets team, in addition to their starting pitching, has a strong bullpen, balanced offense and a very good manager. The Mets may or may not go on to beat the...

As we approach the 2016 election it is hard not to get a sense that one party, the Republicans, love Israel, but are not so crazy about Jews, while the other likes Jews, but is not so crazy about Israel. This is a generalization, but one grounded in enough reality...

John Boehner's decision to step down as Speaker of the House has set off a fierce battle that underscores the systemic problems facing today's Republican Party. The same dynamic that eventually led Mr. Boehner to leave the position amidst a great deal of frustration has, at least in part, contributed...

If you were a Republican operative charged with devising ways to weaken Hillary Clinton and the Democrats' chances of winning in November of 2016, the first thing you might think of is a forming a congressional committee to turn a tragic event into a scandal that could be linked to...

At the moment both the Democratic and Republican primaries are being fiercely contested by candidates for whom a general election victory either defies the imagination of many -- Carly Fiorina, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, and to a lesser extent Bernie Sanders, or by establishment candidates who have proven...

A few years ago on Yogi Berra's birthday, I tweeted out a birthday greeting with a link to a YouTube video of his career highlights. A British Twitter follower responded to my tweet by telling me he had not been aware that Mr. Berra was in fact a real person....

If Bernie Sanders continues to improve his poll numbers and becomes a genuine threat to Hillary Clinton's nomination, undecided Democrats will increasingly hear from Clinton supporters that Mr. Sanders is not electable. Frequently, the electability argument is simply a normal campaign tactic, but it occasionally takes on ugly undertones. In...

Hillary Clinton is still the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for President in 2016, but her path to the nomination seems to become more difficult every day. Even if she wins the nomination, it may not be the easy walk that many, including me, predicted six months...

Caffe Trieste is an institution in North Beach with deep ties to San Francisco's literary and counterculture. When Aaron Peskin, the once, and perhaps future, supervisor from that district proposed meeting there and then proceeded to give me directions, I laughed and told him that I may have moved away...

Bernie Sanders is unlikely to be the Democratic nominee, but he is having an impact on the primary race in several ways. First, he has helped focus the Democratic discourse on economic questions. Hillary Clinton, who remains by a very large margin the Democratic frontrunner, has kept economic questions at...

The newest revelations about Pete Rose betting on baseball, something that had long been suspected is a sad coda to a sad story about one of baseball's all time greats. Rose's efforts to finally make it to the Hall of Fame had been getting some traction...