Columnist

I'm not here to join the mockery of Alabama for declaring that embryos are children -- and, therefore, in vitro fertilization clinics must protect them forever. On the contrary, I admire its honesty. Many states have effectively banned abortions, arguing that destroying an embryo amounts to baby killing. Yet they look the other way when fertility clinics discard hundreds of thousands of unused embryos, which they routinely do.

Her blank face in court spoke volumes. Jennifer Crumbley saw no problem handing her severely depressed 15-year-old a semiautomatic handgun as a Christmas present. Ethan soon after turned the gun on the student body of Oxford High, killing four.

There's always some pre-game Super Bowl story. This year the MAGA Republicans have provided it. And they've gone way beyond their lunatic call of duty by accusing America's sweetheart, Taylor Swift, of diabolical cunning for urging her fans to vote.

Donald Trump recently warned that Joe Biden would lead us into World War II, a conflict that ended almost 80 years ago. Another world event he may not be current on is America's boom in oil production -- never mind the green energy revolution.

This is a potentially perilous time for our economy and the security of the West. Trade policy with China sits at the center. China is no longer just a trading partner with whom we have differences. It's become a global adversary using trade to dominate militarily as well as economically.

The French actor Gerard Depardieu is world-known as a lusty, usually charming pursuer of the carnal. He's now being accused of crimes against women, some violent in nature. A star of French cinema, Depardieu is being defended by French President Emmanuel Macron. Other supporters are former French first lady Carla Bruni, actress Charlotte Rampling and Depardieu's former partner, actress Carole Bouquet.

A revolution brews in the Democratic Party, and it's not the usual left-wing threats to sabotage moderate Democratic candidates. It's the Democratic mainstream telling the fringe to go pound sand.

It's growing millionaires and still leads tech

It's being said by conservatives and liberals: America faces a crisis of affordable housing. And the way out of it is to build more houses.

An effective way of handing elections to right-wing Republicans is to label large blocs of voters as wrong by virtue of their gender, race, ethnicity, age. Those are physical characteristics, not walking opinions.

There's only one Nebraska. Reminders of its uniqueness appeared in the obituaries of Charlie Munger, who for decades served as the vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway.

After Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis, gang-raped teens and kidnapped hundreds of innocents, 30 student groups at Harvard issued a statement reading, "We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."

Don't you love those polls that have pundits racing to the news channels bucked up with hyper confidence? When you have one like the recent New York Times/Siena College poll saying that former President Donald Trump was leading President Joe Biden in 5 out of 6 battleground states, the click-baiting headlines virtually write themselves.

Let's make a deal. American parents stop harassing schools over library books that deal sympathetically with differences in sexual preference. And America's schools stop withholding information about a student's said preference from the parents.

Rep. Jared Golden's about-face on gun laws is not surprising. He is a Democrat representing Lewiston, Maine, still convulsed by a mass shooting that took 18 lives. Formerly against tightening the laws, Golden now wants a ban on semiautomatic weapons.

We get the allure of the Great American West -- the majestic landscapes, rivers teeming with trout, clean air. When TV talk show star Kelly Clarkson announced she and her family were leaving Los Angeles, she said her first choice was Montana. She kept moving, though, landing in New York City. Business considerations, you know.

Fentanyl has killed more Americans than the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined. And lined up behind it are still more vicious street drugs.

Israelis have likened the brutal assault from Gaza to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. "At Dawn We Slept" was a book about that intelligence failure. As Israel investigates the complacency that left it open to a bloody invasion, Americans must ask themselves: Are we also sleeping?

This month marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most dreadful pieces of legislation in American history. It was the Community Mental Health Act, signed by President John F. Kennedy on Halloween, Oct. 31, 1963.

The American Dream shouldn't be measured by wealth

Yale University allegation of rape after Halloween party shows need

The presidential horse race is off and running on TV news and social media. History tells us that the poll numbers at this point reveal close to nothing about the future. The political pundits portray their analyses as thunderbolts carried down from Mount Olympus. But frankly, anyone could do their job.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been giving interviews of late, serious interviews. The New York representative is clearly maturing. The celebrity-obsessed lefty has turned into a working member of Congress. That's good for all who want the Democratic fringes to stop attacking their moderates and join them -- and moderate Republicans -- in preventing a fascistic Trumpian future.

What about Hunter Biden? Well, what about him?

America is the land of plenty. But to many, it's become a world of envy and anger. Nowadays, malcontents seem to feel more entitled to act out in anti-social ways.