My editor groaned when I told her the subject of this column. In a moment, you’ll be groaning, too. Last week in this space, I opined upon “the quiet death of an Italian priest.” Giuseppe Berardelli was 72 and died of the novel coronavirus. This happened, I reported, after he gave away ...

It’s easy to feel depressed and scared these days. News about the impact and death toll of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, is constant. Government responses have been chaotic, ranging from near-indifference to suddenly shutting down the economy, with politicians offering to pay for ...

This is a tale of two governments. Both were faced with a potential disaster — a new and deadly epidemic. Both made choices that the world will judge. China. The virus made its first appearance in a Wuhan “wet market,” an emporium (apparently common in China) that featured live and ...

My, these aging men with their bright ideas. First, it was the president, who has been openly contradicting medical experts with his pining for an early end to social distancing. This would threaten the lives of millions of Americans during the pandemic. Oh, well. As he said, via tweet ...

“We have it totally under control. It’s going to be just fine.” — Donald Trump, Jan. 22, 2020 “One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” — Donald Trump, Feb. 27, 2020 “Anybody that wants a test can get a test.” — Donald Trump, March 6, 2020 “No, I ...

A few words on the quiet death of an Italian priest. His name was Father Giuseppe Berardelli, and he served in Casnigo, a small village not far from Milan. He was 72 and died in a hospital of the novel coronavirus. This was on March 15, though reports are just now filtering out. Again, it ...

A favorite book I try never to be without is by the late Irish poet and priest John O’Donohue. It’s on my bedside table, on my Kindle and on the Kindle app on my phone. One needn’t be Catholic (I’m not) or Irish (I am, but I try not to brag) to appreciate O’Donohue’s calm and ...

Saturday night, I ordered takeout from my favorite Chinese place. I did this as a gesture of solidarity after hearing that people have been avoiding Chinese restaurants because of the coronavirus pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China. I also did it because I had a taste for egg foo ...

“Let’s blow it all up.” That was the sentiment that animated any number of Republican primary voters in 2016. The “it” was (take your pick) the Republican Party, the “establishment,” the country. There were many good reasons for voters to be dissatisfied with the state of things ...

He said, she said. Then Justice James Burke said: “Although this is a first conviction, it is not a first offense. There is evidence before me of other incidents of sexual assault involving a number of women, all of which are legitimate considerations for sentence.” And he gave ...

There’s an old song by The O’Jays that seems especially apropos to this moment. The refrain goes: “Those lies done caught up with you this time.” The song was about a faithless lover getting her comeuppance. But it also works as a verdict on so-called conservatives in an age of ...

We’re traveling in a crowded subway car somewhere under Manhattan when, without warning, the car comes to an abrupt halt in a tunnel in between stations. The subway car is plunged into darkness, and our own growing anxiety, along with that of our fellow passengers, is almost palpable. After a ...

Sweet relief. Super Tuesday was the worst setback for left-wing populism since Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party crashed and burned. But while the voters have handed Joe Biden another chance, it’s important to recognize why they’ve had doubts. From the start of this election cycle, ...

Six hours is a good, long time. You could do a lot of things in six hours. You could drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles. You could finish an audiobook. You could clean out a garage, paint a room, watch three movies. Or you could vote. It took a man named Hervis Rogers that long ...

Those throw-away plastic bags are in the news. Recently a bill was passed by a state House committee that would, if signed into law, make it illegal for cities to limit or ban their use. Given that activists have been working for many months in cities like Lawrence, Salina, Wichita, and ...

Here’s some advice for Democrats. It will run over 600 words, but I can give you the gist of it in two: Stop whining. Seems like everywhere you go among the party faithful these days, pessimism is all you hear. You can’t shop, turn on the television, fire up social media or just poke your ...

Historically, we Americans have been among the world’s most optimistic people. Why? One reason could be that every American, with the exception of those whose ancestors were already here when Columbus arrived or those whose ancestors were brought here in chains, is either herself an immigrant ...

Consider this a eulogy for competence. It’s an appreciation long overdue, but then, competence — the quality of being equal to the situation, of knowing what to do — was always easy to overlook. You learned to expect it, to take it for granted. Competence was not sexy. Another ...

At one point during Donald Trump’s impeachment trial last month, I ended up sitting in the family gallery next to Jane Sullivan Roberts, wife of Chief Justice Roberts. Her husband was presiding over the trial. My husband, Sherrod Brown, was one of the 100 senators who would cast a vote in ...

You’d have thought she had thrown Bernie Sanders to his death from a tower of million-dollar bills. Actually, what film director Ava DuVernay tweeted on Saturday was just a mild rebuke: “I’m undecided. But I know this isn’t what I want.” She was responding to a Sanders tweet warning ...