ArcaMax

Hawaii charges tourists a variety of taxes and fees. It may soon add a $25 climate tax visitors would pay when they check into a hotel or short-term rental. It's meant to address the environmental impact of mass tourism and help in the rebuilding of Lahaina, the Maui town devastated last year by wildfires. You see a lot of griping about the ...Read more

What Kamala Harris has managed to do in a month is totally redefine herself in the eyes of American voters. She went from being a mostly disapproved of vice president to being a positively viewed candidate in the space of four weeks. What it proves is what I've suspected all along: that the disapproval of her was not deeply rooted. It was ...Read more

CHICAGO -- The poet Carl Sandburg's "City of the Broad Shoulders" lifted Kamala Harris up, making the vice president the frontrunner in the race for president.

Harris hit all her notes, personal and political, in a near-perfect speech to introduce herself to the American public. She met the moment at the Democratic convention.

Who says joy ...Read more

"I've got those

Payday-Friday

Grocery store blues."

That working-class lament is from an old bluegrass song, but millions of working stiffs are singing it today. While many workers have finally seen an uptick in their paychecks, they've been dismayed to see the increase quickly gobbled up by jacked-up grocery prices. What the hell?...Read more

If Donald Trump was going to get rid of the "weird" label that Democrats had effectively pasted on him in the days leading up to the Democratic National Convention, the endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that Trump procured by promising Kennedy a job if he won did not advance the mission. Kennedy, who claims that worms invaded his brain, ...Read more

How is it possible that the Teamsters still haven't made an official presidential endorsement? Really, are they going to choose Donald Trump, who conned them into believing he'd help save their pensions? Or Kamala Harris, whose boss, Joe Biden, actually did -- and to the tune of $36 billion? Doesn't sound like a tough decision to me.

I used ...Read more

In a moment when hostile state legislators have used unlawful redistricting efforts and discriminatory voting laws to attack our electoral systems, Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has committed to protecting our democracy.

On the campaign trail, Harris has promised to push for passage of essential federal voting rights ...Read more

Kamala Harris did exactly what she needed to do. She introduced herself to the American people. She addressed the most important issues facing our country. She drew sharply the contrast with Donald Trump, a small and unserious man who is a serious danger to American freedoms. She displayed the force and command that qualifies her to be ...Read more

The United States is one of the most politically polarized countries in the world. Because effective lawmaking requires bipartisanship, and members of Congress are, like their constituents, at their most ideologically divided point in a half-century, cooperation is in increasingly short supply. As a result -- or, more precisely, nonresult -- ...Read more

When I told my neighbor that my son had sisters 15 and 19 years older than him, her eyes flew open. She wasn't shocked; she was so relieved to hear this and had questions. Her son is about to turn 2 and she's been feeling the pressure to have another baby now instead of waiting. Women hear so much advice when it comes to children, and one of ...Read more

This morning, I had breakfast in a street corner joint called "Rosaria's." Rosaria is the woman who owns the place. She cooks. One of her daughters waits tables. One of her nieces waits tables.

I paid $8.99 for a pulled pork omelet that came with hash browns, toast and coffee. There was plenty of pork in the omelet, and the waitress came by ...Read more

The Democratic National Convention has been a lively dance party featuring the usual lineup of partisan speakers. Barack Obama, as usual, charmed the crowd, mocking Donald Trump's obsession over crowd size with a subtle but unmistakable hand gesture.

One of the most moving speeches, however, was a quiet address by Stephanie Grisham. Trump's ...Read more

It was that kind of night. The Obama Magic was on prime display.

Warning the country of the kind of attack that they should expect Kamala Harris will be on the receiving end of, Michelle Obama said:

"My husband and I sadly know a little something about this. For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. ...Read more

Picture Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, as young, beautiful Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," being blown away in a storm and, in the end, coming face to face with the scary wizard.

And there he is, a blowhard behind a green curtain, shouting into the wind. In the movie, the wizard looks like former President ...Read more

"Big Boss Man," an old song by blues legend Jimmy Reed, still packs a potent political punch for today's working class:

You got me workin', boss man, working 'round the clock

I wanna little drink of water, but you won't let Jimmy stop

Big boss man, can't you hear me when I call?

But then, Reed urges workers to see how small the ...Read more

On the bright side, the Trump era has doubtless reinforced the age-old nostrum that in America, absolutely anyone can be president. Shallow, unread and uninterested, fundamentally infantile and deeply narcissistic, Donald Trump's enduring lesson to America is this: just say anything.

And say anything Mr. Trump has. The Carnival Barker-in-...Read more