Nearly one year ago, in April 2020, Dr. Lorna Breen, the ER medical director at New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital, committed suicide. She had earlier contracted Covid-19 while treating patient.  According to her father, “She was — in every way — in the trenches of this war, fighting the effects of this COVID virus that she contracted herself,” he said. “She went home and stayed for a week-and-a-half before she felt obligated to go back to the trenches and help, so that’s what she did.”  She committed suicide shortly thereafter.  More

As Israel readies for its fourth general elections within two years, scheduled for March 23, Israel’s Palestinian Arab voters seem to be in a position of power, slated to become the kingmaker in the country’s future coalition government. But something peculiar has happened. The Joint List, which has successfully united the Arab vote in Israel in previous elections, suffered a major setback with the split of the United Arab List (Raam) on February 4. More

If you want to know a place, get to know and listen to the folks who have been around for a long time, the people who have deep roots in a community, and yes in the soil itself. In Sonoma County there are several prime candidates: Mike Benziger, Phil Coturri and Bob Cannard, all of them men of the soil who collectively grow marijuana, grapes, fruits and vegetables. More

A friend delights in sending me news stories that demonstrate what he says are the excesses of liberalism. One recent article that arrived in my inbox concerned Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ decision to halt publication of six childrens’ books it now believes contain racist imagery. “I didn’t realize Dr. Seuss made us all racists,” he quipped. More