No room for ‘yes, but’ with police killings
I must have been 9. End of third grade I think. Sounds about right. Was the last time I mouthed off to my mother. Was also the last time my...
All Stories
Northwestern proves big spending on college athletics is misguided
Northwestern University, one of our nation's leading universities where "higher learning" is rumored to take place along the lake in Evanston, is in the midst of building a $260 million...
The Holocaust’s lessons endure — without revision
The final solution: Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Buchenwald, Terezin, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek, Belzec, Polish ghettos. Adolf Hitler's Nazis murdered some 6 million Jews — 6 million girls, men, grandmothers, babies,...
Toughen up kids: Cold is a lousy excuse to close schools
Really, with the roads clear, no new snow, minimal wind and even the sun shining brightly on a clear, crisp day, we close our schools in January because it is...
Keep George Lucas museum off the lake
George Lucas' proposed lakefront museum is a bad idea. A really bad idea. And not because it may be illegal, as some lakefront preservationists argue. That is, even if the...
Sue Jimmy John’s, get a free pickle
So I am leisurely reading my Sunday newspaper, and there it is: an official-looking "Notice of proposed class action settlement." As a lawyer, I am curious, so I read further...
Ray Rice and the ‘gotcha’ mindset
Call me an enabler or something worse, but I feel a bit sorry for Ray Rice. Not a lot sorry, just a bit. We all know — and have actually...
When to be nice to someone you can’t stand
Time to air some dirty laundry. Jewish dirty laundry. Last week was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. You know it's holy when we Jews put food...
Dog days of summer
I don't like dogs. There, I said it. To be clear, I also don't dislike dogs. My feelings toward dogs are the same as my feelings toward cotton balls, woodpeckers...
Ruining Kipling’s ‘If’
The fact that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich made our state the laughingstock of the nation didn't bother me much. After all, his predecessor, Gov. George Ryan, and other assorted...