Mostly, you become a writer not because you want to get rich or famous, but because you have to write; because there is something inside that must come out.

I read a lot of conservatives. They are thoughtful and intelligent and annoying, and I always read them because they have viewpoints that challenge my own, even thought they are wrong. But this does me no good because, being intelligent and sophisticated human beings, they are all contemptuous of Trump. They hate him. They find him...vulgar.

The verb "Garland" should be created. It would mean to unfairly put a stinking albatross around someone's neck, to make him unemployable.

I believe the publisher is a member of the editorial board, and I think his vote would matter.

You know, I am not a particular Kennedy apologist or an awed fan - I was 12 when he was murdered - but I have discussed Kennedy with historians. For his incredibly short tenure, he was a very important president. Many put him in the second tier, below the big three and surrounded by Truman and Eisenhower. Kennedy moved our soul. Changed our thinking about service and governance. And won big in the greatest nuclear crisis of the Cold War.

The one thing an aspiring writer must understand is that it's hard. If you think it's not hard, you're not doing it right.

I am not saying Rubin Carter was guilty. I am saying he was very likely guilty.