This year’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day comes less than two weeks after a violent white mob, inspired by entrenched racism and dressed up in Christian symbolism, attacked American democracy, leaving five people dead.

My father, a Navy veteran of World War II, just celebrated his 94th birthday. He is one of the estimated 300,000 living veterans of that war and he is healthy, mobile and active, with a wicked sense of humor. His memories are sharp, his voice raspy, and he offers colorful reflections on almost a century of American life.

President Donald Trump finally did what the foremost metaphor associated with his political rise would have suggested – he plowed his plane into the ground.

So what now?

Wednesday, in a craven last-ditch effort to prove their loyalty to President Donald Trump, a contingent of Republicans from both houses of Congress objected to the ministerial, almost purely ceremonial counting of electoral college votes – their wooden performance quickly outdone by a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol in a violent scene most Americans never thought they’d see in their country.

It’s an aspect of 21st-century presidential transitions the Founders didn’t quite anticipate: What happens to the president’s social media accounts? Twitter has already detailed how the @WhiteHouse, @POTUS, @VPOTUS and @FLOTUS Twitter accounts will be transferred to the incoming Biden-Harris administration, but the company hasn’t yet addressed its plans for the crown jewel of accounts: @realDonaldTrump. On Friday, the social media platform permanently suspended his account, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence” two days after throngs of his supporters staged a violent riot through the Capitol.

There’s a reason we expect presidents of the United States to say that they support the peaceful transfer of power.

Sen. Ted Cruz’s 11th-hour effort to derail certification of Joe Biden’s election victory is the wrong solution to a nonproblem at the wrong time. Fortunately, it also won’t succeed, but it nonetheless provides one more alarming sign of the perilous state of our democracy.

As we turn to a new year, the spotlight shines on the new president and the new administration. Even as he assumes center stage in Washington, profound questions still remain about Joe Biden’s plans. His initial appointments have been solid, diverse, experienced and capable, drawn overwhelmingly from the established center of the party.

The 117th Congress convenes Sunday. Let’s raise a toast to this newly hatched deliberative body and bid a fond farewell to the 116th: the least productive session in Congress’ 230 years.

As someone who lives in the sensible center, and often feels as if I’m the only person in the neighborhood, my New Year’s resolution is to fully embrace the Goldilocks principle.

Here we go again. Another year begins – who knows what it might bring? If memes are anything to go by, a lot of us are afraid it could be even worse than 2020. Let’s hope not.

It’s been a terrible year for the American worker, with a notable bright spot courtesy of one of the tech firms in the crosshairs of regulators and lawmakers.

As Donald Trump’s bumper-car presidency careens and crashes through its historically unprecedented final days (see also: final daze), his closest advisers and newbie conspiracy confidants have been sometimes convening in panic and other times ducking and dodging to avoid their unhinged leader.

Like many parents with college-age kids, I’ve been missing the hugs, family dinners, concert dates and lunch conversations that I took for granted before the pandemic hit in March.

The Christmas gift many Americans were eager for this year arrived a few days early: a vaccine against COVID-19. Unfortunately, there is no such inoculation against political opportunism – which is exactly what those who criticize politicians for getting the vaccine are engaging in.

Long after he leaves office, Donald Trump’s religious right-wing takeover of the federal courts will continue to damage our Constitution.

Dec. 25, 1986

In one day, we lost three patients in the intensive care unit due to complications related to severe COVID-19 pneumonia.