Harold Pollack

My friend Keith Humphreys posts many movie reviews. I’ll step on his turf today. On the recommendation of some friends, I finally caught the documentary: Queen of Versailles. Ezra Klein likes it a lot: The Queen of Versailles” began as a documentary about a time-share billionaire, his ditzy wife, and their grotesque quest to build […]

Like most other liberals, I can’t say I’m overjoyed at the fiscal cliff deal. The substance isn’t so terrible. I’m especially pleased that “refundables” like the Earned Income Tax Credit, as well as the basic social insurance programs, are reasonably well-protected. I still would have much rather have gone over the cliff. President Obama and […]

The New York Times recently included an obituary for the AIDS activist Spencer Cox. Dead at age 44 of AIDS-related causes well before his time, Cox played a key role in the Treatment Action Group, which did much to accelerate development and distribution of AIDS drugs. His death and the deaths of others remind us […]

Liviu Librescu was a prominent engineering researcher who also happened to be a Holocaust survivor. He was shot to death in the Virginia Tech massacre. At age 76, Librescu was able to hold off the gunman long enough at his classroom door for all but one of his students to escape. It was a horrible […]

Regular readers might surmise that I’m a fan of MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes Saturday and Sunday morning talk show. You might assume I watch because I (mostly) share the host’s liberal views. I do, but that’s not why I tune in. I watch because the show provides a rare opportunity to hear people of […]

I just returned from a nice short visit to Duke University, where I met many faculty from their Center for Child and Family Policy. Over breakfast with the distinguished psychologist Kenneth Dodge, I had a great conversation about a common but critical mental mistake you may never have heard of, but which has important implications. […]

I’ve been thinking post-election about the genuine human fears harbored by many people that the country they grew up in is gone, or at least slipping away. I spoke with many of those men and women on the campaign trail in 2008 and again this year. These are good people, mostly older and white, who […]

Ken Burns’ Dust Bowl was on PBS recently. It was essential viewing. The most obvious reason to watch concerned unnerving parallels between the man-made climate disasters of eight decades ago and the far more dangerous and sweeping climate change that is now brewing, to which we have responded to so badly. As Burns’ film reminds […]

…when he said: “What I would do if I were a Democrat running four years from now, I’d say, you know what, dental care will be included in Obamcare.” Oral health continues to pose significant access and public health concerns. I’ve worked with various disadvantaged and low-income populations. So many people have obvious dental problems […]

I’m gratified that Sean Hannity and other conservatives have gotten the post-election memo on immigration reform. (In Hannity’s case, this may literally be true.) But there’s still another piece of unfinished business. I want to repeat a good question asked by Timothy Noah back in September: Where are the leading Republicans and conservatives repudiating voter […]