…here is something the House could do right now, an idea that I have raised before: censure the president… This would not sate the appetite of the pro-impeachment forces, or end the debate over whether that step is warranted. But it could be done quickly, with the evidence at hand, and would have the benefit of forcing Republican members to go on record stating whether they do or do not find this behavior on the part of the president acceptable.

…an unprecedented standoff between Congress and the Trump administration over a staffer who did go through the formal channels, only to have their concerns withheld from lawmakers, has laid bare a loophole in whistleblower protection laws that many thought would never be revealed: What happens when an intelligence agent blows the whistle on the president? [.] Former officials and whistleblower specialists are saying Congress needs to ensure this never happens again.

…our constitutional system is based on friction between competing branches vested with separate but closely related powers. The framers understood that the two political branches would periodically try to usurp each other’s authorities. Congress often does this by enactments that seek to subject executive power to congressional (or judicial) supervision. Presidential pushback on such laws is not criminal obstruction; it is the Constitution in action.

Netanyahu’s removal from office will be a reason for celebration should it come to that, and certainly a win for the American Jewish community. In the immediate future, a Netanyahu ouster probably spells a period of reprieve in tensions between Israel and liberal American Jewry.

Any successor will start out with a huge advantage. The international press and American liberals have put so much effort into depicting Netanyahu as a hardliner opposed to peace that the next prime minister will have something of a honeymoon abroad. But Gantz is certain to eventually disappoint the Bibi-haters.

Given political patterns in Israel over the past decade, the departure of Netanyahu might signal a shift in a new direction. We might be seeing the last days of a decade-long, Trump-like style of leadership based on racist rhetoric toward Palestinian citizens, left-wing NGOs, the media, and the judicial system. This is indeed a reason to rejoice.

The occupation, however, is not going anywhere…

Israel is a country dominated by the right. The left, meanwhile, is small, factionalized, and hobbled by profound ideological and electoral vulnerabilities… That helps to explain why Israel has in recent years begun to align itself with various right-wing populist governments around the world… Israel has turned itself into a model for the global right.

The assault against democratic norms sweeping across the globe has been stopped here. The nightmare scenario of a government dominated by a nationalist-religious coalition led by Netanyahu, which would have included the most racist fringe elements of Israeli society, has been averted.

The outcome of the election is still up for grabs. Netanyahu is as desperate as he’s ever been. Liberman may want to play the role of kingmaker for weeks. There could soon be a major regional war.

What won’t be happening anytime soon is the demise of Israel’s boisterous democracy. Those looking for signs of hope in the politically decadent West could do worse than look to Jerusalem.

We don’t need this “learning opportunity” to teach us not to paint our faces. We already knew that. What we need to learn is how not to vilify each other for things we did half a lifetime ago. For there is not one among us who doesn’t have something disgraceful hidden under our terrycloth thobe.

To escape the charge that the perfectly progressive prime minister once mocked as the world’s “woke boyfriend” is actually a staggering hypocrite of bigoted insensitivity, Trudeau must become a hypocrite of an entirely different sort and turn sharply against the culture of zero-tolerance judgmentalism his party has been so active in encouraging.

After Canadians have looked at that shocking photo of the Liberal prime minister mocking and denigrating black people – after the embarrassment and shame he has now brought on Canada internationally – it’s hard to know exactly what Justin Trudeau was thinking. Or if he thinks at all.

At the end of this shocking revelation, we are left with one thought: this is not the face of a prime minister.

When the show became available on Netflix in January 2015, it prompted a wave of think pieces about millennials who were rejecting Friends over its outdated cultural politics… In a trend-bucking twist of TV fate, the opposite came true. Friends has bulldozed its way into the American canon, and is somehow more relevant than ever.

Forget the Rachel haircut; I think Friends’ ability to polarize is the show’s true legacy. It has become a way for us to look at (and argue about) enormous societal issues — racism, misogyny, homophobia — through the lens of a sitcom.

“Friends” is a show about a group of self-involved people dwelling in a bubble despite living within a diverse metropolis. Sometimes socially awkward and lacking in serious motivation, they generally seem to think they can have things handed to them and skate through bad life choices without major consequences.

Aren’t those the main complaints that many Gen Xers have about millennials?