Jerome Tuccille

Anarchist cafe may have good reason to shun police

There are good people wearing police uniforms and there are bad people wearing police uniforms. More to the point, however, people in police uniforms have willingly chosen to take a job in which they act, at best, as enforcers of...

Love America or leave it? Maybe we should consider the exit

Public discussion in this country sometimes seems to degenerate into a competition to see who can declare the greatest unconditional love for America. Immigrants love America, kids love America, and politicians really love America -- sometimes several times, at a discounted...

Arizona anti-immigrant law turns legal residents into refugees alongside illegal relations

My wife -- a pediatrician in rural Arizona -- is about to lose a valued employee because of the state's new and brutal immigration law. The employee isn't Hispanic, but a close member of her family is. With nativist sentiment...

Dogs shot, family terrorized in SWAT video

It's hard to lose votes in the United States by advocating "tough on crime" tactics. Sure, everybody wants those rapists and murderers behind bars. But "tough on crime" too often degenerates into "murderously insane...

Court strikes down Florida law restricting criticism of police

Forget Consumer Reports -- the Internet bypasses professional reviewers.and lets regular people share their experiences with everything from cars to hotels to police officers. But not everybody likes to have bad reviews of their performance available to the public. In...

Don't call the cops on a suicidal friend

You know that infamous Vietnam War-era comment to the effect that “it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.” Well, one thing I don’t get … Oh, OK, one of many...

U.S. border guards recorded abusing a Canadian shopper

"Was that a threat?" That's how U.S. border guards at the Lewiston Bridge border crossing responded to a Canadian shopper when, exasperated by the abusive treatment afforded to him and his wife, he asked, "what...

Will Arizona's governor sign the anti-immigrant law?

Will she or won't she? Join the nativist frenzy that has infected Arizona, that is. And the "she" in question is the Grand Canyon State's Governor Jan Brewer, on whose desk festers one of the more...

Government actions reap growing distrust

For any thinking person, it can only be welcome news that the Pew Research Center reports, "[r]ather than an activist government to deal with the nation’s top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing...

Health law might strip lawmakers of medical coverage -- or might not

I don't for a minute think that our fearless lawmakers are going to let themselves be even momentarily inconvenienced by the mere letter of the legislation they produced all by their little selves, but isn't this a chuckle...

Currently in Los Angeles