An American humiliation

President Trump’s performance at his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin was an unmitigated disaster. He cowered when he should have confronted, he deflected when he should have been definitive, he whiffed when he should have been taking to task the tyrannical leader of a nation whose military attacked American democracy.

On Monday in Helsinki, Donald Trump disgraced his country on foreign soil.

July 17

Fitting requiem for a queen

With her remarkable power and range, the Queen of Soul filled tiny rooms to great halls with joy, with poignancy, with spiritual lift — and, of course, with dancing.

Aretha Franklin, who died Thursday at 76, was so much more than the definitive voice for generations and the gold standard for so many artists who followed her. Her music, rooted in gospel, crossed myriad genres and boldly evoked and advanced the themes of the era. Her signature song, “Respect” became a veritable anthem for the civil rights and feminist movements.

Loss of hero and patriot

Aug. 17

America has lost a hero, a patriot and a senator whose unflinching candor, humility and commitment to putting the public good over partisan alliances personified everything that is good — and so maddeningly rare — about modern politics.

Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday at 81, was the ultimate public servant.

Aug. 27

Showdown in Senate over Kavanaugh’s accuser

Christine Blasey Ford, a Palo Alto professor reluctantly drawn into a Washington maelstrom, was shaken but sure before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, recounting the indelible sound of her assailants’ laughter, deploying her expertise in psychology to explain the nuances of memory, and quantifying her certainty that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her as “100 percent.” Kavanaugh was emotional and cagey by comparison. He tearfully invoked his parents, daughters and friends and angrily defended his right to drink beer.

Newsom the right choice to lead California

Sept. 28

Those of us who have followed Gavin Newsom closely since his appointment by Mayor Willie Brown to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1997 have our eyes wide open to his strengths and weaknesses: his audacious visions and his sometimes disappointing follow-through, the charisma of a politician with moviestar looks and hypnotizing rhetoric ... and maddening expressions of pique and hubris, the dual traits of intense substance and ambition that can’t quite decide whether they collide or complement.

But any fair assessment of Newsom, who turns 51 this month, would conclude that he is both steelier and more humble for having gone through that political maturation in a very public way the past two decades. He is eminently qualified — in knowledge, in temperament, in drive — to govern this state.

Oct. 7