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Editorial: Israel wonders: Whose side is President Biden on?

Politics / Op Eds /

Hamas officials on Monday rejected the latest cease-fire proposal with Israel. And why not, when the terrorists have friends in high places?

The Biden administration has grown increasingly hostile to America’s most important Middle Eastern ally. In recent months, President Joe Biden and his foreign policy brain trust have publicly rebuked ...Read more

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Editorial: Americans continue moving out of high-tax states

Politics / Op Eds /

Owning a business in California has become a challenge — unless you’re running a U-Haul franchise.

The Census Bureau this month released its annual report on domestic migration — Americans moving from county to county and state to state. The report provides more evidence that the blue-state model of high taxes and a stifling regulatory ...Read more

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POINT: Gig work doesn't have to be a race to the bottom -- but it's up to Congress

Politics / Op Eds /

The gig economy is nothing new. Nor is it inherently bad for workers. Artists and tradespeople have relied on gig work for centuries. It provides much flexibility, which many workers need, and explains why it remains a popular option.

However, the rise of internet-based platforms that profit by mediating the relationship between gig workers and...Read more

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Editorial: The humanitarian aid Gaza needs most is a cease-fire

Politics / Op Eds /

In Gaza, famine is imminent.

To get urgently needed food, clean water, temporary sanitation facilities and medical supplies to more than 2 million Palestinians, President Biden ordered construction of a floating dock. Building it will take weeks.

In the interim, aid trickles into the narrow strip of land between southwestern Israel and the ...Read more

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: The Goldilocks Constitution is no fairy tale

Politics / Op Eds /

When the Framers sat down to think about the best form of government for America, they had few good reasons to think a republic would succeed. Looking back at historical examples of failed democracies and oppressive autocracies, James Madison and the other members of the Constitutional Convention quickly saw that building a durable government is...Read more

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COUNTERPOINT: When it comes to the gig economy, the only thing to fear is fear itself

Politics / Op Eds /

To the typical American, clicking a couple of buttons on your smartphone to snag a rideshare car to take you to the airport seems as unremarkable as it is uncontroversial. But since 2018, progressive politicians, in the name of protecting workers, have waged war on ridesharing and the so-called “gig economy” writ large. The problem with the ...Read more

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Noah Feldman: Supreme Court scoffs at flimsy abortion pill argument

Politics / Op Eds /

Abortion is back at the Supreme Court. The case contests decisions by the Food and Drug Administration to make the drug mifepristone available by mail and via telemedicine. But at oral argument on Monday, the court that overturned Roe v. Wade seemed poised to reject the arguments of the pro-life Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.

No, the ...Read more

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Commentary: Don't delay--now is the time to neuter or spay

Politics / Op Eds /

Binnie was in big trouble. After six years of cycling in and out of heat and giving birth to litter after litter of kittens, this shy cat had developed a severe infection of the uterus called pyometra. This painful condition can afflict animals who haven’t been spayed, and without prompt and aggressive treatment, it’s almost always fatal.

...Read more

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Editorial: America's energy boom has helped with global security. Biden should leave well alone

Politics / Op Eds /

North America’s amazing energy boom has been a huge plus for U.S. domestic security over the past decade. Thanks to the rise of shale fracking and other game-changing technologies, the U.S. and Canada have produced more oil and gas than ever before, reducing the need for imports while breathing life into export markets.

This oil-and-gas ...Read more

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Mark Z. Barabak: She can't stand Trump or Biden. Don't tell this 'double-hater' she's crazy voting for someone else

Politics / Op Eds /

ROSEVILLE, Calif. — By now Victoria Thompson has heard it many times. She's crazy. She's throwing her vote away.

Worse, those who loathe Donald Trump say she's helping the unscrupulous ex-president reclaim the White House — even though she's never voted for him and never will — by refusing to back Joe Biden's reelection.

Thompson is ...Read more

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Editorial: As minimum wage rises, robots work for $0 an hour

Politics / Op Eds /

Having a cashier ring up your grocery store purchases feels like a luxury good these days. Don’t overlook the role rising minimum wages played in this development.

Major retailers such as Target and Walmart have replaced many checkout lanes with self-checkout kiosks. With customers doing most of the work, the company saves money. One employee...Read more

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Commentary: Can they play Bach? Why bias in classical music must be dismantled

Politics / Op Eds /

Johann Sebastian Bach continues to be a force of extraordinary influence across classical music, jazz and beyond.

Yet this consistency has often led to misconceptions about excellence as well as exclusion of many underrepresented musicians, scholars and concert patrons. It doesn’t have to be this way: Many communities are highlighting the ...Read more

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Andreas Kluth: The US just fired a first diplomatic shot at Israel

Politics / Op Eds /

“Abstention” is a deceptively diplomatic word, implying some sort of bureaucratic omission. And yet this week’s decision by the US to abstain from casting its veto in the United Nations Security Council turned a page in history. For the first time since the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7 — and after nixing three ...Read more

Editorial: Moscow attack shows terrorism endures

Politics / Op Eds /

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

•••

We join the world in mourning the 137 Russians killed in Friday's horrific attack on a Moscow concert hall.

The geopolitical implications of the terrorism are far-ranging.

For the rest of ...Read more

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Editorial: A perfect date for Trump's trial: April 15 for a man who always hides his taxes

Politics / Op Eds /

In setting defendant Donald Trump’s felony trial date for three weeks hence on the Stormy Daniels hush money/election inference case, Acting Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said Monday that Trump’s delays to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution were all done. So ordered.

Of all 366 days of this year, ...Read more

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Commentary: I'm a political scientist and I'm putting myself on a politics diet for the 2024 election

Politics / Op Eds /

As a political scientist, I’ve long believed political competition to be the keystone of representative democracy. Yet in the 2024 election cycle, I’m consciously limiting my time, attention and contributions to politics. I’ve turned off the news and social media app notifications on my phone. I plan to visit two or three trustworthy news ...Read more

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Commentary: Does working from home make you lonely? Here's one fix that won't have you returning to the office

Politics / Op Eds /

One pair of jeans. Those were the only pants my cousin brought when he came to stay with my family for a summer in the early 2000s. He had moved several times in his young life and had clearly learned to live frugally. I was excited about his visit as I watched him unpack.

Zach wasn’t the only visitor my parents housed when I was young. They ...Read more

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Tyler Cowen: Indiana can't make universities more conservative with a law

Politics / Op Eds /

Indiana’s Republican governor has just signed new law that introduces “intellectual diversity” as a standard for tenure decisions in state universities. Under the law, campus boards of trustees will determine what intellectual diversity consists of, and lack of such diversity can be grounds for denying tenure. Intellectual diversity also ...Read more

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Commentary: The hypocrisy of Republicans' anti-crime rhetoric

Politics / Op Eds /

In early March, President Joe Biden signed a $460 million spending bill that funded about half of the federal government and averted a government shutdown. But before Republicans agreed to support the spending bills, they demanded budget cuts to the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) by 6% and 7%, respectively....Read more

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Commentary: We are seeing a lethal shift in America's gun violence crisis

Politics / Op Eds /

While gun violence declined last year, a closer look at the data reveals a striking and surprising trend. While the total number of shootings is going down, the lethality of shootings — the odds of someone dying in a shooting — seems to be going up. If that trend holds, it could have massive consequences for gun violence in America, with ...Read more

 

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