Politics
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Commentary: The AI deal only Trump and Xi Jinping could make
As President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday for a state visit awash in pomp and pageantry, Washington is in the throes of full-scale panic over a potential artificial intelligence apocalypse and what, if anything, to do about it. As former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel once famously ...Read more
Stephen L. Carter: The courts weren't built to keep up with Trump
There’s a simple reason that President Donald Trump always seems one step ahead of the courts.
He moves too fast.
Courts, at their best, are magisterial, contemplative, careful to hear both sides. They take the time to cross every t and dot every i before sending forth their decrees.
Trump is a whirligig of ideas, inspirations, occasional ...Read more
Editorial: White House takes aim at First Amendment with media ban
President Donald Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be barred from the White House because of reporting he characterized as false and unfair. Reporters from the three organizations were subsequently denied access, and the outlets filed a federal lawsuit alleging violations of their First and Fifth Amendment rights.
The ...Read more
Editorial: Pennsylvania's shameful contribution Trump's immigration crackdown
A disturbing innovation of President Donald Trump’s deportation dragnet has replaced confrontational invasions of big cities like Minneapolis and Los Angeles with a quieter and, unfortunately, more effective crackdown in the nation’s least visible corners.
Pennsylvania’s coal country is among the unlikely targets of this latest wave of ...Read more
Commentary: Vladimir Putin's extension of the war beyond Ukraine has European leaders worried
Last weekend, as Russians were heading to the polls to vote in a meaningless parliamentary election stocked with Kremlin-approved candidates, Ukraine unleashed one of its biggest drone attacks to date. According to Russian authorities, approximately 1,600 Ukrainian drones entered Russian airspace in what appeared to be an attempt by Kyiv to ...Read more
Commentary: The 'super' El Niño is here. Trump chose to be unprepared
El Niño is coming! El Niño is coming!
Unless “El Niño” is a defenseless child who can be violently separated from his family and thrown into a detention center, President Donald Trump doesn’t want to hear about it.
We’re being treated to a“super” El Niño this year, creating a statewide emergency in California as declared by Gov...Read more
Joe Battenfeld: Donald Trump's media ban just following lead of Barack Obama
BOSTON — President Donald Trump is not the only pol to punish reporters for biased coverage or reward them for sycophantic stories — former President Barack Obama and other Democrats have repeatedly tried similar tactics.
Trump is just following the lead of Obama, who refused to give Fox News the same access at the White House, banning them...Read more
Commentary: A Paramount-Warner merger will hurt Hollywood and people of color
Two of the five biggest studios in America want to become one. If Paramount is allowed to absorb Warner Bros. Discovery, a single company will control roughly a third of the movies that reach theaters and roughly a third of basic cable programming, along with two of the largest streaming services and two national news organizations, CBS News and...Read more
Anita Chabria: A 'fight worth fighting': Paramount settlement is less than desired, more than nothing
Did California come out a winner when Attorney General Rob Bonta settled a multistate lawsuit against Paramount Skydance on Monday, allowing its $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery to move forward?
That's the question everyone is trying to figure out, as the 32-page agreement is parsed, with pundits poring over minutiae of cable ...Read more
Commentary: California leads the way in bringing menopause care to prisons
Last week, the Senate Special Committee on Aging made history with the first congressional hearing on menopause. It was long overdue — and marked the latest development in a growing menopause movement reshaping access to treatment for women across the country.
This moment is ripe with potential — and in many ways, California is at the ...Read more
Editorial: Helicopter parenting shouldn't be required
The nanny state needs a timeout.
A judge recently found Karyann Parkinson, a Virginia mom of five, guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was given a suspended jail sentence and placed on the state’s child abuse and neglect registry. She has appealed.
That charge makes it sound as if Parkinson committed a serious offense. ...Read more
Editorial: Why America lost the War on Poverty
The War on Poverty is proof that good intentions don’t produce good results.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson used his first State of the Union address to declare an “unconditional war on poverty in America.” He proposed a host of remedies to cure it. They included a “broader food stamps program,” higher minimum wage and revamping...Read more
John M. Crisp: The Democratic Socialists aren't communists
Not far from where I live, a very large billboard stands alongside one of the busiest interstate highways in the nation, in full view of many thousands of motorists every day. It reads: “Texans: Democrats Want COMMUNISM. Republicans Do Not.”
This is disingenuously misleading. It echoes, in tone and content, an allegation gathering steam ...Read more
Editorial: Trump and his gossamer skin are far too easily pricked
Here is one for the annals of editorials we never thought we would need to write: The president of the United States should not ban established and respected news outlets from reporting on his daily doings.
But, in fact, we do.
If Donald Trump won’t listen to this reason, those with thicker skin around said president should gang up on the ...Read more
Commentary: When neither party is the default -- Rethinking representation as America's electorate changes
For most of my career as a political scientist, representation was the central theme of my teaching and research. Early on, I studied how legislators understood their responsibilities to constituents — whether they saw themselves as delegates carrying out constituent mandates, trustees exercising independent judgment, or politicos combining ...Read more
Editorial: Fighting back on Trump's cruel public charge plan
President Donald Trump’s ever-cruel administration is wrongly trying to put up even more roadblocks to block legal immigrants from getting green cards and a coalition of states and cities, led by New York in the persons of Attorney General Tish James and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is correctly fighting back.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ...Read more
Justin Fox: Noncitizens don't sway elections, even in a pro-Trump tally
Last month, the Census Bureau published a strange little document claiming that “over 24,000” votes were cast by noncitizens in the 2020 U.S. general election.
The anonymous report has come under fire for its provenance and methods: It was reportedly produced outside of regular Census Bureau channels by political appointees and staffers at...Read more
Editorial: Time to panic about AI? Take a look at what we know about the job market
Far from the halls of Congress, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis are making factual assessments about how artificial intelligence is affecting workplaces in the real world.
So far, the hype machine is getting a reality check. Contrary to the predictions of AI boosters, who have much to gain from promoting the technology, ...Read more
Commentary: 2001's Authorization for Use of Military Force is being treated like a forever law for forever wars
As of last Friday, a quarter century has elapsed since the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) became law. When U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Reps. Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky depart D.C. in January, no Illinois legislator who voted for the AUMF will remain in office. In fact, only 32 lawmakers of the 2001 Congress will ...Read more
George Skelton: Three ballot measures on housing, medical research but only one no-brainer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three state bond measures are on California’s November ballot. You probably haven’t paid much attention to them. So here’s my read on these big-ticket proposals.
One is a no-brainer “yes.” It would help middle-class Californians buy a new home by allowing them to borrow most of the down payment. And it wouldn�...Read more

















































