Politics
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Commentary: Bigger isn't always better when it comes to airport security
The Transportation Security Administration is moving to a full-scale deployment of computed tomography scanning equipment at airport security checkpoints. These devices provide a three-dimensional image of the content of carry-on bags, as opposed to the two-dimensional image that the previous X-ray machines provided. That means that taking items...Read more
Editorial: Venezuela oil deal may be a win, but it shouldn't set a precedent
Eight months ago, American aircraft launched from 20 bases as a special operations team entered Caracas and removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from a fortified compound. Dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban personnel were killed. Congress never authorized the operation.
On Monday, Americans learned what emerged from it: century-long rights ...Read more
Mark Gongloff: For a thirsty American West, it's either cows or humans
Sustaining communities of millions of thirsty people in a desert is challenging enough. Adding millions more cows, or at least growing the water-intensive food those cows eat, ramps up the difficulty level exponentially. America’s arid Southwest is learning it can’t comfortably have both.
The toxic combination of a 25-year drought and ...Read more
POINT: The Republican Party is the party of the working class
For generations, the political map of America was simple and stable. Democrats enjoyed the loyalty of organized labor. Republicans drew their strength from business. Union halls were Democratic strongholds. The Republican Party was associated with corporate boardrooms and country clubs. That map has been redrawn. Conservatives now speak the ...Read more
Lisa Jarvis: The White House can't hype away healthcare sticker shock
Any genuine efforts to lower high U.S. prescription drug prices should be embraced. But President Donald Trump’s latest deal with drug manufacturers to lower those prices, announced Monday, falls far short of the “real relief” from ballooning healthcare costs he has promised.
The broader and harsher reality is that U.S. healthcare costs ...Read more
Commentary: Only a token difference -- Treating cryptocurrencies differently makes no sense
Cryptocurrencies, like stablecoins, have left many in the financial world, from major banks to customers, scratching their heads. It’s not just because few people understand how things like tokens work, but because regulations governing digital assets have further muddied the waters. And amid this confusion, consumers lose out.
There are ...Read more
COUNTERPOINT: Trump's anti-worker policies give Democrats a boost
The Democratic Party wins the “party of workers” title by default, because the Trump administration and the Republican Party, which controls both houses of Congress, have spent the last year and a half chasing erratic and corrupt policies that increase living costs, weaken wages and push financial security out of reach for the next ...Read more
Commentary: Trump is spending billions to reverse American progress
President Donald Trump has ordered the Navy to develop a plan to replace the electromagnetic catapults used to launch aircraft from future Ford-class aircraft carriers with legacy steam catapults. That might make sense if the newer technology had failed. It has not.
The USS Gerald R. Ford was the first U.S. carrier built to launch aircraft ...Read more
Commentary: America's hidden national security vulnerability
Recent cyberattacks on water systems in several states demonstrate the risks posed to cyber physical systems that support critical infrastructures. Cyberattacks have become common enough that most people do not take much notice when one occurs, unless it affects them directly.
In 2024, there were over 859 thousand cyberattacks, or nearly 100 ...Read more
David M. Drucker: Trump's popularity has reached a critical point
President Donald Trump can dismiss public opinion polls as “fake news” all he wants. That won’t change the fact that the commander-in-chief is in political distress — even according to survey outlets that usually give him more favorable ratings.
Perennially reliable RealClearPolitics, as of Monday, averaged Trump’s job approval rating...Read more
Editorial: At the CDC, damage control would be a big win
Through little fault of her own, the nation’s new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention starts her job with low expectations. It’s not just her boss’s antipathy for the agency, which he has called a “cesspool of corruption.” Within days of Erica Schwartz’s confirmation as director, the president issued an executive ...Read more
Mary Ellen Klas: Florida is the epicenter of the GOP's vaccine problem
Republicans have painted themselves into a corner by undermining vaccines. Nowhere is this clearer than Florida, where the outgoing Republican governor and his potential successor have tried to use vaccine mandates to align themselves with President Donald Trump’s politically risky position.
Governor Ron DeSantis rode his COVID-era public ...Read more
Commentary: Voters, don't be fooled by state tax-cut measures
You might not know it yet, but there is more at stake in this year’s midterm elections than just which party wins control of Congress.
Across the country, politicians and wealthy special interests have put billions of dollars in state tax cuts on the ballot. It’s a familiar strategy that often works. But this year’s crop of tax ballot ...Read more
Commentary: The Constitution did not make America rich
Americans are taught a reassuring story about their country’s success. The United States became prosperous, powerful, and free because the framers wrote an exceptional Constitution. The miracle of Philadelphia produced the miracle of America.
The story appears in classrooms, campaign speeches, judicial opinions, and serious scholarly works. ...Read more
Commentary: Of course Flock cameras are being attacked. Congress has failed to regulate them
Vigilantes are disabling Flock cameras in at least three dozen states, and while I don’t condone property damage, I understand the outrage. The American people did not ask for a sprawling nationwide surveillance apparatus operated in secret and subject to few rules. Our elected representatives did not vote for this. These systems’ potential ...Read more
Editorial: Voters deserve to know when influencers are being paid to sell candidates
Influencers aren’t just hawking lip gloss, vacation ideas and exercise tips these days. Increasingly, they’re being paid to shape how voters view elections.
If podcasts were the battleground for the 2024 presidential election, the battlefield today is Instagram and TikTok, where influencers are increasingly peddling not only talking points ...Read more
Commentary: Healthcare is more badly broken than political leaders admit
Raise your hand if you have affordable, accessible healthcare. Anyone? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
With independent studies showing that close to half of all Americans struggle to afford healthcare, I expect I got the rest of you with the addition of the word “accessible.” That’s because, while rising costs are a barrier for too many, ...Read more
Commentary: How do I have 'the AI talk' in my classroom?
I’ve been back to school for a week, and I still haven’t had “the AI talk.” To me, it’s almost as bad as the sex talk I avoided with my kids years ago. What should a teacher say about artificial intelligence? I’ve followed protocol and pasted pages of our English department policy into my syllabus. Normally, I would read that aloud ...Read more
Michael Hiltzik: The US national debt has reached $40 trillion. Should you care?
Americans have gotten used to hearing big numbers from the federal government since the 1960s, when Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill., supposedly uttered his famous quote, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." But a much bigger number caught people's attention in the last week.
That was the revelation that the...Read more
Commentary: All I wanted was an empty house. Now I want my kids back
My 5-year-old twin boys, Mikey and Charlie, started kindergarten a couple of weeks ago, marking the end of their preschool careers. They walked into class wearing backpacks full of back-to-school supplies, like markers and glue. With their summers in the rearview mirror, they stepped into a world not with circle time or naps, but with desks, ...Read more

















































