Politics
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Trudy Rubin: Trump's new foreign policy doctrine -- Kick your friends, help your enemies
Harm your friends, help your enemies.
That neatly summarizes the first two weeks of President Donald Trump's foreign policy. And that's before even getting to the potential damage done by his dangerous choices to head defense, health and human services, the FBI, and national intelligence.
Trump has been kneecapping U.S. allies while Russia, ...Read more

Editorial: A federal republic -- New York and other states can't be conscripted for Trump's purposes
Not content to deploy his immigration agents nationwide, President Donald Trump is attempting to force states and localities to join in his crackdown, having the Justice Department sue the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago over their sanctuary policies and getting the Department of Transportation, among potentially other federal agencies...Read more

Editorial: Judges must be obeyed -- Ignoring judicial orders cannot be allowed
This week, Rhode Island Federal Judge John McConnell ordered the Trump administration to immediately restore funding it had frozen during its illegal wide-ranging funding suspension last month.
What was remarkable was not just that McConnell had to issue this order, but that he’s done so twice now, after the administration has simply failed ...Read more

Editorial: The immigrants may go. But the work won't
In 2023, most Americans were spending $438 per month on groceries that five years ago cost them $335. If experts on Pennsylvania farming are to be believed, consumers need to brace themselves for prices to continue to rise. The reason is not just the global avian flu pandemic. It's the federal government's immigration policies.
As stories ...Read more

Commentary: Trump wants to extend the 2017 tax cuts. Here's how that would affect regular Americans
The tax cuts enacted under the first Trump administration largely expire at the end of 2025. President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans are eager to extend them, but doing so without concurrent spending cuts would raise deficits by more than $5 trillion through 2035.
How might policymakers pay for extending the 2017 tax cuts? Various ...Read more

Commentary: Loyalty, democracy and the future of American politics
The place of loyalty in this country’s political system has been at the forefront of political conversations since the November election returned Donald Trump to the Oval Office. Loyalty has long been seen as what the president values most in his relationship with others.
In his 2024 presidential campaign Trump did not try to hide any of that...Read more

Commentary: To protect transgender rights in the future, we must look to the past
“We don’t have a history of de jure discrimination against transgender people, right?” Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked during the Dec. 4 oral arguments in U.S. vs. Skrmetti, a case involving access to gender-affirming care for minors.
Then-Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar, arguing for such care and against a Tennessee law ...Read more

Editorial: Trump's firing of Coast Guard leader is no way to treat a public servant
Hours after President Donald Trump called for a society that is "merit-based" in his inaugural address, he fired the first woman to head a military service in American history.
Four-star Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan was waiting to have a photo taken with the new president the same night she learned she was being dismissed, according to The New...Read more

Commentary: Pam Bondi is already targeting Trump's enemies
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has no appreciation for irony.
In a memo issued on her first day on the job, Bondi created a “Weaponization Working Group.” Quoting President Donald Trump, she wrote that the Department of Justice had engaged in an “unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic ...Read more

Editorial: Democrats double down on 'Stop Trump' agenda
The Democratic pols who painted President Donald Trump during his campaign as a dictator who was a threat to our democracy if not civilization haven’t taken their feet off the gas.
Resistance to the man they love to hate has doubled down inside the Beltway, with a zeal that ignores the fact that Trump is in office because voters preferred him...Read more

Editorial: Birthright citizenship helps make America great
Amid the flood of executive orders issued from the White House on Jan. 20, one is especially misguided, both in legal and policy terms: Beginning in 30 days, the order declared, children born in the U.S. to mothers who are undocumented immigrants — or even legal temporary residents — may no longer automatically be granted citizenship of ...Read more

Tom Philp: California Democrats' 'affordability' agenda is bankrupt. Three reasons why
Fiscal darkness is gathering in California, where as many as three crises could converge in mere months — all while Democrats have put “affordability” at the top of a mythical agenda.
It’s so potentially bad that Gov. Gavin Newsom has been in Washington sucking up to President Donald Trump, playing down that he ordered the legislature ...Read more

Commentary: Diversity in hiring benefits us all
On the first day of his new administration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to place their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees on administrative leave. Later pronouncements suggest that the administration will soon eliminate these jobs.
This is misguided. Pushing out federal DEI ...Read more

Commentary: Trump's immigration crackdown harms all
President Donald Trump said he wanted to deport criminals, but his policies seem directed at other targets: the Sunday school teacher at my church, the mom I see at the park with her kids and even my seven-year-old daughter’s classmate.
The Trump administration has rescinded restrictions that previously limited Immigration and Customs ...Read more

Commentary: Budget efficiencies should start with the Pentagon
Well before he took office, President Donald Trump promised to dramatically reduce the federal budget, and delegated the task of finding potential cuts to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk originally claimed he could find $2 trillion in cuts — nearly one-third of the entire federal budget — and then lowered his ...Read more

Lisa Jarvis: Trump NIH cuts will devastate US research and communities
A dramatic cut to the National Institutes of Health’s budget for grants that support research institutions will have a seismic impact on science and medicine in the U.S. — and will directly affect local communities and Americans’ access to high quality care.
The Trump administration has targeted $4 billion in cuts to “indirect” costs ...Read more

George Skelton: California farmers bought Trump's election pitch. Now they may pay the price
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson put it well: “Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
That was more than half a century ago in his bestselling book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” But his words ring true today for California’s farmers, especially those in the Central Valley, who bought President Donald Trump’s ...Read more

Leonard Greene: Trump trashes equity and diversity as he issues proclamation honoring Black History Month
Make up your mind, already.
On the one hand, you want to eliminate everything that has anything to do with equity and diversity, including any acknowledgment of months that celebrate cultural heritage.
Then, on the other hand, you want to wish us a happy Black History Month.
Well, too late.
“This National Black History Month, as America ...Read more

Commentary: Planning an elaborate romantic display? These animals will probably outdo you
Other species might not haggle for an exclusive dinner reservation or be suckered in by ubiquitous jewelry commercials, but they certainly make their sweethearts feel special.
The besotted who search for the perfect ring for a Valentine’s Day proposal have nothing on Adélie penguins. Surviving on the unforgiving Antarctic ice sheet requires ...Read more

Commentary: DOGE isn't 'unprecedented,' but Trump is doing it better than Eisenhower did
Like spoiled children finally told “no” by their parents, bureaucrats and beneficiaries of wasteful government largesse are howling at the shockwaves the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is sending through Washington. NBC News called it “an unprecedented effort to shrink the federal workforce and slash federal programs.”
...Read more