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Michael Hiltzik: The GOP is back to attacking Obamacare, and making less sense than ever

Politics / Op Eds /

Here's a pair of handy rules of thumb to know we're heading into a major election cycle: (1) Republican candidates start talking about the need to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and (2) none of them bothers to say how that will make American health care better.

Sure enough, in just the last couple of weeks, Donald Trump has said he's "...Read more

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Noah Feldman: Supreme Court may push Sackler opioid case to Congress

Politics / Op Eds /

Bankruptcy law is all about fresh starts. But just how much of a fresh start does the Sackler family deserve — without having to declare bankruptcy themselves?

The family’s former company, Purdue Pharma, has become synonymous with the U.S. opioid epidemic and filed for bankruptcy in 2019. Plaintiffs harmed by that epidemic came to an ...Read more

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Editorial: Booting George Santos doesn't fix the GOP's Donald Trump-size problem with the truth

Politics / Op Eds /

It’s almost astonishing: Even with a slim Republican majority, the House of Representatives actually voted to expel New York GOP Congressman George Santos, after a searing Ethics Committee report last month laid out the damning case against him.

Santos allegedly stole money from donors for gambling junkets, high-end spa treatments and online ...Read more

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Editorial: Venezuela's unneighborly vote: Takeover threat against tiny Guyana an act of aggression

Politics / Op Eds /

Sunday’s Venezuelan plebiscite to annex disputed territory from neighboring Guyana, with the government of dictator Nicolas Maduro claiming the highest turnout in the history and a 95% approval, is a dangerous development that could camouflage a possible Venezuelan invasion as an act of popular will.

Pre-internet, we would have had to make a ...Read more

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Jackie Calmes: Will 'free agent' Kevin McCarthy finally do the right thing?

Politics / Op Eds /

Days after making history as the first House speaker to be booted from the job, Rep. Kevin McCarthy said he mischievously told fellow Republicans, "I am a free agent now, aren't I?"

If so, he's squandered it so far, with alleged kidney punches and vague electoral threats aimed at his House enemies. If only he'd use his free agency to burn his ...Read more

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Bobby Ghosh: New dietary guidelines for Americans? Nobody cares

Politics / Op Eds /

News that the U.S. government’s next set of dietary guidelines for 2025-30 may include warnings against ultra-processed foods should be greeted with ultra-cautious optimism. The committee that revises the guidelines every five years, appointed by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, has too many ...Read more

Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Lau/U.S. Navy/TNS/TNS

Commentary: Blaming Iran for all the violence in the Middle East is not the right tack to take for US policy

Politics / Op Eds /

The sailors aboard the USS Carney, based in the Red Sea, had a busy weekend — one that could have just as easily turned deadly were it not for the professionalism demonstrated on the ship.

On Sunday, the Yemen-based Houthi group launched four attacks on international vessels transiting the waterway. Some of the ships were slightly damaged by ...Read more

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Francis Wilkinson: Republicans are trying to redefine who's an American

Politics / Op Eds /

Using specific dates to define entire eras is often a gimmick, a way of compressing wild and unwieldy life into a neatly artificial package. But some days, or years, just massively overproduce, leaving behind a nation, or world, transformed. As a quote typically attributed to Vladimir Lenin has it, “There are decades where nothing happens, and...Read more

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Editorial: Murders of three homeless men are a reminder of vulnerability of the unhoused

Politics / Op Eds /

It’s a relief that police, aided by other law enforcement agencies, swiftly arrested a suspect in the murders of three homeless men in the city of Los Angeles. Police allege that over the course of four days, Nov. 26-29, the suspect, Jerrid Joseph Powell, went from South Los Angeles to the Arts District to the Lincoln Heights area, gunning ...Read more

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Editorial: New education fad leaves children depressed

Politics / Op Eds /

There are many reasons to be depressed about public education in America. But the craze that has swept through public schools is actually increasing depression among students.

You may have heard about social and emotional learning. It’s the major trend in public education and has gained steam over the past decade. It’s intention is to help ...Read more

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Editorial: Who opposes 'safe and appropriate placement' for LGBTQ kids?

Politics / Op Eds /

Life is difficult enough for any child who ends up in foster care, and perhaps especially so for teenagers who are questioning their sexual identity. It should go without saying that foster parents in such a situation should be knowledgeable about LGBTQ issues and supportive of the child’s emotional and medical needs and preferences.

Yet 19 ...Read more

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Commentary: Reindeer don't want to be your selfie prop

Politics / Op Eds /

The holiday season is officially here, and for many of us, that means spending time reflecting on the past year and making resolutions for the future. There’s one thing every kind person can easily pledge to do, now and forever: Refuse to patronize holiday displays that use animals—none of whom are there voluntarily.

Rudolph may want to be ...Read more

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Jean Guerrero: Why Elon Musk, the bully, is seen by many, including liberals, as a hero

Politics / Op Eds /

In the eyes of many Americans, Elon Musk is still a great man.

The myth often goes unquestioned by powerful men with access to him: be it his biographer Walter Isaacson or interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin at last week's New York Times DealBook Summit conference.

"I've done more for the environment than everyone — than any single human on Earth...Read more

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Commentary: It's time for no-cost birth control

Politics / Op Eds /

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act emerged as a ray of hope for the 64 million women in the United States now entitled to no-cost preventive services. With their health insurance, it promised no-cost access to birth control, a vital component of health care.

This pledge was a significant milestone in the struggle for affordable contraception. No-...Read more

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Commentary: How the US has fueled Israel's decades-long war on Palestinians

Politics / Op Eds /

The skewed numbers of those killed in and around the Gaza Strip so far — around 1,200 Israelis and 15,000 Palestinians— in the latest phase of a more than century-long conflict point to the enormous disparity between these two sides.

These numbers are characteristic of colonial wars, one of many facts often obscured by the media, as are the...Read more

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Jonathan Bernstein: What Congress can learn from George Santos

Politics / Op Eds /

The George Santos fiasco is finally at an end, at least in Congress, with the U.S. House of Representatives — including 105 of his Republican colleagues — voting Friday to expel him. The 311-114 vote comfortably cleared the two-thirds majority needed to make him only the third House member to be expelled since the Civil War.

Santos himself...Read more

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LZ Granderson: Only a seismic shift can reverse the rise in suicides among older adults

Politics / Op Eds /

America is getting older.

That was the snapshot given earlier this year by the U.S. Census Bureau. Our median age is about 40 and rising. In a third of the states, it's already higher.

Remember that, while also considering this: America's suicide rate in 2022 was the highest seen since 1941 — the tail end of the Great Depression.

The nation...Read more

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Editorial: Homeless college students just need safe overnight parking. How tough can that be?

Politics / Op Eds /

Two years ago, Long Beach City College officials decided they had to do something to help homeless students who lived out of their cars, at least until it could find housing for them. So the school set up a safe parking program.

The program lets students stay in their vehicles from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. in a parking structure across from the campus...Read more

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Editorial: Blinken only emboldens Hamas terrorists

Politics / Op Eds /

President Joe Biden must stop trying to appease Hamas sympathizers inside the White House and Democratic Party and reiterate America’s steadfast commitment to Israel. Particularly in the wake of his secretary of state’s dumbfounding and ill-timed remarks regarding the Jewish state.

On Friday, the Times of Israel reported that, when one high...Read more

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Editorial: The impossible is happening as Medicaid enrollment drops

Politics / Op Eds /

Former President Ronald Reagan once noted, “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.” That’s true, which is why what’s currently happening with Medicaid is so remarkable.

During the pandemic, Medicaid enrollment grew dramatically because the federal government tied increased emergency funding to a provision that prevented ...Read more

 

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