Politics
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Tyler Cowen: Some kinds of dogs shouldn't be allowed as pets
Over the last two years, at least five people in the UK have been killed by American XL bully dogs, prompting no less than the prime minister himself to come forward with a plan to control the dogs. The upshot of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s policy is that they will have to be registered, neutered, muzzled in public and insured, with an ...Read more

Editorial: Can California Gov. Gavin Newsom show some guts on these 5 controversial bills?
Gov. Gavin Newsom has before him about a thousand bills approved by the California Legislature that now await his fate but some are far more explosive and politically consequential than others.
These bills in Newsom’s pile could reveal how the governor is evolving as a leader, and now he has less than a month to review them.
If recent ...Read more

Commentary: The assault of 'natural law' morality on transgender people
When I was in college, an art history professor at my school transitioned. This was in the late 1970s, so one might think that this was a big deal for everyone on campus. It turned out not to be. The professor in no way concealed their journey, and we gave them their space.
I now deeply respect the unassuming dignity of this professor and the ...Read more

Commentary: Here's how a California tax on firearms would prevent gun violence
Judging by the measurement that matters most, California’s gun laws have been effective. Thirty years ago, the state’s gun homicide rate was the third highest in the nation, 50% higher than the national average. Last year, thanks to such sensible policies as a ban on assault weapons and universal background checks, California recorded the ...Read more

Joe Battenfeld: If Joe Biden quits, Kamala Harris will be no easy pushover
The forces are starting to align to push President Biden out of the way in 2024 – leaving understudy Kamala Harris as the next weak link on the Democratic chain.
But despite Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton’s best efforts, it won’t be so easy to push Harris out.
The historic prospect of the first woman president – of Black and South ...Read more

Eduardo Porter: Can Mexico find a path to true prosperity?
The upcoming presidential contest between Claudia Sheinbaum from the ruling Morena party and Xóchitl Gálvez of the opposition Frente Amplio is billed as an epic clash between diametrically opposed visions of Mexico: between a technocratic neoliberal dream and an old nationalist mirage; between elite ambitions and the aspirations of the poor; ...Read more

Commentary: How Washington's $7.5 trillion deficit spending spree is bankrupting America
Polls show that Americans are pessimistic about the economy, with inflation as the top concern. That’s understandable, but do they understand where this inflationary surge came from, and why Washington’s addiction to government spending threatens the future prosperity of the country?
That may sound hyperbolic, but consider the numbers. The ...Read more

LZ Granderson: After Jann Wenner's gaffes, rock music's famous white men should speak up
When Tina Turner died in May, the podcast "Rolling Stone Music Now" paid tribute, calling her "one of the greatest rock and soul singers who ever lived." The publication's admiration is not recent.
Although John Lennon was the first cover boy, Turner was placed on the cover for the magazine's second issue ever in 1967 and continued to find the ...Read more

Mark Z. Barabak: Donald Trump is rotten and despicable -- but that doesn't mean he should be kicked off the presidential ballot
Donald Trump is a cancer on the body politic, a malignant tumor of a man who turns just about everything he touches into rot.
He's coarsened our culture, trampled our Constitution and helped widen the country's partisan divide into a yawning, seemingly unbridgeable chasm.
In a just and sane world, Trump will never come remotely close to ...Read more

Robin Abcarian: Will Lauren Boebert and other female politicians pay the price for behaving badly?
A Republican member of the House Freedom Caucus vapes in a crowded Denver theater and engages in a sexual gropefest with her date.
A Democratic candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates is revealed to have performed sex acts with her husband for the online audience of an adult internet site.
The ultra-MAGA married Republican governor of ...Read more

Editorial: How green mandates are driving UAW strike
President Joe Biden likes to sell himself as a pro-union president, but his policies are contributing to a major strike.
Last Friday, members of the United Auto Workers went on strike against GM, Ford and Stellanis, previously known as Fiat Chrysler. The strike initially began at three plants, one owned by each company. Combined, that’s ...Read more

Editorial: California's lawsuit against Big Oil could help end decades of climate lies
California’s lawsuit against some of the world’s largest oil companies is an important move by the world’s fifth-largest economy to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for decades of climate denial and deception.
The suit filed last week against BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute ...Read more

Commentary: Gun violence is causing an anxiety crisis: How to help yourself and your kids
I remember my first experience with an active shooter. Last summer, I was on the rooftop terrace of a hotel where I was attending a work conference. A hotel employee arrived, breathless, and told us we couldn't leave. Downstairs in the lobby, there was a man with a gun. We locked the doors and waited in silence until word came that the shooter ...Read more

Karl W. Smith: Bidenomics is having an unusual effect on deficits
Economists are playing a game of “can-you-top-this,” seeing who can ramp up their U.S. economic growth forecasts the most. (Those at JPMorgan now predict a 3.5% annualized rate for the current quarter, up from the measly 0.5% they expected at the end of July). Many are saying that the recession most all of them predicted was imminent at the ...Read more

Commentary: Planned cut to VA funding for ambulances would harm our nation's veterans
Unless stopped, the Department of Veterans Affairs is set to knock over a domino that may drastically harm veterans’ health care and then spread to the general community.
In a cost-cutting measure on track to take effect early next year, the VA plans to sever a critical link between veterans and medical facilities by significantly slashing ...Read more

Editorial: With worthless lawsuit, Sacramento DA Thien Ho promotes a fake cure for homelessness
In his civil filing against the City of Sacramento, District Attorney Thien Ho seems to want a “trial of the century” on homelessness, with city officials alone as defendants in the court of public opinion and a future hearing replete with hundreds of witnesses, weeks of testimony and a dramatic jury verdict.
And then what?
Ho’s 36-page ...Read more

Trudy Rubin: Biden should resolve the blockage of visas for Iraqis and Afghans who helped our troops
There’s a gaping hole in the endless argument over immigration — and it drives me up the wall. It involves a crisis that should have united both immigration hawks and doves in an effort to resolve it, yet you rarely hear it mentioned.
Indeed, few Americans are aware that as many as 100,000 Iraqis have yet to receive the visas to which they ...Read more

Andreas Kluth: Biden said the right things at the UN. That won't be enough
Figuratively and literally, the U.S. was once again talking to the world in its customary roles as host, leader and force for good — or at least champion against misery and evil. President Joe Biden struck all the right notes in New York as he addressed the 193 nations gathered in the General Assembly of the United Nations. And yet, his ...Read more

Editorial: GOP walks the impeachment tightrope
The evidence implicating President Joe Biden in influence peddling keeps piling up. There’s less evidence that impeachment proceedings will be an electoral boon for the GOP.
Last Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. He wants House committees to examine the “culture of corruption” ...Read more

Editorial: America's safety net isn't working
The US has a long-acknowledged problem of poverty and inherited economic disadvantage – though not for lack of policy interventions. Its social safety net is expansive, encompassing multiple schemes including Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or “food stamps”), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and ...Read more