Politics
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Editorial: Florida has gone book-ban crazy. But in Miami, books can unite, not divide, us
In this dark moment for free speech, when Florida leads the nation in book banning — pulling more books from public school shelves than any other state — a homegrown beacon of literacy is broadening its reach, a spark of hope that we need in Miami.
Books & Books, the beloved bookstore that has served South Florida for decades, has started a...Read more

Francis Wilkinson: The Supreme Court won't save Donald Trump
There is good reason for cynicism about the prospects of holding Donald Trump accountable for his misdeeds.
He has more than enough money to pursue his legal strategy of delay, delay, delay in the multiple criminal cases against him. He has a federal judiciary that moves ponderously in the wake of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that...Read more

Mark Z. Barabak: In two decades, much of the West has turned blue. Why hasn't Texas?
Over the last 20 years, the West has politically transformed.
The onetime Republican stronghold has become a Democratic bastion, dramatically reshaping the fight for the White House as Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon joined California and Washington in the ranks of solid-blue states.
Arizona and Nevada, once reliably red, have become two of ...Read more

Commentary: What is societal burnout? We are living it
Are you waking up with a lump in your throat that never used to be there? Is there an ache in your chest — best described as heartache — relatively new to you? Do you look at your children, fearing for their future and well-being? Do your eyes fill with tears, but you are not sure why?
If so, I join you. We are experiencing societal burnout...Read more

Commentary: California's greenhouse gas emissions are rising -- and we're not even counting them all
California has committed to substantially reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2045. The pledge is key to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s claims of climate leadership, which featured prominently in his recent visits to China and the United Nations.
But the California Air Resources Board recently released a preliminary ...Read more

Commentary: It is true. There are people who don't want to work anymore
The new Dollar General store in my rural Illinois hometown couldn’t open for the longest time because it couldn’t find workers. Apples rotted on the ground at Arends Orchard nearby because the 50-year proprietor couldn’t find help — for the first time in his long history of providing apples and cider to our area.
How many times have you...Read more

Commentary: What's it like to be an average American?
One of the best ways to get a picture of a nation is through its numbers and, perhaps more importantly, its averages.
But Americans like to believe that their nation is exceptional. And in some ways, it is. Yet what transpires on an “average day” for the “average person” tells a story that each of us should listen to.
Americans love ...Read more

Commentary: AI tools are a cash cow for developers and a liability for the rest of us
A year ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT — a free generative artificial intelligence chatbot that creates text in response to user prompts.
With its launch, millions of people started using ChatGPT for tasks such as writing school essays, drafting emails and personal greetings, and retrieving information. Increasingly, more people and public ...Read more

Editorial: No evidence for Biden impeachment inquiry? No problem. The House GOP doesn't seem to care
The politically inspired impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden has failed to produce any convincing evidence that Biden has committed the “high crimes and misdemeanors” required by the U.S. Constitution for the conviction and removal of a chief executive. So naturally Speaker Mike Johnson is proposing a floor vote, likely next week, ...Read more

Editorial: Voters are right to complain about inflation
Against the odds, the Federal Reserve’s effort to guide the U.S. economy to a soft landing — reducing inflation without causing a recession — seems to be working. Recent data show a still-growing economy, a gently cooling jobs market and a slower pace of price increases in services. Investors are growing more confident that the Fed won’t...Read more

Editorial: COP28 needs less talk and more action
In 2015, the world’s governments declared a collective ambition: to limit the rise in global temperatures to just 1.5 degrees Celsius. Since then, two things have become clear. First, the costs of exceeding that threshold are greater than believed eight years ago. Second, the goal looks increasingly difficult to reach. Even if governments ...Read more

Editorial: University presidents proved spectacularly inept on Capitol Hill. Resignations should follow
On Tuesday, Elise Stefanik, the U.S. representative for New York’s 21st Congressional District, posed the same question to the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, proxies all for America’s liberal intellectual elite.
The repeated question for Claudine Gay of Harvard...Read more

Michael Hiltzik: A bogus new attack on COVID vaccines from Texas' least credible politician
In recent times, whenever a government lawsuit swears at common sense, at the facts and at the public interest, it has been a safe bet that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has his fingerprints on it.
Sure enough, here comes Paxton with a lawsuit charging Pfizer Inc. with systematically misrepresenting the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine and ...Read more

Commentary: Why are we doing so little to counter China's military buildup?
Our National Defense Strategy identifies China as the primary challenge to the United States. To confront this threat successfully, our military needs more warships, aircraft and munitions. Now.
But the Biden administration’s spending does not match its defense strategy. The president’s Emergency Supplemental Request made this clear by ...Read more

POINT: Voters fear current methods of regulating AI are insufficient
Artificial intelligence is developing faster than many of us can imagine and is now becoming an integral part of everyday life. So far, businesses are the primary catalysts for this deployment. Studies show that in one year of introducing a new type of AI, one-third of respondents reported their organizations were using the technology in some ...Read more

Robin Abcarian: Is one $6 billion settlement enough of a reckoning for the family that brought us the opiod crisis?
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the complex bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharma, whose owners, the Sackler family, have become synonymous with the carnage wreaked on American families by the profligate and dishonest marketing and distribution of OxyContin and other opioids.
In exchange for giving up ownership of Purdue and paying ...Read more

Commentary: With Ozempic and other weight loss drugs, obesity is now more treatable than ever
From the first snacks on Thanksgiving morning through the New Year’s Eve spreads until the last leftovers of Super Bowl Sunday, gaining weight is a nagging concern for everybody during the holiday season. Obesity has become a major scourge in America, but new medications are now available, and although many questions remain, these drugs may ...Read more

COUNTERPOINT: Evidence is lacking that algorithmic pricing is leading to AI collusion
With new technology comes new possibilities. A side effect is where these possibilities fit into existing law. Dynamic, or algorithmic, pricing is a strategy where artificial intelligence uses data collected about market conditions to determine pricing in real time.
Algorithmic pricing has been a concern for antitrust regulators for years, even...Read more

Commentary: Does Israel's treatment of Palestinians rise to the level of apartheid?
In September, Tamir Pardo, who headed the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2011 to 2016, said that Israel is imposing apartheid on the Palestinians.
In August, the former northern commander of the Israeli army described the situation in the West Bank as one of “total apartheid.” ...Read more

Commentary: The holiday season finds us divided and isolated. This modest gesture might help
We are living in an age of placeless possibility: a time when we can instantly get in touch with another person no matter where they are on the planet through any number of media. We can catch up with friends and family, network, and even date virtually. We can connect with hundreds simultaneously Zooming in from far-flung locations.
Based on ...Read more