Politics
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Editorial: It shouldn't take a judge to make VA house homeless vets
Since the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs drew up a plan to build 1,200 units of housing for homeless veterans on its West Los Angeles campus to settle a lawsuit, progress has been appallingly slow. Eight years later, just 233 are open and an additional 535 are under construction.
But a new ruling in another lawsuit against the VA will ...Read more
Frank Barry: How Democrats can flip red districts blue
Political consultants and pundits debate whether presidential campaigns should devote more resources to activating the base or persuading the undecided. For congressional candidates who are challenging the majority party, however, prioritizing persuasion is a must.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, I sat down with two House ...Read more
Jackie Calmes: What's with the silence from former Trump heavyweights?
If it's strength they need, there's strength in numbers.
I'm referring to former officials who worked for Donald Trump, especially the national security stewards, who have declined to come forward publicly and directly to warn voters that he's unfit to be president — even though, as insiders know well, that's how they feel.
Imagine the pre-...Read more
Commentary: What can the US do to stabilize its relationship with China?
National security adviser Jake Sullivan’s recent trip to Beijing is a good sign that President Joe Biden’s administration is taking U.S.-China relations seriously. While the visit did not result in any bilateral agreements, the two leaders agreed on having a near-term phone call.
As the fifth meeting between Sullivan and Chinese Foreign ...Read more
Commentary: Popping the question? Say 'yes' to animal- and Earth-friendly proposals
Fall is peak wedding season, and if all those declarations of “I do” have you thinking about popping the question, why not choose a compassionate, planet-friendly way to do so? A proposal is the first line in a story of shared dreams and an opportunity to lay a foundation for a relationship built on kindness. There are endless ways to ...Read more
Commentary: Lawmakers must take action to protect children from firearms violence
Earlier this month, four people were shot to death on a train in Chicago. Two days later, four people were shot to death at a school in Georgia. No one is safe. It can happen when people are at their most vulnerable: The victims in Chicago were shot as they slept. They can be shot where they are supposed to be safe: The victims in Georgia were ...Read more
Commentary: Are censorship and lack of challenging books factors in why your teen can't read?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — I know, I was a weird kid. Born during the time when parents bought sets of World Book or Britannica encyclopedias, I was the girl who would sit down and read the dictionaries that came with the set.
Hey, I was a latchkey kid and had a couple of hours to kill waiting for my working parents to get home.
Today, students aren...Read more
Commentary: Are tensions in the South China Sea at risk of explosion?
While the world’s attention largely remains fixated on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, U.S. officials across the national security apparatus also have another part of the globe on their minds: the South China Sea. This vast expanse of islands, reefs, rocks and atolls is the site of contested claims among multiple Asian countries, and its ...Read more
Commentary: The power of volunteerism
We’re collectively capable of amazing feats, so long as two conditions are met: first, that we’re generous with our time and energy and, second, that we’re willing to trust one another. That’s my takeaway from a 20-hour, 40-minute experience I had with the Fat Cat Track Club last month.
About 200 miles separate Mt. Hood from the Oregon ...Read more
Francis Wilkinson: Heritage Foundation's pro-Trump voter fraud video is nonsense
Like any demagogue, Donald Trump employs different lies for different needs. But dishonesty is the core of his existence. The Republican Party has had a more tumultuous conversion experience to Trumpism. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, for example, has had to revise his condemnation of Trump as a “pathological liar” to suit the demands of a ...Read more
Editorial: Not a value ad: Google's ad services monopoly needs to end
This week began the federal antitrust trial against Google for alleged monopolistic practices when it comes to the online advertising space, with the Justice Department contending that the company has outsize dominion over what is a lifeline for industries including online publishing. Google, of course, doesn’t see it that way.
Google seems ...Read more
Cynthia M. Allen: On this one key policy area, Kamala Harris didn't best Donald Trump in their debate
When it comes to policy matters, polling shows that Vice President Kamala Harris has lots of vulnerabilities. But where she stands on abortion isn’t one of them.
So, it was no surprise that the moderators of Tuesday’s presidential debate raised the topic early, before a lot of Americans tuned out.
Whether her exchange with rival Donald ...Read more
Editorial: Presidential race remains close after fiery debate
The reason both leading presidential candidates have favorability ratings under 50% was on full display during Tuesday’s presidential debate.
Start with former President Donald Trump. Coming into the debate, his job was simple. Inform voters of Vice President Kamala Harris’ radical record and remind them that things were better when he was ...Read more
Editorial: Hide your pets! Trump's crazy talk should be a bigger issue than it is
It was Hillary Clinton who observed of her 2016 presidential campaign rival: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
All indications from Tuesday evening’s presidential debate are that Donald Trump today is easier to bait than ever. Moreover, his lifelong habit of publicly describing (and ...Read more
Joe Battenfeld: Kamala Harris's goading gets her a debate win, but it may not last
Kamala Harris’s strategy of repeatedly goading Donald Trump into losing his cool may have worked for a night but it won’t be a long-term formula for success.
Harris will get a short-term bump based on her tactics but at what cost?
If you have to declare victory in a presidential debate based on a practiced strategy of smiling and trying to...Read more
Editorial: Harris' calm certainty overcomes Trump's chaos on debate night
If Tuesday’s debate were distilled to a single impression, it would be the image of a confident, controlled Kamala Harris and a visibly uncomfortable Donald Trump who kept his eyes downcast as he alternatively scowled and winced. The body language was as telling as the lies he spoke and the truths she scored.
A fitting summary came in Taylor ...Read more
Lisa Jarvis: Trump's worst debate moments came on abortion, health care
Throughout Tuesday night’s hour and 45-minute debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump perpetuated a number of lies and half-truths about his record on health care — and seemed unable to offer Americans a concrete vision for how he would secure a healthier future for the country, instead referring only to �...Read more
Robin Abcarian: What Donald Trump's incomprehensible word salad about child care revealed
In the United States, most parents of young children work, most need help caring for their children, and most cannot depend on family members to pitch in.
So wouldn't you think that providing affordable, high-quality child care to American families is a no-brainer? I mean, we've done it before. Why can't we do it again?
Indulge me for a brief ...Read more
Nedra Rhone: Trump says he doesn't care about race, but he keeps talking about it
Much of Tuesday’s presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump proved to be well-trodden ground. The sound bites and talking points, at times rambling and incoherent (Trump) or rational yet repetitive (Harris), were largely what we have heard before.
But when David Muir, one of the two ABC News anchors moderating the debate, ...Read more
Paige Masten: With a new debate opponent, it's Donald Trump who's the big loser
Unlike the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in June, Tuesday’s much-anticipated showdown between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris had a much different loser.
This time it was Donald Trump.
And it wasn’t particularly close.
Trump and Harris went into Tuesday’s debate locked in a tight race — much tighter than the one ...Read more