Politics
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Editorial: Florida voters defied the 'dummymander'
Before last week’s election, New York Times journalists posted their rankings of America’s most gerrymandered states. Placing Florida third worst, behind Texas and California, they wrote it was “hard to believe” that the Florida Constitution forbids what they saw.
“You certainly wouldn’t guess it by looking at the state’s new map,...Read more
Editorial: Sen. Schmitt's alternate reality
I think the ordering principle for the modern … party, you’ve certainly seen it play out over the last 10 years … is resentment, wanting to tear things down. … They just have a disdain for half the country.
Yes, that’s a pretty good description of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and its degradation of the Republican Party ...Read more
Editorial: Violence interrupters in Chicago schools? It's an idea worth exploring
When we met last Wednesday with representatives from Chicago’s community violence intervention ecosystem, they came to talk about the need for broader investment in their preventive approach to curbing crime.
But they mentioned something else that made our ears perk up.
CVI operators often work with young Chicagoans. But they can’t operate...Read more
Paige Masten: With another seat lost, NC Republicans' greedy gerrymander backfires more
Last year, Republican lawmakers decided that, despite their best efforts, North Carolina just wasn’t gerrymandered enough. So they took it upon themselves to draw yet another map that would supposedly guarantee their party an additional congressional seat. The expectation was that, in the 2026 midterms, the map would yield an 11-3 majority.
...Read more
Scott Maxwell: Dear Mr. President, Florida voted the way you asked. We'd like our $5,000
Dear Mr. President,
Two months ago, you made America a generous offer. If we’d just vote the way you wanted, keeping Republicans in control of both the House and Senate, you told us you’d reward each of us with $5,000.
“If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,” you said during the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas...Read more
Stephen L. Carter: Alito's retirement plans are his to make
There’s an episode of "The West Wing" where the White House tries to get the ailing chief justice of the United States, a liberal firebrand, to step down so that President Josiah Bartlet can appoint a younger replacement. Otherwise, as one staffer puts it, the chief might “be replaced by a paleo Republican.”
The episode comes to mind in ...Read more
Abby McCloskey: The GOP doesn't need a new playbook. It needs conservatism
Never in my lifetime has there been an easier political post-mortem. It’s obvious what caused the GOP’s midterm wipeout. The harder question for Republicans is what comes next. And no, it’s not just ending the war in Iran — although that would help.
The Republicans who remain in office are not only in a lame-duck, choose-your-own ...Read more
Editorial: Fears of an AI cyber apocalypse are a bit premature
Each day seems to bring fresh havoc in the digital world. In recent weeks, researchers have uncovered security flaws in some of the most consequential corners of the internet, bugs that could put users at risk, jeopardize essential services and impose significant economic costs. Squint a little, though, and it looks like progress.
In August, ...Read more
Commentary: Donald Trump should prioritize gaining release of US father held in Russian prison
Last week, Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old U.S. citizen held in Russian custody since 2022, was freed in what the Kremlin called a humanitarian goodwill gesture.
Hubbard’s release came shortly after a deal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to sell diesel to the United States. This has caused some to suggest the Kremlin has shifted tactics in...Read more
Commentary: Blue wave, blue economy -- but not black and blue
Wall Street delivered its verdict on the blue-wave midterms 48 hours later in the form of a red wave—red ink, that is.
After a brief relief rally the day after the election, the Dow shed more than 1,800 points, the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 5% and into correction territory, and roughly $2.5 trillion in market value vanished in a single...Read more
POINT: Tariffs aren't driving inflation -- the Fed's numbers say so
Tariffs are not causing America’s inflation. If you want to know what is driving up consumer prices, look at the September Consumer Price Index. According to the latest data, prices rose 3.7 percent over the past year, driven by rising energy and services costs — not tariffs. In fact, gasoline jumped 9.1% in September — and is up 34.2% ...Read more
Mark Z. Barabak: Millions of Californians have been cast adrift. For nothing
President Donald Trump fancies himself a farsighted man of destiny and if his vision has often proved lacking — witness the Iranian quagmire— he was right about one thing: 2026 was going to be a rough year for Republicans.
That’s typically how midterm elections work for the party in the White House.
And so Trump, knowing the GOP’s ...Read more
COUNTERPOINT: Trump's failed import tariff policy added to inflation
If there is one area where President Donald Trump has deviated significantly from Republican Party economic policy orthodoxy, it must be import tariff policy.
Rather than promoting free trade, Trump has pursued the most aggressive trade policy in the last 100 years. Indeed, he has taken a protectionist, largely unilateral approach to trade ...Read more
Parmy Olson: AI agents are a solution looking for a problem
The shift to artificial intelligence models that can carry out tasks, not just generate content, hasn’t yet taken off in the way the tech industry desperately needs it to.
Salesforce Inc. has struggled to get traction with its nearly two-year-old Agentforce service for businesses. Australia’s Commonwealth Bank reversed plans to cut 45 ...Read more
Commentary: Is AI going to kill math? Don't count on it
Scrolling through the news, you might get the impression that mathematics is solved. A Wall Street Journal headline reads, “AI Is Powerful Enough to Crack Our Hardest Math Problems — and Kill Us All.” Science says, “OpenAI breakthrough triggers ‘existential crisis’ in math.” Daniel Litt, a prominent researcher of mathematics at ...Read more
Parmy Olson: AI agents are a solution looking for a problem
The shift to artificial intelligence models that can carry out tasks, not just generate content, hasn’t yet taken off in the way the tech industry desperately needs it to.
Salesforce Inc. has struggled to get traction with its nearly two-year-old Agentforce service for businesses. Australia’s Commonwealth Bank reversed plans to cut 45 ...Read more
Commentary: What a Democratic Congress means for Iran, Israel and Ukraine
It’s not a stretch of the imagination to say that last week’s midterm election was one the most embarrassing moments of President Donald Trump’s political life. At the time of writing, Democrats have flipped 44 House seats and seven Senate seats, earning a commanding majority in both houses of Congress for the first time since 2020. The ...Read more
Editorial: After midterm blowout, both parties need to reflect
The stunning results of last week’s midterm elections hold important lessons for both parties. They should stop crowing and crying and start facing up to them.
Shortly after the Republicans suffered historic losses, Vice President JD Vance issued a postmortem blaming Iran, inflation and Israel. He neglected to mention how much his own ...Read more
Gustavo Arellano: Raman's victory was a resounding rebuke to LA's Latino political establishment
LOS ANGELES — When Angelenos chose Nithya Raman as their next mayor, Karen Bass wasn't the only establishment pillar that was resoundingly rebuked.
Here in the country's Latino capital, the metropolis that delivered California its first Latino U.S. senator and pioneered the type of winning political machine that Latinos across the country ...Read more
Commentary: Struggling families need new safety net
Make no mistake: Nov. 3 was a change election, driven by widespread dissatisfaction with the economy. What must come next is real change.
Americans have been struggling under the Trump administration’s tariffs, wars and cuts to safety net programs. Higher fuel prices from the Iran war alone are projected to cost U.S. families an extra $170 ...Read more
















































