Politics
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Mark Z. Barabak: Three wrongs don't make a right in case of election denier and Colorado governor
It's entirely possible — as hard as it may be to conceive in these deeply tribal, us-vs.-them times — for two competing notions to be true.
Tina Peters personally enriched herself and betrayed the public trust by perpetrating a harebrained scheme to "prove" the 2020 election in Mesa County, Colorado, was rigged against President Donald ...Read more
Commentary: Tens of billions lost each year in US welfare programs -- and we're not even measuring it all
Last year’s welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota made headlines for its brazen nature and massive scale. But it’s only part of the story. Far more money slips through the cracks in the welfare system each year. No outrage ensues — but given the staggering sums involved, it should.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (...Read more
COUNTERPOINT: Our wars haven't been worth it, and not just in Iran
As Memorial Day approaches, polls show nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters oppose the war against Iran. They’re right. After decades of war since 9/11, Americans now largely agree: War isn’t worth it.
The Iran war has killed thousands of Iranians and Lebanese and displaced hundreds of thousands more. People in poor countries around the world ...Read more
Michael Hiltzik: Justice Dept. attack on UCLA and other med schools shows it has no idea what makes a good doctor
The Trump administration has stepped up its assault on U.S. medical schools in recent days with stern letters to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA on May 6 and a similar missive to the Yale School of Medicine last Thursday.
Both letters from the Department of Justice allege that the schools have quietly allowed the race of applicants ...Read more
Editorial: Most college degrees still carry a financial benefit
For many high school students, a career in the trades has become more attractive due to the soaring cost of a college education and the looming disruption of artificial intelligence in the white-collar world. This path is indeed a worthwhile choice given employment shortages in many trades and the myriad opportunities it offers for stability and...Read more
POINT: War can be justified, but only as a last resort
As the United States confronts the growing danger posed by Iran’s terrorist regime, Americans are again faced with hard questions about war and its costs. Iran’s leaders have funded terror, threatened allies, murdered dissidents and destabilized the Middle East for decades.
There are times in history when military force becomes necessary to...Read more
Beth Kowitt: DEI isn't dead. But it's not really alive, either
Reports of the death of DEI in corporate America have been greatly exaggerated.
Or at least that’s what a new study from Catalyst and New York University’s School of Law’s Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging suggests. In the survey of 2,000 employees and leaders of big and medium-sized U.S. organizations, 80% said their...Read more
Ronald Brownstein: Redistricting is inverting the founders' vision for the House
To view the rapidly escalating redistricting war between the parties as a typical partisan squabble is to miss the full magnitude of what’s unfolding.
A convergence of events has guaranteed that by 2028, virtually every state, whether red or blue, will move to eliminate congressional seats held by its minority party. The cumulative impact ...Read more
Commentary: San Diego mosque shooting follows increased Islamophobic rhetoric
Many Muslim Americans are fearful following a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday that left three people dead, in addition to the two gunmen. Investigators reportedly found hate speech and anti-Islamic writing inside the vehicle of the shooters, who apparently killed themselves soon after the attack.
The director of the ...Read more
Commentary: AI anxiety won't be eased by universal basic income
There is a palpable fear among American workers that AI is coming for their jobs. The answer to that fear, as I’ve argued, is to make job loss less scary by building a new unemployment program. An overhaul is long overdue, and it would help not only a vulnerable labor market but also workers whose fears are realized.
But would it be enough?
...Read more
Commentary: Freed by Trump, the Jan. 6 criminals are preying on children and others
If there’s a defining characteristic of President Donald Trump’s second term, it’s the tendency to treat big, irreversible decisions like impulse buys at a Ralphs checkout counter.
You can see this dynamic everywhere, from the Iran war to the bulldozing of the East Wing of the White House. The pattern is familiar by now: Trump moves fast,...Read more
Commentary: The myth of rally round the flag
It is commonly held wisdom that the American people unite behind their president in times of crisis. This “rally round the flag” effect describes boosts in presidential popularity that bridge the partisan divide. Public opinion on the war with Iran has so far defied this assumption, indicating the phenomenon may be more myth than reality.
...Read more
Editorial: A failed president and his edifice complex
In September 1941, the death of a family member prompted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to say how he should be remembered.
One of America’s greatest presidents wanted only a plain block of stone, about the size of his desk, to be placed on the front lawn of the National Archives Building, with the words “In memory of … ”
Friends ...Read more
Commentary: Ensure that California's journalism fund supports key players
California is beginning to address the crisis facing local journalism by distributing nearly $20 million this year to local news organizations. But the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development is about to fumble the opportunity by having the government pick winners and losers — with journalists being the losers.
Local news has...Read more
Commentary: At college graduation, let everyone speak their minds
You know who you are.
When someone you like is censored, you get up in arms. But when the other side is muzzled, you sit on your hands.
It’s the oldest trick in the hypocrite’s playbook: free speech for me but not for thee. And we’ve seen a stark display of it this spring, in the battles over graduation speeches on college campuses.
...Read more
Mary Ellen Klas: A fix for gerrymandering both parties could love
America’s political landscape has become a stinking mess. More and more states are joining the race to the bottom to gerrymander away the power of their voters. But we don’t have to hold our noses any longer — there’s a fix in sight. And it doesn’t even require a constitutional amendment.
It’s time to shift to the system most of ...Read more
Commentary: Chinese oppression is a personal affront to all people
In the summer of 2024, I began working with former Kansas Gov. and Sen. Sam Brownback on a book—it was released last week—about the struggle for religious freedom in China.
I assumed it would be just another gig, nothing more.
Religion had never mattered much to me. I cared about sports, having co-written books with Phil Jackson, Scottie ...Read more
Gustavo Arellano: Spencer Pratt's Make LA Great Again acolytes and their dark vision of the city
LOS ANGELES — If anyone needs the axiom "Tell me who you're with, and I'll tell you who you are" whispered to them every morning as a reminder to do better, it's Spencer Pratt.
Can someone do that ASAP, por favor?
Instead of holding events around Los Angeles to convince skeptics that his mayoral campaign is for everyone, the former reality ...Read more
Michael Hiltzik: A surge in Nevada data center construction threatens the electricity supply for 49,000 Californians
Those big data centers being built for artificial intelligence firms are in bad odor nationwide.
Seven in 10 Americans oppose projects in their local communities, according to a recent Gallup poll. More than a dozen, valued at some $64 billion, have been blocked or delayed by local opposition in recent years.
But what happens when the people ...Read more
Commentary: Forty years after Chernobyl, war threatens a new nuclear disaster in Ukraine
On April 26, 1986, the world experienced the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history: the explosion and fire of reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The accident was caused by a combination of design flaws of the Soviet RBMK reactor and human error. The explosion and subsequent graphite fire released a plume of ...Read more




















































