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Jackie Calmes: One Trump puppet stands between Ukraine and the aid it needs

Politics / Op Eds /

Speaker Mike Johnson in just months has all but cemented his place among the weakest House leaders in its history. Alas, the Louisianan nonetheless holds enough power that he's single-handedly blocking one of the most crucial matters of our time: bipartisan U.S. aid to Ukraine for its defense against Vladimir Putin's murderous expansionism.

It'...Read more

Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Robin Abcarian: Flamin' Hot Cheetos and iPhones are ruining my kid and yours

Politics / Op Eds /

With apologies to Allen Ginsberg:

I am seeing the best minds of our middle-school generation destroyed by Flamin' Hot Cheetos and iPhones,

Teenagers on the cusp of young adulthood dragging themselves out of bed each day to mainline TikTok and Snapchat,

Measuring themselves by the yardstick of uber-filtered Kardashian perfection and falling ...Read more

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Commentary: Fani Willis' prosecution of Donald Trump may be alive, but it isn't well

Politics / Op Eds /

Special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s resignation Friday from the Georgia racketeering prosecution of Donald Trump and others was the right decision and, indeed, a virtually forced one. Judge Scott McAfee’s resolution of a defense motion to disqualify Wade’s boss, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, left no practical alternative.

But ...Read more

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Martin Schram: Through America's Looking Glass

Politics / Op Eds /

It probably hasn’t dawned on you yet. But it will. Because what happened to Alice is happening to us all.

Our news screens have become our Looking-Glasses. And we are being sucked in by our own news screens. Just as Alice climbed onto her mantle and stepped into the world inside her own Looking-Glass. (That is, her mirror, in “Through the ...Read more

John M. Crisp: The difference between a Trump victory and a Biden victory

Politics / Op Eds /

It’s impossible to predict with confidence who will win the presidency of the United States in November 2024.

President Joe Biden seems likely to win the popular vote. He received 7 million more votes than Donald Trump in 2020, and the fundamental partisan lines that separate our nation seem unlikely to shift significantly in 2024.

But maybe...Read more

Editorial: Chuck vs. Bibi: Schumer's gambit against Netanyahu

Politics / Op Eds /

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — whom we knew back when he was Brooklyn Assemblyman Chuck Schumer and Congressman Chuck Schumer — wants Israel to hold new elections, and makes no secret that he thinks and hopes when they do, Bibi Netanyahu will be turned out. So he conveyed in a Thursday speech on the Senate floor that surprised and ...Read more

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Commentary: Shining a light on school district actions

Politics / Op Eds /

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has become the latest policymaker shining sunlight on school district actions, and with good reason. Nationwide, school administrators are discovering they might be responsible for eye-popping court settlements if they hide K-12 activities from parents.

Consider what happened last summer in California. The ...Read more

Allie Goulding/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Commentary: American business needs a strong democracy, not political retribution

Politics / Op Eds /

The United States continues to have one of the freest and most dynamic economies in the world. U.S. businesses generate jobs, improve living standards and are among the most trusted institutions in American life. They thrive in no small part from operating in our enviable democratic republic and free market economy. But in recent years political...Read more

Angelina Katsanis/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

Commentary: Getting guns away from abusers will save lives

Politics / Op Eds /

“273.D.” The dispatch code for domestic violence sends chills down the spines of law enforcement officers, who know these calls to be among the most dangerous. Early on the morning of Feb. 18, police and first responders in Burnsville, Minnesota, saw just how deadly domestic abuse incidents can be. Although they saved seven children and the ...Read more

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Jay Ambrose: The test Biden can't pass

Politics / Op Eds /

President Joe Biden recently gave a rough, tough, eyes-ablaze, here-I-come State of the Union speech that some saw as a definitive disposal of his democratically diagnosed mental vacuity. But wait. The speech simultaneously raised all kinds of questions about Biden, and then, not too many days after that, TV sets were once again spreading news ...Read more

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Francis Wilkinson: California shows the US is too polarized for top-two primaries

Politics / Op Eds /

Representative Adam Schiff got what he paid for. As expected, the California Democrat won first place in the state’s top-two primary for the US Senate on Super Tuesday. And just as Schiff wanted, former Major League Baseball player Steve Garvey, a Republican, came in second.

As in Louisiana and Washington (Alaska has its own variation), ...Read more

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Editorial: Grade inflation is making learning loss worse

Politics / Op Eds /

Recent test results confirm a dispiriting reality: America’s students continue to lag far behind their peers around the world, and millions are running out of time to catch up. Yet many families remain unaware of the true deficits their children face — in no small part because teachers are often giving students higher grades than they ...Read more

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Editorial: California's rat poison bans aren't working. Wild animals and pets are still dying

Politics / Op Eds /

For at least a decade, California has tried to restrict the use of rat poison so it stops killing all manner of creatures besides rats. So far, it hasn’t worked.

When a wild animal preys upon a rat that has ingested anticoagulant rodenticide, it can end up dead or sickened by the toxin as well. The poisoning continues up the food chain from ...Read more

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Patricia Lopez: Restoring Roe isn't enough. Women deserve more

Politics / Op Eds /

In his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden vowed to restore Roe v. Wade as “the law of the land.”

It was an admirable sentiment and one welcomed by supporters of reproductive rights.

But with all due respect, Mr. President, that’s not enough anymore. Women want – no, are demanding – the most fundamental right of all: ...Read more

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Mark Gongloff: Florida apparently wants workers to die in the heat

Politics / Op Eds /

Which do you think costs more: Giving outdoor employees a break every now and then for some shade and water or stopping all work periodically while ambulances come to haul workers to the hospital after they keel over from heat stroke or dehydration?

Florida is apparently willing to take its chances with the ambulances.

Just after the hottest ...Read more

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Mary Ellen Klas: MAGA is taking over North Carolina -- unless businesses stop it

Politics / Op Eds /

The slate of MAGA Republicans that will be on North Carolina’s ballot in November has the potential to be disastrous for the state’s economic interests and its business leaders know it. They should use their considerable influence and act now if they want to stop it from happening.

From the top of the ticket, where Republican primary voters...Read more

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Editorial: We need immigrants. A bracing message from a titan of corporate America

Politics / Op Eds /

The U.S. immigration system is broken. Voices on all sides of this debate can agree on that, if not where to cast the blame. But our need for economic growth still dictates that migration at the sort of levels we’re seeing now must continue in order to keep the U.S. population rising enough to provide the labor we need and keep the economy ...Read more

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Editorial: San Francisco voters rejected the removal of two judges. It's a win for independence in the court

Politics / Op Eds /

San Francisco voters made national news in the March primary election by adopting two ballot measures that until recently would have been unthinkable in their famously liberal city. The measures to expand police powers and require drug testing of welfare recipients were largely funded by tech and real estate billionaires, and passage was fueled ...Read more

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Commentary: Polls get it right most of the time. Here's what to be wary of

Politics / Op Eds /

Without polls, you can't understand politics; with them, you can misunderstand a lot.

With both major party presidential nominations sewn up, we're deep into the season in which fretting over polls can become an obsession. That's especially true this year, as former President Donald Trump holds a small but persistent edge over President Joe ...Read more

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Andreas Kluth: Biden and Netanyahu are going from frenemies to enemies

Politics / Op Eds /

You know frenemies are becoming enemies when they’re drawing each other red lines. That’s what President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are now doing. Just over five months after Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorized Israel and Biden promised his unequivocal support, the two leaders, if not yet their countries, are preparing...Read more

 

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John Cole Bob Englehart Clay Bennett Daryl Cagle Bart van Leeuwen Bill Day