Politics
/ArcaMax
F.D. Flam: It's officially hotter than anytime since the birth of Jesus
It’s one thing to say the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2023 was the hottest of the 150 years people have been making measurements. This well-documented claim is often dismissed by skeptics of global warming who point out that the Earth has a long history of temperature fluctuations. That’s why it’s important that a new paper shows last ...Read more
Robin Abcarian: 'Diaper Don'? Trump's supporters turn the tables on his puerile critics
The political ascendance and staying power of Donald Trump have forced this country to confront so many existential questions:
Can our democracy survive another Trump administration?
Can an American president really and truly be above the law?
And: Do real men wear diapers?
We won't know the answers to the first two questions for a while ...Read more
Commentary: Let's put suspension or expulsion back on the table for violent college students
Colleges are considering suspensions and expulsions for students who vandalized campuses and committed violence over the last month. These consequences are entirely appropriate, and overdue. School officials in North Carolina are even reallocating more funds to campus safety.
What took so long? The answer may help prevent violent riots on ...Read more
POINT: Parents must end the teachers unions' stranglehold on education
On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court took a historic step toward ending injustice with its decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Politicians once stood in the schoolhouse door as a barrier to keep minorities out.
The new civil rights challenge is to break through the barrier that’s trapping minority children in failing ...Read more
COUNTERPOINT: Vouchers are not the 'civil rights issue of our time'
In 1958, three years after the Brown v. Board of Education order to integrate American schools, the Texas legislature debated a plan that would offer vouchers to parents who opposed the idea that their children would learn in diverse racial settings. Echoing similar efforts throughout the U.S. South, the Texas bill left no ambiguity about the ...Read more
Commentary: New data shows charter schools increase segregation
As we approach the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, a crucial question arises: Why are our nation’s schools experiencing increased segregation despite progress in neighborhood integration? A new study by Sean Reardon of Stanford University and Ann Owens of the University of Southern California provides a startling answer — ...Read more
F.D. Flam: It's officially hotter than anytime since the birth of Jesus
It’s one thing to say the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2023 was the hottest of the 150 years people have been making measurements. This well-documented claim is often dismissed by skeptics of global warming who point out that the Earth has a long history of temperature fluctuations. That’s why it’s important that a new paper shows last ...Read more
Commentary: Why I'm voting for Biden and other Republicans should, too
It’s disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind former president Donald Trump. This includes some of his fiercest detractors, such as U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who raised eyebrows during a recent interview by ...Read more
Editorial: The courthouse parade of GOP officials courting defendant Trump is a disgrace
The procession of Republican Party standard-bearers through a New York City courtroom to pay fealty to and express outrage on behalf of Donald Trump hasn’t been surprising. But it has been depressing.
On Tuesday, it was Mike Johnson’s turn. Yes, the speaker of the House, second in line to the presidency, saw fit to take time out of his ...Read more
Commentary: Pathway for an imperial presidency
The recent surrealistic Supreme Court arguments around Donald Trump’s specific claim that he cannot be prosecuted for his self-coup and insurrection, which tried to prevent the hallowed peaceful transfer of power in the American republic, demonstrated that the ever-expanding imperial presidency could now reach its logical endpoint — ...Read more
Commentary: Vladimir Putin has much to celebrate. But not the Russian people
Russian President Vladimir Putin, the man who plunged Russia into a war that has proved far costlier than he anticipated, is riding high at the moment.
Last week, Putin formally took office for a fifth term after a presidential election that the United States, Europe and international monitors widely regarded as illegitimate. The inauguration ...Read more
Editorial: Surveys reveal more bad news for the Biden White House
Democrats calm themselves over President Joe Biden’s miserable poll numbers by noting that the election remains months away, an eternity in politics. Yet as the clock ticks, the weeks run by and the balloting draws closer, Biden remains foundering in survey quicksand.
The latest bad news for the White House arrived Monday courtesy of The New ...Read more
Commentary: Don't shut down debate about Israel and antisemitism
I was a professor for 20 years at New York University, which has campuses around the world. I taught at NYU’s Shanghai; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Accra, Ghana; and Tel Aviv, Israel, campuses.
Guess which one student protesters want to shut down?
The Tel Aviv campus, of course. The war in Gaza has reinvigorated demands to shutter the site, on the ...Read more
Commentary: Liberal education under attack
Of all the institutions that have plummeted in the eyes of America’s polarized society, none has fallen further than colleges and universities. According to a recent Gallup poll, confidence in higher education is at an historic low, dropping 20 percent in the last eight years alone. Today, only one in three Americans believe in the benefits of...Read more
Editorial: SoCal air quality officials haven't acted to cut port pollution. They escaped to a desert resort instead
Next time you take in Southern California’s notoriously hazy skies and dirty air, remember that smog regulators still aren’t using their power to crack down on one of the region’s biggest polluters.
Year after year the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s governing board has chosen to delay and waste time in fruitless talks ...Read more
Commentary: Struggling to find meaning and happiness at work? Here's where you may have gone wrong
Once upon a time, work was work: We endured it so that we could eat. But today too many of us have made the mistake of anointing work as our main source of meaning.
Seventy percent of employees say their jobs define their sense of purpose. Meanwhile, my research shows a scant 12.5% of us are “totally and utterly engaged” at work, echoing ...Read more
Editorial: The IRS gets back on its feet. Time to crack down on wealthy cheaters
Abraham Kiswani headed a thriving security firm in the Chicago suburbs when he had the bright idea to stop issuing himself payroll checks and instead issue checks that were falsely labeled “subcontracted services.” He then proceeded to underreport nearly $10 million in income, shortchanging Uncle Sam and the state by about $3.7 million in ...Read more
Commentary: Put women in the rooms where it happens
Before I became the president of Pivotal Ventures, I spent most of my career in national security. In my roles at the United Nations, the White House and the State Department, I had the chance to work on big, audacious challenges with teams I deeply respected and admired. But as much as I valued my colleagues, I was also conscious of who was ...Read more
LZ Granderson: The NCAA's dilemma about trans athletes shouldn't be that hard of a call
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is under pressure to draft an impossible piece of policy: a stance on transgender athletes that makes progressives and conservatives happy. The best it's come up with so far is to say late last month that its rules are "under review," after a smaller student-athlete association effectively banned ...Read more
Editorial: Air quality alerts are a climate change alarm
The sky over Minnesota was the subject of fascination and frustration over the weekend.
Awe over solar-storm triggered northern lights turned to "Aw, not again!" over an air quality alert sparked by smoke drifting from wildfires in western Canada.
The red alert — a condition considered unhealthy for all — issued by the Minnesota Pollution ...Read more