Politics
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Editorial: Time for politicians to bring down the temperature
They are becoming depressingly common, these attacks on President Donald Trump’s life. This nation was born of bloodshed and has been deeply divided at times throughout its 250-year history. But after three attempts on Trump’s life in the past two years, we seem to have entered new territory.
Information trickled out Sunday about the man ...Read more
George Skelton: After Swalwell scandal, a 'safe choice' for Democrats emerges
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Xavier Becerra seems like the type of steady, trustworthy fellow you’d like your daughter to marry. But she’s attracted to a charming party animal.
Then the flashy dude does something really stupid and repulsive. Daughter is jarred into her senses and decides to size up the unexciting but reliable guy.
That’s how ...Read more
Trudy Rubin: Trump administration wants to give Afghans who helped US forces a choice between death and disaster
Just when you think the White House policy toward refugees can’t get any uglier, it sinks to new depths that should infuriate Americans of all political persuasions.
After the suspension in November of a resettlement program for Afghans who helped U.S. soldiers and civilians, the Trump administration is now trying to send up to 1,100 of such ...Read more
Editorial: Another bird-brained idea from Trump
President Donald Trump’s latest fantastic notion is to repurpose Alcatraz Island, one of the National Park Service’s most popular historical sites, as the remote, isolated California prison it used to be.
Nothing about it makes sense.
It was costing nearly three times as much to operate as other federal prisons, which is why Attorney ...Read more
Commentary: Carlson's cautious apology does little to repair Trumpism's damage
When you break a promise as clear as “No new wars,” you shouldn’t be surprised when even your most loyal supporters revolt. And that’s exactly what is happening to President Donald Trump.
One such disillusioned supporter is Tucker Carlson — who on a recent podcast with his brother Buckley admitted, in essence, “My bad.”
“You ...Read more
Michael Hiltzik: A judge labels RFK Jr.'s attack on transgender care 'unlawful' and an act of 'cruelty'
The Trump administration's attack on gender-affirming care for minors bears all the hallmarks of its approach to healthcare policy.
Although it purports to reflect rigorous science, it's almost entirely fact-free — indeed, replete with misinformation and disinformation. It ignores the procedures required by law for issuing major policy ...Read more
LZ Granderson: Tucker Carlson's reversal on Trump is a familiar script
This week Tucker Carlson apologized for unintentionally "misleading" voters into supporting President Donald Trump's return to the White House. The apology came days after the president called Carlson dumb and overrated on social media. We've seen this plot before: It's a different name but the same story.
Recall the president's first term was ...Read more
Editorial: This potential pancreatic cancer treatment breakthrough should be celebrated
Our fraught national debate over immunization and public health has overshadowed some extremely encouraging advances being made by researchers in the decades-long battle against cancer.
Recent news of a potential breakthrough vaccine for one of the most lethal of all cancers — pancreatic cancer — demonstrates why continued federal research ...Read more
Commentary: The math isn't working -- More for war, less for America's future
On paper, the economy’s numbers look robust. But for many Americans, the math isn’t working.
A family like Mike and Lisa Hernandez, a middle-class couple in suburban St. Louis, is doing everything right. He manages a warehouse. She works part-time as a dental assistant. They have employer-sponsored insurance, a new house, and two kids. They...Read more
Noah Feldman: Thou shalt not overturn Supreme Court precedent
In an outrageous decision issued yesterday, a federal court has upheld a Texas law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the displays would not have counted as an establishment of religion in 1791, when the First Amendment was ratified.
This is ...Read more
Editorial: The high price of bad drivers -- New York must revoke the licenses of the worst offenders
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal on auto insurance prices has created a battle royale in Albany between two powerful interest groups that have lots of sway in the Legislature and usually get their way: the trial lawyers and the insurance companies.
We think that they should find common ground and join together on something that everyone should ...Read more
Editorial: Efforts to root out Medicaid fraud deserve support
The White House last month announced that Vice President JD Vance will spearhead an effort to root out Medicaid fraud. President Donald Trump had previously signed an executive order forming a task force on the subject.
This more aggressive approach is long overdue and deserves bipartisan support. It should also be applied across the board to ...Read more
Commentary: Drug courts fail women, but there's a solution
When Susan Burton lost her 5-year-old son after he was struck by a police vehicle in Los Angeles, her grief drove her into addiction. Crack cocaine became her way to cope, and California’s response was to lock her up again and again.
Over two decades, she was incarcerated six times, released each time without treatment, housing or support. ...Read more
Commentary: Social media bans bring problems and don't work
Bans on social media for minors are having a political moment. Parents’ sincere concerns and politicians’ instincts to capitalize on those fears are driving federal and state legislation like the kind already in effect elsewhere in the world. But no amount of good intentions makes these efforts good policy.
At the federal level, bipartisan ...Read more
Commentary: The Founders built safeguards. Our politics rendered them useless
The men who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 were students of history, and it taught them a singular lesson: power corrupts, and unchecked power can destroy a republic.
They designed our experiment with overlapping safeguards to ensure that no single faction, branch, or man could hold the nation hostage. What remained unresolved was agency: who...Read more
Jackie Calmes: Even Trump's base doesn't believe him anymore
It's not generally admirable to take pleasure in someone being targeted, troubled or taunted in some way. But schadenfreude is exactly what I've felt in recent weeks, unapologetically, about President Donald Trump finding himself for once on the receiving end of a dark conspiracy theory, including from some of his most prominent (former) ...Read more
Catherine Thorbecke: AI is coming for our aging parents, ready or not
At first glance, AI companions for lonely seniors can seem dystopian, looking less like innovation than a bleak sign of social failure.
Spending a couple days last week in Tokyo nursing homes, I watched plushie robots the size of human babies being handed to aging parents and grandparents, and prototypes of conversational dolls aimed to fill ...Read more
Commentary: Why universal basic income is still a bad idea
Elon Musk recently posted a pronouncement on X: "Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI." Andrew Yang cheered. Sam Altman concurred. Their message: AI is coming for your job, and only the government can save you.
This is not a new script. It is the latest ...Read more
Commentary: We need to stop confusing diplomacy with making 'deals'
Something strange has happened to the language of politics. Everything is now a “deal.” Not a framework, not an accord, not a negotiated architecture — just a deal. The word appears everywhere, from headlines to cable news chyrons, as if it were the most natural way to describe diplomacy.
But it isn’t natural. It is imported. And its ...Read more
Commentary: Zionism is often used as a slur. We must reclaim the term
On Israel’s Independence Day on Wednesday, as Israelis mark 78 years since the founding of our state, a word that once expressed hope and liberation has become, for many, a source of confusion and division. That word is “Zionism.”
In today’s discourse, “Zionism” is often used as a slur or stand-in for “Jew,” conveying prejudice ...Read more




















































