Politics
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Commentary: As we send our babies to college, do we do enough to celebrate the village that raised them?
I’m sending my baby to college in a few minutes.
Fine, a few months.
It feels like minutes.
It has all felt like minutes. She was born five minutes ago. She started walking five minutes ago. She stopped napping five minutes ago. She started driving five minutes ago. She turned me into a whole new person with a whole new, very full, very ...Read more
George Skelton: Expect campus uprisings to cause headaches for Democrats this election
Don't be surprised if these annoying protests on college campuses turn out bad for Democrats. They usually do.
If history is any guide, Republicans will capitalize on the divided Democrats' perceived weakness and appear to be the stronger party in November.
Already, Donald Trump seems to have benefited from the heavy news media focus on pro-...Read more
Mark Z. Barabak: He lost by 5 votes and conceded graciously. Trump could learn something here
Joe Simitian long had his eye on a seat in Congress. It would have been a fine way to cap his 40-year political career.
"I viewed it as an opportunity to improve the lives of the people I represent in a different way at a different level," the Silicon Valley Democrat said.
Little did he know.
On election night, March 5, Simitian was running ...Read more
Commentary: Did Stormy Daniels' testimony help or hurt the case against Trump? It's complicated
When Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger announced on Tuesday, the 13th day of Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, that “the people call Stormy Daniels,” there was a perceptible tremor of anticipation among the jurors. Although the 34 criminal offenses charged against Trump are legally peripheral to his interactions with the...Read more
Mary McNamara: This Mother's Day, forget the cards and flowers. Women want their rights instead
When I was young, my father gave me one piece of advice about choosing a career: Stay away from any occupation with a national “appreciation” day.
As a public high school teacher, he believed that those days were a performative substitute for fair wages and social respect.
So what, by that logic, are we to make of Mother’s Day?
I’ve ...Read more
Frank Barry: 'Civil War' is a gift to Trump's opponents
Alex Garland’s box office hit, Civil War, which is set in a future America at war with itself, has drawn lots of criticism for not telling audiences what caused the conflict — and for its refusal to more realistically portray the battle lines that divide Red and Blue America. That critique not only gets the movie wrong, in my view, but it’...Read more
LZ Granderson: Trump's racist 'welfare' dog whistle is nonsense just like Reagan's
Donald Trump took his dog whistle down to Florida last weekend, where he reportedly told a room full of donors: "When you are Democrat, you start off essentially at 40% because you have civil service, you have the unions and you have welfare." He then drove home this point: "And don't underestimate welfare. They get welfare to vote, and then ...Read more
Editorial: Israel moves forward and Hamas wants to bargain
Let it be noted that Hamas raced to the bargaining table once it became evident that Israel was prepared to follow through on its vow to enter Rafah and to finish off the terror group. Strange how that works.
Strange, because the Biden administration, in its effort to appease the hard-left activists who dominate the Democratic Party and who ...Read more
Commentary: Biden's green investments aren't just benefiting cities
When you think of the Biden administration’s climate investments, you may imagine subsidies for Tesla drivers in affluent coastal cities. But those investments are helping Americans at all income levels, in both small towns and urban areas. One example: The Biden administration is bringing clean, resilient solar power to federally funded ...Read more
Justin Fox: America wasn't made for walking, and it's killing us
About a year and a half ago, I became one of Those People who track how many steps they walk each day. I know there’s nothing magical about the daily 10,000-step target, but it’s a fun little pastime, made more fun by the fact that I surpass 10,000 most days without really trying.
That’s because I live in Manhattan, with a dog to walk, ...Read more
VIEWPOINT 2: US must stop Putin
After months of delay, U.S. aid is again flowing to Ukraine. Yet the war’s trajectory remains uncertain. Russia is determined to win a protracted conflict, while Washington’s appetite for further aid remains in question. As the United States heads into a presidential election that could be key in determining the war’s outcome, we should ...Read more
Nolan Finley: Campus antisemitism is the most dangerous strain
Five years ago, Congress declared white supremacists and other far-right-wing extremists as the most significant domestic terrorism threat facing the United States.
Now, it is fair to argue the biggest danger to the well-being of many Americans comes from the far-left intelligentsia on the country's supposedly elite and enlightened college ...Read more
Robin Abcarian: How many ways can a political memoir backfire? Ask Kristi Noem
Not to beat a dead, ah, horse, but how can we ignore the spectacle that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has made of herself during her publicity tour for her just-published memoir, "No Going Back?"
Over the weekend, she sparred with Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation," when Brennan asked her to reflect on the wisdom of including anecdotes ...Read more
Editorial: To reach climate goals, LA needs action on its Green New Deal -- not excuses
Los Angeles adopted an array of ambitious climate and transportation goals years ago under former Mayor Eric Garcetti, who had the relatively easy job of setting long-range targets knowing he would be out of office when they came due.
But now that some of those important deadlines are approaching, Mayor Karen Bass has the more difficult task of...Read more
Commentary: Counting on Social Security to fund your retirement? Think again
In just nine years, the oldest Gen-Xers will reach Social Security’s normal retirement age of 67. But they have a rude awakening when they learn that the program’s trust fund is empty, leaving it able to pay out only as much in benefits as it takes from the paychecks of those then working.
That’s straight from the Social Security trustees...Read more
Editorial: Report again highlights need for entitlement reform
Neither of the two presumptive major party presidential nominees wants to seriously discuss Social Security. But political cowardice is no substitute for statesmanship. The longer Congress does nothing, the worse the problem gets for retirees and those nearing retirement.
On Monday, the Social Security trustees released their annual report on ...Read more
Commentary: America needs poll workers, now more than ever
Now that the 2024 presidential nominees for both major parties have been decided, what promises to be a truly historic campaign is in full swing. And while primary elections will continue across the country through early fall, including important votes to pick nominees for gubernatorial and congressional races, the national attention is rapidly ...Read more
Commentary: Advocacy 'malpractice' robs nonprofits of power -- and hurts democracy
Nonprofits are feeding supporters a steady stream of petitions to sign and requests for checks. Here’s how to make them effective citizen advocates.
Since I founded the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS in 1980, I have been a staunch believer in the power of nonprofits to turn disengaged Americans into effective advocates. When citizens put down ...Read more
Commentary: Campus crisis proves we didn't learn any real lessons from Jan. 6
Rioters. Let’s call them exactly what they are.
What’s happened – and still happening – at institutions like Columbia, USC, UCLA and elsewhere might have charitably been called a free speech exercise at some point. People have a right to protest, even if most rational people vehemently disagree with them.
But protest stops being ...Read more
VIEWPOINT 1: Do not give up on Ukraine
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, we must remember that too much is at stake to walk away.
Autocrats and those with autocratic tendencies are having a global moment. While it may seem to some that a relatively small piece of the overall puzzle is at play in this conflict, the domino effect of allowing Vladimir Putin’s bullying to ...Read more