Politics
/ArcaMax
Noah Feldman: A judge's vulgar dissent is a loss for everyone
A recent opinion by a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is a contender for the most vulgar piece of judicial writing in the 300-plus-year history of recorded judicial decisions in the English language.
The opinion in Olympus Spa v. Andretti — a dissent from the 9th Circuit’s decision not to rehear a case involving a ...Read more
Editorial: Amid mounting risks, the Fed wisely puts rates on hold
Much as expected, the Federal Reserve left its policy rate unchanged last week, stressing new uncertainties in the economic outlook and the limits of monetary policy in managing them. This was the right call: If ever there was a time for a central bank to wait and see before altering interest rates, it’s now.
Accordingly, the Fed’s new ...Read more
Commentary: President Trump and his allies are trying to make it harder for Americans to vote
President Donald Trump and his administration have been working diligently to try to undermine Americans’ trust in our elections. The steady drumbeat of lies and disinformation is intended to give cover to their efforts to interfere in our elections and stack the deck in their own favor. Time and time again, we see them justify their actions ...Read more
Robin Abcarian: Republicans fearing a midterm rout revive Islamophobia as political strategy
Boy, it's been a struggle whipping up ugly racist sentiment since President Donald Trump "closed" the border last year. No more stories about immigrant caravans marching ominously north to steal our jobs and rape our women. No more tall tales of Haitian gangs eating the cats, eating the dogs.
Sure, immigrants might still be "poisoning the blood...Read more
LZ Granderson: Trump wants to 'take' Cuba, but we've done that repeatedly before
During President Barack Obama's first term, when the U.S. and Cuba initially made attempts to thaw our icy relationship, I visited the island country as part of an educational delegation.
We met with government officials including Mariela Castro, the daughter of then-President Raul Castro, as she was working on pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. We ...Read more
Commentary: What an Austrian cow and Illinois' Fermilab teach us about scientific discovery
Apparently, cows know how to scratch an itch — with a broom. This fascinating new discovery provides the first known example of multipurpose tool use beyond chimpanzees. It required finding just the right cow (her name was Veronika) in just the right paddock (nestled in the Austrian countryside) with just the right owner (a particularly ...Read more
Commentary: Health care is the way for Democrats to win
When someone is sick in this country, they don’t ask for a politician. They ask for a doctor, a nurse, or a therapist — a front line health care worker. They look for someone they trust.
Right now, our country’s health care system is sick.
Families are anxious about their finances. Many are being forced to decide whether they can afford ...Read more
Commentary: Health care jobs surge mask a productivity crisis--and rising costs
Health care and social assistance professions added 693,000 jobs in 2025. Without those gains, the U.S. economy would have lost roughly 570,000 jobs.
At first glance, these numbers suggest that health care is a growth engine in an otherwise slowing labor market. But a closer look reveals something more troubling for patients and health care ...Read more
Commentary: China wants to dominate the future of food. And it might succeed
In early February, I was invited to visit a discreet industrial building just outside Beijing’s historic city center. What I saw inside has the potential to radically restructure the global food system.
Peering through laboratory windows at the New Protein Food Science and Technology Innovation Base, I watched as dozens of tissue engineers ...Read more
Commentary: Global oil crisis once again makes the case for renewable energy
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House and introduced an ambitious solar strategy to Congress. This came on the heels of the oil shocks of the 1970s caused first by the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Arab states and then the Iranian Revolution — both Middle East crises that reverberated across the globe ...Read more
Editorial: The US must not become a nation of emigrants
Since its earliest days, the U.S. has been a nation of immigrants. Increasingly, it’s also a nation of emigrants — a trend that should alarm elected officials and spur them to act.
A recent analysis found that U.S. emigration has reached unprecedented levels. Much of this exodus is due to the administration’s deportation efforts, but by ...Read more
Commentary: A Democratic takeover of the Senate is now imaginable
I’ve seen enough. It’s time to revise our expectations about the midterms.
For more than a year now, conventional wisdom has been that Democrats would take back the House — but not the Senate — in the November midterms.
That’s because this year’s Senate map would require Democrats to win numerous seats in red states.
In fact, if ...Read more
Editorial: Bondi must follow the law: Congress has to force the attorney general has to come clean on the Epstein files
Bravo to the House Oversight Committee for voting on a tally of 24-19 to issue a subpoena against recalcitrant Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files. Let’s hope that still means something.
It bears emphasizing that we’ve reached the point where it is extraordinarily rare for partisan legislators to break ranks, ...Read more
Karishma Vaswani: A delayed Trump-Xi summit is not all bad for China
China has no reason to help the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz — and every incentive to wait out this crisis.
Even President Donald Trump’s request to delay a much-anticipated summit with his Chinese counterpart will work in Xi Jinping’s favor. It allows Beijing to better lay the groundwork on the issues it’s pressing Washington on, from...Read more
Noah Feldman: Courts should stop taking the president at his word
Improper purpose: That concept lies at the heart of the striking opinion by Chief Judge James Boasberg of the federal district court in Washington, which quashed the Trump administration’s subpoenas aimed at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Rather than focusing on procedural irregularities, which lawyers love to do, the judge homed in on ...Read more
Scott McIntosh: Her doctor recommended this cancer drug. Her insurance company denied it
BOISE, Idaho – Getting a cancer diagnosis is scary enough.
For Patricia Nilsson, her diagnosis of endometrial cancer is coming with a hefty dose of frustration: her health insurance company is overriding her doctor’s recommendation for treatment.
And if she were to go ahead with the treatment without approval from her insurance company, it...Read more
Commentary: The time for Cesar Chavez to fall
Those who quote Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” often mistake “Et tu, Brute?” as the dictator’s final line, as Caesar realizes his friend, Marcus Junius Brutus, has stabbed him. With vulgar Caesars dominating the news, from Donald Trump to Cesar Chavez, perhaps Caesar’s actual final line, “Then fall, Caesar,” offers a more ...Read more
Gustavo Arellano: The grief behind the cascade of online Dolores Huerta photos
The photos currently flooding my social media stream are like a highlight reel of the life of Chicana civil rights icon Dolores Huerta.
The famous 1960s-era black-and-white shot of her looking like a bohemian in sweatshirt and black pants while she holds up a sign proclaiming "HUELGA" in the grape fields of California's Central Valley.
...Read more
Editorial: Kent's grandstanding claims don't withstand scrutiny
Subordinates with different opinions about policies can be helpful. Subordinates with different views of reality aren’t.
On Wednesday, Joe Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a spot President Donald Trump had appointed him to. Kent did not go quietly into the night. He posted his resignation letter on X.
“I ...Read more
Editorial: The US says it's winning in Iran. Time to act like it
It seems increasingly evident that the White House rushed into war with Iran without fully considering the potential consequences. That’s all the more reason to hasten the conflict’s end.
After nearly three weeks of fighting, the U.S. is reaching the limits of what air power can accomplish. Although American and Israeli strikes have ...Read more




















































