Politics
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Editorial: There's no partisan monopoly on bad ideas to combat the high cost of living
Politicians all along the ideological spectrum are in agreement on the big issue currently animating Americans. Stuff is too expensive.
President Donald Trump, after mocking talk of “affordability” as a “hoax” last year, has pivoted now to proffering a slew of questionable, quick-fix policies to lower prices for Americans.
Here in ...Read more
Gautam Mukunda: CEOs staying silent is no longer an option
This week the Trump administration threatened a two-front war, with one against America’s allies and another against its own central bank. The White House’s threats to use force to seize Greenland from Denmark and the launch of a Justice Department criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are profound and needless ...Read more
Editorial: Remain wary even as feds resume review of research grant applications
News that the Trump administration has agreed to reevaluate thousands of science and medical research grant applications held up because they supposedly had elements of diversity, equity and inclusion should be met with cautious optimism.
Some of the research grants by the National Institutes of Health, which is under the Department of Health ...Read more
Jackie Calmes: Trump celebrates our nation's founding while imitating tyrant King George III
It's a measure of President Donald Trump's lack of self-awareness — a superpower, really, for authoritarian demagogues like him who otherwise would shrink from their worst impulses — that he apparently doesn't see the evident contradiction in his simultaneous support for protesters in Iran and damnation of those in his own country.
For days...Read more
Commentary: Kitchen table truths -- Why America needs a pay raise
Affordability as a political issue would in no way surprise my family. During Sunday dinners with my two-jobs, blue-collar mother and my retired grandparents, a former truck driver and former cafeteria worker, prices were always a topic of conversation. Even when inflation was low. Why?
All three were running on a treadmill to keep up. My ...Read more
Commentary: Landmark education law deserves protection
The Trump administration recently announced its plan to move oversight of Title I, the federal program serving roughly 26 million children living in poverty, from the U.S. Department of Education to the Department of Labor. The change has drawn little public attention, but its consequences could be far-reaching for families and schools across ...Read more
Commentary: AI can't do soul-searching. Here's why we need philosophy
As Bob Dylan once said: “The times, they are a-changin’.”
One only need to look to the emergence of artificial intelligence to know the lyrics from this 1964 song continue to ring true today. But for all its strengths — from offering travel tips to investment advice to writing term papers and poetry — AI content is also a double-edged...Read more
Commentary: The failure of the international community to confront Trump
President Donald Trump has just done one of the most audacious acts of his presidency: sending a military squad to Venezuela and kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Without question, this is a clear violation of international law regarding the sovereignty of nations.
The U.S. was not at war with Venezuela, nor has Trump/Congress ...Read more
Editorial: Minnesota is under siege. This cannot stand
Minnesota has endured unrest before. What the state is now experiencing looks and feels different. Battalions of armed federal agents are moving through neighborhoods, transit hubs, malls and parking lots and staging near churches, mosques and schools. Strangers with guns have metastasized in spaces where daily life should be routine and safe. ...Read more
Editorial: ICE shooting should be mourned -- and investigated
The simple question that Army lawyer Joseph Welch posed to Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954 — “Have you no sense of decency?” — helped end a witch hunt that was tearing the country in two.
The question seems almost quaint now, given the vitriol that routinely infects US politics. And yet, in the aftermath of the killing of a Minneapolis ...Read more
Commentary: Trump's rhetoric of exaggeration hurts democracy
One of the most telling aspects of President Donald Trump’s political style isn’t a specific policy but how he talks about the world.
His speeches and social media posts overflow with superlatives: “The likes of which nobody’s ever seen before,” “Numbers we’ve never seen,” and “Like nobody ever thought possible.” This ...Read more
POINT: How America changed after Trump's return
In just 12 months since President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, the difference in the country is unmistakable. Americans can feel the change in the tone of public debate. They can see it in the renewed confidence of people who spent four years wondering whether anyone in Washington still spoke their language. They can also hear it ...Read more
Commentary: I've been the 'doctor on board' during an in-flight emergency. Airlines need better medical kits
Every holiday season, millions of Americans hop on a plane to visit friends and family. Most people are anxious about flight delays and cancellations, but as an emergency room physician, there’s one announcement I dread the most: “Is there a doctor on board?” My reluctance isn’t due to any potential inconvenience or legal liability, but ...Read more
Michael Hiltzik: Trump is demanding a 10% cap on credit card interest. Here's why that's a lousy idea
A few days ago, President Donald Trump staked a claim to the "affordability" issue by demanding that banks cap their credit card interest rates at 10% for one year.
Actually, Trump announced that in effect he had imposed the cap, a claim that some news organizations accepted as gospel.
So let's dispose of that misconception right off: Trump ...Read more
Anita Chabria: ICE can't be trusted. Can California force accountability?
Before Minneapolis was left to mourn the death of Renee Good, there was George Floyd.
Same town, same sorrow, same questions — what becomes of society when you can't trust the authorities? What do you do when the people tasked with upholding the law break the rules, lie and even kill?
California is pushing to answer that question, with laws ...Read more
COUNTERPOINT: The 'Trump effect' is a bust for the working class
President Donald Trump returned to the White House with a signature promise: to be a “champion for the American worker” and launch a “golden age” for domestic manufacturing. By the end of year one of his second term, Trump’s rhetoric hasn’t matched economic reality. As working-class families increasingly struggle to make ends meet, ...Read more
Commentary: Those who execute military orders carry all the risk
The dispute between Sen. Mark Kelly and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is being told as a simple morality play. On one side, the claim that Kelly crossed a line and deserves punishment. On the other, the insistence that Kelly is a hero beyond reproach and that the administration’s response is villainy. Both frames are comforting. Both are ...Read more
David M. Drucker: The dubious art of explaining what Trump 'really means'
Prominent Republicans insist on treating President Donald Trump like a child or a clueless old man, telling Americans that he does not mean what he says — despite the commander in chief making quite clear he means exactly that.
Trump’s threat to use military force to seize Greenland from Denmark, a U.S. ally via the North Atlantic Treaty ...Read more
Commentary: Trump's strategic strike in Venezuela creates opportunities for US energy dominance
“Operation Absolute Resolve” successfully dismantled illegitimate President Nicolás Maduro’s dangerous narcoterrorism regime and created valuable opportunities for the U.S. economy — fueled by the oil sector.
The Trump agenda prioritizes unleashing American energy, which includes maximizing domestic production of traditional ...Read more
Marc Champion: Iran's Khamenei is now ruling by naked power alone
There are few moments as clarifying as a true crisis and Iran’s revolutionary, Islamist regime is in the depths of one. So what are we learning?
One revelation from the recent wave of protests concerns the nature of the governing structure that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has shaped and overseen for all but 10 of the Islamic Republic’s 46 ...Read more




















































