Politics
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Editorial: Chicago's civic-minded business leaders are just fat cats to Mayor Brandon Johnson
The weekend of July 4, 2024, was a bloody one in Chicago. Over 100 people were shot in the city and, for 19 Chicagoans, this was the last holiday weekend they ever would see.
In its wake, this city’s business leaders announced a remarkable thing: They had come up with $104 million to fight the violent crime that they could see was ...Read more

Anita Chabria: Is Pelosi getting 'Bidened'? High drama in the scramble for her congressional seat
State Sen. Scott Wiener is a strategic and effective legislator who rarely lets emotion make his decisions — much like Nancy Pelosi, whose congressional seat he would like to take.
It has been a wide-open secret for years that Wiener wanted to make a run for federal office when or if Pelosi retired, but he's also been deferential to the ...Read more

Editorial: Trump's injustice hits Bolton: Politicized DOJ takes aim at another critic
So make it three for three (so far) on Donald Trump’s enemy list to be charged with federal crimes, as former National Security Advisor John Bolton has now been indicted.
While the Bolton charges might be more solid than those lodged against former FBI Director Jim Comey and New York Attorney General Tish James (of which there are no grounds)...Read more

Trudy Rubin: Trump caves again to Putin rather than strengthening Ukraine
In case anyone thought Donald Trump’s over-hyped Mideast peace deal proved he had the guts to finally get serious about the war in Ukraine, think again. Once more, the president has bowed to Vladimir Putin.
The day before his scheduled White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when optimists predicted he might let Kyiv...Read more

Commentary: If AirPods can instantly translate, why learn a language?
In recent weeks, Apple’s Live Translation for the latest iPhone and AirPods models has been everywhere. The pitch is simple: Two people speaking different languages can understand each other instantly. In the same season, Congress moved to trim federal support for international and area studies under Title VI, and agencies have begun signaling...Read more

Commentary: TSA got smart with a PreCheck discount -- but it could be even smarter
Airport security is a necessary evil to enjoy the privilege of air travel. Most of us would prefer just to pack our bags, go to the airport, and get on a plane. For nearly all travelers, the air system would remain just as secure as it is today. However, a few “bad actors” make it necessary for all of us to traverse through the airport ...Read more

Commentary: Donald Trump applies his strongman approach to Latin America
Other than frustration at surging migration, Latin America has not merited the same level of attention in Washington as the Middle East, Europe or Asia in recent history. That indifference has ended with the second Trump administration, but the nature of our renewed attention is not exactly what many of our neighbors might have hoped for.
...Read more

Commentary: Housing is needed for domestic violence survivors
Sarah stared at us — her knees shaking, hands trembling, eyes holding back tears — and asked: “Where do I go now?”
Sarah, whose real name I’ve withheld to protect her privacy, had just courageously left her abusive partner when she arrived at our center, the Nashville Office of Family Safety. But now, she found herself without a place...Read more

Editorial: Amazon's holiday catalog brings back the joy of the toy store
The Amazon Holiday Kids Gift Book, which just recently hit mailboxes months ahead of Christmas, has become the modern child’s wish book — a glossy stand-in for the toy store aisles their parents once roamed. It sparks the same giddy anticipation that used to come from pressing noses to store windows, something today’s kids see in old-timey...Read more

Commentary: Cuts to Medicaid and to insurance subsidies will push ERs past the brink
Back in 2007, President George W. Bush was being challenged on his opposition to the Children’s Health Insurance Program — which provides health coverage for children in families too poor to afford private insurance, yet too “wealthy” to qualify for Medicaid. His response was honest, if characteristically clumsy: “People have access to...Read more

Editorial: A Nobel Prize for the economics of progress
This year’s Nobel Prize for economics is unusually pertinent. It honors three scholars who, in different ways, have tried to understand why innovation happens and how it promotes economic growth. These questions have never seemed more pressing.
Technological progress shows no sign of stalling. Quite the opposite: Artificial intelligence ...Read more

Mary Ellen Klas: National Guard troops didn't sign up for this
“Nobody signed up for this.” That’s the reaction I keep getting from military and National Guard veterans about President Donald Trump’s deployment of troops to U.S. cities over the objections of Democratic mayors and governors.
They worry that the very thing military members enlist to do — to serve and protect the country — is ...Read more

James Stavridis: The Gaza peace plan will fail without US troops
When I led U.S. European Command from 2009 to 2013, Israel and the Levant were part of my geographic area of responsibility. I often went to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the West Bank and, yes, the Gaza Strip. It was a daunting part of my remit, and I sought advice from a longtime mentor: Henry Kissinger, who knew a thing or two about the Middle East.
...Read more

Commentary: Katie Porter turns out to be a mean boss. Voters should know better than to hire her again
It’s been a rough week or so for gubernatorial candidate (and former representative) Katie Porter — the kind of stretch that makes you wonder if her campaign bus runs on gas or spite.
First, Porter, 51, threatened to walk out of an interview with a local CBS affiliate after the interviewer had the unmitigated gall — gall! — to ask her ...Read more

Andreas Kluth: The Gaza ceasefire won't win back young Americans for Israel
Huzzah, hosanna and hallelujah: To U.S. President Donald Trump for brokering a ceasefire that could, possibly, mark the beginnings of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. To the hostages and their families, who are reunited at last. To the Gazans who can finally face their trauma without new bombs dropping on them. And yet, and yet.
It may ...Read more

Commentary: Trump's new order could redefine protests as 'domestic terrorism'
President Donald Trump’s executive order designating antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization” was never really about antifa. It was about building a template for repression. Now, with his latest order on “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” the blueprint is clear: free expression, political dissent ...Read more

Editorial: The Missouri GOP is trying to steal a US House seat. Here's how to stop them
Now that the Missouri GOP has jettisoned any quaint notions of fair and equal representation and moved to blatantly disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Kansas City-area Democrats, what can responsible Missourians (of any political persuasion) do to stop them?
Plenty. Citizens can join the effort to put the issue to a statewide vote next ...Read more

Editorial: Want to save Colorado River water? Look to farmers
A new study reveals that programs intended to reduce agriculture water use are the most effective means of stretching the Colorado River’s scarce resources. This should be self-evident but tends to get lost amid rhetoric about urban water consumption.
The analysis, by the Journal of the American Water Resources Association, examined more than...Read more

Commentary: The CDC's biosecurity blind spot endangers public health and science
A mounting biosecurity crisis is unfolding in U.S. laboratories, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention knows it. Newly published data from the agency show that imported monkeys infected with tuberculosis —the world’s deadliest infectious disease — are slipping through federal quarantine and into American research facilities.
...Read more

Commentary: Bridging the red-blue divide on climate
Heather Reams, the president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES), stepped onto the stage at Breckenridge’s Mountain Towns 2030 summit — a room full of progressives accustomed to negotiating with Republicans on climate policy. She faced an audience from Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado — areas that often depend on ...Read more