Politics
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Commentary: Public broadcasting boosts American democracy
If a society wants to toughen the fabric of its democracy, it’s essential that it nurture a citizenry that can think critically and consume information with a sustained attention span. Conversely, the last thing someone intent on derailing a democracy wants is a thoughtful electorate.
Our Founding Fathers saw the free press as key to the ...Read more

Commentary: My family's archive shows why Palestinians are owed reparations
My father, Jawdat Bseiso, was 23 when everything changed.
As the favorite son of Mahrous Mustafa Bseiso — one of the largest landowners in southern Palestine — he was being groomed to inherit our family’s legacy. My grandfather was a prominent businessman in Beersheba, a thriving Palestinian city where Muslims, Christians and Jews once ...Read more

Editorial: Hollow victory on tariffs: China deal only softens self-inflicted blow
Only in the upside-down world of Donald Trump’s second term can 30% import duties on our largest trading partner be considered a positive sign, with the stock market soaring. So yes, the Trump administration and China announced a deal to lower tariffs. But it’s only slated to last 90 days, and it is merely lowering the tariff rate from an ...Read more

Commentary: On autism and vaccines, there are lies, damned lies and statistics
During an interview in late April with Dr. Phil, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reiterated his appeal to parents on vaccine safety: “We live in a democracy, and part of the responsibility of being a parent is to do your own research.”
The U.S. health secretary has also announced his own investigation, pledging to find an answer to the autism “...Read more

Joe Battenfeld: Democrats' new platform: We're not the party of law and order
It’s official: Democrats have decided to become the party of protecting illegal criminal migrants and gang members – and that is their key to regaining power.
The left elements of the party now control Democrats and they are the ones who could be responsible for destroying the party.
The Democrats are not the party of law and order. They ...Read more

Commentary: The high cost of California's green energy policies
Since the early 2000s, governors and legislators from both parties have signed onto a climate agenda in California that is making energy steadily unaffordable.
Gasoline in California, according to AAA, which tracks national gas prices daily, costs an average of about $4.78, compared with $3.16 nationally. The cost of electricity in the state is...Read more

Anita Chabria: Clearing encampments looks good politically. But criminalizing homelessness is bad policy
Homeless encampments are dirty. And ugly. And seem, to those who venture near them and even to some who live there, unsafe.
They are also — sadly, wrongly — places of last resort for those whose second, third and even fourth chances haven't panned out, sometimes through their own mistakes, sometimes because they're so far down just staying ...Read more

Mark Z. Barabak: Is there a middle ground on immigration? This Republican thinks so
Bob Worsley has solid conservative credentials. He's anti abortion. A fiscal hawk and lifelong member of the Mormon Church. As an Arizona state senator, he won high marks from the National Rifle Association.
These days, however, Worsley is an oddity, an exception, a Republican pushing back against the animating impulses of today's MAGA-fied ...Read more

Commentary: The Trump administration cools off India-Pakistan conflict -- for now
At a time when the administration of President Donald Trump is trying to cement a short-term ceasefire in Ukraine, end the war in Gaza and strike a comprehensive trade deal with China, the last thing it needed was a conflict between two nuclear-armed rivals.
Last week, India and Pakistan, historic adversaries that have fought multiple wars and ...Read more

Editorial: Depression, isolation and substance use all are up. Are Illinois teens OK?
Illinois teens are turning to alcohol and drug use at alarming rates.
New research published May 8 from the University of Illinois finds that alcohol use among Illinois teens is now double the national average, a shocking finding. Other drugs, including cannabis and prescription painkillers, are gaining ground as well.
Are the kids OK? ...Read more

Mihir Sharma: How the US gave India and Pakistan an excuse to stand down
When President Donald Trump announced Saturday that India and Pakistan had agreed to a ceasefire, it surprised most on the subcontinent. The military exchanges that followed a terrorist attack on tourists in Kashmir had only intensified in the days prior. And few outsiders seemed interested in the conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations �...Read more

Commentary: Trump is pitching austerity? Tough sell
The war on Christmas came early this year — and from an unexpected source: Donald Trump. It’s only May, but he’s already laying the groundwork for empty shelves, wallets and stockings, all thanks to a tariff policy that could hit American consumers hard.
“Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls,” Trump shrugged ...Read more

Shuli Ren: Trump and Xi tone down a senseless trade war
The U.S. and China are calling a 90-day truce in their trade war, temporarily lowering tariffs on each other from eye-wateringly high levels.
The sharp climb-down well exceeded market expectations, with investors rushing back into Hong Kong and New York-listed stocks. U.S. levies on most Chinese imports will be reduced to 30% from 145%, while ...Read more

Commentary: Trump's budget would lock in big-government spending and deficits
President Donald Trump’s 2026 “skinny budget” is out, and at first glance it gives small-government advocates reason to cheer. It proposes deep cuts to domestic agencies, calls for eliminating redundant programs and gestures toward reviving federalism by shifting power and responsibility back to the states. It promises to slash ...Read more

Editorial: House Republicans are handing JB Pritzker an opportunity to campaign
In a little over a month, Gov. JB Pritzker will be one of three governors of so-called sanctuary states testifying before the U.S. House Oversight Committee.
Republicans who run that panel held a similar session in early March in which Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was one of four mayors put on the spot about laws that forbid local police from ...Read more

John M. Crisp: Trump is deciding what kind of nation we are
I wonder if nations can be characterized by the same attributes, emotions and traits that we use to describe people. Can a nation grieve or be aggrieved, just as a person can? Can it be welcoming and accommodating as opposed to insular and exclusive? Can a nation be proud? Or prideful? Can it be empathetic or cruel?
In a democracy one hopes ...Read more

Editorial: Hands off -- Trump attempt to suspend habeas corpus is a bright red line
The Trump White House is 1,000% wrong in “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in the context of immigration. It is the only protection written into the Constitution, not the Bill of Rights, a fundamental shield — stretching back to the Magna Carta — to contest one’s detention by the government: “The Privilege of the Writ of...Read more

LZ Granderson: Watch for even small shifts in Texas politics. Sometimes tectonic movements follow
Waskom, Texas, is an old railroad town of about 2,000 nestled at the midway point between Dallas and Shreveport, La. According to the city's website, Waskom became a significant player in America's east-to-west trade during the 1880s because J.M. Waskom, a director of the Southern Pacific Railroad, "led the way in bringing the railroad to East ...Read more

Commentary: Why older Americans are Trump's biggest nightmare
That there’s a spasm of dislike for Trump’s chaotic presidency is not news — new polls show Americans unhappier with this president at 100 days than any of his predecessors.
Much of the attention has focused on his rapidly falling numbers with young voters (“Is Gen Z abandoning Trump?” Newsweek asked last week), but we’re seeing ...Read more

Commentary: Are the kids all right? They experience school very differently than we did
I am standing outside the auditorium, seeing my students line up, or attempt to, for graduation photos. In their formal best, they complain their hair isn’t what they wanted or ask when the retakes are. They sneak their phones out to take selfies and ussies, while I am nagged for bobby pins, help with ties and, yes, even, a pocket square.
I ...Read more