Politics
/ArcaMax
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Nolan Finley: O Canada, we don't really want you
I've never had much luck with Canadians.
Years ago, I kept a boat at a marina on the Thames River outside of Windsor. I headed up there after work one evening with a buddy for a sail, and before I had even loosened the dock lines, he and an employee of the marina were bumping bellies over some slight committed by one or the other — I never ...Read more
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Editorial: Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan as Kennedy Center honorees? Donald Trump must respect artistic freedom in Washington and beyond
“Why must every president overplay his hand?” Christopher J. Scalia wrote on X the other day. Scalia, the son of the famed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and hardly a raging progressive, was referring to a presidential communication Feb. 7 that declared Donald Trump’s intention to “make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT ...Read more
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Commentary: Why homelessness skyrocketed in 2024 – and what to do about it
In 2024, the U.S. saw the largest spike in homelessness since the federal government began regularly collecting data in 2007. This wasn’t a fluke. U.S. homelessness has been on a steep and steady climb – and immigration is largely responsible.
U.S. homelessness hit record highs in both 2023 and 2024, in large part because of major increases...Read more
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Commentary: Amid Trump's war on LGBTQ+ teens, social media platforms must step up
With Trump’s war on inclusion, life has suddenly become even more dangerous for LGBTQ youth. The CDC has removed health information for LGBTQ+ people from its website—including information about creating safe, supportive spaces. Meanwhile, Trump’s executive order, couched in hateful and inaccurate language, has stopped gender-affirming ...Read more
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Commentary: Here's how the Trump administration can curb housing costs
One reason American voters handed the country’s reins back to President Donald Trump was the extreme inflation in housing prices that took place under his predecessor.
The federal government has less influence over this issue than, say, California mayors and legislators — but whoever is in the White House can take certain steps to push ...Read more
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Lisa Jarvis: More infants are dying in states with abortion bans
Two new studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association drive home the devastating effects abortion bans have on the lives of women and children: Severe restrictions lead to many more unplanned births, as well as more infant deaths.
That outcome isn’t a surprise. It mirrors what was gleaned from early data on infant mortality in ...Read more
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Commentary: Just words, or did Trump mean it: 'He who saves his country violates no Law'
Last week, President Donald Trump shared this quote on Truth Social and X: "He who saves his country violates no Law."
I’ve learned with Trump not always to take him literally but to take him seriously. In this case, I am taking his comment very seriously.
It appears that this specific quote, "He who saves his country violates no Law," which...Read more
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Editorial: Universal basic income fails another test
There’s a reason that ideas from the progressive ivory tower need to be tested. Often, the grandest theories fall apart when exposed to the rigors of the real world.
Consider the case of universal basic income, which is all the rage among many Democrats. The government would provide every individual with a monthly check. Proponents believe ...Read more
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Commentary: LA can lean on other cities to prevent fires, not just to fight them
As Los Angeles burned, firefighters from near and far rushed to our city. Crews from all over California; from Texas, Oregon, Arizona, tribal reservations and Mexico and Canada (despite the U.S. tariff threats) joined the fight against the blazes. Even embattled Ukraine offered help.
This is mutual aid in action — a “spirit of cooperation,�...Read more
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John M. Crisp: The Gulf Formerly Known as Mexico
What’s in a name? Evidently, quite a lot.
As he flew over it on Feb. 9, President Donald Trump, by executive order, renamed the Gulf formerly known as Mexico as the Gulf of America. This, he said, is “even bigger than the Super Bowl,” which happened to be his destination at the time. (We’ll get back to the Gulf shortly.)
Trump has a ...Read more
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Karishma Vaswani: Trump's phone call with Putin is causing a stir in Taiwan
One phone call does not a treaty make, but President Donald Trump’s conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on ending the war in Ukraine is worrying Taiwan. China will watch developments for any hint on whether a resolution spells a similar future for the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te’s ...Read more
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Editorial: Shielding New York's doctors: Out-of-state anti-abortion laws don't apply here
Facing down anti-abortions politicians in Louisiana and Texas who want to export their policies here, Gov. Kathy Hochul is rightly refusing, asserting New York’s right to set its own laws. Ultimately, the matter will reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which has stated that abortion is to be decided on the state level and New York has decided to ...Read more
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Doyle McManus: Democrats belatedly wake up to start battling Trump and Musk
WASHINGTON — A president's first few weeks in office were once expected to be a "honeymoon," a pleasant if brief period of bipartisanship and good feeling.
President Donald Trump's first four weeks have been a blitzkrieg, a furious assault on the federal agencies he was elected to manage.
Trump and his shock troops, led by Elon Musk, have ...Read more
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Trudy Rubin: At Munich Security Conference, Trump makes it clear: Europe and Ukraine are on their own
MUNICH, Germany — Last weekend will be remembered as the historic moment when the Trump administration broke America’s historic bonds with fellow democracies in Europe to pursue alliances with far-right extremist governments that admire Russia more than they do the United States.
The drama took place at the annual Munich Security Conference...Read more
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Editorial: Trump's Gaza bombshell would constitute ethnic cleansing
No president ever proposed anything so unhinged as President Donald Trump’s brutal fantasy of evicting some 2.3 million Palestinians from Gaza and turning it into a massive real estate deal.
Trump’s “Riviera of the Middle East” is so drastic, wrong and delusional as to make people wonder whether he was serious or had just gone mad. It ...Read more
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Commentary: Sanctuary cities pose an unacceptable risk to public safety
The House Oversight Committee is investigating the policies of sanctuary jurisdictions in Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City. These cities, which refuse to fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, claim they are protecting immigrant communities. However, their policies have far-reaching consequences that hinder federal law ...Read more
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Editorial: Ethical dilemmas of AI need illumination
It is the stuff of science fiction: artificial intelligence mimicking human thought.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Does it portend a future where workers are free of the most mundane tasks, or an era of massive unemployment where even poetry, music and art is churned out of data centers?
When it comes to AI, parameters of the debate are...Read more
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Joe Battenfeld: Deranged Democrats fighting reform, transparency and accountability
The Democrats face a major dilemma: How to fight a popular president who is doing what he was elected to do — ferret out waste and corruption in government.
Yet led by a screaming Elizabeth Warren and aging Ed Markey the Democrats appear to be laying the groundwork for another impeachment by filing dozens of lawsuits against the White House. ...Read more
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Commentary: The problems with DEI don't justify Trump's bigoted actions
Let’s start with the easy part: The attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion by President Donald Trump’s administration represent an enormous threat to freedom of speech in America.
Federal agencies have been required to remove references to “gender” and “environmental justice” — alongside “diversity” and “inclusion” —...Read more
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David Mastio: Like it or not, Washington needs creative destruction brought by Trump and Musk
Before Donald Trump, change came to Washington very slowly. Now it has come in a great, big, destructive whirl. Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) deputy and fellow billionaire Elon Musk is leading the charge in shuttering and rearranging government agencies, but much of the change is coming straight from Trump’s pen in ...Read more