Politics
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Martin Schram: The political grift goes on
Beneath the brightly lit white Capitol dome, a freshly oranged President Donald Trump was looking his best and telling it just the way he knows his half of Congress – and his MAGA fans at home – always want to hear it.
So it was, last Tuesday night, that he launched into a most unusual loooooong run-on riff of creatively distorted absurdity...Read more

Lisa Jarvis: Cancer vaccine shows hope. Make the investment
A study published last month in Nature underscores the potential for a new personalized pancreatic cancer vaccine to keep the disease from coming back. The trial was tiny, just 16 patients, but it’s eliciting a sentiment not normally associated with this brutal disease: hope.
Pancreatic cancer is notorious for the swiftness with which it ...Read more

Commentary: The imperative for faith-informed response
In the early days of this second Trump presidency, I'm reminded that religious leaders often speak of hope, but now we must do so with urgency and clarity. What we're witnessing isn't just political transition — it's moral regression dressed in the garments of restoration.
When a president speaks of a "golden age" on Martin Luther King Jr. ...Read more

Commentary: How one veteran's coffee club is helping heal divides
Alice Garcia never planned on a military career, but a schedule change in high school set her up for an unlikely stint in the Army Junior ROTC program.
“The only elective that was available after my schedule change was Army JROTC,” she recalled. At the time, she saw it as merely another class, but her mom helped her look at it in a ...Read more

Commentary: Teachers fail students by championing the Iditarod
As you read this, hundreds of dogs are enduring almost unimaginable misery on the Iditarod trail. Subjected to biting winds, blinding snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures, it’s likely some may not make it to the finish line alive. No one with a conscience can support purposefully putting dogs in harm’s way. So why are some teachers still ...Read more

Editorial: Trump uses Democrats as stooges at address to Congress. When will the party learn some common sense?
A CNN instant poll after Tuesday night’s joint address to Congress reported that 66% of speech watchers said that President Donald Trump’s policies will move America in the right direction.
That’s a pretty good snapshot of how the night went for Democrats, who spent the evening disrupting the proceedings, walking out, refusing to stand ...Read more

Nolan Finley: Trump's right. We've never seen anything like this
If you love President Donald Trump, you likely loved Tuesday night's joint address to Congress.
It was stuffed with red meat for the president's base, a forceful assertion of his America First agenda and an answer for every pet peeve on the conservative list of grievances, from booting transsexuals off women's sports teams to ridding the nation...Read more

Commentary: Trump's tariffs: a burden on workers, a boon for the wealthy
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, claiming they would fix trade imbalances and protect jobs. However, instead of helping American workers, these tariffs act as hidden taxes; they drive up costs and feed inflation. While average Americans bear the brunt of higher prices and lost jobs, the ...Read more

Juan Pablo Spinetto: Stop messing with your constitution, Mexico
Here’s a crazy stat: Since September, Mexico has reformed its constitution 14 times, changing 70 articles in the country’s charter.
You don’t need to be an expert on Mexican law to know that’s a lot of meddling: In most democracies, amending a constitution is a convoluted process that typically requires ample political consensus, months...Read more

Commentary: March's most-famous words -- 'Give me liberty or give me death'
“Fiddler on the Roof,” which opened in 1964 and became the first Broadway show to surpass 3,000 performances, is one of the most successful plays in the history of “The Great White Way” (or “The Great Bright Way,” as Whoopi Goldberg prefers).
Its theme is “tradition!” It’s also about change. Tradition provides stability, order...Read more

Editorial: 'The people elected me to do the job, and I'm doing it'
Six weeks into his second term, Donald Trump took an early victory lap Tuesday in his 100-minute address to Congress, promising Americans he will “usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country.”
Trump has never lacked confidence, of course, and the address was typical of his unique oratory style and hyperbolic ...Read more

Patricia Lopez: Elon Musk wants to be a kingmaker again
Elon Musk has his hands full these days. From rampaging through federal departments with the energy of a feudal lord to flirting with right-wingers in Germany’s last election, it’s hard to imagine that a state supreme court race would rank high on his list.
Yet he has turned his sights to Wisconsin, shoveling enough money into a state ...Read more

Commentary: Farmers are the unsung heroes of wildfire crisis
When we think of wildfire fighters, we picture helicopters dropping water, firefighters battling flames and evacuations in the nick of time. But there’s another group on the frontlines — farmers and ranchers. For hundreds of years, the people growing our food have been quietly saving our landscapes as well.
As wildfire resilience educators ...Read more

Justin Fox: We're turning down free money by firing IRS workers
In 1982, a year after shepherding President Ronald Reagan’s tax cut — the biggest ever — through the U.S. Senate, Republican Bob Dole decided something had to be done about the resulting increase in the federal deficit. That something was the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, which closed income-tax loopholes and increased ...Read more

Commentary: Why do trans children in sports warrant an executive order from Donald Trump?
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to address the transgender athletes participating in high school sports. Trump’s order threatened the loss of federal funding if public schools permit transgender students to participate in sports — the latest attack against trans people that attempts to harm trans children.
School ...Read more

Editorial: Trump's disastrous tariffs: American consumers will suffer
President Donald Trump says he is opposed to war, but he has started an unwinnable trade war that will make losers of the American people, American companies and the American economy.
Trump has now instituted 25% across-the-board tariffs against Mexico and Canada, our biggest trading partners, which also happen to be our neighbors with ...Read more

Editorial: Forget what Trump said in a rambling speech Tuesday night. Here is what matters more
In his first address to Congress since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump emphasized his campaign to restrict transgender athletes, and culture war favorites such as renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali, for nearly 20 minutes before turning to pocketbook issues that are frustrating so many Americans.
For Trump, this ...Read more

COUNTERPOINT: Tariffs are Trumpian for higher prices
To paraphrase Shakespeare, a tax by any other name costs as much. Despite President Donald Trump’s self-professed love affair with tariffs, they are a tax just like any other tax. They raise prices and reduce purchasing power.
Taxes aren’t always bad, but the question is what we hope to accomplish with tariffs. President Joe Biden imposed ...Read more

POINT: Let free trade work its magic
Tariff advocates have three main arguments. One, they raise revenue. Two, they revive domestic industries. And three, they are a diplomatic negotiating tool. Not only do these arguments not stand on their own, they contradict one another.
It’s true the government consumes lots of money. Currently, its primary source of revenue other than ...Read more

David Mastio: Trump's balanced budget pledge to Congress is fantasy. Tax cuts will mean huge deficit
In Donald Trump’s speech, personalities loomed large. Whether it was George Washington’s second best presidency or Elon Musk’s brilliant work at the Department of Government Efficiency or Joe Biden’s disastrous egg statesmanship, Trump’s perspective was just a bit cracked. But on one subject, the whole dozen fell out of the cart and ...Read more