Politics
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Hal Brands: Iran's four possible responses to Israel -- and their risks
Israel’s attack on Iran opens the next phase of the Great Middle Eastern War that began on Oct. 7, 2023. Over the past 20 months, that war has played out on fronts across the region and has drawn in actors from around the globe.
There is much we don’t yet know about what has happened, let alone what will happen. But it is clear that Iran ...Read more

Editorial: Iran's nukes must be destroyed -- Israel's mission will help the whole world
Promising an apocalypse by the ayatollahs who were getting ever closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon to carry out that diabolical wish, Israel had every right to hit Iran to disable its uranium enrichment facilities and its ballistic missile infrastructure.
The Friday strikes were not the start of a war by Israel, but hopefully the first blows ...Read more

Commentary: Trump puts marginalized people at risk
When I was 18, I found myself in a relationship that rapidly oscillated between affection and abuse. That experience helped me to understand, years later, the cycle of power and control inherent to domestic violence, enabling me to avoid future abusive relationships and foster healthy connections.
I owe this understanding to the support and ...Read more

Andreas Kluth: Israel's Iran attack could wreck the US' Middle-East strategy
The world is raining on Donald Trump’s parade. That’s not only the meteorological forecast — the president’s caudillo-style military spectacle in Washington on his (and the army’s) birthday, Jun. 14, may be a downer owing to bad weather. It’s also the case metaphorically, now that Israel has started attacking Iran, possibly causing ...Read more

Commentary: Crime is down in Chicago, but there may be trouble ahead
It’s one step forward, two steps back.
That’s the state of public safety in Chicago. Summer fun is here, but in recent years, that’s been overshadowed by the specter of escalating crime.
This year, however, Chicago is enjoying a desperately needed retreat from surging violent crime.
That’s the step forward. This May, the city suffered...Read more

Marc Champion: Netanyahu's big gamble risks a quicker Iranian bomb
There are three immediate questions to answer about the war that Israel has started with Iran, all of which lead to the most important of all: Can this achieve Israel’s stated goal of ensuring, once and for all, that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon?
If it can, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to launch Israeli jets against...Read more

LZ Granderson: Don't wait for an election year to listen to Black men
Heading into the final stretch of the 2024 election, it seemed every cable news program had a segment dedicated to this one question: What will Black men do?
Progressives on the ground were voicing concerns about Black male voter turnout long before the 2022 midterms. But because the overturning of Roe vs. Wade enabled Democrats to avoid a “...Read more

Editorial: Stopping future Harvey Weinsteins -- The NY Assembly must join the state Senate and pass the similar crimes bill
Harvey Weinstein is guilty, in a Manhattan state courtroom, of a 2006 sexual assault, again, just like he was found guilty in a Manhattan state courtroom five years ago of the same 2006 sexual assault.
Weinstein’s first conviction was thrown out and a new trial was needed because New York law does not allow the use of evidence from other, ...Read more

Commentary: Dear Latino Voter
I get it. Voting can sometimes feel like we are choosing between the lesser of two evils, if we decide to vote at all.
Even though Latinos voted in record numbers in 2024, millions of eligible Latino voters sat out an election whose outcome greatly impacted them.
Again, I get it: both Democrats and Republicans have mixed reputations in the ...Read more

Commentary: Israel strikes Iran. Will the US remain on the sidelines?
"I want to thank President Trump for his leadership in confronting Iran's nuclear weapons program. He has made clear time and again that Iran cannot have a nuclear enrichment program," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address soon after launching Operation Rising Lion, an attack on Iran.
Netanyahu said that Israel targeted Iran’s ...Read more

Abby McCloskey: Vouchers aren't enough to fix US schools
It’s the end of another school year. Is it the end of American public schools?
Some in Texas think so, following the recent passage of a statewide voucher program. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, parents will be able to use vouchers to offset tuition costs at participating private schools.
Despite the dire predictions of critics, ...Read more

Editorial: Nothing fake about synthetic food dye health risks
U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, recently reintroduced the “Do or Dye Act,” and it’s a big deal. The bill, which picks up a key piece of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” playbook, wants to kick eight nasty petroleum-based food dyes — including Red No. 40, ...Read more

Commentary: Bowling alone, voting for Trump -- The collapse that made Trump possible
As an undergraduate, a wise professor once told me that what happens between elections matters just as much as the elections themselves. It’s in town halls, neighborhood associations, labor unions, PTA meetings, and volunteer drives where the habits of self-government are formed—and where a culture of pluralism, empathy, and shared ...Read more
Editorial: Iran's nukes must be destroyed: Israel's mission will help the whole world
Promising an apocalypse by the ayatollahs who were getting ever closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon to carry out that diabolical wish, Israel had every right to hit Iran to disable its uranium enrichment facilities and its ballistic missile infrastructure.
The Friday strikes were not the start of a war by Israel, but hopefully the first blows ...Read more

Editorial: Republicans may find they need to get behind the ACA
House Republicans’ reconciliation bill seeks to pay for $5 trillion of tax cuts by slashing health-care spending, potentially leaving millions of Americans uninsured. The job of averting this self-inflicted disaster now falls to the Senate.
The legislation seeks to cut $793 billion from Medicaid, the health program for the poor. Half this sum...Read more

Jonathan Levin: Ted Cruz's Fed plan is a massive distraction
You can count on Senate Republicans to find pointless budgetary gimmicks to avoid talking about serious deficit reduction. In an interview last week with CNBC, Senator Ted Cruz floated the idea that the Federal Reserve should just stop paying interest to banks to save taxpayers money. Budget squeeze solved, easy peasy!
Here’s Cruz:
The ...Read more

Commentary: When an unnatural heat wave kills, has Big Oil committed murder?
Who, if anyone, is responsible when a person dies from unnatural heat? And what does the law have to say about it?
As a prosecutor for over a decade working on cases that implicated both civil and criminal liability, I have grappled with the gravity of bringing the weight of criminal law to bear in a range of contexts. Recently, along with ...Read more

Allison Schrager: A college degree is no longer a risk-free investment
My unifying theory of finance is that everything goes seriously wrong when people start seeing something — a bond, a mortgage-backed security, a crypto exchange — as risk-free when it isn’t. Look at any financial crisis or minor blowup, and that’s always where it starts.
Lately I have been wondering if my hypothesis applies to areas ...Read more

Editorial: Law must prevail over force -- There's no invasion of LA except for federal troops
Despite what President Donald Trump and his border czar Tom Homan claim, the only invasion of Los Angeles is by the illegally mobilized National Guard and Marines, brought into the city against the will of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The anti-ICE protests in L.A. were being contained and handled by local law enforcement, the robust LAPD and ...Read more

David M. Drucker: Will Republican gains among Hispanic voters last?
Barrels of ink were spilled for interviews with White working-class voters after President Donald Trump first captured the White House in 2016 as the press rushed to report why this coveted constituency had embraced the Republican Party. But the shift among working-class Hispanics has been even more dramatic — and has received only a fraction ...Read more