Politics
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Commentary: Americans still believe in democracy -- but disagree on what threatens it most
At a time when polarization often drowns out nuance, a new report from More in Common titled “Shared Ideals, Divergent Realities” offers a revealing portrait of Americans’ views on democracy in the Trump era.
Despite a political climate dominated by division and distrust, the findings underscore a striking and perhaps hopeful truth: ...Read more

Editorial: Gender-treatment ruling hardly a definition of tyranny
The culture wars were on full display Wednesday when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold a Tennessee law that banned gender transition treatments for children. While the legal issues were arcane, the ruling is a victory for common sense.
Progressives and many media sympathizers portrayed the decision as an “attack” on trans rights (Vox). ...Read more

Commentary: While schools are out, our youths need to continue to read
As the summer approaches and the school year ends, schools across the country are concerned about the upcoming year and the federal cuts that may come with the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.
The concern is even more pressing considering a report released in January by the National Assessment of Educational Progress that shows ...Read more

LZ Granderson: Where's the music that meets this moment? Black artists are stepping up
It’s been one year since Kendrick Lamar took the Kia Forum stage in Inglewood for “The Pop Out: Ken and Friends,” the first in a series of highly publicized victory laps that have come at the expense of his deflated rival, Drake. Their rap battle began more than a decade ago, and the two heavyweights exchanged subtle lyrical jabs until the...Read more

Commentary: Trump's violence lit the Minnesota fuse
In 2009, Janet Napolitano, former President Barack Obama’s homeland security secretary, announced a study of right-wing violence like the Oklahoma City terror bombing. But after Rush Limbaugh furiously condemned what he called a “Big Sis terror list,” she apologized and suspended the probe.
Get ready for two polar responses to the ...Read more

Commentary: Why 'monstrify'? Look at who benefits when few are considered fully human
In March, the Trump administration deported 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, allegedly for membership in the criminal organization Tren de Aragua.
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, these men were “terrorists” and “heinous monsters.” President Donald Trump echoed her, calling them “monsters” on his social ...Read more

Patricia Murphy: American lawmakers shot in their homes. How did we get here?
The warning signs have been flashing red for years now: the foiled kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump; U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski telling an Alaska audience recently, “We’re all afraid.”
When two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes over the weekend, ...Read more

Editorial: Florida attorney general, now held in contempt, should stop politicizing the job
“Fidelity to the rule of law can have no other meaning.” That’s what U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams wrote Tuesday when she found Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt of court for continuing to enforce an immigration law she blocked.
Uthmeier was appointed to the job in February by Gov. Ron DeSantis. He swore an oath ...Read more

Editorial: Trump isn't just 'enforcing the law' on immigration -- he's weaponizing it
President Donald Trump was returned to the White House this year largely on the strength of one issue: immigration. Trump’s narrative of a nation being overrun by violent migrant criminals was never real, but the Biden administration’s failure to prioritize border control was.
It’s safe to say a great many Americans who don’t ...Read more

Editorial: ICEing out any dissent -- Trump arrests of elected officials are intimidation
President Donald Trump’s needlessly rough and cruel attitude for ICE in his mission to round up as many people as possible for the mass deportation of millions, including non-criminals, has extended to elected officials, with city Comptroller Brad Lander being detained at immigration court Downtown as he attempted to escort a man following a ...Read more

Commentary: What kids need -- and adults need to know -- to combat the youth mental health crisis
Starting this fall students in New York will join those in other states like California in not being able to access cellphones during the day. These bans are the culmination of years of education and activism by parents, teachers and researchers concerned about the effect of technology not only on academic performance but also on children’s ...Read more

Stephen L. Carter: The Supreme Court is taking the easy way out on trans care
On June 18, the Supreme Court made clear that it wants no part of the transgender debate — and, in attempting to avoid a decision, made a mess of more than one area of law. Faced with a challenge to Tennessee’s S.B. 1, which bans minors from receiving treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for gender dysphoria, the justices ...Read more

David M. Drucker: Black men's shift toward the GOP may not be fleeting
President Donald Trump’s reelection was fueled partly by an unmistakable boost of support from Black men, especially young ones, demonstrating yet another troublesome crack in the Democratic Party’s electoral foundation.
Recent data from Catalist, a progressive organization that analyzes precinct-level voting results, highlights how ...Read more

Column: Does a michelada without beer still taste as sweet?
I find myself unhappily on trend. Young people everywhere are increasingly “on the wagon” — to use the American idiom for sobriety from the 1920s, when the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned the production and sale of alcohol. The wagon in the expression was a public-service vehicle loaded with water to tamp down dust and grime...Read more

Commentary: Secure AI for America's future & humanity's too
A technological revolution is unfolding — one that will transform our world in ways we can barely comprehend. As artificial intelligence rapidly evolves and corporate America’s investment in AI continues to explode, we stand at a crossroads that will determine not just America’s future but humanity’s as well.
Many leading experts agree ...Read more

Commentary: Firsthand footage of ICE raids is both witness and resistance
It has been five years since May 25, 2020, when George Floyd gasped for air beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer on the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Five years since 17-year-old Darnella Frazier stood on the curb outside Cup Foods, raised her phone, and bore witness to nine minutes and 29 seconds that would galvanize a ...Read more

Editorial: Juneteenth -- A day to celebrate freedom
June 19, 1865.
On that date, Union troops freed a quarter-million African American slaves in Texas. It was the last state to recognize President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation issued on Jan. 1, 1863.
Juneteenth remained obscure in most of the country throughout the ugly decades of Jim Crow and white supremacy. Since the Civil ...Read more

Andreas Kluth: The MAGA coalition won't survive a bunker-buster in Iran
The foreign policy of President Donald Trump, as captured in the simplistic slogan “peace through strength,” has always been fraught with contradictions. So it was only a matter of time before those would explode, detonating his MAGA base and leaving it and distant parts of the world in ashes. Five months into the president’s second term, ...Read more

David Mills: No Kings, specifically No Trump, in Beaver, Pa.
The most notable protester at last weekend’s No Kings rally in Beaver, Pa., wore an inflatable sumo wrestler costume with an orange t-shirt underneath to make the skin look orange and a crown on his head. He seems to have been one of the organizers. It was one of only two of the old-fashioned theatrical — by old-fashioned I mean 1960s — ...Read more