https://theweek.com/instant-opinion Fri, 25 Sep 2026 17:45:21 +0000 en ‘Advice for parents who want to prevent CTE in youth athletes’

Leana S. Wen at The Washington Post

Nobody “disputed that CTE is a serious issue, but many seemed to think that young athletes today are at lower risk than previous generations because of better safety precautions,” says Leana S. Wen. The “majority of head impacts that can cause brain damage do not result in a concussion diagnosis but can still contribute to CTE.” Most “important is taking repetitive head impacts out of the game for kids, including no bodychecking in ice hockey and no tackling in football.”

Read more

‘What peacemaking loses when women are left out’

Cristal Downing at Time

Wars “exact a heavy toll on women and yet, too often their voices and concerns are pushed to the margins of global peacemaking,” says Cristal Downing. The United Nations “has made halting but real progress in bringing women into peace negotiations and postwar reconstruction from Guatemala to Bangsamoro,” but “now that progress is being reversed.” Finding “space for gender diversity could do more than ensure that women are heard; it could also give peace efforts a better chance of success.”

Read more

‘How private equity is killing public access to hospitals and emergency care’

Heather Prendergast at The Hill

Safety-net hospitals “serve a patient population that is disproportionately low-income, publicly insured and racially and ethnically diverse,” says Heather Prendergast. The “corporatization of the healthcare system by private equity has come with significant costs.” While “private equity’s ownership of hospitals may earn millions for their investors, they have put patients, communities and providers at risk.” It is “worth asking what happens to the remaining safety-net hospitals once their primary funding source shrinks even further.”

Read more

‘Trump abuses his pardon power. Getting rid of it would be a mistake.’

Abdallah Fayyad at The Boston Globe

Donald Trump’s “liberal use of his pardon power — particularly his penchant for pardoning wealthy white-collar fraudsters — has created a lucrative industry of so-called pardon brokers,” says Abdallah Fayyad. But “even though the pardon power has undeniably been misused, we shouldn’t dramatically curtail it or get rid of it.” Pardons are a “crucial component of a well-functioning criminal justice system, allowing presidents to undo wrongs when sentences are unjust or punishments are too harsh.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-football-cte-health-peacemaking-doctors-trump XrNif5hn5jrQoKRWsrtMiH Fri, 25 Sep 2026 17:45:21 +0000 false false false

‘Advice for parents who want to prevent CTE in youth athletes’

Leana S. Wen at The Washington Post

Nobody “disputed that CTE is a serious issue, but many seemed to think that young athletes today are at lower risk than previous generations because of better safety precautions,” says Leana S. Wen. The “majority of head impacts that can cause brain damage do not result in a concussion diagnosis but can still contribute to CTE.” Most “important is taking repetitive head impacts out of the game for kids, including no bodychecking in ice hockey and no tackling in football.”

Read more

‘What peacemaking loses when women are left out’

Cristal Downing at Time

Wars “exact a heavy toll on women and yet, too often their voices and concerns are pushed to the margins of global peacemaking,” says Cristal Downing. The United Nations “has made halting but real progress in bringing women into peace negotiations and postwar reconstruction from Guatemala to Bangsamoro,” but “now that progress is being reversed.” Finding “space for gender diversity could do more than ensure that women are heard; it could also give peace efforts a better chance of success.”

Read more

‘How private equity is killing public access to hospitals and emergency care’

Heather Prendergast at The Hill

Safety-net hospitals “serve a patient population that is disproportionately low-income, publicly insured and racially and ethnically diverse,” says Heather Prendergast. The “corporatization of the healthcare system by private equity has come with significant costs.” While “private equity’s ownership of hospitals may earn millions for their investors, they have put patients, communities and providers at risk.” It is “worth asking what happens to the remaining safety-net hospitals once their primary funding source shrinks even further.”

Read more

‘Trump abuses his pardon power. Getting rid of it would be a mistake.’

Abdallah Fayyad at The Boston Globe

Donald Trump’s “liberal use of his pardon power — particularly his penchant for pardoning wealthy white-collar fraudsters — has created a lucrative industry of so-called pardon brokers,” says Abdallah Fayyad. But “even though the pardon power has undeniably been misused, we shouldn’t dramatically curtail it or get rid of it.” Pardons are a “crucial component of a well-functioning criminal justice system, allowing presidents to undo wrongs when sentences are unjust or punishments are too harsh.”

Read more

]]> ‘I liked the idea of unions. Then I joined one at Starbucks.’

Joe Emmenegger at USA Today

“Liking the idea of unions — and actually wanting to be a part of one — are two very different things,” says Joe Emmenegger. Workers “often join unions that make big promises about improving working conditions but ultimately fail to deliver,” and “that was unfortunately my experience with Starbucks Workers United.” It “was the pervasive secrecy surrounding the union that struck me,” and “getting rid of a union is not easy, regardless of how detrimental it may be.”

Read more

‘Some Republicans don’t want Indian American votes’

Sadanand Dhume at The Wall Street Journal

The “multiracial coalition that helped Donald Trump win the presidency in 2024 is unraveling,” says Sadanand Dhume. A “portion of the MAGA base appears to be increasingly hostile to ethnic and religious minorities, including the small but prosperous Indian American community.” Instead of “bringing new voters into the tent, a section of the party base appears intent on driving them away,” and “Indian American Trump supporters aren’t the only minority voters apparently feeling buyer’s remorse.”

Read more

‘The hidden toll on Black doctors: We are saving lives but losing our own.’

John H. Stewart IV at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There is a “truth medicine doesn’t talk about enough: Black doctors are getting sick too,” says John H. Stewart IV. A 2025 study “revealed that Black physicians die at more than twice the rate of white physicians.” The “very people trained to save lives are losing their own far too soon,” as “Black doctors are not exempt from the same inequities we work so hard to treat in others.” This “isn’t just a professional concern; it’s a public health crisis.”

Read more

‘A “fight worth fighting”: Paramount settlement is less than desired, more than nothing’

Anita Chabria at the Los Angeles Times

Did “California come out a winner when Attorney Gen. Rob Bonta settled a multistate lawsuit against Paramount Skydance on Monday, allowing its $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery to move forward”? says Anita Chabria. Whether “California won is the wrong question,” as “there was always something bigger at play here.” The “question the lawsuit asked is, ‘do we live in an America where government institutions are so broken that power makes its own rules?’”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-starbucks-union-indians-racism-doctors-paramount GiouzpS9Up62ZTT8T6ufxX Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:56:54 +0000 false false false

‘I liked the idea of unions. Then I joined one at Starbucks.’

Joe Emmenegger at USA Today

“Liking the idea of unions — and actually wanting to be a part of one — are two very different things,” says Joe Emmenegger. Workers “often join unions that make big promises about improving working conditions but ultimately fail to deliver,” and “that was unfortunately my experience with Starbucks Workers United.” It “was the pervasive secrecy surrounding the union that struck me,” and “getting rid of a union is not easy, regardless of how detrimental it may be.”

Read more

‘Some Republicans don’t want Indian American votes’

Sadanand Dhume at The Wall Street Journal

The “multiracial coalition that helped Donald Trump win the presidency in 2024 is unraveling,” says Sadanand Dhume. A “portion of the MAGA base appears to be increasingly hostile to ethnic and religious minorities, including the small but prosperous Indian American community.” Instead of “bringing new voters into the tent, a section of the party base appears intent on driving them away,” and “Indian American Trump supporters aren’t the only minority voters apparently feeling buyer’s remorse.”

Read more

‘The hidden toll on Black doctors: We are saving lives but losing our own.’

John H. Stewart IV at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There is a “truth medicine doesn’t talk about enough: Black doctors are getting sick too,” says John H. Stewart IV. A 2025 study “revealed that Black physicians die at more than twice the rate of white physicians.” The “very people trained to save lives are losing their own far too soon,” as “Black doctors are not exempt from the same inequities we work so hard to treat in others.” This “isn’t just a professional concern; it’s a public health crisis.”

Read more

‘A “fight worth fighting”: Paramount settlement is less than desired, more than nothing’

Anita Chabria at the Los Angeles Times

Did “California come out a winner when Attorney Gen. Rob Bonta settled a multistate lawsuit against Paramount Skydance on Monday, allowing its $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery to move forward”? says Anita Chabria. Whether “California won is the wrong question,” as “there was always something bigger at play here.” The “question the lawsuit asked is, ‘do we live in an America where government institutions are so broken that power makes its own rules?’”

Read more

]]> ‘Normalizing Delcy Rodríguez won’t fix Venezuela’

Juan Pablo Spinetto at Bloomberg

“Given that nobody elected” Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez to the “job she’s performing, and that the constitutional rules governing Venezuela’s presidential vacuum have long been ignored, ‘dictator’ sounds about right,” says Juan Pablo Spinetto. But dictators “tend to do as they please,” while Delcy, “by contrast, appears to be taking all her cues” from Trump. And “no amount of hard-power realpolitik, oil thirst, business ambition and perverse public relations can turn a dictator-puppet-regent into a legitimate leader.”

Read more

‘Despite fewer deaths, the US is actually seeing more overdoses’

Madeline Hilliard and Jim Crotty at The Hill

An “abrupt, substantial decline in overdose deaths is an extraordinary public health achievement,” say Madeline Hilliard and Jim Crotty. But the “drop in deaths only tells part of the story.” As “overdose deaths have declined, nonfatal overdoses — when someone survives the emergency of too much substance shutting their body down — have actually increased.” Even when “survived, overdoses are often life-altering events with lasting impacts.” Preventing these “outcomes starts long before someone experiences an overdose.”

Read more

‘We need to protect college sports from Ted Cruz’

Elie Mystal at The Nation

Sen. Ted Cruz’s Protect College Sports Act is “being sold mainly as a response to upheaval caused, more or less, by colleges and universities finally being forced to pay student-athletes some portion of the billions of dollars they generate,” says Elie Mystal. You “don’t need to follow or care about college football to know that anything Ted Cruz is a champion of is probably a very bad thing.” The legislation is “one of the most anti-labor bills proposed by this Congress.”

Read more

‘If you want to win working-class votes, run on working-class issues’

Mindy Isser at In These Times

If liberals are “serious about winning elections across the country, working-class voters must be at the center of this project,” says Mindy Isser. But “too many campaigns don’t make these voters’ priorities their focus.” For people “concerned about climate change, abortion rights, immigrants’ rights and protecting democracy, our most important task is to learn to talk across the diploma divide, or else we may have very little hope of making progress on our goals.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-delcy-rodriguez-venezuela-drugs-sports-election gUq2GKpsnbVXLn5NNJHXHV Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:28:04 +0000 Wed, 23 Sep 2026 21:39:47 +0000 false false false

‘Normalizing Delcy Rodríguez won’t fix Venezuela’

Juan Pablo Spinetto at Bloomberg

“Given that nobody elected” Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez to the “job she’s performing, and that the constitutional rules governing Venezuela’s presidential vacuum have long been ignored, ‘dictator’ sounds about right,” says Juan Pablo Spinetto. But dictators “tend to do as they please,” while Delcy, “by contrast, appears to be taking all her cues” from Trump. And “no amount of hard-power realpolitik, oil thirst, business ambition and perverse public relations can turn a dictator-puppet-regent into a legitimate leader.”

Read more

‘Despite fewer deaths, the US is actually seeing more overdoses’

Madeline Hilliard and Jim Crotty at The Hill

An “abrupt, substantial decline in overdose deaths is an extraordinary public health achievement,” say Madeline Hilliard and Jim Crotty. But the “drop in deaths only tells part of the story.” As “overdose deaths have declined, nonfatal overdoses — when someone survives the emergency of too much substance shutting their body down — have actually increased.” Even when “survived, overdoses are often life-altering events with lasting impacts.” Preventing these “outcomes starts long before someone experiences an overdose.”

Read more

‘We need to protect college sports from Ted Cruz’

Elie Mystal at The Nation

Sen. Ted Cruz’s Protect College Sports Act is “being sold mainly as a response to upheaval caused, more or less, by colleges and universities finally being forced to pay student-athletes some portion of the billions of dollars they generate,” says Elie Mystal. You “don’t need to follow or care about college football to know that anything Ted Cruz is a champion of is probably a very bad thing.” The legislation is “one of the most anti-labor bills proposed by this Congress.”

Read more

‘If you want to win working-class votes, run on working-class issues’

Mindy Isser at In These Times

If liberals are “serious about winning elections across the country, working-class voters must be at the center of this project,” says Mindy Isser. But “too many campaigns don’t make these voters’ priorities their focus.” For people “concerned about climate change, abortion rights, immigrants’ rights and protecting democracy, our most important task is to learn to talk across the diploma divide, or else we may have very little hope of making progress on our goals.”

Read more

]]> ‘Many Americans live in the UK — but few vote back home. This year, that must change.’

Kathryn Sikkink at The Guardian

The United Kingdom “hosts the second-largest population of voting-age U.S. citizens outside the United States, but Americans living in the U.K. vote at very low levels in U.S. elections,” says Kathryn Sikkink. Why do “hundreds of thousands of eligible U.S. voters in the U.K. not exercise their right to vote, even though U.S. rules for voting abroad are relatively welcoming compared to many other countries?” American “citizens in the U.K. can take this opportunity.”

Read more

‘In defense of guilt by association’

James Kirchick at The Atlantic

JD Vance and Abdul El-Sayed have “very little in common ideologically and seem to like each other even less,” but they “can agree on at least one thing: that guilt by association is a contemptible means of scoring cheap political points,” says James Kirchick. They “would have us believe that their troublesome friends are no different from the people in our own lives whose political views we abhor.” But “one’s choice of friends is in fact an excellent sign of character.”

Read more

‘Police hiring standards matter. But they alone cannot stop abuse.’

Jordan DeVylder at Al Jazeera

Concerns have “emerged about a retreat from standards intended to protect the public by offering a baseline of conduct for law enforcement officers,” says Jordan DeVylder. The “public is right to worry,” as “loose hiring standards can put reckless individuals in positions of power.” But “ensuring commitment to higher standards in law enforcement recruitment alone cannot solve the police violence problem in the U.S.” Standards “should be evaluated according to what they actually predict, what they exclude and what risks arise.”

Read more

‘Drone warfare is exposing a NATO weakness’

Ana Birchall at Newsweek

There is a “problem NATO can no longer afford to ignore: How do we act when an unidentified threat approaches allied territory, seconds matter, but attribution may take hours or days?” says Ana Birchall, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Romania. An “adversary no longer needs to launch a conventional, full-scale attack.” A “drone that tests reaction times, approaches an energy installation or creates uncertainty about its origin and intent can already serve a strategic purpose.” NATO “cannot afford to wait for definitive attribution before protecting its people.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-voting-us-uk-politics-policing-drones xiBsBohyQdQM2Cw8pnPkxC Tue, 22 Sep 2026 15:25:40 +0000 Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:20:02 +0000 false false false

‘Many Americans live in the UK — but few vote back home. This year, that must change.’

Kathryn Sikkink at The Guardian

The United Kingdom “hosts the second-largest population of voting-age U.S. citizens outside the United States, but Americans living in the U.K. vote at very low levels in U.S. elections,” says Kathryn Sikkink. Why do “hundreds of thousands of eligible U.S. voters in the U.K. not exercise their right to vote, even though U.S. rules for voting abroad are relatively welcoming compared to many other countries?” American “citizens in the U.K. can take this opportunity.”

Read more

‘In defense of guilt by association’

James Kirchick at The Atlantic

JD Vance and Abdul El-Sayed have “very little in common ideologically and seem to like each other even less,” but they “can agree on at least one thing: that guilt by association is a contemptible means of scoring cheap political points,” says James Kirchick. They “would have us believe that their troublesome friends are no different from the people in our own lives whose political views we abhor.” But “one’s choice of friends is in fact an excellent sign of character.”

Read more

‘Police hiring standards matter. But they alone cannot stop abuse.’

Jordan DeVylder at Al Jazeera

Concerns have “emerged about a retreat from standards intended to protect the public by offering a baseline of conduct for law enforcement officers,” says Jordan DeVylder. The “public is right to worry,” as “loose hiring standards can put reckless individuals in positions of power.” But “ensuring commitment to higher standards in law enforcement recruitment alone cannot solve the police violence problem in the U.S.” Standards “should be evaluated according to what they actually predict, what they exclude and what risks arise.”

Read more

‘Drone warfare is exposing a NATO weakness’

Ana Birchall at Newsweek

There is a “problem NATO can no longer afford to ignore: How do we act when an unidentified threat approaches allied territory, seconds matter, but attribution may take hours or days?” says Ana Birchall, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Romania. An “adversary no longer needs to launch a conventional, full-scale attack.” A “drone that tests reaction times, approaches an energy installation or creates uncertainty about its origin and intent can already serve a strategic purpose.” NATO “cannot afford to wait for definitive attribution before protecting its people.”

Read more

]]> ‘In the land of billionaire barbarians’

Arielle Pardes at The New York Times

Silicon Valley is “home to four of the most powerful companies in the world,” yet “by looking at it, you’d hardly know this place had any influence,” says Arielle Pardes. Tech billionaires have “donated generously to scientific research and global health initiatives, but little of their money goes to improving their own backyard.” The “lack of investment in the cities where our tech lords work and live reveals a stark reality about how this wealth benefits a select few.”

Read more

‘Should the classroom be more like the gym?’

Dan Rockmore at The New Yorker

The “body offers something that the mind — at least in a traditional classroom — rarely does: clear, immediate loops linking effort and result,” says Dan Rockmore. In the “gym, we can steadily feel ourselves getting stronger,” but in the “classroom, progress can be difficult to see.” This “clarifies our real responsibilities: drawing out the quiet student, asking the question nobody thought to ask, forging a community of mind and friendship from the struggles of a classroom.”

Read more

‘The people — OK, the men — who still love Bitcoin’

Nathaniel Moore at Slate

Among a “predominantly male crowd,” Bitcoin and “other cryptocurrencies offer an appealing alternative because they are not issued or managed by a central bank,” says Nathaniel Moore. The “concept of financial freedom — not having to trust anyone else — is the logical endpoint of the belief that the systems of American life cannot be mended, only circumvented.” Investors are “following the example set by those at the top: looking out for themselves and trying to swell their own stash.”

Read more

‘The first mRNA flu vaccine may be just the beginning’

Sally C. Pipes at the Chicago Tribune

“Flu season is coming. And for the first time, Americans will have an mRNA vaccine to help fight it,” says Sally C. Pipes. Since “mRNA vaccines can be produced faster than conventional shots, manufacturers may eventually be able to wait longer before deciding which strains to target — and respond faster if circulating strains change.” During the “pandemic, mRNA became almost synonymous with Covid-19 vaccines,” but “anger over government coercion shouldn’t become hostility toward a promising medical technology.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-silicon-valley-tech-education-bitcoin-vaccines aVQMTs5patvjCXAmDB8acY Mon, 21 Sep 2026 17:35:05 +0000 false false false

‘In the land of billionaire barbarians’

Arielle Pardes at The New York Times

Silicon Valley is “home to four of the most powerful companies in the world,” yet “by looking at it, you’d hardly know this place had any influence,” says Arielle Pardes. Tech billionaires have “donated generously to scientific research and global health initiatives, but little of their money goes to improving their own backyard.” The “lack of investment in the cities where our tech lords work and live reveals a stark reality about how this wealth benefits a select few.”

Read more

‘Should the classroom be more like the gym?’

Dan Rockmore at The New Yorker

The “body offers something that the mind — at least in a traditional classroom — rarely does: clear, immediate loops linking effort and result,” says Dan Rockmore. In the “gym, we can steadily feel ourselves getting stronger,” but in the “classroom, progress can be difficult to see.” This “clarifies our real responsibilities: drawing out the quiet student, asking the question nobody thought to ask, forging a community of mind and friendship from the struggles of a classroom.”

Read more

‘The people — OK, the men — who still love Bitcoin’

Nathaniel Moore at Slate

Among a “predominantly male crowd,” Bitcoin and “other cryptocurrencies offer an appealing alternative because they are not issued or managed by a central bank,” says Nathaniel Moore. The “concept of financial freedom — not having to trust anyone else — is the logical endpoint of the belief that the systems of American life cannot be mended, only circumvented.” Investors are “following the example set by those at the top: looking out for themselves and trying to swell their own stash.”

Read more

‘The first mRNA flu vaccine may be just the beginning’

Sally C. Pipes at the Chicago Tribune

“Flu season is coming. And for the first time, Americans will have an mRNA vaccine to help fight it,” says Sally C. Pipes. Since “mRNA vaccines can be produced faster than conventional shots, manufacturers may eventually be able to wait longer before deciding which strains to target — and respond faster if circulating strains change.” During the “pandemic, mRNA became almost synonymous with Covid-19 vaccines,” but “anger over government coercion shouldn’t become hostility toward a promising medical technology.”

Read more

]]> ‘The cruel politics that pit struggling Americans against each other’

LZ Granderson at the Los Angeles Times

“American capitalism requires abundance to truly thrive, and yet capitalists prefer the illusion of exclusivity and scarcity to control the market,” says LZ Granderson. “What has long kept the power out of the hands of the people has not been a lack of resources” but a “lack of compassion, particularly among the poor themselves.” This “calculus is cruelly effective. Instead of uniting people, turn one group of poor people against another so that politicians don’t have to help either group.”

Read more

‘There will be blood: Threats against “NAZA’ directors are real and dangerous.’

Haaretz editorial board

Israelis’ “extreme responses” to the new documentary “NAZA,” which “almost no one has seen,” have now “turned into explicit threats and dangerous violence against the filmmakers and their families,” says the Haaretz editorial board. “The work of making the filmmakers fair game” began when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he “plans to advance legislation revoking the citizenship of anyone who ‘defames IDF soldiers.’” The government is “marking Israelis as traitors, and the unbridled mob is starting to hunt them.”

Read more

‘Congress is trying to rip away college athletes’ hard-earned money’

Matt Ford at The New Republic

The Protect College Sports Act bill “would ‘protect college sports’ from the athletes who play them,” says Matt Ford. The PCSA is a “life raft” for the NCAA after “illegally suppressing college athletes’ earning potential for decades.” College players were “finally able to pursue fair-market compensation for their services thanks to a series of major court rulings,” but now the NCAA and its “allies are trying to keep as much of the money that college athletes generate as possible.”

Read more

‘Why the US urgently needs more platelet donors’

Robert Glatter and Peter Papadakos at Time

The American Red Cross’ “latest appeal” deserves “national attention,” say Robert Glatter and Peter Papadakos. The organization “urged Americans to schedule blood and platelet donations, warning that the blood supply ‘remains vulnerable’ after recovering from critically low levels during a summer shortage. It called on donors of all blood types to make appointments now.” The Red Cross “estimates that nearly half of donated platelets go to patients receiving cancer treatment.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-poor-naza-college-athletes-platelets 5BM6eUkTVi3KTCgrLHDSEH Fri, 18 Sep 2026 18:34:23 +0000 Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:48:41 +0000 false false false

‘The cruel politics that pit struggling Americans against each other’

LZ Granderson at the Los Angeles Times

“American capitalism requires abundance to truly thrive, and yet capitalists prefer the illusion of exclusivity and scarcity to control the market,” says LZ Granderson. “What has long kept the power out of the hands of the people has not been a lack of resources” but a “lack of compassion, particularly among the poor themselves.” This “calculus is cruelly effective. Instead of uniting people, turn one group of poor people against another so that politicians don’t have to help either group.”

Read more

‘There will be blood: Threats against “NAZA’ directors are real and dangerous.’

Haaretz editorial board

Israelis’ “extreme responses” to the new documentary “NAZA,” which “almost no one has seen,” have now “turned into explicit threats and dangerous violence against the filmmakers and their families,” says the Haaretz editorial board. “The work of making the filmmakers fair game” began when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he “plans to advance legislation revoking the citizenship of anyone who ‘defames IDF soldiers.’” The government is “marking Israelis as traitors, and the unbridled mob is starting to hunt them.”

Read more

‘Congress is trying to rip away college athletes’ hard-earned money’

Matt Ford at The New Republic

The Protect College Sports Act bill “would ‘protect college sports’ from the athletes who play them,” says Matt Ford. The PCSA is a “life raft” for the NCAA after “illegally suppressing college athletes’ earning potential for decades.” College players were “finally able to pursue fair-market compensation for their services thanks to a series of major court rulings,” but now the NCAA and its “allies are trying to keep as much of the money that college athletes generate as possible.”

Read more

‘Why the US urgently needs more platelet donors’

Robert Glatter and Peter Papadakos at Time

The American Red Cross’ “latest appeal” deserves “national attention,” say Robert Glatter and Peter Papadakos. The organization “urged Americans to schedule blood and platelet donations, warning that the blood supply ‘remains vulnerable’ after recovering from critically low levels during a summer shortage. It called on donors of all blood types to make appointments now.” The Red Cross “estimates that nearly half of donated platelets go to patients receiving cancer treatment.”

Read more

]]> ‘Colin Kaepernick set an example. Nobody wants to follow it.’

Will Leitch at The Washington Post

Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who knelt during the national anthem, desperately “wanted to play,” says Will Leitch. But as the “maelstrom he set off exploded, every NFL team chose not to roster him.” Kaepernick “wouldn’t retreat from his fundamental protest against police violence and oppression of Black people,” even if it meant losing his job. It “turned out the main lesson of it was the high cost of standing firm on belief, particularly against an organization as powerful as the NFL.”

Read more

‘Dear Ed Sheeran, fence-sitting is so last century: Musicians can no longer opt out of politics.’

Zoe Williams at The Guardian

Since the rapper Macklemore was dropped as a support act on Ed Sheeran’s ‘Loop Tour,’ “every other opening act has pulled out,” says Zoe Williams. Sheeran, “seeking to stay out of politics, has become, in this moment, the most political artist in the world.” The “concern” of many of the involved artists was that “they were facing not just censorship but censorship by billionaires: specifically Robert Kraft, who demanded Macklemore’s removal with the threat of axing the whole show from his Gillette Stadium.”

Read more

‘Trust in America’s food safety system is crumbling — Congress can restore it’

April McClain Delaney at The Hill

The agencies that “keep our food safe have been hollowed out,” says April McClain Delaney. As evidenced by this summer’s cyclosporiasis crisis, tainted lettuce is increasingly common, but the Trump administration “cannot tell us why these outbreaks happen or, in many cases, where they came from,” and “there is no clear plan to prevent” the next one. The “former director of the FDA’s food safety center” says the “people whose job” it was to “warn Americans” about outbreaks were “eliminated in last year’s cuts.”

Read more

‘China cares more about AI victory than safety’

Seth Center at The Washington Post

As the former State Department envoy who “co-led the first U.S.-China AI dialogue, I fear the coming talks will not save us,” says Seth Center. “I expect China to again downplay safety risks” and “portray itself as an altruistic savior dedicated to ensuring that the developing world gains AI access.” Meanwhile, it will “keep doing everything it can to get ahead.” Chinese “models do not currently match U.S. models in safety performance that matters — thwarting access to the most dangerous capabilities.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-kaepernick-ed-sheeran-food-safety-china 6CAcPUHJeXF6AbyzwcTtg Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:12:16 +0000 Thu, 17 Sep 2026 21:07:56 +0000 false false false

‘Colin Kaepernick set an example. Nobody wants to follow it.’

Will Leitch at The Washington Post

Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who knelt during the national anthem, desperately “wanted to play,” says Will Leitch. But as the “maelstrom he set off exploded, every NFL team chose not to roster him.” Kaepernick “wouldn’t retreat from his fundamental protest against police violence and oppression of Black people,” even if it meant losing his job. It “turned out the main lesson of it was the high cost of standing firm on belief, particularly against an organization as powerful as the NFL.”

Read more

‘Dear Ed Sheeran, fence-sitting is so last century: Musicians can no longer opt out of politics.’

Zoe Williams at The Guardian

Since the rapper Macklemore was dropped as a support act on Ed Sheeran’s ‘Loop Tour,’ “every other opening act has pulled out,” says Zoe Williams. Sheeran, “seeking to stay out of politics, has become, in this moment, the most political artist in the world.” The “concern” of many of the involved artists was that “they were facing not just censorship but censorship by billionaires: specifically Robert Kraft, who demanded Macklemore’s removal with the threat of axing the whole show from his Gillette Stadium.”

Read more

‘Trust in America’s food safety system is crumbling — Congress can restore it’

April McClain Delaney at The Hill

The agencies that “keep our food safe have been hollowed out,” says April McClain Delaney. As evidenced by this summer’s cyclosporiasis crisis, tainted lettuce is increasingly common, but the Trump administration “cannot tell us why these outbreaks happen or, in many cases, where they came from,” and “there is no clear plan to prevent” the next one. The “former director of the FDA’s food safety center” says the “people whose job” it was to “warn Americans” about outbreaks were “eliminated in last year’s cuts.”

Read more

‘China cares more about AI victory than safety’

Seth Center at The Washington Post

As the former State Department envoy who “co-led the first U.S.-China AI dialogue, I fear the coming talks will not save us,” says Seth Center. “I expect China to again downplay safety risks” and “portray itself as an altruistic savior dedicated to ensuring that the developing world gains AI access.” Meanwhile, it will “keep doing everything it can to get ahead.” Chinese “models do not currently match U.S. models in safety performance that matters — thwarting access to the most dangerous capabilities.”

Read more

]]> ‘The American age is over’

Phillips Payson O’Brien at The Atlantic

“In the past six months, America’s power, long exemplified by the world’s best warfighting equipment and most highly trained military personnel,” has “proved insufficient to defeat Iran, an economically stagnant regime armed with cheap missiles,” says Phillips Payson O’Brien. For years, “virtually everyone thought that, in a crisis, Washington could draw on deeper reserves.” This “assumption about America’s fundamental strength reassured allies and deterred foes,” but it also “promoted a complacency.” Trump’s war with Iran has “revealed” just how much “American might has decayed.”

Read more

‘We found the most galling argument of the upcoming Supreme Court term’

Jacob D. Charles at Slate

“This fall, the Supreme Court will entertain a Second Amendment challenge to the prohibition of assault weapons in Viramontes v. Cook County,” says Jacob D. Charles. “The challengers — a few individuals who want to own such weapons, along with some gun-rights advocacy organizations,” argue that the Constitution “prohibits” them from “protecting themselves.” But their “precise argument depends upon judges second-guessing — indeed, overruling — the decision that millions of American people made about these weapons.”

Read more

‘Dementia cases are set to triple by 2050. Here’s how we can improve early detection.’

Anna Chodos at the San Francisco Chronicle

About “one in three” people “85 and older” have dementia, says Anna Chodos, and it’s “estimated that half” of those living with it “do not get a diagnosis.” But patients would “live longer and experience better brain function if they were given the chance.” Earlier evaluation can include “identifying and addressing sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, hearing and vision loss, and poorly controlled vascular risk factors.” It also means “helping people find ways to be as physically, socially and cognitively active as possible.”

Read more

‘Oura will struggle to justify pulse-racing $16bn valuation’

Jennifer Hughes at the Financial Times

The Oura smart rings maker’s “upcoming initial public offering” is a “sign of investor interest” in “preventive healthcare,” says Jennifer Hughes. Still, it will “need endorsements of a more scientific kind.” As “care costs soar, the health-related uses become more valuable.” The device’s “continuous monitoring might flag a problem sooner than a patient’s next routine medical visit,” and clinical studies are using Oura data. But for it to be “more than a lifestyle gadget,” the brand must “overcome doctors’ concerns.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/america-assault-weapons-dementia-oura zcb4qawsUjeWgd2m4nnCXf Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:58:10 +0000 Wed, 16 Sep 2026 20:43:50 +0000 false false false

‘The American age is over’

Phillips Payson O’Brien at The Atlantic

“In the past six months, America’s power, long exemplified by the world’s best warfighting equipment and most highly trained military personnel,” has “proved insufficient to defeat Iran, an economically stagnant regime armed with cheap missiles,” says Phillips Payson O’Brien. For years, “virtually everyone thought that, in a crisis, Washington could draw on deeper reserves.” This “assumption about America’s fundamental strength reassured allies and deterred foes,” but it also “promoted a complacency.” Trump’s war with Iran has “revealed” just how much “American might has decayed.”

Read more

‘We found the most galling argument of the upcoming Supreme Court term’

Jacob D. Charles at Slate

“This fall, the Supreme Court will entertain a Second Amendment challenge to the prohibition of assault weapons in Viramontes v. Cook County,” says Jacob D. Charles. “The challengers — a few individuals who want to own such weapons, along with some gun-rights advocacy organizations,” argue that the Constitution “prohibits” them from “protecting themselves.” But their “precise argument depends upon judges second-guessing — indeed, overruling — the decision that millions of American people made about these weapons.”

Read more

‘Dementia cases are set to triple by 2050. Here’s how we can improve early detection.’

Anna Chodos at the San Francisco Chronicle

About “one in three” people “85 and older” have dementia, says Anna Chodos, and it’s “estimated that half” of those living with it “do not get a diagnosis.” But patients would “live longer and experience better brain function if they were given the chance.” Earlier evaluation can include “identifying and addressing sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, hearing and vision loss, and poorly controlled vascular risk factors.” It also means “helping people find ways to be as physically, socially and cognitively active as possible.”

Read more

‘Oura will struggle to justify pulse-racing $16bn valuation’

Jennifer Hughes at the Financial Times

The Oura smart rings maker’s “upcoming initial public offering” is a “sign of investor interest” in “preventive healthcare,” says Jennifer Hughes. Still, it will “need endorsements of a more scientific kind.” As “care costs soar, the health-related uses become more valuable.” The device’s “continuous monitoring might flag a problem sooner than a patient’s next routine medical visit,” and clinical studies are using Oura data. But for it to be “more than a lifestyle gadget,” the brand must “overcome doctors’ concerns.”

Read more

]]> ‘When a return to the office is a return to sex discrimination’

Gleb Tsipursky at The Hill

A recent Organization Science study analyzed “everyday gender discrimination” and found that women experience “far fewer gendered offenses when working remotely,” says Gleb Tsipursky. As employers “roll out return-to-office rules, the risk is clear: Mandates are not neutral. They can recreate the exact conditions that drive women out of roles, teams and entire fields.” The “core takeaway is not that remote work is perfect.” It’s that “location changes exposure to bias.”

Read more

‘There’s a reason Europe is so obsessed with immigration’

Anton Jager at The New York Times

Immigration worries in Europe “outstrip objective reality,” says Anton Jager. The topic has “become a prism through which all the continent’s ills are viewed.” The continued flow of “outsiders” into European capitals is “held responsible for a gamut of problems, from poor social services to wage stagnation to crime.” But while migration is “assailed as a threat to Europe’s identity,” that identity is hazy. It “falls to migration to fill the void at the center of Europe’s self-image.”

Read more

‘We are ignoring the cause of homelessness and how to solve it’

Michele Steeb at USA Today

What if Americans “judged success not by whether people had housing but by whether they discovered or rediscovered who they were created to become”? says Michele Steeb. The federal government’s “Housing First approach” made “housing placement the primary intervention and measure of success while removing expectations for treatment, sobriety, employment, or progress toward self-sufficiency. In doing so, it too often treated the symptom of homelessness” while “leaving the deeper human crises that frequently accompany and perpetuate it unaddressed.”

Read more

‘Can a party be leftist and Zionist?’

Tamam Abusalama at Al Jazeera

Can a “party or an individual be both leftist and Zionist”? says Tamam Abusalama. The “short answer” is “no.” Touted in “Israel and beyond as a legitimate ideological belief,” being both is a “political technology designed to shield Zionism from any critique while preserving the structures of oppression.” Whatever “position early Zionists staked out on the political spectrum, what the movement ultimately produced — the state of Israel — was in direct contradiction with the anti-colonial, anti-racist politics the left was supposed to stand for.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-remote-work-immigration-homelessness-zionism ZRMaKJyuTe76t9oBULQNF Tue, 15 Sep 2026 19:08:02 +0000 Tue, 15 Sep 2026 21:25:10 +0000 false false false

‘When a return to the office is a return to sex discrimination’

Gleb Tsipursky at The Hill

A recent Organization Science study analyzed “everyday gender discrimination” and found that women experience “far fewer gendered offenses when working remotely,” says Gleb Tsipursky. As employers “roll out return-to-office rules, the risk is clear: Mandates are not neutral. They can recreate the exact conditions that drive women out of roles, teams and entire fields.” The “core takeaway is not that remote work is perfect.” It’s that “location changes exposure to bias.”

Read more

‘There’s a reason Europe is so obsessed with immigration’

Anton Jager at The New York Times

Immigration worries in Europe “outstrip objective reality,” says Anton Jager. The topic has “become a prism through which all the continent’s ills are viewed.” The continued flow of “outsiders” into European capitals is “held responsible for a gamut of problems, from poor social services to wage stagnation to crime.” But while migration is “assailed as a threat to Europe’s identity,” that identity is hazy. It “falls to migration to fill the void at the center of Europe’s self-image.”

Read more

‘We are ignoring the cause of homelessness and how to solve it’

Michele Steeb at USA Today

What if Americans “judged success not by whether people had housing but by whether they discovered or rediscovered who they were created to become”? says Michele Steeb. The federal government’s “Housing First approach” made “housing placement the primary intervention and measure of success while removing expectations for treatment, sobriety, employment, or progress toward self-sufficiency. In doing so, it too often treated the symptom of homelessness” while “leaving the deeper human crises that frequently accompany and perpetuate it unaddressed.”

Read more

‘Can a party be leftist and Zionist?’

Tamam Abusalama at Al Jazeera

Can a “party or an individual be both leftist and Zionist”? says Tamam Abusalama. The “short answer” is “no.” Touted in “Israel and beyond as a legitimate ideological belief,” being both is a “political technology designed to shield Zionism from any critique while preserving the structures of oppression.” Whatever “position early Zionists staked out on the political spectrum, what the movement ultimately produced — the state of Israel — was in direct contradiction with the anti-colonial, anti-racist politics the left was supposed to stand for.”

Read more

]]> ‘Vance’s childcare plan pits parents against each other’

Mary Ellen Klas at Bloomberg

“Should the federal government give subsidies to parents who stay home to care for their young kids? Absolutely,” says Mary Ellen Klas. “Should it also subsidize childcare for working parents? For sure. This shouldn’t be an either-or question, but the Trump administration’s new childcare subsidy plan” would “force working parents” to “compete with married, at-home parents for the same pool of funds.” In order to “meet parents’ affordability needs,” the government must “recognize that families have diverse childcare needs.”

Read more

‘The US right still paints Muslims as the “enemy.” But they are fighting for a brighter future for Americans.’

Nesrine Malik at The Guardian

“Members of a diaspora of Muslim background are breaking through and accumulating, as New York magazine says, ‘clout,’” says Nesrine Malik. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “both the expression of that cohort and the catalyst of its recognition as an emerging force. They care deeply for their local communities but also for those in Gaza and beyond.” At the same time, the “Islamophobia that began in 2001 has only further burrowed into the fabric of American society.”

Read more

‘Elon Musk is reusing Trump’s anti-trans strategy. It’s unlikely to work.’

Paul Waldman at MS NOW

Musk is “spending at least $100 million on the midterm elections to support the Republican Party,” says Paul Waldman, employing a “barrage of ads targeting Democrats for not being sufficiently supportive of discrimination against transgender Americans.” But these efforts “will probably fail.” As for how Democrats should respond? “Frightened hedging won’t work. When Democrats say, ‘I support trans rights but I also have concerns,’” it only reinforces the “idea that they’re weak and unprincipled.”

Read more

‘Yes, children really are getting dumber’

Allysia Finley at The Wall Street Journal

“Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have been matched by an astonishing decline in student learning,” says Allysia Finley. “Covid school shutdowns” don’t “appear to be the primary culprit, given that scores fell in countries that kept schools mostly open.” Instead, the “two common denominators across most countries” where reading and math scores have fallen are “increasing classroom distractions and reliance on artificial intelligence.” Kids now “spend much of class playing games and watching videos on devices.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-childcare-islamophobia-musk-trans-school a4QHzGRempQbast6HCjJgA Mon, 14 Sep 2026 19:06:15 +0000 false false false

‘Vance’s childcare plan pits parents against each other’

Mary Ellen Klas at Bloomberg

“Should the federal government give subsidies to parents who stay home to care for their young kids? Absolutely,” says Mary Ellen Klas. “Should it also subsidize childcare for working parents? For sure. This shouldn’t be an either-or question, but the Trump administration’s new childcare subsidy plan” would “force working parents” to “compete with married, at-home parents for the same pool of funds.” In order to “meet parents’ affordability needs,” the government must “recognize that families have diverse childcare needs.”

Read more

‘The US right still paints Muslims as the “enemy.” But they are fighting for a brighter future for Americans.’

Nesrine Malik at The Guardian

“Members of a diaspora of Muslim background are breaking through and accumulating, as New York magazine says, ‘clout,’” says Nesrine Malik. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “both the expression of that cohort and the catalyst of its recognition as an emerging force. They care deeply for their local communities but also for those in Gaza and beyond.” At the same time, the “Islamophobia that began in 2001 has only further burrowed into the fabric of American society.”

Read more

‘Elon Musk is reusing Trump’s anti-trans strategy. It’s unlikely to work.’

Paul Waldman at MS NOW

Musk is “spending at least $100 million on the midterm elections to support the Republican Party,” says Paul Waldman, employing a “barrage of ads targeting Democrats for not being sufficiently supportive of discrimination against transgender Americans.” But these efforts “will probably fail.” As for how Democrats should respond? “Frightened hedging won’t work. When Democrats say, ‘I support trans rights but I also have concerns,’” it only reinforces the “idea that they’re weak and unprincipled.”

Read more

‘Yes, children really are getting dumber’

Allysia Finley at The Wall Street Journal

“Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have been matched by an astonishing decline in student learning,” says Allysia Finley. “Covid school shutdowns” don’t “appear to be the primary culprit, given that scores fell in countries that kept schools mostly open.” Instead, the “two common denominators across most countries” where reading and math scores have fallen are “increasing classroom distractions and reliance on artificial intelligence.” Kids now “spend much of class playing games and watching videos on devices.”

Read more

]]> ‘Security clearances don’t determine whom a president can trust — they reveal risks the president may not know’

Brian O’Neill at The Conversation

One of President Donald Trump’s “closest aides, Natalie Harp, worked in the White House for more than a year without completing the normal security clearance process,” and the “circumstances surrounding Harp are unusual, but the tension they expose is not,” says Brian O’Neill. Spies “do not need an aide to carry classified files out of the West Wing to gain something useful.” For “someone operating within the president’s immediate circle, an undiscovered vulnerability can carry significantly greater consequences.”

Read more

‘Rosh Hashanah offers a lesson from the lasting legacy of Sept. 11’

Yehuda Ceitlin at the Arizona Daily Star

The “25th anniversary of Sept. 11 falls this year on Friday, Sept. 11,” when Jews “around the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah and welcome the Jewish year 5787,” says Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin. Sept. 11 “taught us, terribly, how far a human action can reach.” But “human influence works in other ways too.” A “mitzvah can have an impact we may never see,” and “kindness can be remembered.” As “Rosh Hashanah begins this Sept. 11, perhaps that is worth remembering.”

Read more

‘10 years after Sinjar, the world still fails to protect vulnerable communities’

Cudi Zerey at The Hill

On “Aug. 3, 2014, fighters from the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq swept into Sinjar, the ancestral homeland of Iraq’s Yazidi minority,” says Cudi Zerey. Within “days, thousands were killed, thousands more were kidnapped and enslaved, and entire communities were uprooted.” But a “decade later, the most important lesson of Sinjar remains largely unlearned.” The “failure was not simply that ISIS committed atrocities.” The “failure was that nearly every layer of protection collapsed at the same time.”

Read more

‘Head Start offers a model for ending preschool pushout. Don’t weaken it.’

Hillary Linardopoulos at The Philadelphia Inquirer

RFK Jr. has “announced plans for sweeping deregulation” of the Head Start program, says Hillary Linardopoulos. But “suspensions and expulsions of our youngest learners, which are harmful to a child’s development and can profoundly impact their future, disproportionately harm Black and brown children.” Head Start policy “prohibits the expulsion of students in its programs and severely restricts suspensions to extraordinary circumstances.” This “policy is one that should be expanded.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-security-clearance-9/11-rosh-hashanah-sinjar-schools iEpVGvSMqcx8CyiuVYPDSB Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:47:49 +0000 false false false

‘Security clearances don’t determine whom a president can trust — they reveal risks the president may not know’

Brian O’Neill at The Conversation

One of President Donald Trump’s “closest aides, Natalie Harp, worked in the White House for more than a year without completing the normal security clearance process,” and the “circumstances surrounding Harp are unusual, but the tension they expose is not,” says Brian O’Neill. Spies “do not need an aide to carry classified files out of the West Wing to gain something useful.” For “someone operating within the president’s immediate circle, an undiscovered vulnerability can carry significantly greater consequences.”

Read more

‘Rosh Hashanah offers a lesson from the lasting legacy of Sept. 11’

Yehuda Ceitlin at the Arizona Daily Star

The “25th anniversary of Sept. 11 falls this year on Friday, Sept. 11,” when Jews “around the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah and welcome the Jewish year 5787,” says Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin. Sept. 11 “taught us, terribly, how far a human action can reach.” But “human influence works in other ways too.” A “mitzvah can have an impact we may never see,” and “kindness can be remembered.” As “Rosh Hashanah begins this Sept. 11, perhaps that is worth remembering.”

Read more

‘10 years after Sinjar, the world still fails to protect vulnerable communities’

Cudi Zerey at The Hill

On “Aug. 3, 2014, fighters from the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq swept into Sinjar, the ancestral homeland of Iraq’s Yazidi minority,” says Cudi Zerey. Within “days, thousands were killed, thousands more were kidnapped and enslaved, and entire communities were uprooted.” But a “decade later, the most important lesson of Sinjar remains largely unlearned.” The “failure was not simply that ISIS committed atrocities.” The “failure was that nearly every layer of protection collapsed at the same time.”

Read more

‘Head Start offers a model for ending preschool pushout. Don’t weaken it.’

Hillary Linardopoulos at The Philadelphia Inquirer

RFK Jr. has “announced plans for sweeping deregulation” of the Head Start program, says Hillary Linardopoulos. But “suspensions and expulsions of our youngest learners, which are harmful to a child’s development and can profoundly impact their future, disproportionately harm Black and brown children.” Head Start policy “prohibits the expulsion of students in its programs and severely restricts suspensions to extraordinary circumstances.” This “policy is one that should be expanded.”

Read more

]]> ‘Okay, sure, a folding iPhone’

Will Oremus at The Atlantic

Nothing “quickens the pulse of an Apple fan more than these three words: one more thing,” says Will Oremus. In the “pantheon of ‘one more things,’” Apple’s foldable iPhone “feels like a dud.” Apple “has begun to feel like a late-stage tech giant, squeezing residual value from markets it has long since saturated.” The company “will eventually have to do something that once came naturally to Apple when it was an underdog: take a risk.”

Read more

‘AI may become the third superpower’

Paul Tudor Jones at The Wall Street Journal

When “Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet this month, the leaders of the world’s two full-spectrum superpowers will confront a force that has grown far more powerful since they last met: artificial intelligence,” says Paul Tudor Jones. AI’s “most consequential advances — starting with recursive self-improvement — are still ahead.” The “threat is real and demands coordinated action by the U.S. and China.” Both countries “must commit to a timeline to control the advance and proliferation of AI.”

Read more

‘The Houthis are testing the limits of Saudi restraint’

Khaled M. Batarfi at Al Jazeera

The “renewed escalation in Yemen is no longer simply a Yemeni battlefield development,” as for “Saudi Arabia, it is becoming a direct test of national security, economic resilience and the kingdom’s ability to prevent the wider regional war from spilling further across its borders,” says Khaled M. Batarfi. A “return to an open-ended war would contradict that strategy and impose unnecessary political and economic costs.” But “restraint cannot mean accepting repeated attacks on Saudi territory.”

Read more

‘The political cost of sending Korean forces to Hormuz’

Syrus Solo Jin at Foreign Policy

South Korea appeared “poised to request that the legislature deploy the country’s navy to the Strait of Hormuz,” says Syrus Solo Jin. South Korea’s “navy is well-equipped and capable of sustaining long-term missions in waters far from its shores, and it has experience in counterpiracy and patrolling missions in the region.” The challenge is “political, rooted in Korea’s convoluted history with the United States.” South Korea is “now facing a difficult decision over deployment.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-apple-tech-ai-houthis-korea-iran 62CMB9rWdEYiknKUXF6sGU Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:19:13 +0000 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:49:32 +0000 false false false

‘Okay, sure, a folding iPhone’

Will Oremus at The Atlantic

Nothing “quickens the pulse of an Apple fan more than these three words: one more thing,” says Will Oremus. In the “pantheon of ‘one more things,’” Apple’s foldable iPhone “feels like a dud.” Apple “has begun to feel like a late-stage tech giant, squeezing residual value from markets it has long since saturated.” The company “will eventually have to do something that once came naturally to Apple when it was an underdog: take a risk.”

Read more

‘AI may become the third superpower’

Paul Tudor Jones at The Wall Street Journal

When “Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet this month, the leaders of the world’s two full-spectrum superpowers will confront a force that has grown far more powerful since they last met: artificial intelligence,” says Paul Tudor Jones. AI’s “most consequential advances — starting with recursive self-improvement — are still ahead.” The “threat is real and demands coordinated action by the U.S. and China.” Both countries “must commit to a timeline to control the advance and proliferation of AI.”

Read more

‘The Houthis are testing the limits of Saudi restraint’

Khaled M. Batarfi at Al Jazeera

The “renewed escalation in Yemen is no longer simply a Yemeni battlefield development,” as for “Saudi Arabia, it is becoming a direct test of national security, economic resilience and the kingdom’s ability to prevent the wider regional war from spilling further across its borders,” says Khaled M. Batarfi. A “return to an open-ended war would contradict that strategy and impose unnecessary political and economic costs.” But “restraint cannot mean accepting repeated attacks on Saudi territory.”

Read more

‘The political cost of sending Korean forces to Hormuz’

Syrus Solo Jin at Foreign Policy

South Korea appeared “poised to request that the legislature deploy the country’s navy to the Strait of Hormuz,” says Syrus Solo Jin. South Korea’s “navy is well-equipped and capable of sustaining long-term missions in waters far from its shores, and it has experience in counterpiracy and patrolling missions in the region.” The challenge is “political, rooted in Korea’s convoluted history with the United States.” South Korea is “now facing a difficult decision over deployment.”

Read more

]]> ‘European democracies are running out of time to turn away from the abyss’

Rafael Behr at The Guardian

Victory for the “Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) in the region of Saxony-Anhalt over the weekend is not the biggest electoral prize won by a far-right party in Europe in recent years, but it is one of the most shocking because it is Germany,” says Rafael Behr. No “country had more to learn from history if it wanted to immunize its democracy against extremism.” This “doesn’t have to be Europe’s destiny.” Nationalists “do not form a monolithic bloc.”

Read more

‘Medicare now covers CBD, but Congress wants to ban it’

Maddie Salamone and Caitlin Styrsky at USA Today

A new “Medicare pilot program covers hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products to treat certain patients, even as Congress is moving forward with a law that will effectively wipe those same products off the market,” say Maddie Salamone and Caitlin Styrsky. The “resulting policy quagmire threatens patient access, undermines the work of entrepreneurs and highlights a deeper truth: Hemp already plays a role in American healthcare, whether federal lawmakers are ready to acknowledge it or not.”

Read more

‘The American prison system is cruel. Maine is showing there is another way.’

Abdallah Fayyad at The Boston Globe

In a “number of states, corrections leaders are starting to experiment with more humane ways to run prisons, looking to countries like Norway and Sweden as models,” says Abdallah Fayyad. In Maine, the “entire prison system has undergone various reforms that have so far yielded promising results.” The “idea is to make prison feel as normal as possible — more akin to the outside world so that people have an easier time adjusting to society when they’re released.”

Read more

‘Fortress Yellowstone’

Joseph Bullington at In These Times

An “influx of wealth has made Teton County, Wyoming,” the “richest and most unequal county in the United States,” says Joseph Bullington. Some of the “ultrarich ranch owners celebrate the natural beauty of their land and are ardent conservationists when it comes to the Yellowstone ecosystem.” But “most of these landowners accumulated their wealth through industries that help drive the destruction of nature elsewhere.” Their “ranks include private equity investors, oil and gas billionaires and real estate developers.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-far-right-afd-europe-cbd-prison-yellowstone cuzgF5SuNNEmXB6VQ3PZGQ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:45:58 +0000 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 20:16:48 +0000 false false false

‘European democracies are running out of time to turn away from the abyss’

Rafael Behr at The Guardian

Victory for the “Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) in the region of Saxony-Anhalt over the weekend is not the biggest electoral prize won by a far-right party in Europe in recent years, but it is one of the most shocking because it is Germany,” says Rafael Behr. No “country had more to learn from history if it wanted to immunize its democracy against extremism.” This “doesn’t have to be Europe’s destiny.” Nationalists “do not form a monolithic bloc.”

Read more

‘Medicare now covers CBD, but Congress wants to ban it’

Maddie Salamone and Caitlin Styrsky at USA Today

A new “Medicare pilot program covers hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products to treat certain patients, even as Congress is moving forward with a law that will effectively wipe those same products off the market,” say Maddie Salamone and Caitlin Styrsky. The “resulting policy quagmire threatens patient access, undermines the work of entrepreneurs and highlights a deeper truth: Hemp already plays a role in American healthcare, whether federal lawmakers are ready to acknowledge it or not.”

Read more

‘The American prison system is cruel. Maine is showing there is another way.’

Abdallah Fayyad at The Boston Globe

In a “number of states, corrections leaders are starting to experiment with more humane ways to run prisons, looking to countries like Norway and Sweden as models,” says Abdallah Fayyad. In Maine, the “entire prison system has undergone various reforms that have so far yielded promising results.” The “idea is to make prison feel as normal as possible — more akin to the outside world so that people have an easier time adjusting to society when they’re released.”

Read more

‘Fortress Yellowstone’

Joseph Bullington at In These Times

An “influx of wealth has made Teton County, Wyoming,” the “richest and most unequal county in the United States,” says Joseph Bullington. Some of the “ultrarich ranch owners celebrate the natural beauty of their land and are ardent conservationists when it comes to the Yellowstone ecosystem.” But “most of these landowners accumulated their wealth through industries that help drive the destruction of nature elsewhere.” Their “ranks include private equity investors, oil and gas billionaires and real estate developers.”

Read more

]]> ‘America’s 911 system is dangerously out of date’

Rebecca Neusteter at Time

Many Americans “may be surprised to learn a sobering truth: The 911 professionals who answer the phone are often unable to automatically pinpoint a caller’s precise location and cannot always rely on callers themselves,” says Rebecca Neusteter. The U.S. “has let our 911 emergency response system languish for decades, failing to make the necessary investments to bring it into the digital age.” Updating “911 technology should be a national priority, and Congress must provide sufficient funding.”

Read more

‘The Trump administration is claiming success in drug strikes. Not so fast.’

Daniel DePetris at the Chicago Tribune

“Cartels in Mexico and gangs in Ecuador are now considered to be in the same league as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State — this, despite the fact that cartels have no political ideology and are predominantly concerned with making money,” says Daniel DePetris. But “boat strikes don’t seem to be doing much of anything to reduce the flow of drugs.” By “waging an actual war on drugs, the powers that be in Washington are confusing tactical accomplishments with strategic ones.”

Read more

‘It’s time for America’s workers to take their power back’

Fred Redmond at Newsweek

This “Labor Day, it is important to remember that everyone in this country deserves a fair shot at the American dream: a good job with decent wages to support a family and the chance to one day retire,” says Fred Redmond. Families are “stressing over every expense,” and for “Black workers and other workers of color, that dream is moving further out of reach.” Unions “fight for economic justice and for racial justice,” and “those fights are not separate.”

Read more

‘Sexual strangulation is derailing a generation of girls’

Debra Soh at The Globe and Mail

What was “once considered aggravated assault is now an accepted part of modern dating,” says Debra Soh. Sexual choking “has become so normalized” that “both sexes believe the practice is benign, which is a myth that pornography, social media and sex educators promote.” But “there is no safe way to partake in choking, because it doesn’t require much pressure on a person’s neck for unwanted side effects to happen, including memory loss, headaches, stroke and brain damage.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-911-emergency-drugs-labor-day-sex r92WjT7YatdWT2q47oDHka Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:18:58 +0000 Tue, 08 Sep 2026 19:51:53 +0000 false false false

‘America’s 911 system is dangerously out of date’

Rebecca Neusteter at Time

Many Americans “may be surprised to learn a sobering truth: The 911 professionals who answer the phone are often unable to automatically pinpoint a caller’s precise location and cannot always rely on callers themselves,” says Rebecca Neusteter. The U.S. “has let our 911 emergency response system languish for decades, failing to make the necessary investments to bring it into the digital age.” Updating “911 technology should be a national priority, and Congress must provide sufficient funding.”

Read more

‘The Trump administration is claiming success in drug strikes. Not so fast.’

Daniel DePetris at the Chicago Tribune

“Cartels in Mexico and gangs in Ecuador are now considered to be in the same league as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State — this, despite the fact that cartels have no political ideology and are predominantly concerned with making money,” says Daniel DePetris. But “boat strikes don’t seem to be doing much of anything to reduce the flow of drugs.” By “waging an actual war on drugs, the powers that be in Washington are confusing tactical accomplishments with strategic ones.”

Read more

‘It’s time for America’s workers to take their power back’

Fred Redmond at Newsweek

This “Labor Day, it is important to remember that everyone in this country deserves a fair shot at the American dream: a good job with decent wages to support a family and the chance to one day retire,” says Fred Redmond. Families are “stressing over every expense,” and for “Black workers and other workers of color, that dream is moving further out of reach.” Unions “fight for economic justice and for racial justice,” and “those fights are not separate.”

Read more

‘Sexual strangulation is derailing a generation of girls’

Debra Soh at The Globe and Mail

What was “once considered aggravated assault is now an accepted part of modern dating,” says Debra Soh. Sexual choking “has become so normalized” that “both sexes believe the practice is benign, which is a myth that pornography, social media and sex educators promote.” But “there is no safe way to partake in choking, because it doesn’t require much pressure on a person’s neck for unwanted side effects to happen, including memory loss, headaches, stroke and brain damage.”

Read more

]]> ‘Gloria Steinem’s final essay’

Gloria Steinem at The New Yorker

Opposition “will always come from people whose power rests on the group they were born into” rather “than on what they do as individuals,” says Gloria Steinem. “Saying that I am a feminist has always meant that I believe in the social, economic and political equality of all males and females of all races and groups.” For “some, it remains a mystery why women need a movement to distinguish our efforts toward equality. For me, it seems quite obvious.”

Read more

‘America needs its boys to play football’

Ben Sasse at The Wall Street Journal

Football is “back, and America’s boys need to play it and be shaped by it,” says Ben Sasse. While “controversy surrounds the embarrassingly blurry line between college football and the National Football League, our culture needs to take a moment to commend and steward the glorious tradition of high school football.” Americans “need young men full of energy, ambition and growing self-mastery,” and football is a “character-forming institution.” Football “creates the conditions for less, rather than more, violence.”

Read more

‘Debt, a new challenge for democracies’

Le Monde editorial board

In the “United States, Europe and Japan, investors now demand higher returns to lend to governments,” which “reveals mounting concerns over the accumulation of public deficits and the sheer volume that governments must now raise on financial markets,” says the Le Monde editorial board. Returning to “fiscal fundamentals has been painful just as funding needs have reached new highs.” The “current increase in rates acts like a vise, reducing governments’ ability to fund new priorities while making past commitments more expensive.”

Read more

‘Will those in prison help save the arts from AI?’

Mark Osler at The Minnesota Star Tribune

While on the “outside AI is increasingly doing our writing, creating our images and subverting creativity, on the inside of a prison none of that is happening — and the results can be stunning,” says Mark Osler. What is “new isn’t the existence of remarkable talent in prison,” but the “decay of the creative world outside the prison walls.” The U.S. “needs to invest in the arts within prisons and encourage more interaction across those walls.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-gloria-steinem-football-debt-prison-ai LCaWDCRq2c4nhxf6PKZTQZ Fri, 04 Sep 2026 18:29:54 +0000 false false false

‘Gloria Steinem’s final essay’

Gloria Steinem at The New Yorker

Opposition “will always come from people whose power rests on the group they were born into” rather “than on what they do as individuals,” says Gloria Steinem. “Saying that I am a feminist has always meant that I believe in the social, economic and political equality of all males and females of all races and groups.” For “some, it remains a mystery why women need a movement to distinguish our efforts toward equality. For me, it seems quite obvious.”

Read more

‘America needs its boys to play football’

Ben Sasse at The Wall Street Journal

Football is “back, and America’s boys need to play it and be shaped by it,” says Ben Sasse. While “controversy surrounds the embarrassingly blurry line between college football and the National Football League, our culture needs to take a moment to commend and steward the glorious tradition of high school football.” Americans “need young men full of energy, ambition and growing self-mastery,” and football is a “character-forming institution.” Football “creates the conditions for less, rather than more, violence.”

Read more

‘Debt, a new challenge for democracies’

Le Monde editorial board

In the “United States, Europe and Japan, investors now demand higher returns to lend to governments,” which “reveals mounting concerns over the accumulation of public deficits and the sheer volume that governments must now raise on financial markets,” says the Le Monde editorial board. Returning to “fiscal fundamentals has been painful just as funding needs have reached new highs.” The “current increase in rates acts like a vise, reducing governments’ ability to fund new priorities while making past commitments more expensive.”

Read more

‘Will those in prison help save the arts from AI?’

Mark Osler at The Minnesota Star Tribune

While on the “outside AI is increasingly doing our writing, creating our images and subverting creativity, on the inside of a prison none of that is happening — and the results can be stunning,” says Mark Osler. What is “new isn’t the existence of remarkable talent in prison,” but the “decay of the creative world outside the prison walls.” The U.S. “needs to invest in the arts within prisons and encourage more interaction across those walls.”

Read more

]]> ‘The Met’s other failure’

Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell at The Atlantic

The “Metropolitan Museum of Art’s announcement this week that it is canceling next year’s exhibition on the fashion of John Galliano perhaps shouldn’t have come as a surprise,” says Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, since a court previously found him “guilty of the crime of making antisemitic and anti-Asian insults.” The exhibition was “also a blow to the museum and its reputation.” Displaying “Galliano’s work, even while interrogating his past behavior, was always going to be ethically dicey.”

Read more

‘Black women are poised for congressional gains in November’

Donna Brazile at The Hill

Black women candidates “could make historic gains in the November midterm elections,” says Donna Brazile. That is “good news for all Americans, because it’s a sign our country is overcoming centuries of racism and sexism to take advantage of everyone’s talents.” The Black women “who get elected will make America even greater than it already is because our nation’s diversity enables all types of people to combine their differing knowledge, experiences and perspectives to work together to build a better future.”

Read more

‘Dan Driscoll is the first “Washington casualty” of the Iran war. We should all be concerned.’

Jeff McCausland at MS NOW

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll “delivered his resignation to President Donald Trump on Monday, thus becoming one of the first significant ‘Washington casualties’ of the Iran war,” says Jeff McCausland. Driscoll “repeatedly clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” and his “resignation comes at a particularly consequential moment.” The “war with Iran that Hegseth strongly advocated for looks more and more like a strategic disaster, and Driscoll’s departure is more evidence that the defense secretary is seeking to surround himself with loyalists.”

Read more

‘The US national debt has reached $40 trillion. Should you care?’

Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times

The “revelation that the national debt had reached $40 trillion” provoked “vigorous hand-wringing across the partisan spectrum and multiple hives of economists,” says Michael Hiltzik. It is “true that there’s reason for all of us to be concerned about the size of America’s debt,” as “rising rates mean higher costs.” But it “doesn’t pay to be mistaken about what’s driving those costs.” It’s “not Social Security or Medicare. It’s ignorant and incompetent policymaking in the White House.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-met-galliano-black-women-army-debt XWCZMhsGmJgw4cbFMJ6cub Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:54:03 +0000 Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:58:17 +0000 false false false

‘The Met’s other failure’

Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell at The Atlantic

The “Metropolitan Museum of Art’s announcement this week that it is canceling next year’s exhibition on the fashion of John Galliano perhaps shouldn’t have come as a surprise,” says Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, since a court previously found him “guilty of the crime of making antisemitic and anti-Asian insults.” The exhibition was “also a blow to the museum and its reputation.” Displaying “Galliano’s work, even while interrogating his past behavior, was always going to be ethically dicey.”

Read more

‘Black women are poised for congressional gains in November’

Donna Brazile at The Hill

Black women candidates “could make historic gains in the November midterm elections,” says Donna Brazile. That is “good news for all Americans, because it’s a sign our country is overcoming centuries of racism and sexism to take advantage of everyone’s talents.” The Black women “who get elected will make America even greater than it already is because our nation’s diversity enables all types of people to combine their differing knowledge, experiences and perspectives to work together to build a better future.”

Read more

‘Dan Driscoll is the first “Washington casualty” of the Iran war. We should all be concerned.’

Jeff McCausland at MS NOW

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll “delivered his resignation to President Donald Trump on Monday, thus becoming one of the first significant ‘Washington casualties’ of the Iran war,” says Jeff McCausland. Driscoll “repeatedly clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” and his “resignation comes at a particularly consequential moment.” The “war with Iran that Hegseth strongly advocated for looks more and more like a strategic disaster, and Driscoll’s departure is more evidence that the defense secretary is seeking to surround himself with loyalists.”

Read more

‘The US national debt has reached $40 trillion. Should you care?’

Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times

The “revelation that the national debt had reached $40 trillion” provoked “vigorous hand-wringing across the partisan spectrum and multiple hives of economists,” says Michael Hiltzik. It is “true that there’s reason for all of us to be concerned about the size of America’s debt,” as “rising rates mean higher costs.” But it “doesn’t pay to be mistaken about what’s driving those costs.” It’s “not Social Security or Medicare. It’s ignorant and incompetent policymaking in the White House.”

Read more

]]> ‘Save the children. Ban everyone age 18 and older from social media.’

Joe Mathews at the San Francisco Chronicle

“Ban everyone age 18 and older from social media,” says Joe Mathews. Adults are “having the wrong conversation about digital safety.” Every “week, more grave-faced politicians declare that we must protect kids by banning them from social media, even though most unhinged people online are old enough to vote.” If any “demographic has proved it cannot handle an unmoderated feed, it is fully grown adults.” If “adults ban ourselves from social media tomorrow, what do we really lose?”

Read more

‘The unique horrors of AI food slop’

Brady Brickner-Wood at The New Yorker

The “next frontier of food imagery has proven far less appealing than whatever food porn was,” says Brady Brickner-Wood. Restaurants are “plastering menus and promotional materials with AI-generated” food. A “nauseating, nightmarish quality defines AI’s insectified interpretation of human cuisine, as if food were just another surrealist goo to stochastically iterate upon.” These “renderings of food — genuinely, slop — offend the materiality of the living in a way that AI’s distortions of words and other inanimate objects somehow do not.”

Read more

‘The price of Russian paranoia’

Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan at Foreign Affairs

As “Russia’s war in Ukraine becomes increasingly costly with no end in sight, the Kremlin has kept tightening its grip over Russian society,” say Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan. Less “apparent, though, is the dramatic shift in domestic security doctrine that undergirds these efforts.” Rule by “spy hunting and paranoia has also come with significant costs,” as “proliferating social controls and prosecutions for treason have created a pervasive climate of mistrust and fueled a sense of paralysis.”

Read more

‘Trump’s ‘Golden Age’? Well, yes — for dollar stores.’

Harold Meyerson at The American Prospect

Americans are “not experiencing the Trump Boom in quite the same way that Trump is,” says Harold Meyerson. The economy has “positive metrics to be found, so long as they don’t concern the experience of the American people as such.” Most “revealingly, because this is a metric that does reflect the experience of the American people, business at dollar stores is up and rising.” These stores are the “canary in the coal mine when the economy is going to hell.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-adults-social-media-ai-food-russia-dollar-stores 6XG6EYL7okRHEMBjmVCTY9 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:15:37 +0000 false false false

‘Save the children. Ban everyone age 18 and older from social media.’

Joe Mathews at the San Francisco Chronicle

“Ban everyone age 18 and older from social media,” says Joe Mathews. Adults are “having the wrong conversation about digital safety.” Every “week, more grave-faced politicians declare that we must protect kids by banning them from social media, even though most unhinged people online are old enough to vote.” If any “demographic has proved it cannot handle an unmoderated feed, it is fully grown adults.” If “adults ban ourselves from social media tomorrow, what do we really lose?”

Read more

‘The unique horrors of AI food slop’

Brady Brickner-Wood at The New Yorker

The “next frontier of food imagery has proven far less appealing than whatever food porn was,” says Brady Brickner-Wood. Restaurants are “plastering menus and promotional materials with AI-generated” food. A “nauseating, nightmarish quality defines AI’s insectified interpretation of human cuisine, as if food were just another surrealist goo to stochastically iterate upon.” These “renderings of food — genuinely, slop — offend the materiality of the living in a way that AI’s distortions of words and other inanimate objects somehow do not.”

Read more

‘The price of Russian paranoia’

Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan at Foreign Affairs

As “Russia’s war in Ukraine becomes increasingly costly with no end in sight, the Kremlin has kept tightening its grip over Russian society,” say Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan. Less “apparent, though, is the dramatic shift in domestic security doctrine that undergirds these efforts.” Rule by “spy hunting and paranoia has also come with significant costs,” as “proliferating social controls and prosecutions for treason have created a pervasive climate of mistrust and fueled a sense of paralysis.”

Read more

‘Trump’s ‘Golden Age’? Well, yes — for dollar stores.’

Harold Meyerson at The American Prospect

Americans are “not experiencing the Trump Boom in quite the same way that Trump is,” says Harold Meyerson. The economy has “positive metrics to be found, so long as they don’t concern the experience of the American people as such.” Most “revealingly, because this is a metric that does reflect the experience of the American people, business at dollar stores is up and rising.” These stores are the “canary in the coal mine when the economy is going to hell.”

Read more

]]> ‘Saving money is hard enough. Stop taxing workers under 25.’

Sam Raus at USA Today

Before “young people have accumulated any meaningful savings, the government is already taking a share of every paycheck,” says Sam Raus. The “question needs to be: Why are we taxing them in the first place?” The U.S. “already subsidizes housing, education and healthcare through an array of programs.” A “simpler alternative deserves consideration: Exempt workers under 25 from federal income and payroll taxes, allowing them to build financial security before the government begins collecting a share of their earnings.”

Read more

‘What should we do with Trump’s monstrous architectural legacy?’

Jan-Werner Muller at The Guardian

Since a Supreme Court “ruling will embolden the president dramatically to change Washington, D.C.’s landscape by spending money never approved by Congress, we might be cursed with a triumphal arch as well,” says Jan-Werner Muller. This “raises the question: What to do with a monstrous architectural legacy in post-Trump America?” Some “might dismiss the question.” But the “decision to leave Trump’s structures in place as if his reign had just been another normal era in U.S. history is not neutral.”

Read more

‘After the flash flood disaster, here is what Nepal really needs’

Dikshya Subedi at Al Jazeera

Days “after the flood that struck the Rasuwa and Nuwakot regions of Nepal, the number of missing people is growing,” says Dikshya Subedi, and the “threat is far from over.” While Nepal “could not realistically have prevented the initial collapse, the scale of the disaster highlights glaring gaps in disaster risk reduction and preparedness under a changed climate reality.” The country “urgently needs real, funded investment in early-warning systems for glacial and flood hazards in high-risk mountain corridors.”

Read more

‘The Pacific is paying for America’s other wars’

Matthew J. DeSarno at The Dallas Morning News

The United States “says China is its most consequential military challenge,” but “our military deployments increasingly tell a different story,” says Matthew J. DeSarno. While Washington “prosecutes a war against Iran, expands military operations in the Western Hemisphere and continues supporting Ukraine, some of the weapons and naval forces most relevant to deterring China are being pulled toward other theaters.” The U.S. “has not suddenly become weak in the Pacific, but we are narrowing our margin for error there.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-taxes-finance-trump-nepal-flood-pacific 6tYk6KtaJVPWXzwxudADmH Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:58:01 +0000 false false false

‘Saving money is hard enough. Stop taxing workers under 25.’

Sam Raus at USA Today

Before “young people have accumulated any meaningful savings, the government is already taking a share of every paycheck,” says Sam Raus. The “question needs to be: Why are we taxing them in the first place?” The U.S. “already subsidizes housing, education and healthcare through an array of programs.” A “simpler alternative deserves consideration: Exempt workers under 25 from federal income and payroll taxes, allowing them to build financial security before the government begins collecting a share of their earnings.”

Read more

‘What should we do with Trump’s monstrous architectural legacy?’

Jan-Werner Muller at The Guardian

Since a Supreme Court “ruling will embolden the president dramatically to change Washington, D.C.’s landscape by spending money never approved by Congress, we might be cursed with a triumphal arch as well,” says Jan-Werner Muller. This “raises the question: What to do with a monstrous architectural legacy in post-Trump America?” Some “might dismiss the question.” But the “decision to leave Trump’s structures in place as if his reign had just been another normal era in U.S. history is not neutral.”

Read more

‘After the flash flood disaster, here is what Nepal really needs’

Dikshya Subedi at Al Jazeera

Days “after the flood that struck the Rasuwa and Nuwakot regions of Nepal, the number of missing people is growing,” says Dikshya Subedi, and the “threat is far from over.” While Nepal “could not realistically have prevented the initial collapse, the scale of the disaster highlights glaring gaps in disaster risk reduction and preparedness under a changed climate reality.” The country “urgently needs real, funded investment in early-warning systems for glacial and flood hazards in high-risk mountain corridors.”

Read more

‘The Pacific is paying for America’s other wars’

Matthew J. DeSarno at The Dallas Morning News

The United States “says China is its most consequential military challenge,” but “our military deployments increasingly tell a different story,” says Matthew J. DeSarno. While Washington “prosecutes a war against Iran, expands military operations in the Western Hemisphere and continues supporting Ukraine, some of the weapons and naval forces most relevant to deterring China are being pulled toward other theaters.” The U.S. “has not suddenly become weak in the Pacific, but we are narrowing our margin for error there.”

Read more

]]> ‘Mirror life is theoretical. The danger is anything but.’

Nidhi Kalra at The Washington Post

Mirror life “could theoretically be built out of biological molecules that are mirror images of the ones that exist naturally,” as it’s “possible to imagine — and maybe even create — a living organism made of mirror-image counterparts to natural biomolecules,” says Nidhi Kalra. Scientists “warn that mirror bacteria could devastate most life on Earth,” as it “might not be recognized by the things — immune systems, enzymes and other predator microorganisms — that keep normal bacteria in check.”

Read more

‘Tanzania’s dam is a massive moment for African self-finance’

Mihir Sharma at Bloomberg

Tanzania’s new hydroelectric dam has “doubled domestic generation capacity,” and “that’s the sort of energy abundance even developed countries dream of,” says Mihir Sharma. The country “has achieved this almost entirely on its own dime.” Given the “many pitfalls associated with big dams, it’s remarkable that Tanzania has pulled this off.” Western investors have “turned away from big projects in the emerging world and from hydropower in particular,” but “countries are discovering they can do it for themselves.”

Read more

‘Uzbekistan’s startups could give the US an edge in Central Asia’

Bruno S. Sergi at Newsweek

A “few years ago, the idea of a billion-dollar Uzbek tech company would have sounded far-fetched,” but “today, investors are searching for the next Uzum, Uzbekistan’s largest digital ecosystem,” says Bruno S. Sergi. This is “exactly why Uzbekistan matters.” If the U.S. “wants Central Asia in its orbit and not locked into Russian surveillance tech, Chinese AI models and processing of its critical minerals, it needs a success story that is not built on sanctions or pressure, but on commerce.”

Read more

‘Why we love watching robots fail’

Kyle MacNeill at Time

Robotic “tumbling records will likely be, in the pop cultural consciousness, eclipsed by something far more entertaining: tumbling robots,” says Kyle MacNeill. Along with the “epic wins, there have been some seriously old-school, epic fails,” and “these slapstick scenes are deliciously satisfying.” This “robot schadenfreude is fueled by a fear of the future,” as “pointing out their flaws makes humanity’s finish line feel further away, even if that’s a highly unintelligent thing to think.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-mirror-life-tanzania-uzbekistan-robots 53a8hTPxAYMgASYxWyirkJ Mon, 31 Aug 2026 17:51:08 +0000 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:24:12 +0000 false false false

‘Mirror life is theoretical. The danger is anything but.’

Nidhi Kalra at The Washington Post

Mirror life “could theoretically be built out of biological molecules that are mirror images of the ones that exist naturally,” as it’s “possible to imagine — and maybe even create — a living organism made of mirror-image counterparts to natural biomolecules,” says Nidhi Kalra. Scientists “warn that mirror bacteria could devastate most life on Earth,” as it “might not be recognized by the things — immune systems, enzymes and other predator microorganisms — that keep normal bacteria in check.”

Read more

‘Tanzania’s dam is a massive moment for African self-finance’

Mihir Sharma at Bloomberg

Tanzania’s new hydroelectric dam has “doubled domestic generation capacity,” and “that’s the sort of energy abundance even developed countries dream of,” says Mihir Sharma. The country “has achieved this almost entirely on its own dime.” Given the “many pitfalls associated with big dams, it’s remarkable that Tanzania has pulled this off.” Western investors have “turned away from big projects in the emerging world and from hydropower in particular,” but “countries are discovering they can do it for themselves.”

Read more

‘Uzbekistan’s startups could give the US an edge in Central Asia’

Bruno S. Sergi at Newsweek

A “few years ago, the idea of a billion-dollar Uzbek tech company would have sounded far-fetched,” but “today, investors are searching for the next Uzum, Uzbekistan’s largest digital ecosystem,” says Bruno S. Sergi. This is “exactly why Uzbekistan matters.” If the U.S. “wants Central Asia in its orbit and not locked into Russian surveillance tech, Chinese AI models and processing of its critical minerals, it needs a success story that is not built on sanctions or pressure, but on commerce.”

Read more

‘Why we love watching robots fail’

Kyle MacNeill at Time

Robotic “tumbling records will likely be, in the pop cultural consciousness, eclipsed by something far more entertaining: tumbling robots,” says Kyle MacNeill. Along with the “epic wins, there have been some seriously old-school, epic fails,” and “these slapstick scenes are deliciously satisfying.” This “robot schadenfreude is fueled by a fear of the future,” as “pointing out their flaws makes humanity’s finish line feel further away, even if that’s a highly unintelligent thing to think.”

Read more

]]> ‘Healthcare is more badly broken than political leaders admit’

Marj Halperin at the Chicago Tribune

While “rising costs are a barrier for too many, even those who can afford comprehensive health insurance are finding money can’t buy you a timely appointment,” says Marj Halperin. Americans in cities are “now in much the same bind as patients in rural areas who have long found limited doctors available for routine care, with specialists often a few hours’ drive away.” It is “time for political leaders to spell out a strategy to speed in the opposite direction.”

Read more

‘A wildly popular movie meets the film world’s most revered label’

Sophia Nguyen at The Atlantic

“‘KPop Demon Hunters’ seems to have completely overtaken culture,” says Sophia Nguyen. But “even the most ardent fans likely did not anticipate the mega-hit’s next big merch drop: a disc release from the Criterion Collection, home to some of cinema’s most distinguished titles.” Some of the “label’s longtime devotees greeted the addition of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ with an eye roll,” but “Criterion has good reason to widen the net: Netflix, Apple and Amazon make and distribute a significant share of films.”

Read more

‘Trump’s tariffs prove even Canada can’t afford to be nice to the United States anymore’

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board

It “fell to Canada, a country famous for friendliness, to demonstrate the limits of an age-old friendship with the United States,” says The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board. After a “decade of dealing politely with President Donald Trump’s manic ricocheting between trade agreements and trade warfare, supplies of northern niceness are sorely depleted, and rightly so.” Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “defiance in the face of his neighbor’s unprovoked bullying should inspire other traditional American allies to abandon appeasement.”

Read more

‘Meta’s $18 billion settlement could reshape social media for young people’

Tom Jones at the Poynter Institute

Meta “reached a landmark settlement and agreed to pay up to $18 billion to 47 states” to settle claims it “endangered children through addictive features,” says Tom Jones. Meta’s promised changes are “meant to curb endless scrolling, which can interrupt sleep and have other negative effects on young people’s health and well-being.” The “smart move for Meta was to settle,” as a “major challenge for all social media companies is verifying the ages of their users.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-healthcare-doctors-film-donald-trump-meta wddrK9GXVk4ERK3Rgb6mDM Fri, 28 Aug 2026 18:43:47 +0000 Fri, 28 Aug 2026 18:43:58 +0000 false false false

‘Healthcare is more badly broken than political leaders admit’

Marj Halperin at the Chicago Tribune

While “rising costs are a barrier for too many, even those who can afford comprehensive health insurance are finding money can’t buy you a timely appointment,” says Marj Halperin. Americans in cities are “now in much the same bind as patients in rural areas who have long found limited doctors available for routine care, with specialists often a few hours’ drive away.” It is “time for political leaders to spell out a strategy to speed in the opposite direction.”

Read more

‘A wildly popular movie meets the film world’s most revered label’

Sophia Nguyen at The Atlantic

“‘KPop Demon Hunters’ seems to have completely overtaken culture,” says Sophia Nguyen. But “even the most ardent fans likely did not anticipate the mega-hit’s next big merch drop: a disc release from the Criterion Collection, home to some of cinema’s most distinguished titles.” Some of the “label’s longtime devotees greeted the addition of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ with an eye roll,” but “Criterion has good reason to widen the net: Netflix, Apple and Amazon make and distribute a significant share of films.”

Read more

‘Trump’s tariffs prove even Canada can’t afford to be nice to the United States anymore’

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board

It “fell to Canada, a country famous for friendliness, to demonstrate the limits of an age-old friendship with the United States,” says The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board. After a “decade of dealing politely with President Donald Trump’s manic ricocheting between trade agreements and trade warfare, supplies of northern niceness are sorely depleted, and rightly so.” Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “defiance in the face of his neighbor’s unprovoked bullying should inspire other traditional American allies to abandon appeasement.”

Read more

‘Meta’s $18 billion settlement could reshape social media for young people’

Tom Jones at the Poynter Institute

Meta “reached a landmark settlement and agreed to pay up to $18 billion to 47 states” to settle claims it “endangered children through addictive features,” says Tom Jones. Meta’s promised changes are “meant to curb endless scrolling, which can interrupt sleep and have other negative effects on young people’s health and well-being.” The “smart move for Meta was to settle,” as a “major challenge for all social media companies is verifying the ages of their users.”

Read more

]]> ‘Video gamers alone can’t keep our skies safe’

Sheldon H. Jacobson at The Hill

The FAA is “recruiting video gamers for air traffic controller job openings,” but “adding more people into the existing system does little to resolve the structural issues that have led to persistent shortages,” says Sheldon H. Jacobson. Skills “developed by video gamers” are “similar to the skills used to manage dozens of flights in the sky in real time.” However, recruiting “video gamers to be air traffic controllers makes good sound bites but falls short of resolving staffing shortages.”

Read more

‘A new poll shows how John Fetterman has created a 2028 predicament for himself’

Zeeshan Aleem at MS NOW

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s “popularity with Democrats has taken a nose dive in the last couple of years,” says Zeeshan Aleem. Fetterman “should not be shocked by how his own party’s voters have soured on him,” as he “still caucuses with the Democrats, but he’s made a name for himself by defecting from the party on several notable occasions.” Should he “seek reelection in 2028, it’s safe to wager that he would face tough chances of winning in a Democratic primary.”

Read more

‘Trump’s Korean gambit exposes a shifting East Asian order’

Wenran Jiang at Al Jazeera

When President Donald Trump “ordered the Pentagon to cut the annual United States-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise,” he “laid bare the transactional logic of his approach to East Asia,” says Wenran Jiang. The move “blindsided Seoul and drew a calculated rebuff from Pyongyang, underscoring how growing doubts about the U.S. defense umbrella are reshaping strategic calculations across the region.” If Trump’s “rapprochement with Pyongyang produces only theater, North Korea’s nuclear program will continue to advance.”

Read more

‘Public health advocates are so desperate for help against conspiracies they’ve turned to the place you’d least expect’

Molly Olmstead at Slate

Public health officials have one “innovative and surprising, if disconcerting, solution to our national public health information crisis: AI has the potential to help stave off a conspiratorial catastrophe during the next pandemic,” says Molly Olmstead. Looking to AI for “rescue is usually an eye-roll-worthy impulse,” as AI is a “Pandora’s box of yet-to-be-imagined evils.” But in “this case, the desperation of the situation might just call for public health advocates leaning into the dangerous new technology.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-faa-planes-fetterman-trump-korea-ai xpTAWmT56REu46CA9pKgD7 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:44:24 +0000 false false false

‘Video gamers alone can’t keep our skies safe’

Sheldon H. Jacobson at The Hill

The FAA is “recruiting video gamers for air traffic controller job openings,” but “adding more people into the existing system does little to resolve the structural issues that have led to persistent shortages,” says Sheldon H. Jacobson. Skills “developed by video gamers” are “similar to the skills used to manage dozens of flights in the sky in real time.” However, recruiting “video gamers to be air traffic controllers makes good sound bites but falls short of resolving staffing shortages.”

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‘A new poll shows how John Fetterman has created a 2028 predicament for himself’

Zeeshan Aleem at MS NOW

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s “popularity with Democrats has taken a nose dive in the last couple of years,” says Zeeshan Aleem. Fetterman “should not be shocked by how his own party’s voters have soured on him,” as he “still caucuses with the Democrats, but he’s made a name for himself by defecting from the party on several notable occasions.” Should he “seek reelection in 2028, it’s safe to wager that he would face tough chances of winning in a Democratic primary.”

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‘Trump’s Korean gambit exposes a shifting East Asian order’

Wenran Jiang at Al Jazeera

When President Donald Trump “ordered the Pentagon to cut the annual United States-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise,” he “laid bare the transactional logic of his approach to East Asia,” says Wenran Jiang. The move “blindsided Seoul and drew a calculated rebuff from Pyongyang, underscoring how growing doubts about the U.S. defense umbrella are reshaping strategic calculations across the region.” If Trump’s “rapprochement with Pyongyang produces only theater, North Korea’s nuclear program will continue to advance.”

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‘Public health advocates are so desperate for help against conspiracies they’ve turned to the place you’d least expect’

Molly Olmstead at Slate

Public health officials have one “innovative and surprising, if disconcerting, solution to our national public health information crisis: AI has the potential to help stave off a conspiratorial catastrophe during the next pandemic,” says Molly Olmstead. Looking to AI for “rescue is usually an eye-roll-worthy impulse,” as AI is a “Pandora’s box of yet-to-be-imagined evils.” But in “this case, the desperation of the situation might just call for public health advocates leaning into the dangerous new technology.”

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]]> ‘Sports medicine must get better at treating women’

Ashley Austin at Newsweek

Even as “more eyes turn to women’s sports and female athletes surge in popularity, there’s still a great deal that sports medicine doctors don’t know about actually treating women,” says WNBA doctor Ashley Austin. Americans need “increased investment in women’s sports science — not just to improve outcomes for elite athletes but to improve care for women and girls across the healthcare system.” Doctors should learn to “provide care that is truly based on evidence specific to women’s anatomy and physiology.”

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‘Are US black ops targeting boats in the Galapagos?’

The Dallas Morning News editorial board

Attacks on “fishing boats off the coast of Ecuador earlier this year are surrounded by mystery and unanswered questions,” says The Dallas Morning News editorial board. The “evidence is scarce, but it is enough for Congress to start asking questions.” Who “ordered these attacks and to what end”? If there is “indeed some sort of black ops targeting fishermen with no accountability, it will mark another stain in a long, bad history of U.S. intervention in Latin America.”

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‘I’m a physicist. Congress is about to close the door that let me in.’

Stephanie L. Bailey at The Seattle Times

Somewhere in the “country, a talented future scientist is about to be overlooked, not for lack of ability, but because no one has decided they’re worth helping,” says Stephanie L. Bailey. Two House bill provisions “would bar federal science agencies from funding the offices and grants that broaden participation in STEM.” Some “argue federal agencies should simply fund the best science and that programs like these distract from that mission,” but “in fact, the opposite is true.”

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‘My road trip revealed the good and the bad that hold America together’

LZ Granderson at the Los Angeles Times

There is a “commonality I saw on my drive across America: homelessness,” says LZ Granderson. Americans “like to tell ourselves it’s a California problem, a Chicago problem — something that happens in big blue states.” But of the “states I drove through, all but one were red.” We are “teaching the next generation that, in the richest country that has ever existed, it is acceptable that some people are reduced to huddling in storefront entryways overnight.”

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]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-wnba-doctor-galapagos-physicist-homeless BPKjrv6DgvKzx6bzNurvNc Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:25:50 +0000 Wed, 26 Aug 2026 19:42:22 +0000 false false false

‘Sports medicine must get better at treating women’

Ashley Austin at Newsweek

Even as “more eyes turn to women’s sports and female athletes surge in popularity, there’s still a great deal that sports medicine doctors don’t know about actually treating women,” says WNBA doctor Ashley Austin. Americans need “increased investment in women’s sports science — not just to improve outcomes for elite athletes but to improve care for women and girls across the healthcare system.” Doctors should learn to “provide care that is truly based on evidence specific to women’s anatomy and physiology.”

Read more

‘Are US black ops targeting boats in the Galapagos?’

The Dallas Morning News editorial board

Attacks on “fishing boats off the coast of Ecuador earlier this year are surrounded by mystery and unanswered questions,” says The Dallas Morning News editorial board. The “evidence is scarce, but it is enough for Congress to start asking questions.” Who “ordered these attacks and to what end”? If there is “indeed some sort of black ops targeting fishermen with no accountability, it will mark another stain in a long, bad history of U.S. intervention in Latin America.”

Read more

‘I’m a physicist. Congress is about to close the door that let me in.’

Stephanie L. Bailey at The Seattle Times

Somewhere in the “country, a talented future scientist is about to be overlooked, not for lack of ability, but because no one has decided they’re worth helping,” says Stephanie L. Bailey. Two House bill provisions “would bar federal science agencies from funding the offices and grants that broaden participation in STEM.” Some “argue federal agencies should simply fund the best science and that programs like these distract from that mission,” but “in fact, the opposite is true.”

Read more

‘My road trip revealed the good and the bad that hold America together’

LZ Granderson at the Los Angeles Times

There is a “commonality I saw on my drive across America: homelessness,” says LZ Granderson. Americans “like to tell ourselves it’s a California problem, a Chicago problem — something that happens in big blue states.” But of the “states I drove through, all but one were red.” We are “teaching the next generation that, in the richest country that has ever existed, it is acceptable that some people are reduced to huddling in storefront entryways overnight.”

Read more

]]> ‘Two weeks. No power. Gary, Indiana, failed Black citizens.’

Kofi Mframa at USA Today

For “two weeks, the people of Gary, Indiana, have been forced to weather the late summer heat without electricity,” says Kofi Mframa. Gary “didn’t just experience a freak weather event.” There were “layers upon layers of systemic failures that left a vulnerable population to fend for themselves.” Marginalized groups “being failed by systems in the wake of a natural disaster is no strange occurrence in America, but as our country’s cracks widen, tragedies like these seem more and more inevitable.”

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‘Stores are selling Halloween stuff in August. Time has lost all meaning.’

Dave Schilling at The Guardian

Even “though I love Halloween, I’m mad because our glorious big-box overlords have declared, via careful inventory selection, that Halloween season has begun,” says Dave Schilling. It “feels like a violation of the natural order, a realignment of one of the few glorious constants left in the world.” At “most, Halloween celebrations should start in late September,” not a “month after Independence Day.” But if the “data says we want Halloween in the heat, then data shall be respected.”

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‘In France, long summer breaks mean not just relaxation — but reinvention’

Elizabeth Svoboda at The Boston Globe

France’s “most chaotic stretch of summer is the one that most reveals the nation’s commitment to quiet and retreat,” as “vacationers luxuriate for long stretches of time uncluttered by appointments or prior commitments,” says Elizabeth Svoboda. “Month-long summer breaks, which the French call ‘congés annuels,’ are as sacrosanct as the Marseillaise national anthem, and their benefits go well beyond relaxation.” Americans “often assume that focus and persistence drive transformation,” but “opening up mental space is just as crucial.”

Read more

‘The myth of Eurasia’

Ayse Zarakol at Foreign Affairs

The “frontlines of the war in Ukraine run not just through floodplains and shattered towns but also through a more nebulous kind of terrain: the realm of civilization,” says Ayse Zarakol. From the “outset, Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast his invasion as part of a cultural struggle, a view shared by some of his adversaries on the Western side.” But it is “misguided to believe that Putin acts as he does because he follows in the footsteps of Eurasian emperors.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-gary-indiana-halloween-france-vacation-russia bXx8TB728kGxB5fsuyTkvJ Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:25:43 +0000 Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:28:09 +0000 false false false

‘Two weeks. No power. Gary, Indiana, failed Black citizens.’

Kofi Mframa at USA Today

For “two weeks, the people of Gary, Indiana, have been forced to weather the late summer heat without electricity,” says Kofi Mframa. Gary “didn’t just experience a freak weather event.” There were “layers upon layers of systemic failures that left a vulnerable population to fend for themselves.” Marginalized groups “being failed by systems in the wake of a natural disaster is no strange occurrence in America, but as our country’s cracks widen, tragedies like these seem more and more inevitable.”

Read more

‘Stores are selling Halloween stuff in August. Time has lost all meaning.’

Dave Schilling at The Guardian

Even “though I love Halloween, I’m mad because our glorious big-box overlords have declared, via careful inventory selection, that Halloween season has begun,” says Dave Schilling. It “feels like a violation of the natural order, a realignment of one of the few glorious constants left in the world.” At “most, Halloween celebrations should start in late September,” not a “month after Independence Day.” But if the “data says we want Halloween in the heat, then data shall be respected.”

Read more

‘In France, long summer breaks mean not just relaxation — but reinvention’

Elizabeth Svoboda at The Boston Globe

France’s “most chaotic stretch of summer is the one that most reveals the nation’s commitment to quiet and retreat,” as “vacationers luxuriate for long stretches of time uncluttered by appointments or prior commitments,” says Elizabeth Svoboda. “Month-long summer breaks, which the French call ‘congés annuels,’ are as sacrosanct as the Marseillaise national anthem, and their benefits go well beyond relaxation.” Americans “often assume that focus and persistence drive transformation,” but “opening up mental space is just as crucial.”

Read more

‘The myth of Eurasia’

Ayse Zarakol at Foreign Affairs

The “frontlines of the war in Ukraine run not just through floodplains and shattered towns but also through a more nebulous kind of terrain: the realm of civilization,” says Ayse Zarakol. From the “outset, Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast his invasion as part of a cultural struggle, a view shared by some of his adversaries on the Western side.” But it is “misguided to believe that Putin acts as he does because he follows in the footsteps of Eurasian emperors.”

Read more

]]> ‘If only the MAGA “Nixonmaxxers” fully understood the 37th president’

Lee Huebner at The Washington Post

“‘Nixonmaxxing’ young conservatives seem intent on repairing the disgraced former president’s reputation,” considering him a “victim of Washington machinations,” says Lee Huebner. Nixon’s “pugilistic style” clearly appeals to the “populist right,” and his “antiestablishment sensibility is shared by Trump.” But there is a “fundamental difference between the two men.” MAGA “denies election results and works to undermine confidence in America’s electoral system,” while Nixon notably “refused to join Republicans who were urging him to deny election results and defy court rulings.”

Read more

‘An economic D-Day is coming for Iran’

Scott Bessent at the Financial Times

“President Donald Trump and the overwhelming might of our military have significantly dismantled Iran’s military capabilities and weakened its nuclear program,” says U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. Now begins the “single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary.” The “regime’s final refuge lies in the self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace,” but “our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.”

Read more

‘The gun lobby’s most cynical move yet’

Sari Horwitz at The Atlantic

A study by Stanford University researchers this year found that “after fatal school shootings, pro-gun political-action committees dramatically increased their contributions to their preferred U.S. House candidates in the districts where the shootings occurred,” says Sari Horwitz. “These shifts in spending” were observed “only when children were killed.” The study shows how “pro-gun PACs work to undermine anti-gun feelings in communities suffering from trauma” and is a “compelling reminder of how far the gun lobby will go.”

Read more

‘We stopped family separation once. We must stop this, too.’

Rosa DeLauro at Newsweek

The “second Trump administration is again targeting children as it pursues its radical anti-immigration agenda,” says Rosa DeLauro. The “contract between the federal government and the Acacia Center for Justice” recently “lapsed after the administration refused to extend the agreement,” leaving more than “20,000 migrant children” without “legal representation.” But depriving kids of “adequate legal services is not targeting the ‘worst of the worst.’” These “frightened” children “will be forced to stand before an immigration judge to plead their own case.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-nixon-gun-lobby-family-separation-bessent-iran yS9iVPiQor6hXSzTvHXs2P Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:50:27 +0000 Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:24:07 +0000 false false false

‘If only the MAGA “Nixonmaxxers” fully understood the 37th president’

Lee Huebner at The Washington Post

“‘Nixonmaxxing’ young conservatives seem intent on repairing the disgraced former president’s reputation,” considering him a “victim of Washington machinations,” says Lee Huebner. Nixon’s “pugilistic style” clearly appeals to the “populist right,” and his “antiestablishment sensibility is shared by Trump.” But there is a “fundamental difference between the two men.” MAGA “denies election results and works to undermine confidence in America’s electoral system,” while Nixon notably “refused to join Republicans who were urging him to deny election results and defy court rulings.”

Read more

‘An economic D-Day is coming for Iran’

Scott Bessent at the Financial Times

“President Donald Trump and the overwhelming might of our military have significantly dismantled Iran’s military capabilities and weakened its nuclear program,” says U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. Now begins the “single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary.” The “regime’s final refuge lies in the self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace,” but “our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.”

Read more

‘The gun lobby’s most cynical move yet’

Sari Horwitz at The Atlantic

A study by Stanford University researchers this year found that “after fatal school shootings, pro-gun political-action committees dramatically increased their contributions to their preferred U.S. House candidates in the districts where the shootings occurred,” says Sari Horwitz. “These shifts in spending” were observed “only when children were killed.” The study shows how “pro-gun PACs work to undermine anti-gun feelings in communities suffering from trauma” and is a “compelling reminder of how far the gun lobby will go.”

Read more

‘We stopped family separation once. We must stop this, too.’

Rosa DeLauro at Newsweek

The “second Trump administration is again targeting children as it pursues its radical anti-immigration agenda,” says Rosa DeLauro. The “contract between the federal government and the Acacia Center for Justice” recently “lapsed after the administration refused to extend the agreement,” leaving more than “20,000 migrant children” without “legal representation.” But depriving kids of “adequate legal services is not targeting the ‘worst of the worst.’” These “frightened” children “will be forced to stand before an immigration judge to plead their own case.”

Read more

]]> ‘Baseball labor talks may look like a battle among millionaires, but it’s really about billionaires vs. peons’

Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times

“Is any labor dispute today caricatured more than the contract negotiations between Major League Baseball owners and their players?” says Michael Hiltzik. The “idea that the fans are clamoring to cancel the 2027 season” for a “rule change that would put more money in billionaires’ pockets doesn’t strike me as remotely plausible.” The “trope that the parties contesting the contract renewal are all millionaires battling over the same pie and sticking the fans with the cost” should be “put in context.”

Read more

‘Five years on, Washington is failing Afghanistan again’

Priyali Sur and Hardin Lang at Foreign Policy

“Five years ago this month, Kabul fell to the Taliban,” and the “images from that week still define how many Americans think about Afghanistan,” say Priyali Sur and Hardin Lang. In the “following years, Washington has found new, quieter ways to fail Afghans,” and “this time, the failure has a body count that the Trump administration has so far refused to acknowledge.” Examining the “impact of the aid cuts on the ground” paints a “disturbing picture of a collapsing system.”

Read more

‘Flock camera resistance is just the beginning. Let’s avoid a “1984” scenario.’

Farrah Hassen at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Government surveillance “isn’t new, but new wide-ranging technologies that can detect our faces and track our movements are making it ubiquitous,” says Farrah Hassen. While the “tools have changed, the purpose remains the same: to chill independent thought, free speech and dissent, bringing our country closer to the events in George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘1984.’” Tech like “Flock cameras has brought the issue into communities across the country” and “led to wrongful arrests, profiling and countless other abuses.”

Read more

‘The Muttur massacre in Sri Lanka remains, 20 years later, a prime example of impunity for attacks on humanitarians’

Hector Sharp and Lily Sparks at Le Monde

“Twenty years ago, on August 4, 2006, a team of 17 humanitarians working for Action Against Hunger in Muttur, Sri Lanka, were forced to kneel, before being shot in the back of the head,” say Hector Sharp and Lily Sparks. The massacre “became emblematic of the collapse of humanitarian protection.” It “remains a prime example of impunity: a defining failure of justice which is impossible to separate from the increase in attacks on humanitarians around the world.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-baseball-sports-afghanistan-flock-sri-lanka aevePHfpxesiLUrCzbtgKk Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:38:01 +0000 Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:41:20 +0000 false false false

‘Baseball labor talks may look like a battle among millionaires, but it’s really about billionaires vs. peons’

Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times

“Is any labor dispute today caricatured more than the contract negotiations between Major League Baseball owners and their players?” says Michael Hiltzik. The “idea that the fans are clamoring to cancel the 2027 season” for a “rule change that would put more money in billionaires’ pockets doesn’t strike me as remotely plausible.” The “trope that the parties contesting the contract renewal are all millionaires battling over the same pie and sticking the fans with the cost” should be “put in context.”

Read more

‘Five years on, Washington is failing Afghanistan again’

Priyali Sur and Hardin Lang at Foreign Policy

“Five years ago this month, Kabul fell to the Taliban,” and the “images from that week still define how many Americans think about Afghanistan,” say Priyali Sur and Hardin Lang. In the “following years, Washington has found new, quieter ways to fail Afghans,” and “this time, the failure has a body count that the Trump administration has so far refused to acknowledge.” Examining the “impact of the aid cuts on the ground” paints a “disturbing picture of a collapsing system.”

Read more

‘Flock camera resistance is just the beginning. Let’s avoid a “1984” scenario.’

Farrah Hassen at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Government surveillance “isn’t new, but new wide-ranging technologies that can detect our faces and track our movements are making it ubiquitous,” says Farrah Hassen. While the “tools have changed, the purpose remains the same: to chill independent thought, free speech and dissent, bringing our country closer to the events in George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘1984.’” Tech like “Flock cameras has brought the issue into communities across the country” and “led to wrongful arrests, profiling and countless other abuses.”

Read more

‘The Muttur massacre in Sri Lanka remains, 20 years later, a prime example of impunity for attacks on humanitarians’

Hector Sharp and Lily Sparks at Le Monde

“Twenty years ago, on August 4, 2006, a team of 17 humanitarians working for Action Against Hunger in Muttur, Sri Lanka, were forced to kneel, before being shot in the back of the head,” say Hector Sharp and Lily Sparks. The massacre “became emblematic of the collapse of humanitarian protection.” It “remains a prime example of impunity: a defining failure of justice which is impossible to separate from the increase in attacks on humanitarians around the world.”

Read more

]]> ‘After honeymooners crash in a helicopter, tourist choppers give us pause’

Chicago Tribune editorial board

Helicopters are often “vital tools,” and “there are many diligent, safety-conscious operators of helicopters that serve tourists,” says the Chicago Tribune editorial board. But recent crashes are “enough to give us pause about getting on one, especially if there is another choice of transportation to a popular destination.” It’s a “timely reminder there are lots of ways in these final weeks of summer of making it to a secluded vacation place: by boat, car, minibus, train or even a sturdier plane.”

Read more

‘Death stalks the Irish pub’

Jude Webber at the Financial Times

Death is “revered in Ireland more than it is feared — unless it’s the pub that’s dying,” says Jude Webber. From a “peak of more than 8,600 in 2005, the number of public houses has shrunk by a quarter in two decades,” and some fear a “terminal decline of one of Ireland’s best-loved institutions, especially in rural areas.” The “slow extinction of the Irish pub itself, with its cosy snugs, live music and warm welcome, is cause for increasing alarm.”

Read more

‘Humanitarianism is not collapsing. It is being traded and compromised.’

Amitabh Behar at Al Jazeera

As we “mark World Humanitarian Day, we must reflect on the state of humanitarianism,” says Amitabh Behar. Humanitarianism “has always been framed upon the collective assumption that there are lines that should never be crossed.” For a “generation, we had binding international agreements that treated the act of protecting a child in need of food or a medic treating the sick and wounded as a fundamental legal right,” but “today, the consensus and meaning behind these laws are gone.”

Read more

‘A fake poll made real news. What does that say about political polling?’

Ren LaForme, Angela Fu, Amaris Castillo and Phoenix Chapital at the Poynter Institute

Polling “has always presented journalists with a tricky proposition,” say Ren LaForme, Angela Fu, Amaris Castillo and Phoenix Chapital. There is “something irresistible about them,” but “polls are estimates, not predictions.” Their “usefulness depends heavily on who conducted them, who they surveyed and how.” As a fake poll by “Median Strategies demonstrated, the appearance of a methodology, a sample size and a margin of error can make invented numbers look a lot like real ones.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-helicopters-irish-pub-humanitarianism-polling YPNU7dX8wbFrt5Tx3j4XJe Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:58:34 +0000 false false false

‘After honeymooners crash in a helicopter, tourist choppers give us pause’

Chicago Tribune editorial board

Helicopters are often “vital tools,” and “there are many diligent, safety-conscious operators of helicopters that serve tourists,” says the Chicago Tribune editorial board. But recent crashes are “enough to give us pause about getting on one, especially if there is another choice of transportation to a popular destination.” It’s a “timely reminder there are lots of ways in these final weeks of summer of making it to a secluded vacation place: by boat, car, minibus, train or even a sturdier plane.”

Read more

‘Death stalks the Irish pub’

Jude Webber at the Financial Times

Death is “revered in Ireland more than it is feared — unless it’s the pub that’s dying,” says Jude Webber. From a “peak of more than 8,600 in 2005, the number of public houses has shrunk by a quarter in two decades,” and some fear a “terminal decline of one of Ireland’s best-loved institutions, especially in rural areas.” The “slow extinction of the Irish pub itself, with its cosy snugs, live music and warm welcome, is cause for increasing alarm.”

Read more

‘Humanitarianism is not collapsing. It is being traded and compromised.’

Amitabh Behar at Al Jazeera

As we “mark World Humanitarian Day, we must reflect on the state of humanitarianism,” says Amitabh Behar. Humanitarianism “has always been framed upon the collective assumption that there are lines that should never be crossed.” For a “generation, we had binding international agreements that treated the act of protecting a child in need of food or a medic treating the sick and wounded as a fundamental legal right,” but “today, the consensus and meaning behind these laws are gone.”

Read more

‘A fake poll made real news. What does that say about political polling?’

Ren LaForme, Angela Fu, Amaris Castillo and Phoenix Chapital at the Poynter Institute

Polling “has always presented journalists with a tricky proposition,” say Ren LaForme, Angela Fu, Amaris Castillo and Phoenix Chapital. There is “something irresistible about them,” but “polls are estimates, not predictions.” Their “usefulness depends heavily on who conducted them, who they surveyed and how.” As a fake poll by “Median Strategies demonstrated, the appearance of a methodology, a sample size and a margin of error can make invented numbers look a lot like real ones.”

Read more

]]> ‘I grew up watching Hayden Panettiere. Her death is a reckoning.’

Sara Pequeño at USA Today

The “late-night Aug. 16 notification that Hayden Panettiere died took my breath away,” says Sara Pequeño. Every “so often, a celebrity’s death will feel like an exposed nerve,” and “millennials and Gen Z are still getting used to that feeling.” In the “last years of her life, Panettiere was talking about serious topics that many young women can empathize with.” Hers is “not simply a cautionary tale — it is also a story about the importance of speaking your truth.”

Read more

‘By disparaging 2020 protests as “Woke 1,” liberals are following the right wing’s lead’

Andre Gee at The Guardian

This month has “brought us a referendum on ‘Woke 1’ — a term that reductively brands 2020’s social justice movement — as prominent liberal voices reflect on that time period with disappointing hindsight,” says Andre Gee. “Woke” has “long shifted from Black America’s prideful adjective to a mocking noun that has been weaponized to ridicule Black liberation movements.” Progressive liberals “now adopting that dismissive language while placing confines on the movement for Black lives is damning.”

Read more

‘You cannot rebuild a country with people who are shattered’

Lilia Yapparova at The Boston Globe

“Stigma around mental health care still runs deep in Ukraine,” says Lilia Yapparova. This happens “even though the scale of trauma in Ukraine is extraordinary.” If the nation’s “mental health crisis goes untreated, overlooked grief and loss could become indelible parts of Ukraine’s social fabric, with cascading effects on future generations.” It is “not only soldiers who continue to live in a nightmare of ongoing trauma,” but there is “no systematic, streamlined approach to mental health support in Ukraine.”

Read more

‘Pilots and flight attendants face a real cancer risk. Frequent fliers shouldn’t panic.’

Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena at Time

There’s a “particular unease that comes from seeing that an ordinary part of life has been linked to cancer,” as “pilots and flight attendants die of radiation-related cancers at higher rates than workers in over 500 occupations,” say Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena. The “next time a flight attendant hands you a coffee at 30,000 feet, there’s no need to fret over the tiny radiation dose,” but “do consider the doses they take on, day after day.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-hayden-panettiere-woke-ukraine-health-aviation YrhoVbnd83oiQs7RMcu3e3 Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:45:22 +0000 Wed, 19 Aug 2026 20:04:33 +0000 false false false

‘I grew up watching Hayden Panettiere. Her death is a reckoning.’

Sara Pequeño at USA Today

The “late-night Aug. 16 notification that Hayden Panettiere died took my breath away,” says Sara Pequeño. Every “so often, a celebrity’s death will feel like an exposed nerve,” and “millennials and Gen Z are still getting used to that feeling.” In the “last years of her life, Panettiere was talking about serious topics that many young women can empathize with.” Hers is “not simply a cautionary tale — it is also a story about the importance of speaking your truth.”

Read more

‘By disparaging 2020 protests as “Woke 1,” liberals are following the right wing’s lead’

Andre Gee at The Guardian

This month has “brought us a referendum on ‘Woke 1’ — a term that reductively brands 2020’s social justice movement — as prominent liberal voices reflect on that time period with disappointing hindsight,” says Andre Gee. “Woke” has “long shifted from Black America’s prideful adjective to a mocking noun that has been weaponized to ridicule Black liberation movements.” Progressive liberals “now adopting that dismissive language while placing confines on the movement for Black lives is damning.”

Read more

‘You cannot rebuild a country with people who are shattered’

Lilia Yapparova at The Boston Globe

“Stigma around mental health care still runs deep in Ukraine,” says Lilia Yapparova. This happens “even though the scale of trauma in Ukraine is extraordinary.” If the nation’s “mental health crisis goes untreated, overlooked grief and loss could become indelible parts of Ukraine’s social fabric, with cascading effects on future generations.” It is “not only soldiers who continue to live in a nightmare of ongoing trauma,” but there is “no systematic, streamlined approach to mental health support in Ukraine.”

Read more

‘Pilots and flight attendants face a real cancer risk. Frequent fliers shouldn’t panic.’

Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena at Time

There’s a “particular unease that comes from seeing that an ordinary part of life has been linked to cancer,” as “pilots and flight attendants die of radiation-related cancers at higher rates than workers in over 500 occupations,” say Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena. The “next time a flight attendant hands you a coffee at 30,000 feet, there’s no need to fret over the tiny radiation dose,” but “do consider the doses they take on, day after day.”

Read more

]]> ‘LinkedIn users are rewriting the past to land their next jobs’

Beth Kowitt at Bloomberg

LinkedIn “has inadvertently become a treasure trove for economists studying the modern labor market,” says Beth Kowitt. New research “has uncovered a problem with treating LinkedIn as a historical record: users keep mucking up the data.” People “have been polishing their resumes for as long as resumes have existed,” but “today when workers rewrite their own career histories, they’re also altering the public record and our understanding of the labor market.” The “result is a kind of arms race.”

Read more

‘Debbie Wasserman Schultz running in a Black district is brought to you by the Supreme Court — and the GOP’

Andra Gillespie at MS NOW

After the Supreme Court “gave Florida Republicans permission to redraw district lines to benefit their party, the biggest news is the decision by Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a white woman, to run in the state’s only plurality-Black district,” says Andra Gillespie. Her “candidacy there highlights the tensions between descriptive and substantive representation and the strategic risks that emerge when a large field of candidates run for the same seat.” But “she could still win with a plurality.”

Read more

‘The age of big-spending Republicans is here’

Merrill Matthews at The Hill

It “may be hard for the Gen Z crowd to accept, but there was a time when Republicans in Congress believed in fiscal responsibility — restraining government spending,” says Merrill Matthews. Now “all most Gen Zers have ever known is big-spending Republicans.” The GOP “used to be serious about controlling federal spending, but that was before Trump.” These party members “may soon find voters and the economy demanding they return to their conservative roots.”

Read more

‘What my dad’s generation of engineers can teach the AI industry’

Len Khodorkovsky at Newsweek

“Half of companies rolled out an AI agent that passed internal testing but still failed once real customers began using it,” and the “gap isn’t a failure of engineering. It’s a permanent feature of it,” says Len Khodorkovsky. It’s the “everyday cost of manufacturing at scale.” A “model that aces its benchmarks but fails in the real world is like a tolerance that only looks good on paper,” and “every factory learned a long time ago that reality humbles perfect designs.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-linkedin-jobs-economy-democrats-ai-tech kNXxjUyAe32FfjivgiYMVU Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:19:25 +0000 Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:38:40 +0000 false false false

‘LinkedIn users are rewriting the past to land their next jobs’

Beth Kowitt at Bloomberg

LinkedIn “has inadvertently become a treasure trove for economists studying the modern labor market,” says Beth Kowitt. New research “has uncovered a problem with treating LinkedIn as a historical record: users keep mucking up the data.” People “have been polishing their resumes for as long as resumes have existed,” but “today when workers rewrite their own career histories, they’re also altering the public record and our understanding of the labor market.” The “result is a kind of arms race.”

Read more

‘Debbie Wasserman Schultz running in a Black district is brought to you by the Supreme Court — and the GOP’

Andra Gillespie at MS NOW

After the Supreme Court “gave Florida Republicans permission to redraw district lines to benefit their party, the biggest news is the decision by Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a white woman, to run in the state’s only plurality-Black district,” says Andra Gillespie. Her “candidacy there highlights the tensions between descriptive and substantive representation and the strategic risks that emerge when a large field of candidates run for the same seat.” But “she could still win with a plurality.”

Read more

‘The age of big-spending Republicans is here’

Merrill Matthews at The Hill

It “may be hard for the Gen Z crowd to accept, but there was a time when Republicans in Congress believed in fiscal responsibility — restraining government spending,” says Merrill Matthews. Now “all most Gen Zers have ever known is big-spending Republicans.” The GOP “used to be serious about controlling federal spending, but that was before Trump.” These party members “may soon find voters and the economy demanding they return to their conservative roots.”

Read more

‘What my dad’s generation of engineers can teach the AI industry’

Len Khodorkovsky at Newsweek

“Half of companies rolled out an AI agent that passed internal testing but still failed once real customers began using it,” and the “gap isn’t a failure of engineering. It’s a permanent feature of it,” says Len Khodorkovsky. It’s the “everyday cost of manufacturing at scale.” A “model that aces its benchmarks but fails in the real world is like a tolerance that only looks good on paper,” and “every factory learned a long time ago that reality humbles perfect designs.”

Read more

]]> ‘Subtraction isn’t the way out of the Colorado River crisis’

Jim Madaffer at The Washington Post

The Colorado River Compact of 1922 is “designed to divide a fixed supply of water, but there’s a problem: The river no longer offers one,” says Jim Madaffer. The “21st century must create water for the region,” but the “existing policies, designed as they were for another era, don’t create anything,” so “commercialization of water innovation is the path to giving Lower Basin states and their residents stable and full water supplies.”

Read more

‘Black Americans are reviving an ancient Nigerian apprenticeship model to build wealth’

Ibe Imo at The Philadelphia Inquirer

There is a “growing, informal network” of apprentice programs using the Nigerian “Nwa Boy model’s core promise: a credentialed path from labor to ownership, built on relationships and trust rather than credit scores or venture capital,” says Ibe Imo. As “race-conscious funding efforts designed to level the playing field for African Americans are dismantled, that promise is drawing new attention from investors, workforce officials and Black entrepreneurs looking for an alternative route to generational wealth.”

Read more

‘Why Gov. Newsom should commute every death sentence in California before he leaves office’

Nadia Daar at the San Francisco Chronicle

“Shockingly, 25% of those on death row in the U.S. are sitting in California prisons,” and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) “should seize a historic opportunity to move California closer to ending the death penalty by commuting all of the death sentences in the state,” says Nadia Daar. Newsom’s “promise to pause executions is only good until he leaves office in 2027.” What he “does next will determine whether California merely delayed executions or truly ended them.”

Read more

‘Colleges shouldn’t give up on letter grades’

The Dallas Morning News editorial board

Some colleges are “experimenting with ‘ungrading,’ where students agree to contractual terms for a particular letter grade or are evaluated in more qualitative ways,” says The Dallas Morning News editorial board. These “experiments show a genuine effort on the part of colleges to grapple with a broken grading system, but dropping letter grades altogether is not the answer.” A “transcript filled with broad pass marks can’t communicate whether a student produced exceptional work or just barely got by.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-colorado-river-death-penalty-african-americans-colleges awCEanVA28k7SqbMZid827 Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:56:41 +0000 Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:40:19 +0000 false false false

‘Subtraction isn’t the way out of the Colorado River crisis’

Jim Madaffer at The Washington Post

The Colorado River Compact of 1922 is “designed to divide a fixed supply of water, but there’s a problem: The river no longer offers one,” says Jim Madaffer. The “21st century must create water for the region,” but the “existing policies, designed as they were for another era, don’t create anything,” so “commercialization of water innovation is the path to giving Lower Basin states and their residents stable and full water supplies.”

Read more

‘Black Americans are reviving an ancient Nigerian apprenticeship model to build wealth’

Ibe Imo at The Philadelphia Inquirer

There is a “growing, informal network” of apprentice programs using the Nigerian “Nwa Boy model’s core promise: a credentialed path from labor to ownership, built on relationships and trust rather than credit scores or venture capital,” says Ibe Imo. As “race-conscious funding efforts designed to level the playing field for African Americans are dismantled, that promise is drawing new attention from investors, workforce officials and Black entrepreneurs looking for an alternative route to generational wealth.”

Read more

‘Why Gov. Newsom should commute every death sentence in California before he leaves office’

Nadia Daar at the San Francisco Chronicle

“Shockingly, 25% of those on death row in the U.S. are sitting in California prisons,” and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) “should seize a historic opportunity to move California closer to ending the death penalty by commuting all of the death sentences in the state,” says Nadia Daar. Newsom’s “promise to pause executions is only good until he leaves office in 2027.” What he “does next will determine whether California merely delayed executions or truly ended them.”

Read more

‘Colleges shouldn’t give up on letter grades’

The Dallas Morning News editorial board

Some colleges are “experimenting with ‘ungrading,’ where students agree to contractual terms for a particular letter grade or are evaluated in more qualitative ways,” says The Dallas Morning News editorial board. These “experiments show a genuine effort on the part of colleges to grapple with a broken grading system, but dropping letter grades altogether is not the answer.” A “transcript filled with broad pass marks can’t communicate whether a student produced exceptional work or just barely got by.”

Read more

]]> ‘What’s the value of an hour?’

Joshua Rothman at The New Yorker

Government is “only one participant in a much larger conspiracy to waste our time,” says Joshua Rothman, as “many conveniences also have hidden time-wasting downsides.” All “around us, systems calculate, markets churn and clever people find ways to monetize seemingly everything,” but “hours are thrown away and used up randomly,” as “time, our scarcest resource, feels beyond our reckoning.” People “grapple with time, of course, finding ways to domesticate it,” and “we’re outrageously suggestible when it comes to our temporal attitudes.”

Read more

‘We’re paying for climate disasters instead of preventing them’

Sienna Shankel at Newsweek

Home insurance “has become one of the defining economic issues of 2026, yet our response remains dangerously small,” says Sienna Shankel. Americans “argue over premiums, subsidies and regulations while ignoring the structural failure driving them.” Until “that changes, households will pay more.” A “mistake is believing that higher premiums are the crisis,” as “they are only symptoms.” The “real problem is that every climate disaster now triggers an economic chain reaction that extends far beyond damaged buildings.”

Read more

‘Black liberation requires investment’

Reginald Thomas Brown at The Progressive

By “no coincidence, Black August and Black Philanthropy Month are observed at the same time,” as “both are rooted in a simple truth: Our liberation is never granted; it is built, protected and sustained,” says Reginald Thomas Brown. The “Black liberation movement commemorated by Black August gave us the blueprint for organizing,” while Black Philanthropy Month underscores what communities have always understood — that collective action, from mutual aid networks to civil rights campaigns, is our greatest strength.”

Read more

‘How to squander a superpower’s credibility’

Fareed Zakaria at Foreign Policy

Saudi Arabia and Turkey “pledged to go to war in each other’s defense,” even as they’ve “been bitter regional rivals,” says Fareed Zakaria. What “brought them together? U.S. President Donald Trump — or rather the two countries’ diminishing faith in him and his word.” The “Iran war has been a master class in how to squander credibility.” Trump’s “word is as solid with his counterparts abroad as it was with his bankers in New York.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-time-climate-insurance-black-united-states QAuB65dApniq8FTJF6JtTN Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:33:49 +0000 false false false

‘What’s the value of an hour?’

Joshua Rothman at The New Yorker

Government is “only one participant in a much larger conspiracy to waste our time,” says Joshua Rothman, as “many conveniences also have hidden time-wasting downsides.” All “around us, systems calculate, markets churn and clever people find ways to monetize seemingly everything,” but “hours are thrown away and used up randomly,” as “time, our scarcest resource, feels beyond our reckoning.” People “grapple with time, of course, finding ways to domesticate it,” and “we’re outrageously suggestible when it comes to our temporal attitudes.”

Read more

‘We’re paying for climate disasters instead of preventing them’

Sienna Shankel at Newsweek

Home insurance “has become one of the defining economic issues of 2026, yet our response remains dangerously small,” says Sienna Shankel. Americans “argue over premiums, subsidies and regulations while ignoring the structural failure driving them.” Until “that changes, households will pay more.” A “mistake is believing that higher premiums are the crisis,” as “they are only symptoms.” The “real problem is that every climate disaster now triggers an economic chain reaction that extends far beyond damaged buildings.”

Read more

‘Black liberation requires investment’

Reginald Thomas Brown at The Progressive

By “no coincidence, Black August and Black Philanthropy Month are observed at the same time,” as “both are rooted in a simple truth: Our liberation is never granted; it is built, protected and sustained,” says Reginald Thomas Brown. The “Black liberation movement commemorated by Black August gave us the blueprint for organizing,” while Black Philanthropy Month underscores what communities have always understood — that collective action, from mutual aid networks to civil rights campaigns, is our greatest strength.”

Read more

‘How to squander a superpower’s credibility’

Fareed Zakaria at Foreign Policy

Saudi Arabia and Turkey “pledged to go to war in each other’s defense,” even as they’ve “been bitter regional rivals,” says Fareed Zakaria. What “brought them together? U.S. President Donald Trump — or rather the two countries’ diminishing faith in him and his word.” The “Iran war has been a master class in how to squander credibility.” Trump’s “word is as solid with his counterparts abroad as it was with his bankers in New York.”

Read more

]]> ‘Syria’s leaders need to prove they can be trusted’

Ilan Berman at The Washington Post

The United States’ “rehabilitation of Syria has proceeded at remarkable speed,” but it is “becoming increasingly clear that, at least at the moment, Washington is making its bet based more on hope than hard evidence,” says Ilan Berman. The “ideological makeup of the country’s new rulers has not changed nearly as much as Western officials might wish to believe” and “reflect an officially sanctioned effort to shape Syria’s next generation according to a radical, rejectionist worldview.”

Read more

‘Critics can no longer claim ESPN is “woke”’

Michael McCarthy at Front Office Sports

If “you want proof the ‘woke’ era at ESPN is over, all you had to do was watch President Donald Trump’s inaugural Freedom 250 Patriot Games,” says Michael McCarthy. The “happy, smiling scene between ESPN/Disney power players and the second Trump administration was a far cry from some of the media giant’s previous tense interactions with ‘The Donald.’” ESPN “might not want to enlist in the culture wars anymore, but the culture wars will draft them anyway.”

Read more

‘The US is now using the “terrorist” label to interfere in Brazil’s election’

Raphael Tsavkko Garcia at Al Jazeera

In “designating Brazil’s two largest criminal organizations” as terrorist groups, the U.S. “has asserted its own definition of Brazil’s security threats, with consequences that reach far beyond law enforcement,” says Raphael Tsavkko Garcia. This “says far more about politics than security.” The “designation reflects a dangerous convergence between Washington’s longstanding interventionist instincts in Latin America, echoing memories from the U.S.-sponsored dictatorship that lasted from 1964 until 1985, and the interests of Brazil’s far right.”

Read more

‘How AI poses a threat to journalism, already weakened by 20 years of digital upheaval’

Aude Dassonville at Le Monde

For the “media, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has proven to be an earthquake, profoundly shaking journalistic practices and relationships with readers, along with the economic models of newspapers, magazines, television channels and news websites,” says Aude Dassonville. How “can organizations continue to exist if, on top of having their content scraped by AI, readers drop and advertising revenue is siphoned off?” A “worrying trend is that, quite often, chatbot users are confident with answers generated by AI.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-syria-espn-sports-brazil-ai-news hzkNTCJX8e7ksUGr72pa4D Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:27:21 +0000 false false false

‘Syria’s leaders need to prove they can be trusted’

Ilan Berman at The Washington Post

The United States’ “rehabilitation of Syria has proceeded at remarkable speed,” but it is “becoming increasingly clear that, at least at the moment, Washington is making its bet based more on hope than hard evidence,” says Ilan Berman. The “ideological makeup of the country’s new rulers has not changed nearly as much as Western officials might wish to believe” and “reflect an officially sanctioned effort to shape Syria’s next generation according to a radical, rejectionist worldview.”

Read more

‘Critics can no longer claim ESPN is “woke”’

Michael McCarthy at Front Office Sports

If “you want proof the ‘woke’ era at ESPN is over, all you had to do was watch President Donald Trump’s inaugural Freedom 250 Patriot Games,” says Michael McCarthy. The “happy, smiling scene between ESPN/Disney power players and the second Trump administration was a far cry from some of the media giant’s previous tense interactions with ‘The Donald.’” ESPN “might not want to enlist in the culture wars anymore, but the culture wars will draft them anyway.”

Read more

‘The US is now using the “terrorist” label to interfere in Brazil’s election’

Raphael Tsavkko Garcia at Al Jazeera

In “designating Brazil’s two largest criminal organizations” as terrorist groups, the U.S. “has asserted its own definition of Brazil’s security threats, with consequences that reach far beyond law enforcement,” says Raphael Tsavkko Garcia. This “says far more about politics than security.” The “designation reflects a dangerous convergence between Washington’s longstanding interventionist instincts in Latin America, echoing memories from the U.S.-sponsored dictatorship that lasted from 1964 until 1985, and the interests of Brazil’s far right.”

Read more

‘How AI poses a threat to journalism, already weakened by 20 years of digital upheaval’

Aude Dassonville at Le Monde

For the “media, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has proven to be an earthquake, profoundly shaking journalistic practices and relationships with readers, along with the economic models of newspapers, magazines, television channels and news websites,” says Aude Dassonville. How “can organizations continue to exist if, on top of having their content scraped by AI, readers drop and advertising revenue is siphoned off?” A “worrying trend is that, quite often, chatbot users are confident with answers generated by AI.”

Read more

]]> ‘Shopping is impossible’

Rachel Sugar at The Atlantic

With online shopping, the “problem is the overabundance of options” and “too much information, or too little information,” says Rachel Sugar. At “this point, the boundary between ‘shopping’ and ‘not shopping’ has all but collapsed.” There is “now a third state: ‘a little bit shopping,’” the “constant thrum of consumer opportunities that lead mostly to more consumer opportunities.” It is “both a genuine attempt at making a purchase, and a hobby that is infinitely expandable to fill any length of time.”

Read more

‘Why must a socialist also be woke?’

Janan Ganesh at the Financial Times

It is “natural to forget what a normie Karl Marx could be,” says Janan Ganesh. From the “beginning, it was possible to be a socialist, the socialist, and culturally middle-of-the-road.” It was “possible to believe in seizing the means of production without being avant-garde on matters of sex, race, crime or war,” but “that point has got lost over time.” The “hard left will always pair a conceivably popular economic program with a provably hated cultural one.”

Read more

‘The death toll of a mass shooting doesn’t end at the scene’

Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena at Time

When a “mass shooting tears through an American community, we count the dead,” say Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena. But the “damage doesn’t stop at the victims.” The impact that a “shooting spreads across the whole country cannot be seen the way we can see a wound,” but “we can see its footprints in the form of antidepressant prescriptions filled, in accidental gun deaths” and in “lives lost on the road,” as “decades of research show that stress and distraction make drivers more dangerous.”

Read more

‘Why fashion falls for fascists’

Ari Hoffman at UnHerd

A “Dorian Gray-like question comes to mind in the wake of the decision” by Anna Wintour to “devote the 2027 Met Gala to John Galliano, a designer hailed as a visionary who has also spewed baroque bigotry,” says Ari Hoffman. Beyond the “judgment of Galliano’s character — by all accounts, it’s troubled — lies a more difficult reckoning with fashion’s fascination with cruelty and fanaticism, which all too often has lain behind the glittering surfaces.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-shopping-online-socialism-mass-shooting-fashion exEDgrUqeVACFWBa8NYtoF Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:56:54 +0000 Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:02:37 +0000 false false false

‘Shopping is impossible’

Rachel Sugar at The Atlantic

With online shopping, the “problem is the overabundance of options” and “too much information, or too little information,” says Rachel Sugar. At “this point, the boundary between ‘shopping’ and ‘not shopping’ has all but collapsed.” There is “now a third state: ‘a little bit shopping,’” the “constant thrum of consumer opportunities that lead mostly to more consumer opportunities.” It is “both a genuine attempt at making a purchase, and a hobby that is infinitely expandable to fill any length of time.”

Read more

‘Why must a socialist also be woke?’

Janan Ganesh at the Financial Times

It is “natural to forget what a normie Karl Marx could be,” says Janan Ganesh. From the “beginning, it was possible to be a socialist, the socialist, and culturally middle-of-the-road.” It was “possible to believe in seizing the means of production without being avant-garde on matters of sex, race, crime or war,” but “that point has got lost over time.” The “hard left will always pair a conceivably popular economic program with a provably hated cultural one.”

Read more

‘The death toll of a mass shooting doesn’t end at the scene’

Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena at Time

When a “mass shooting tears through an American community, we count the dead,” say Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena. But the “damage doesn’t stop at the victims.” The impact that a “shooting spreads across the whole country cannot be seen the way we can see a wound,” but “we can see its footprints in the form of antidepressant prescriptions filled, in accidental gun deaths” and in “lives lost on the road,” as “decades of research show that stress and distraction make drivers more dangerous.”

Read more

‘Why fashion falls for fascists’

Ari Hoffman at UnHerd

A “Dorian Gray-like question comes to mind in the wake of the decision” by Anna Wintour to “devote the 2027 Met Gala to John Galliano, a designer hailed as a visionary who has also spewed baroque bigotry,” says Ari Hoffman. Beyond the “judgment of Galliano’s character — by all accounts, it’s troubled — lies a more difficult reckoning with fashion’s fascination with cruelty and fanaticism, which all too often has lain behind the glittering surfaces.”

Read more

]]> ‘Before more E15 reaches the pump, boaters deserve a real warning’

David Kennedy at The Hill

An E15 ethanol “blend, although approved for many cars and trucks, is not for boats,” and “using higher ethanol blends can damage fuel systems, create performance problems, increase safety risks and even void warranties,” says David Kennedy. “Clearer labeling at the pump could have saved me that expense and time lost on the water,” and it is a “warning for policymakers to inform their constituents of potential risks to their boats as E15 becomes more widely available.”

Read more

‘An HBCU has banned durags and bonnets. That reinforces anti-Blackness.’

A.D. Carson at The Guardian

Tuskegee University’s bonnet and durag ban “has produced polarized responses,” says A.D. Carson. The “policy is ultimately rooted in politics of respectability.” One of the “damaging implications of such a dress code is the reinforcement of anti-Black standards that have been externally and internally imposed on Black people in the United States for decades and have never equaled success or safety.” Debates “about ‘proper attire’ have polarized the country throughout its history” and are “tied to violence.”

Read more

‘How science fiction hijacked our political imagination’

David Albertson and Jason Blakely at The Boston Globe

The “most extravagant sci-fi utopians today are also the richest men on the planet,” say David Albertson and Jason Blakely. But it is “not only the billionaires and Marxists who dream of sci-fi abundance.” It is “high time to dispense with outdated nostrums that assume utopianism is either silly or dangerous.” Utopianism “ought to be considered a plausible politics, alongside progressivism, libertarianism and neoliberal realism.” But the “contemporary menu of futuristic imaginings offers rather limited and bizarre fare.”

Read more

‘America’s manufacturing future starts with industrial hemp’

David M. Klein at Newsweek

America is “making a costly mistake by treating industrial hemp as just another crop,” says David M. Klein. It is an “industrial material that can strengthen manufacturing, create jobs, reduce dependence on imported raw materials and help build more resilient supply chains.” If Americans “keep limiting hemp to an agricultural debate, we will hand another major manufacturing opportunity to other countries.” If “we build the industries that process and manufacture hemp-based products here at home, America wins.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-e15-fuel-hbcu-sci-fi-hemp unupSQuYexAXULLTjZxbBP Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:20:28 +0000 Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:24:56 +0000 false false false

‘Before more E15 reaches the pump, boaters deserve a real warning’

David Kennedy at The Hill

An E15 ethanol “blend, although approved for many cars and trucks, is not for boats,” and “using higher ethanol blends can damage fuel systems, create performance problems, increase safety risks and even void warranties,” says David Kennedy. “Clearer labeling at the pump could have saved me that expense and time lost on the water,” and it is a “warning for policymakers to inform their constituents of potential risks to their boats as E15 becomes more widely available.”

Read more

‘An HBCU has banned durags and bonnets. That reinforces anti-Blackness.’

A.D. Carson at The Guardian

Tuskegee University’s bonnet and durag ban “has produced polarized responses,” says A.D. Carson. The “policy is ultimately rooted in politics of respectability.” One of the “damaging implications of such a dress code is the reinforcement of anti-Black standards that have been externally and internally imposed on Black people in the United States for decades and have never equaled success or safety.” Debates “about ‘proper attire’ have polarized the country throughout its history” and are “tied to violence.”

Read more

‘How science fiction hijacked our political imagination’

David Albertson and Jason Blakely at The Boston Globe

The “most extravagant sci-fi utopians today are also the richest men on the planet,” say David Albertson and Jason Blakely. But it is “not only the billionaires and Marxists who dream of sci-fi abundance.” It is “high time to dispense with outdated nostrums that assume utopianism is either silly or dangerous.” Utopianism “ought to be considered a plausible politics, alongside progressivism, libertarianism and neoliberal realism.” But the “contemporary menu of futuristic imaginings offers rather limited and bizarre fare.”

Read more

‘America’s manufacturing future starts with industrial hemp’

David M. Klein at Newsweek

America is “making a costly mistake by treating industrial hemp as just another crop,” says David M. Klein. It is an “industrial material that can strengthen manufacturing, create jobs, reduce dependence on imported raw materials and help build more resilient supply chains.” If Americans “keep limiting hemp to an agricultural debate, we will hand another major manufacturing opportunity to other countries.” If “we build the industries that process and manufacture hemp-based products here at home, America wins.”

Read more

]]> ‘Why are we just watching America become a surveillance state?’

Sara Pequeño at USA Today

There is a “larger issue of mass surveillance becoming mainstream,” says Sara Pequeño. Flock cameras have “recently been in the news for what happens when police officers misuse the technology,” but “faceless corporations aren’t the only ones policing our behavior through mass surveillance.” Americans are “also creating the panopticon among ourselves.” People “can opt out of a culture that calls on us to record our fellow man if we ourselves would not like to be documented.”

Read more

‘What should a 21st-century central bank look like?’

Daniel Moss at Bloomberg

Central banks “have done a sterling job in responding to swings in prices and employment, and severe gyrations in capital markets,” says Daniel Moss. Still, they “haven’t always gotten everything right.” Then “there’s the perceived overreach.” Politicians “might insist that they support central bank independence but now want to peel back what policymakers can do, how they can do it and when they can do it.” The “case for freedom to implement policy has never been stronger.”

Read more

‘A “Free Palestine” T-shirt at a Holocaust memorial is no contradiction’

Gideon Levy at Haaretz

“Teenagers from an international anti-fascist youth camp visited Austria’s Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial last week,” and a “number of them wore T-shirts with slogans calling for the liberation of Palestine,” says Gideon Levy. The “notion that there is no better place than the ruins of a concentration camp to fight for the liberation of 2 million human beings who are currently incarcerated in the Gaza Strip is beyond the grasp of Israelis.” The “call to free Palestine is not antisemitic.”

Read more

‘Should an insurer or a doctor decide where your care takes place?’

Edmund Pribitkin at The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Every day, physicians, patients and the families who care for them make hundreds of decisions together about where and how care should be delivered,” says Edmund Pribitkin. “Increasingly, however, these collective judgments are being second-guessed — and often overruled — by large insurance companies through policies that prioritize administrative convenience and cost-shifting over clinical judgment.” Healthcare decisions “should be made by patients, their families and their care teams — not by insurance company policies.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-surveillance-camera-bank-holocaust-doctors 7zikBzvdBoH9VE64UXotHJ Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:45:25 +0000 Mon, 10 Aug 2026 20:55:54 +0000 false false false

‘Why are we just watching America become a surveillance state?’

Sara Pequeño at USA Today

There is a “larger issue of mass surveillance becoming mainstream,” says Sara Pequeño. Flock cameras have “recently been in the news for what happens when police officers misuse the technology,” but “faceless corporations aren’t the only ones policing our behavior through mass surveillance.” Americans are “also creating the panopticon among ourselves.” People “can opt out of a culture that calls on us to record our fellow man if we ourselves would not like to be documented.”

Read more

‘What should a 21st-century central bank look like?’

Daniel Moss at Bloomberg

Central banks “have done a sterling job in responding to swings in prices and employment, and severe gyrations in capital markets,” says Daniel Moss. Still, they “haven’t always gotten everything right.” Then “there’s the perceived overreach.” Politicians “might insist that they support central bank independence but now want to peel back what policymakers can do, how they can do it and when they can do it.” The “case for freedom to implement policy has never been stronger.”

Read more

‘A “Free Palestine” T-shirt at a Holocaust memorial is no contradiction’

Gideon Levy at Haaretz

“Teenagers from an international anti-fascist youth camp visited Austria’s Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial last week,” and a “number of them wore T-shirts with slogans calling for the liberation of Palestine,” says Gideon Levy. The “notion that there is no better place than the ruins of a concentration camp to fight for the liberation of 2 million human beings who are currently incarcerated in the Gaza Strip is beyond the grasp of Israelis.” The “call to free Palestine is not antisemitic.”

Read more

‘Should an insurer or a doctor decide where your care takes place?’

Edmund Pribitkin at The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Every day, physicians, patients and the families who care for them make hundreds of decisions together about where and how care should be delivered,” says Edmund Pribitkin. “Increasingly, however, these collective judgments are being second-guessed — and often overruled — by large insurance companies through policies that prioritize administrative convenience and cost-shifting over clinical judgment.” Healthcare decisions “should be made by patients, their families and their care teams — not by insurance company policies.”

Read more

]]> ‘My laundromat accepts Apple Pay. Why won’t they take my cash?’

Mary Anna Mancuso at the Miami Herald

Cash “isn’t going out of circulation; it’s disappearing from everyday transactions,” says Mary Anna Mancuso. Businesses “prefer electronic payments” because it “reduces the risk of robbery, digital transactions go into the bank almost immediately and the bookkeeping is simpler.” But it is “worth asking what we lose when convenience becomes the only option.” A “modern payment system should accommodate everyone — whether they choose to tap their phone, swipe a card or hand over a dollar bill.”

Read more

‘Ukraine has always been here — and always will be’

Lidia Pilecky at the Chicago Tribune

Ukraine’s “history tells the facts. We were here. We are here. And we will remain here,” says Lidia Pilecky. For “centuries, Russian rulers repeatedly tried to ban the Ukrainian language and suppress the very identity Putin claims never existed.” But “today, Ukrainians defend the universal principle that no nation should be destroyed because a more powerful neighbor claims it has no right to exist.” Ukraine’s “fight is also taking place in classrooms where children learn the truth.”

Read more

‘Cyclospora outbreaks will only get worse as climate chaos grows’

Amy Moas at Newsweek

This “has been one of the most dangerous summers on record, and experts have been warning about it for decades,” says Amy Moas regarding “two deaths linked to the outbreak of cyclospora.” It is “easier to associate loss of life with extreme weather when it’s tied to a singular event.” But “you can ‘contact-trace’ this now-fatal outbreak back to the ongoing climate crisis.” If “summer gets longer and warmer, we’ll see a longer, hotter mechanism for the parasite to thrive.”

Read more

‘Fancy sodas fall flat with me’

Brenda Cronin at The Wall Street Journal

Fancy sodas “come in winsome bottles or sleek cans and have ridiculous flavors like watermelon-dandelion or rosehip-jacaranda,” but “they taste like carbonated cough syrup with a Windex chaser,” says Brenda Cronin. People “should be reveling in the gourmet soda parade,” if “only the flavors didn’t sound like products from Bath & Body Works” or “taste like a mashup of SweeTARTS and Jolly Ranchers.” When “drinking feels more like penance than a party, I’ll do without.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-cash-money-ukraine-cyclosporiasis-soda 7SiFU5QCW6n7sR7kjDWGHZ Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:40:00 +0000 Fri, 07 Aug 2026 19:26:57 +0000 false false false

‘My laundromat accepts Apple Pay. Why won’t they take my cash?’

Mary Anna Mancuso at the Miami Herald

Cash “isn’t going out of circulation; it’s disappearing from everyday transactions,” says Mary Anna Mancuso. Businesses “prefer electronic payments” because it “reduces the risk of robbery, digital transactions go into the bank almost immediately and the bookkeeping is simpler.” But it is “worth asking what we lose when convenience becomes the only option.” A “modern payment system should accommodate everyone — whether they choose to tap their phone, swipe a card or hand over a dollar bill.”

Read more

‘Ukraine has always been here — and always will be’

Lidia Pilecky at the Chicago Tribune

Ukraine’s “history tells the facts. We were here. We are here. And we will remain here,” says Lidia Pilecky. For “centuries, Russian rulers repeatedly tried to ban the Ukrainian language and suppress the very identity Putin claims never existed.” But “today, Ukrainians defend the universal principle that no nation should be destroyed because a more powerful neighbor claims it has no right to exist.” Ukraine’s “fight is also taking place in classrooms where children learn the truth.”

Read more

‘Cyclospora outbreaks will only get worse as climate chaos grows’

Amy Moas at Newsweek

This “has been one of the most dangerous summers on record, and experts have been warning about it for decades,” says Amy Moas regarding “two deaths linked to the outbreak of cyclospora.” It is “easier to associate loss of life with extreme weather when it’s tied to a singular event.” But “you can ‘contact-trace’ this now-fatal outbreak back to the ongoing climate crisis.” If “summer gets longer and warmer, we’ll see a longer, hotter mechanism for the parasite to thrive.”

Read more

‘Fancy sodas fall flat with me’

Brenda Cronin at The Wall Street Journal

Fancy sodas “come in winsome bottles or sleek cans and have ridiculous flavors like watermelon-dandelion or rosehip-jacaranda,” but “they taste like carbonated cough syrup with a Windex chaser,” says Brenda Cronin. People “should be reveling in the gourmet soda parade,” if “only the flavors didn’t sound like products from Bath & Body Works” or “taste like a mashup of SweeTARTS and Jolly Ranchers.” When “drinking feels more like penance than a party, I’ll do without.”

Read more

]]> ‘The godmother of the “conspiracy mom”’

Jessica Winter at The New Yorker

After JFK’s assassination, Oklahoma housewife Shirley Martin “flung herself into investigating the crime and getting to know some of those closest to it,” says Jessica Winter. It is “generally understood today, as it was not understood 60-plus years ago, that those who subscribe to conspiracy theories tend to do so in order to make sense of an unstable reality,” and “in some ways, Martin was a preview of today’s post-Covid, stay-at-home ‘conspiracy mom’ or of the MAHA moms.”

Read more

‘The ethical perils of gene therapy’

Anjana Ahuja at the Financial Times

In China, a “risky experimental treatment was undertaken for a nonfatal condition; oversight by external authorities, regulators and ethical review boards in China was insufficient to avert tragedy,” says Anjana Ahuja. The “episode is another blow to a country vying to become a global leader in biotech,” as “truly advancing science means being open, honest and transparent about mistakes, as well as successes.” Parents “crave better lives for their children and ambitious researchers covet world firsts.”

Read more

‘I used to mock gym bros. Here’s why I became one.’

Emily Hoeven at the San Francisco Chronicle

It “may seem absurd to say that deadlifts and squats and bench presses changed my life,” but “then again, it wasn’t long ago that I couldn’t lift a coffee cup without excruciating pain,” says Emily Hoeven. It is “almost impossible to name an area of life that weightlifting doesn’t improve.” Studies “show that it boosts confidence and mood, strengthens bones, reduces joint pain and chronic inflammation, and improves cognition,” and it “can be especially beneficial for older women.”

Read more

‘How to fight a cloud’

Nitish Pahwa at Slate

It “feels like an inflection point” for the construction of AI data centers, as “more community leaders and elected officials are listening to their concerned constituents and hitting the pause button,” says Nitish Pahwa. But an “even bigger fight is at hand: whether these halts on buildouts will eventually lead to permanent bans, or whether elected officials are just kicking the clankers down the road.” It’s “one thing to impose a pause for a period of time” but “another to actually make use of that time.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-jfk-conspiracy-genetics-gyms-data-centers bxKweooNGmJTG9hvsbwcud Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:42:02 +0000 Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:09:42 +0000 false false false

‘The godmother of the “conspiracy mom”’

Jessica Winter at The New Yorker

After JFK’s assassination, Oklahoma housewife Shirley Martin “flung herself into investigating the crime and getting to know some of those closest to it,” says Jessica Winter. It is “generally understood today, as it was not understood 60-plus years ago, that those who subscribe to conspiracy theories tend to do so in order to make sense of an unstable reality,” and “in some ways, Martin was a preview of today’s post-Covid, stay-at-home ‘conspiracy mom’ or of the MAHA moms.”

Read more

‘The ethical perils of gene therapy’

Anjana Ahuja at the Financial Times

In China, a “risky experimental treatment was undertaken for a nonfatal condition; oversight by external authorities, regulators and ethical review boards in China was insufficient to avert tragedy,” says Anjana Ahuja. The “episode is another blow to a country vying to become a global leader in biotech,” as “truly advancing science means being open, honest and transparent about mistakes, as well as successes.” Parents “crave better lives for their children and ambitious researchers covet world firsts.”

Read more

‘I used to mock gym bros. Here’s why I became one.’

Emily Hoeven at the San Francisco Chronicle

It “may seem absurd to say that deadlifts and squats and bench presses changed my life,” but “then again, it wasn’t long ago that I couldn’t lift a coffee cup without excruciating pain,” says Emily Hoeven. It is “almost impossible to name an area of life that weightlifting doesn’t improve.” Studies “show that it boosts confidence and mood, strengthens bones, reduces joint pain and chronic inflammation, and improves cognition,” and it “can be especially beneficial for older women.”

Read more

‘How to fight a cloud’

Nitish Pahwa at Slate

It “feels like an inflection point” for the construction of AI data centers, as “more community leaders and elected officials are listening to their concerned constituents and hitting the pause button,” says Nitish Pahwa. But an “even bigger fight is at hand: whether these halts on buildouts will eventually lead to permanent bans, or whether elected officials are just kicking the clankers down the road.” It’s “one thing to impose a pause for a period of time” but “another to actually make use of that time.”

Read more

]]> ‘State corrections policy must do better than more of the same’

Brian Koehn at The Hill

Whether candidates “campaign on it or not, corrections is government’s responsibility,” and “governors cannot pretend it belongs to someone else,” says Brian Koehn. Governors “oversee systems that consume major public dollars, employ thousands of correctional professionals and decide whether people return home better prepared for the outside world or more damaged.” As “voters listen to candidates talk about freedom and safety, they should ask what candidates will do about correctional systems already under their authority.”

Read more

‘Sophie Cunningham’s actions speak far louder than her words’

Jason Page at MS NOW

There are “those looking to legitimately protect the safety of girls and women in sports and those looking to use the issue to demonize the transgender community,” and Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s “actions, more than her words, appear to put her far closer to the latter,” says Jason Page. Cunningham “claims to love everybody.” But in “choosing to pose for postgame photos on Sunday with outspoken trans critic Riley Gaines,” one “could easily wonder if Cunningham is telling us a different story.”

Read more

‘When you can’t afford to stay cool, the risks are life-and-death’

Sharon Block and Dr. Satchit Balsari at USA Today

Two “trends are dominating this summer — high temperatures and high inflation,” and “these two extremes combine to create a crisis that rarely makes headlines,” say Sharon Block and Dr. Satchit Balsari. Workers “may die in increased numbers because they can’t afford to stay cool,” a “predictable consequence of policy choices that leave working Americans choosing between the cost of the cooling they need to recover from work in extreme heat and the costs of other necessities of life.”

Read more

‘The cure for Russia’s labor shortage is worse than the disease’

Samuel Bendett and Maria Snegovaya at Foreign Policy

Among the “various challenges that Russia has faced since its ill-conceived full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of the most acute has been a severe labor shortage,” say Samuel Bendett and Maria Snegovaya. Russia’s “deepening demographic crisis” combined “with mass emigration” has “sharply exacerbated the problem.” The Kremlin’s “response has rested on three pillars: mobilizing underutilized domestic labor, expanding prison labor and increasing labor migration.” But “each proves to be either insufficient or self-defeating.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-corrections-cunningham-transgender-heat-russia viDesdqifDm3W62oq2ATy7 Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:19:17 +0000 Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:45:49 +0000 false false false

‘State corrections policy must do better than more of the same’

Brian Koehn at The Hill

Whether candidates “campaign on it or not, corrections is government’s responsibility,” and “governors cannot pretend it belongs to someone else,” says Brian Koehn. Governors “oversee systems that consume major public dollars, employ thousands of correctional professionals and decide whether people return home better prepared for the outside world or more damaged.” As “voters listen to candidates talk about freedom and safety, they should ask what candidates will do about correctional systems already under their authority.”

Read more

‘Sophie Cunningham’s actions speak far louder than her words’

Jason Page at MS NOW

There are “those looking to legitimately protect the safety of girls and women in sports and those looking to use the issue to demonize the transgender community,” and Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s “actions, more than her words, appear to put her far closer to the latter,” says Jason Page. Cunningham “claims to love everybody.” But in “choosing to pose for postgame photos on Sunday with outspoken trans critic Riley Gaines,” one “could easily wonder if Cunningham is telling us a different story.”

Read more

‘When you can’t afford to stay cool, the risks are life-and-death’

Sharon Block and Dr. Satchit Balsari at USA Today

Two “trends are dominating this summer — high temperatures and high inflation,” and “these two extremes combine to create a crisis that rarely makes headlines,” say Sharon Block and Dr. Satchit Balsari. Workers “may die in increased numbers because they can’t afford to stay cool,” a “predictable consequence of policy choices that leave working Americans choosing between the cost of the cooling they need to recover from work in extreme heat and the costs of other necessities of life.”

Read more

‘The cure for Russia’s labor shortage is worse than the disease’

Samuel Bendett and Maria Snegovaya at Foreign Policy

Among the “various challenges that Russia has faced since its ill-conceived full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of the most acute has been a severe labor shortage,” say Samuel Bendett and Maria Snegovaya. Russia’s “deepening demographic crisis” combined “with mass emigration” has “sharply exacerbated the problem.” The Kremlin’s “response has rested on three pillars: mobilizing underutilized domestic labor, expanding prison labor and increasing labor migration.” But “each proves to be either insufficient or self-defeating.”

Read more

]]> ‘One problem with attacking the Smithsonian? Americans like it.’

Kelsey Ables at The Atlantic

Even as the “museum complex continues to face a pressure campaign from the White House, public fondness for the Smithsonian — for its free entry and eclectic collections — is hard to break,” says Kelsey Ables. Museums have “been largely immune to the most deleterious effects of the culture wars.” Most “Americans, unlike the president, seem to trust these entities to do their thing” so “coming after a history museum may not be the base-galvanizing issue the White House hopes it is.”

Read more

‘The US government’s mislabeled map of Africa at a global AIDS conference shows again a failure to understand the continent’

Kenneth Ngure at The Guardian

At the 26th International AIDS Conference, a “slide presented by a senior U.S. State Department official displayed a map of Africa with country names glaringly scrambled and mislabeled,” says Kenneth Ngure. While the “mistake apparently occurred due to an overreliance on AI tools, it carried a painful symbolic weight.” The map “reinforced a longstanding frustration: that too many political leaders treat Africa as a monolithic abstraction rather than a continent of 54 distinct sovereign nations.”

Read more

‘Why patients wait months for care they don’t get’

Tessa Adzemović at The Boston Globe

Hospitals “were never designed to become long-term accommodations, but that’s become a reality for a select population,” says Tessa Adzemović. These “patients are medically cleared to leave but cannot be discharged because of capacity bottlenecks, insurance delays or legal complexities.” Many “prolonged hospitalizations have significant implications for patient outcomes, hospital resource utilization and healthcare costs.” The “reasons for these delayed discharges range from financial to administrative to legal, so any solution to the problem must be multifaceted.”

Read more

‘“Ted Lasso” is back, but is his moment over?’

A.A. Dowd at The American Prospect

As “comebacks go,” a new season of “Ted Lasso” is “not exactly improbable,” says A.A. Dowd. The show “remains one of the most widely watched series of the last decade, a true juggernaut of popularity.” But at “what point does a show go from having its finger planted firmly on the pulse of now to suddenly looking more out of touch than anything else?” We “may have reached the moment when Ted Lasso’s brand of turn-the-other-cheek humanism is no longer enough.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-smithsonian-trump-africa-doctors-ted-lasso RDsuGwtBz6JiA4fvmKMqpP Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:41:33 +0000 Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:46:27 +0000 false false false

‘One problem with attacking the Smithsonian? Americans like it.’

Kelsey Ables at The Atlantic

Even as the “museum complex continues to face a pressure campaign from the White House, public fondness for the Smithsonian — for its free entry and eclectic collections — is hard to break,” says Kelsey Ables. Museums have “been largely immune to the most deleterious effects of the culture wars.” Most “Americans, unlike the president, seem to trust these entities to do their thing” so “coming after a history museum may not be the base-galvanizing issue the White House hopes it is.”

Read more

‘The US government’s mislabeled map of Africa at a global AIDS conference shows again a failure to understand the continent’

Kenneth Ngure at The Guardian

At the 26th International AIDS Conference, a “slide presented by a senior U.S. State Department official displayed a map of Africa with country names glaringly scrambled and mislabeled,” says Kenneth Ngure. While the “mistake apparently occurred due to an overreliance on AI tools, it carried a painful symbolic weight.” The map “reinforced a longstanding frustration: that too many political leaders treat Africa as a monolithic abstraction rather than a continent of 54 distinct sovereign nations.”

Read more

‘Why patients wait months for care they don’t get’

Tessa Adzemović at The Boston Globe

Hospitals “were never designed to become long-term accommodations, but that’s become a reality for a select population,” says Tessa Adzemović. These “patients are medically cleared to leave but cannot be discharged because of capacity bottlenecks, insurance delays or legal complexities.” Many “prolonged hospitalizations have significant implications for patient outcomes, hospital resource utilization and healthcare costs.” The “reasons for these delayed discharges range from financial to administrative to legal, so any solution to the problem must be multifaceted.”

Read more

‘“Ted Lasso” is back, but is his moment over?’

A.A. Dowd at The American Prospect

As “comebacks go,” a new season of “Ted Lasso” is “not exactly improbable,” says A.A. Dowd. The show “remains one of the most widely watched series of the last decade, a true juggernaut of popularity.” But at “what point does a show go from having its finger planted firmly on the pulse of now to suddenly looking more out of touch than anything else?” We “may have reached the moment when Ted Lasso’s brand of turn-the-other-cheek humanism is no longer enough.”

Read more

]]> ‘Kids lose more than just books when school is on a screen’

Sarah Schneider Kavanagh and Katie A. Danielson at The Washington Post

Parents “don’t realize how different many aspects of elementary school have become,” say Sarah Schneider Kavanagh and Katie A. Danielson. Screens “organize the school day,” and “these technological changes in elementary classrooms might look like progress.” But “attention span in particular is weakened when schools prioritize constant stimulation over intellectual endurance.” As “technology becomes more powerful, distinctly human capacities become more valuable, not less.” Children “need a place designed for other aims, such as conversation instead of consumption.”

Read more

‘The New York-ification of media keeps growing, warts and all’

Justin Fox at Bloomberg

The “nation’s media capital is in many ways far less central to the national conversation than it used to be,” says Justin Fox. But in the “production of certain kinds of media — journalism in particular — New York is more dominant than ever.” The “New York-ification of media has for the most part continued to grow.” The “journalists who remain are increasingly concentrated in a city that, while wonderful, is utterly different from most of the rest of the country.”

Read more

‘The box office just rejected Hollywood’s AI bet’

Peter Zerzan at Newsweek

This year’s “box office has become a referendum on how films are made,” says Peter Zerzan. After “years of pandemic disruption, writers’ strikes and uncertainty, theatrical exhibition is finally recovering.” Americans “were told that AI would become the dominant form of visual storytelling.” But “instead, audiences are buying tickets to films that demanded extraordinary effort to make.” They “are discussing performances, practical effects and directorial choices rather than marveling at how efficiently a computer assembled images.”

Read more

‘Clinical trials aren’t the only way to know if flu shots work’

Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena at Time

It is “correct to note that observational studies of annual flu shots suffer from various statistical biases,” say Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena. Randomized trials “have earned their reputation as the ‘gold standard’ because they address a real statistical problem,” and “true randomized controlled trials remain the most rigorous form of evidence.” But this “can be drawn from the data we already have.” The “efficacy of flu shots in children is just one of thousands of questions we could answer this way.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-screens-schools-new-york-spider-man-flu QUeir3HsLpksmwvgcFouwc Mon, 03 Aug 2026 15:31:44 +0000 false false false

‘Kids lose more than just books when school is on a screen’

Sarah Schneider Kavanagh and Katie A. Danielson at The Washington Post

Parents “don’t realize how different many aspects of elementary school have become,” say Sarah Schneider Kavanagh and Katie A. Danielson. Screens “organize the school day,” and “these technological changes in elementary classrooms might look like progress.” But “attention span in particular is weakened when schools prioritize constant stimulation over intellectual endurance.” As “technology becomes more powerful, distinctly human capacities become more valuable, not less.” Children “need a place designed for other aims, such as conversation instead of consumption.”

Read more

‘The New York-ification of media keeps growing, warts and all’

Justin Fox at Bloomberg

The “nation’s media capital is in many ways far less central to the national conversation than it used to be,” says Justin Fox. But in the “production of certain kinds of media — journalism in particular — New York is more dominant than ever.” The “New York-ification of media has for the most part continued to grow.” The “journalists who remain are increasingly concentrated in a city that, while wonderful, is utterly different from most of the rest of the country.”

Read more

‘The box office just rejected Hollywood’s AI bet’

Peter Zerzan at Newsweek

This year’s “box office has become a referendum on how films are made,” says Peter Zerzan. After “years of pandemic disruption, writers’ strikes and uncertainty, theatrical exhibition is finally recovering.” Americans “were told that AI would become the dominant form of visual storytelling.” But “instead, audiences are buying tickets to films that demanded extraordinary effort to make.” They “are discussing performances, practical effects and directorial choices rather than marveling at how efficiently a computer assembled images.”

Read more

‘Clinical trials aren’t the only way to know if flu shots work’

Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena at Time

It is “correct to note that observational studies of annual flu shots suffer from various statistical biases,” say Christopher M. Worsham and Anupam Jena. Randomized trials “have earned their reputation as the ‘gold standard’ because they address a real statistical problem,” and “true randomized controlled trials remain the most rigorous form of evidence.” But this “can be drawn from the data we already have.” The “efficacy of flu shots in children is just one of thousands of questions we could answer this way.”

Read more

]]> ‘How trying to make sense of the Nolan Wells tragedy led to rampant misinformation’

Keisha N. Blain at MS NOW

In a “striking example of how misinformation can spread during a developing news story, a viral Facebook post claimed that Nolan Wells, the Black Mississippi teenager whose death after visiting a Gulf Coast island with a group of white friends remains under investigation, was related to the legendary journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells,” says Keisha N. Blain. For “many reasons, including ones related to race, history and geography, discussions about his death are especially susceptible to misinformation.”

Read more

‘Why is it so hard to ban child marriage?’

Sarah Jones at Intelligencer

Child marriage is a “fringe practice, even within the most conservative religious and cultural communities, but it is also more common than many Americans realize,” says Sarah Jones. Children “who marry are more likely to drop out of high school and face higher rates of poverty,” yet “lawmakers have dragged their feet.” Many “Republican lawmakers continue to see marriage as a solution to illicit sex or an underage pregnancy — and a way to enforce traditional values.”

Read more

‘The banality of evil in the Border Patrol’s secret anti-immigrant slur’

Gustavo Arellano at the Los Angeles Times

For “half a century, Border Patrol workers have used the onomatopoeic word” ‘tonk,’ referring to the “sound of someone getting hit, as slang for undocumented immigrants,” says Gustavo Arellano. The word is “workplace lingo showing that the banality of evil that’s la migra on its best days has transformed into something far uglier.” The “slur is so vile — predicated on violence by law enforcement, unlike ethnic jabs that insult food or culture — that it has never crossed over into mainstream English.”

Read more

‘Why are we still pretending Big Tech cares about our classrooms?’

Liz Shulman at the Chicago Tribune

The “field of education depends on human interaction, and the quality of instruction kids get should depend on an administrator’s human assessment rather than a machine’s,” says Liz Shulman. Kids “deserve protection in school. Instead, AI companies are furiously signing contracts with school districts.” If “Big Tech companies truly cared about kids and educators as they claim to, they would give money to public schools (beyond free Chromebooks and access to AI), which remain massively underfunded in practically every state.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-crime-death-immigration-child-marriage-big-tech JF4D7Cdv62aWZQyo45B5QM Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:22:31 +0000 Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:24:19 +0000 false false false

‘How trying to make sense of the Nolan Wells tragedy led to rampant misinformation’

Keisha N. Blain at MS NOW

In a “striking example of how misinformation can spread during a developing news story, a viral Facebook post claimed that Nolan Wells, the Black Mississippi teenager whose death after visiting a Gulf Coast island with a group of white friends remains under investigation, was related to the legendary journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells,” says Keisha N. Blain. For “many reasons, including ones related to race, history and geography, discussions about his death are especially susceptible to misinformation.”

Read more

‘Why is it so hard to ban child marriage?’

Sarah Jones at Intelligencer

Child marriage is a “fringe practice, even within the most conservative religious and cultural communities, but it is also more common than many Americans realize,” says Sarah Jones. Children “who marry are more likely to drop out of high school and face higher rates of poverty,” yet “lawmakers have dragged their feet.” Many “Republican lawmakers continue to see marriage as a solution to illicit sex or an underage pregnancy — and a way to enforce traditional values.”

Read more

‘The banality of evil in the Border Patrol’s secret anti-immigrant slur’

Gustavo Arellano at the Los Angeles Times

For “half a century, Border Patrol workers have used the onomatopoeic word” ‘tonk,’ referring to the “sound of someone getting hit, as slang for undocumented immigrants,” says Gustavo Arellano. The word is “workplace lingo showing that the banality of evil that’s la migra on its best days has transformed into something far uglier.” The “slur is so vile — predicated on violence by law enforcement, unlike ethnic jabs that insult food or culture — that it has never crossed over into mainstream English.”

Read more

‘Why are we still pretending Big Tech cares about our classrooms?’

Liz Shulman at the Chicago Tribune

The “field of education depends on human interaction, and the quality of instruction kids get should depend on an administrator’s human assessment rather than a machine’s,” says Liz Shulman. Kids “deserve protection in school. Instead, AI companies are furiously signing contracts with school districts.” If “Big Tech companies truly cared about kids and educators as they claim to, they would give money to public schools (beyond free Chromebooks and access to AI), which remain massively underfunded in practically every state.”

Read more

]]> ‘The Paramount deal is in trouble. It’s not about the movies.’

Sharon Waxman at The New York Times

Hollywood has been “thrown sideways by the news that 12 state attorneys general might have found a way to trip up the merger that almost nobody in the entertainment industry wanted,” says Sharon Waxman. For “months, the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance has been an all-but-done deal,” but concerns “over the future of CNN” are “what is driving the forces against this deal.” Paramount “seems well aware of this narrative,” and there “will be legal arguments.”

Read more

‘How bots took over our lives’

T.M. Brown at The New Yorker

During the “past decade, so-called bots, a slippery concept from the start, have gone from a conspiratorial curiosity to a familiar force in our daily lives,” says T.M. Brown. In the “popular imagination, they are suddenly everywhere and seem designed to annoy the hell out of people.” But the “impulse to treat bots like digital mosquitoes that need to be swatted away minimizes their role in making the internet work.” Bots are “most often used for mundane tasks.”

Read more

‘Israel runs the Iran playbook on Turkey’

Mason Letteau Stallings at The American Conservative

One of the “stranger geopolitical developments in the Middle East of late (leaving aside the present war) has been the rupture between Israel and Turkey,” says Mason Letteau Stallings. Most “worrying, considering the conflict in which the United States currently finds itself embroiled, are Israeli comparisons of Turkey to Iran.” From a “historical perspective, this is surprising,” but it’s “important to ensure that Israeli (or Turkish) interests, to the extent these diverge from our own, do not shape American policymaking.”

Read more

‘Donald Trump has turned the United States into an economic banana republic’

Richard Poplak at The Globe and Mail

The United States has become “perhaps the world’s first functioning Third World economy,” says Richard Poplak. While he “wouldn’t be caught dead articulating it this way, Trump’s vision is to turn the United States into a Third World economy.” While the “analogy is not perfect, it’s far from outlandish: however much the actual adults in the Oval Office may disapprove, the U.S. has reshaped revenue collection around the simple, regressive models preferred by Third World dictators.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-paramount-deal-bots-israel-trump tBLP3prcHqMpoCAesQ8XQN Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:15:36 +0000 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:17:46 +0000 false false false

‘The Paramount deal is in trouble. It’s not about the movies.’

Sharon Waxman at The New York Times

Hollywood has been “thrown sideways by the news that 12 state attorneys general might have found a way to trip up the merger that almost nobody in the entertainment industry wanted,” says Sharon Waxman. For “months, the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance has been an all-but-done deal,” but concerns “over the future of CNN” are “what is driving the forces against this deal.” Paramount “seems well aware of this narrative,” and there “will be legal arguments.”

Read more

‘How bots took over our lives’

T.M. Brown at The New Yorker

During the “past decade, so-called bots, a slippery concept from the start, have gone from a conspiratorial curiosity to a familiar force in our daily lives,” says T.M. Brown. In the “popular imagination, they are suddenly everywhere and seem designed to annoy the hell out of people.” But the “impulse to treat bots like digital mosquitoes that need to be swatted away minimizes their role in making the internet work.” Bots are “most often used for mundane tasks.”

Read more

‘Israel runs the Iran playbook on Turkey’

Mason Letteau Stallings at The American Conservative

One of the “stranger geopolitical developments in the Middle East of late (leaving aside the present war) has been the rupture between Israel and Turkey,” says Mason Letteau Stallings. Most “worrying, considering the conflict in which the United States currently finds itself embroiled, are Israeli comparisons of Turkey to Iran.” From a “historical perspective, this is surprising,” but it’s “important to ensure that Israeli (or Turkish) interests, to the extent these diverge from our own, do not shape American policymaking.”

Read more

‘Donald Trump has turned the United States into an economic banana republic’

Richard Poplak at The Globe and Mail

The United States has become “perhaps the world’s first functioning Third World economy,” says Richard Poplak. While he “wouldn’t be caught dead articulating it this way, Trump’s vision is to turn the United States into a Third World economy.” While the “analogy is not perfect, it’s far from outlandish: however much the actual adults in the Oval Office may disapprove, the U.S. has reshaped revenue collection around the simple, regressive models preferred by Third World dictators.”

Read more

]]> ‘India’s Gen Z just made Modi blink’

Rana Ayyub at The Washington Post

What “began as outrage over dysfunction in India’s college exam system built into something much larger — the first sustained, youth-led movement in years to force India’s powerful central government actually to concede ground,” says Rana Ayyub. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “government has seemed to elevate itself beyond the reach of dissent,” but the “critical mass that formed last week was something new.” It managed to “turn Modi himself into a subject of derision and satire.”

Read more

‘America’s housing boom risks creating tomorrow’s housing crisis’

Elizabeth Carmichael at Newsweek

America is “racing to build millions of new homes,” but in the “rush to solve today’s housing shortage, we’re creating neighborhoods that could become tomorrow’s financial and environmental liabilities,” says Elizabeth Carmichael. The “country needs new homes,” but “building faster won’t solve America’s housing crisis if we’re filling neighborhoods with developments that cost more to maintain, consume more energy, undermine residents’ health and require expensive retrofits.” Americans “should be treating every new development as infrastructure for the next century.”

Read more

‘The hidden cost of stress at work’

Lilly Springer, David Slusky and Anupam Jena at Time

Americans “work more hours per year than those in similar countries. Working is, in a sense, an American pastime,” say Lilly Springer, David Slusky and Anupam Jena. Many “jobs are stressful or physically demanding, imposing a toll on both mental and physical health.” The “question of how work affects our health is incredibly important.” Workplace conditions “can impact the health of not only workers themselves, but also their children,” as the “effects of work may reach beyond an individual employee.”

Read more

‘Trump’s Iran war casualty numbers don’t add up’

Renée Graham at The Boston Globe

After “four U.S. service members killed this month in the U.S./Israel war against Iran received a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, their names disappeared from the Pentagon’s public tracker for military casualties,” says Renée Graham. President Donald Trump is “cooking the books again, this time with the numbers of Iran war dead.” Even in an “administration where mendacity is policy, reclassifying war deaths to manipulate public opinion for this deeply unpopular war is unconscionable.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-india-protest-housing--stress-trump 8z3fJL6hFvRfNt2QWZEy29 Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:15:17 +0000 false false false

‘India’s Gen Z just made Modi blink’

Rana Ayyub at The Washington Post

What “began as outrage over dysfunction in India’s college exam system built into something much larger — the first sustained, youth-led movement in years to force India’s powerful central government actually to concede ground,” says Rana Ayyub. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “government has seemed to elevate itself beyond the reach of dissent,” but the “critical mass that formed last week was something new.” It managed to “turn Modi himself into a subject of derision and satire.”

Read more

‘America’s housing boom risks creating tomorrow’s housing crisis’

Elizabeth Carmichael at Newsweek

America is “racing to build millions of new homes,” but in the “rush to solve today’s housing shortage, we’re creating neighborhoods that could become tomorrow’s financial and environmental liabilities,” says Elizabeth Carmichael. The “country needs new homes,” but “building faster won’t solve America’s housing crisis if we’re filling neighborhoods with developments that cost more to maintain, consume more energy, undermine residents’ health and require expensive retrofits.” Americans “should be treating every new development as infrastructure for the next century.”

Read more

‘The hidden cost of stress at work’

Lilly Springer, David Slusky and Anupam Jena at Time

Americans “work more hours per year than those in similar countries. Working is, in a sense, an American pastime,” say Lilly Springer, David Slusky and Anupam Jena. Many “jobs are stressful or physically demanding, imposing a toll on both mental and physical health.” The “question of how work affects our health is incredibly important.” Workplace conditions “can impact the health of not only workers themselves, but also their children,” as the “effects of work may reach beyond an individual employee.”

Read more

‘Trump’s Iran war casualty numbers don’t add up’

Renée Graham at The Boston Globe

After “four U.S. service members killed this month in the U.S./Israel war against Iran received a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, their names disappeared from the Pentagon’s public tracker for military casualties,” says Renée Graham. President Donald Trump is “cooking the books again, this time with the numbers of Iran war dead.” Even in an “administration where mendacity is policy, reclassifying war deaths to manipulate public opinion for this deeply unpopular war is unconscionable.”

Read more

]]> ‘Cracker Barrel’s CEO ouster surprised Wall Street but not women’

Beth Kowitt at Bloomberg

Though it “seemed like” Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino “saved her job,” her recent firing “left some analysts scratching their heads,” says Beth Kowitt. But “boards are moving much faster to fire the big boss when things go bad,” and the “phenomenon is even more acute for female CEOs, who have always been under more intense scrutiny than their male counterparts.” Masino’s “tenure at Cracker Barrel is a textbook example of how we’ve ended up with these statistics.”

Read more

‘The great tick explosion: A tiny threat tests America’s love of nature.’

Patti Waldmeir at the Financial Times

It’s “easy to see why ticks loom so large in the American imagination,” says Patti Waldmeir. Headlines “portray them as a frightening new public health threat: Unfamiliar ticks turning up in unexpected places, bringing exotic new illnesses such as red meat allergies, debilitating infections and even death.” But “much can be done to reduce risk: Stick to the center of the trail, tuck socks into long trousers, check behind knees, groin and scalp after outings, wear insect repellent and use permethrin-treated clothing.”

Read more

‘Refugee Convention at 75: The world must keep the promise that saved me.’

Yusra Mardini at Al Jazeera

This year “marks the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the international agreement created after one of history’s darkest chapters to ensure that people forced to flee persecution would never again be left without protection,” says Syrian ex-refugee Yusra Mardini. Too “often, however, refugees are discussed only as numbers, political problems or security challenges.” Rarely “are they recognized for who they are: people.” Every refugee “should have the opportunity to seek safety,” and “every refugee deserves dignity.”

Read more

‘Yale loses the capitulation bowl’

Robert Kuttner at The American Prospect

Yale University’s president “got caught trying to make a deal with the Trump administration to change its admission procedures as a way to settle an administration investigation of Yale and the threat of sanctions,” says Robert Kuttner. But “instead of a deal, the secret negotiations have produced massive protests by faculty, students and alums.” Yale’s “efforts to give in to Trump blackmail are in striking contrast to the evolution of negotiations between the administration and Harvard.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-cracker-barrel-ticks-refugees-yale KjfftFUdhXkNocCWTza7ak Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:31:57 +0000 Tue, 28 Jul 2026 20:56:02 +0000 false false false

‘Cracker Barrel’s CEO ouster surprised Wall Street but not women’

Beth Kowitt at Bloomberg

Though it “seemed like” Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino “saved her job,” her recent firing “left some analysts scratching their heads,” says Beth Kowitt. But “boards are moving much faster to fire the big boss when things go bad,” and the “phenomenon is even more acute for female CEOs, who have always been under more intense scrutiny than their male counterparts.” Masino’s “tenure at Cracker Barrel is a textbook example of how we’ve ended up with these statistics.”

Read more

‘The great tick explosion: A tiny threat tests America’s love of nature.’

Patti Waldmeir at the Financial Times

It’s “easy to see why ticks loom so large in the American imagination,” says Patti Waldmeir. Headlines “portray them as a frightening new public health threat: Unfamiliar ticks turning up in unexpected places, bringing exotic new illnesses such as red meat allergies, debilitating infections and even death.” But “much can be done to reduce risk: Stick to the center of the trail, tuck socks into long trousers, check behind knees, groin and scalp after outings, wear insect repellent and use permethrin-treated clothing.”

Read more

‘Refugee Convention at 75: The world must keep the promise that saved me.’

Yusra Mardini at Al Jazeera

This year “marks the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the international agreement created after one of history’s darkest chapters to ensure that people forced to flee persecution would never again be left without protection,” says Syrian ex-refugee Yusra Mardini. Too “often, however, refugees are discussed only as numbers, political problems or security challenges.” Rarely “are they recognized for who they are: people.” Every refugee “should have the opportunity to seek safety,” and “every refugee deserves dignity.”

Read more

‘Yale loses the capitulation bowl’

Robert Kuttner at The American Prospect

Yale University’s president “got caught trying to make a deal with the Trump administration to change its admission procedures as a way to settle an administration investigation of Yale and the threat of sanctions,” says Robert Kuttner. But “instead of a deal, the secret negotiations have produced massive protests by faculty, students and alums.” Yale’s “efforts to give in to Trump blackmail are in striking contrast to the evolution of negotiations between the administration and Harvard.”

Read more

]]> ‘The drug policy debate’s common ground: better treatment and recovery’

Jim Crotty at The Hill

Few “public policy debates are as polarized as drug policy, which is often framed around two competing visions — prohibition and decriminalization,” says Jim Crotty. Both are “passionate about their positions, and both make valid arguments,” but they “frequently overlook the same prerequisite for success: a system capable of meeting the country’s growing demand for addiction treatment and recovery services.” The U.S. “must help promote careers in treatment and recovery through more competitive pay, streamlined education and licensing pathways.”

Read more

‘AI can fuel biological weapons. We must harness its power for defense.’

Annie Jacobsen at The Guardian

AI can “help bad actors generate recipes for biological weapons” but also “track disease outbreaks and deliver critical public health information to millions of people,” says Annie Jacobsen. The “question is not whether AI can do catastrophic harm in the realm of biological sciences — it most certainly can — but whether public health officials can figure out how to deploy AI as a defensive tool faster than malicious actors deploy it as an offensive one.”

Read more

‘Joint European response to wildfires is essential’

Le Monde editorial board

The “flames currently devastating much of Western Europe are the latest, and dramatic, manifestation of climate change driven by human activity,” says the Le Monde editorial board. Beyond France and Spain, fires are “raging across Germany, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands,” and the “map clearly shows that any response must be coordinated at the European level.” The “increasing frequency of extreme weather events has forced both rapid adaptation and a global rethinking of how to respond.”

Read more

‘We need more therapists. They need more power.’

Isabel M. Perera at USA Today

Americans “need therapy now more than ever before,” but if “you’ve tried to find a therapist recently, you know it’s tough,” says Isabel M. Perera. The “people we rely on to help us cope with life’s hardest moments are themselves unsupported.” Weak “union representation makes it difficult for them to negotiate fair pay” and “advocate for better working conditions.” From “rehab centers to school counselors, the entire mental health ecosystem suffers from underinvestment and fragmentation.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-drug-policy-ai-europe-therapy Dvba7NAEVHmzVXtDTUhYog Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:42:37 +0000 false false false

‘The drug policy debate’s common ground: better treatment and recovery’

Jim Crotty at The Hill

Few “public policy debates are as polarized as drug policy, which is often framed around two competing visions — prohibition and decriminalization,” says Jim Crotty. Both are “passionate about their positions, and both make valid arguments,” but they “frequently overlook the same prerequisite for success: a system capable of meeting the country’s growing demand for addiction treatment and recovery services.” The U.S. “must help promote careers in treatment and recovery through more competitive pay, streamlined education and licensing pathways.”

Read more

‘AI can fuel biological weapons. We must harness its power for defense.’

Annie Jacobsen at The Guardian

AI can “help bad actors generate recipes for biological weapons” but also “track disease outbreaks and deliver critical public health information to millions of people,” says Annie Jacobsen. The “question is not whether AI can do catastrophic harm in the realm of biological sciences — it most certainly can — but whether public health officials can figure out how to deploy AI as a defensive tool faster than malicious actors deploy it as an offensive one.”

Read more

‘Joint European response to wildfires is essential’

Le Monde editorial board

The “flames currently devastating much of Western Europe are the latest, and dramatic, manifestation of climate change driven by human activity,” says the Le Monde editorial board. Beyond France and Spain, fires are “raging across Germany, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands,” and the “map clearly shows that any response must be coordinated at the European level.” The “increasing frequency of extreme weather events has forced both rapid adaptation and a global rethinking of how to respond.”

Read more

‘We need more therapists. They need more power.’

Isabel M. Perera at USA Today

Americans “need therapy now more than ever before,” but if “you’ve tried to find a therapist recently, you know it’s tough,” says Isabel M. Perera. The “people we rely on to help us cope with life’s hardest moments are themselves unsupported.” Weak “union representation makes it difficult for them to negotiate fair pay” and “advocate for better working conditions.” From “rehab centers to school counselors, the entire mental health ecosystem suffers from underinvestment and fragmentation.”

Read more

]]> ‘Why the world still can’t agree about alcohol’

Tim Brinkhof at Time

De-normalizing “alcohol consumption seems like a logical next step after cracking down on smoking,” says Tim Brinkhof. But as “societies everywhere ramp up efforts to discourage drinking, a bigger, more difficult question arises. Are the increasingly thorough measures we take to protect our health worth what we give up?” This “dilemma is arguably more apparent with alcohol than with tobacco.” Alcohol is “used to honor, celebrate and connect,” and “these traditions are worth considering and preserving.”

Read more

‘Smoky skies? Throw shade at the fossil fuel industry.’

Breena Holland at The Philadelphia Inquirer

The recent “air quality is brought to you by the fossil fuel industry,” says Breena Holland. To “quibble about how much of the Canadian fires are due to human-caused climate change as opposed to poor forest management or normal climatic changes is to not see the fire for the trees.” The “fossil fuel industry has created human-made climate change, and it has won the war against it.” Rather than “prioritize planet over profit, it chose to ‘manufacture uncertainty.’”

Read more

‘Shooting by GEO Group employee adds to argument for congressional oversight’

Ja’han Jones at MS NOW

It’s “past time to place private prison firm GEO Group under a microscope,” says Ja’han Jones. The company “added to a growing list of controversies on Wednesday when one of its employees was charged with assault for allegedly shooting a woman in the foot while she was protesting.” The “relationship between the administration and for-profit prison firms, especially GEO Group, already warranted congressional scrutiny,” and the “shooting of a demonstrator by a GEO Group employee proves this scrutiny is urgently needed.”

Read more

‘What will you regret? Studying sabbaticals taught me a hard truth.’

DJ DiDonna at The Washington Post

People who take sabbaticals “universally describe their time off in superlatives: as a peak life experience on par in importance with the birth of a child,” says DJ DiDonna. Given the “extended nature of their time off — a proper sabbatical is ideally between three and nine months — there’s ample time to check items off a bucket list.” But the “most transformative sabbaticals included periods of work-like experimentation during which people try out different ways to live their lives.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-alcohol-fossil-fuels-prisons-labor nCeUhTbdRZ8tXgChA434Hn Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:06:53 +0000 Mon, 27 Jul 2026 19:21:28 +0000 false false false

‘Why the world still can’t agree about alcohol’

Tim Brinkhof at Time

De-normalizing “alcohol consumption seems like a logical next step after cracking down on smoking,” says Tim Brinkhof. But as “societies everywhere ramp up efforts to discourage drinking, a bigger, more difficult question arises. Are the increasingly thorough measures we take to protect our health worth what we give up?” This “dilemma is arguably more apparent with alcohol than with tobacco.” Alcohol is “used to honor, celebrate and connect,” and “these traditions are worth considering and preserving.”

Read more

‘Smoky skies? Throw shade at the fossil fuel industry.’

Breena Holland at The Philadelphia Inquirer

The recent “air quality is brought to you by the fossil fuel industry,” says Breena Holland. To “quibble about how much of the Canadian fires are due to human-caused climate change as opposed to poor forest management or normal climatic changes is to not see the fire for the trees.” The “fossil fuel industry has created human-made climate change, and it has won the war against it.” Rather than “prioritize planet over profit, it chose to ‘manufacture uncertainty.’”

Read more

‘Shooting by GEO Group employee adds to argument for congressional oversight’

Ja’han Jones at MS NOW

It’s “past time to place private prison firm GEO Group under a microscope,” says Ja’han Jones. The company “added to a growing list of controversies on Wednesday when one of its employees was charged with assault for allegedly shooting a woman in the foot while she was protesting.” The “relationship between the administration and for-profit prison firms, especially GEO Group, already warranted congressional scrutiny,” and the “shooting of a demonstrator by a GEO Group employee proves this scrutiny is urgently needed.”

Read more

‘What will you regret? Studying sabbaticals taught me a hard truth.’

DJ DiDonna at The Washington Post

People who take sabbaticals “universally describe their time off in superlatives: as a peak life experience on par in importance with the birth of a child,” says DJ DiDonna. Given the “extended nature of their time off — a proper sabbatical is ideally between three and nine months — there’s ample time to check items off a bucket list.” But the “most transformative sabbaticals included periods of work-like experimentation during which people try out different ways to live their lives.”

Read more

]]> ‘Big money is distorting college sports in too many ways to count’

The Dallas Morning News editorial board

College sports has been “known for its regional affiliation,” but “after the latest major conference realignment,” this has “become a distant memory,” says The Dallas Morning News editorial board. It has become “difficult for those competing to be both athletes and active students” because “conferences are no longer composed of teams in neighboring states but instead made up of schools that span the country.” Students “find themselves spending more time on the road or in the airport than they spend in class.”

Read more

‘Just say “no” to nepo senators’

Nia-Malika Henderson at Bloomberg

Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) “chose not to use her legal last name,” Nordone, “when she was sworn in as her brother’s replacement last week,” an “obvious clue that she was thinking as a candidate, not just a caretaker,” says Nia-Malika Henderson. Graham “wants the seat because her brother had the seat.” If she “wins it, it will be because of rank nepotism,” as she has “no real experience in politics, other than appearing in ads for her brother’s various campaigns.”

Read more

‘Smoke-filled summers cannot become the norm’

Jill Burcum at The Minnesota Star Tribune

Canadian wildfire smoke is “blanketing Minnesota again and again, turning blue skies to apocalyptic yellow, with ash coating cars and windowsills,” says Jill Burcum. The “gloomy haze has made it challenging to enjoy our world-class natural resources during the season when they’re easiest to appreciate.” Canada has “already stepped up to help in a big way.” Combining U.S. and Canadian “resources, technology and expertise is our best shot at preventing and getting ahead of fires before they become a crisis.”

Read more

‘Chaff can fool Russia’s radar’

Robert Brull at The Wall Street Journal

Ukraine “won’t always have the element of surprise,” and as “long-range drones become increasingly crucial to modern warfare, militaries must develop new ways to protect them,“ says Robert Brull. As “long-range drones get larger and carry heavier payloads, chaff is becoming more attractive as a low-cost way to confuse radar defense systems.” Ukraine’s “powerful long-range drones will meet increasingly sophisticated networks of air defenses.” To “prepare, the offense needs to invest in a new defense: improving chaff.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-college-sports-senate-smoke-russia Sj4HGQqKUMu4L6hZ4igMsk Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:45:38 +0000 Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:27:56 +0000 false false false

‘Big money is distorting college sports in too many ways to count’

The Dallas Morning News editorial board

College sports has been “known for its regional affiliation,” but “after the latest major conference realignment,” this has “become a distant memory,” says The Dallas Morning News editorial board. It has become “difficult for those competing to be both athletes and active students” because “conferences are no longer composed of teams in neighboring states but instead made up of schools that span the country.” Students “find themselves spending more time on the road or in the airport than they spend in class.”

Read more

‘Just say “no” to nepo senators’

Nia-Malika Henderson at Bloomberg

Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) “chose not to use her legal last name,” Nordone, “when she was sworn in as her brother’s replacement last week,” an “obvious clue that she was thinking as a candidate, not just a caretaker,” says Nia-Malika Henderson. Graham “wants the seat because her brother had the seat.” If she “wins it, it will be because of rank nepotism,” as she has “no real experience in politics, other than appearing in ads for her brother’s various campaigns.”

Read more

‘Smoke-filled summers cannot become the norm’

Jill Burcum at The Minnesota Star Tribune

Canadian wildfire smoke is “blanketing Minnesota again and again, turning blue skies to apocalyptic yellow, with ash coating cars and windowsills,” says Jill Burcum. The “gloomy haze has made it challenging to enjoy our world-class natural resources during the season when they’re easiest to appreciate.” Canada has “already stepped up to help in a big way.” Combining U.S. and Canadian “resources, technology and expertise is our best shot at preventing and getting ahead of fires before they become a crisis.”

Read more

‘Chaff can fool Russia’s radar’

Robert Brull at The Wall Street Journal

Ukraine “won’t always have the element of surprise,” and as “long-range drones become increasingly crucial to modern warfare, militaries must develop new ways to protect them,“ says Robert Brull. As “long-range drones get larger and carry heavier payloads, chaff is becoming more attractive as a low-cost way to confuse radar defense systems.” Ukraine’s “powerful long-range drones will meet increasingly sophisticated networks of air defenses.” To “prepare, the offense needs to invest in a new defense: improving chaff.”

Read more

]]> ‘Structural shifts demand a new central banking mindset’

Vivekanand Jayakumar at The Hill

While the “primary objective of most central banks” is “unchanged, the post-pandemic economic landscape has evolved in ways that require policymakers to rethink how monetary policy is designed,” says Vivekanand Jayakumar. The “pandemic shock and its aftermath substantially altered underlying economic trends and gave rise to a new geopolitical reality.” Forces are “reshaping inflation dynamics, impacting economy’s growth potential, and altering monetary policy transmission mechanisms.” So “central bankers will need to exhibit greater flexibility, adaptability and forward-looking decision-making.”

Read more

‘Where did all the computer science professors go?’

Lila Shroff and Rose Horowitch at The Atlantic

AI companies are “turning into something like mini-universities,” say Lila Shroff and Rose Horowitch. As AI has “taken center stage, Silicon Valley has intensified its efforts to recruit star researchers and looked beyond computer science departments.” While “plenty of research is still happening within universities,” the “result is a flywheel.” As “more academics get sucked up by industry, the center of AI research moves further from academia, thus increasing the incentive for remaining researchers to leave.”

Read more

‘We are taking hobbies too far’

Meehika Barua at Time

Having hobbies shows that you “have the time, money and energy to spend on them,” says Meehika Barua. But we have “turned hobbies from optional leisure activities into a marker of identity.” Hobbies are “increasingly sold as a route to becoming a more interesting or successful person rather than simply a way to spend free time.” This can “leave people feeling guilty if they prefer quieter pursuits or if they discover they don’t enjoy the hobby that everyone else seems to love.”

Read more

‘He may be Trump’s only real friend. He’s quietly transforming the world.’

Andrea Bernstein at Slate

Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff “seems like Trump, a New York real estate developer turned world dealmaker,” says Andrea Bernstein. But in an administration that “privileges snarling visages, Witkoff is nearly universally described as kind or nice, a quality he has used to good diplomatic effect.” As Witkoff “presided over a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas and Israel, he surrounded those talks with meetings with big-name Gulf leaders.” He is “unabashed about performing diplomacy through a business lens.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-central-banks-computer-science-hobbies-trump 3N9RoYfbDEXoLT6yRpGfP9 Wed, 22 Jul 2026 19:34:30 +0000 Wed, 22 Jul 2026 21:43:20 +0000 false false false

‘Structural shifts demand a new central banking mindset’

Vivekanand Jayakumar at The Hill

While the “primary objective of most central banks” is “unchanged, the post-pandemic economic landscape has evolved in ways that require policymakers to rethink how monetary policy is designed,” says Vivekanand Jayakumar. The “pandemic shock and its aftermath substantially altered underlying economic trends and gave rise to a new geopolitical reality.” Forces are “reshaping inflation dynamics, impacting economy’s growth potential, and altering monetary policy transmission mechanisms.” So “central bankers will need to exhibit greater flexibility, adaptability and forward-looking decision-making.”

Read more

‘Where did all the computer science professors go?’

Lila Shroff and Rose Horowitch at The Atlantic

AI companies are “turning into something like mini-universities,” say Lila Shroff and Rose Horowitch. As AI has “taken center stage, Silicon Valley has intensified its efforts to recruit star researchers and looked beyond computer science departments.” While “plenty of research is still happening within universities,” the “result is a flywheel.” As “more academics get sucked up by industry, the center of AI research moves further from academia, thus increasing the incentive for remaining researchers to leave.”

Read more

‘We are taking hobbies too far’

Meehika Barua at Time

Having hobbies shows that you “have the time, money and energy to spend on them,” says Meehika Barua. But we have “turned hobbies from optional leisure activities into a marker of identity.” Hobbies are “increasingly sold as a route to becoming a more interesting or successful person rather than simply a way to spend free time.” This can “leave people feeling guilty if they prefer quieter pursuits or if they discover they don’t enjoy the hobby that everyone else seems to love.”

Read more

‘He may be Trump’s only real friend. He’s quietly transforming the world.’

Andrea Bernstein at Slate

Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff “seems like Trump, a New York real estate developer turned world dealmaker,” says Andrea Bernstein. But in an administration that “privileges snarling visages, Witkoff is nearly universally described as kind or nice, a quality he has used to good diplomatic effect.” As Witkoff “presided over a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas and Israel, he surrounded those talks with meetings with big-name Gulf leaders.” He is “unabashed about performing diplomacy through a business lens.”

Read more

]]> ‘This is why our fresh produce keeps making us sick’

Timothy D. Lytton at The New York Times

While “cases of cyclosporiasis have reached a new high this year, the parasitic infection has spread in recent summers, too, abetted by warmer weather and higher consumption of fruits and vegetables,” says Timothy D. Lytton. To “break the cycle of infection, the fresh produce industry has to step up its efforts to prevent contamination on farms and better sanitize food.” The government also “needs to identify outbreaks more quickly so that contaminated food can be removed from store shelves.”

Read more

‘The new college virtue isn’t about if you cheat, but how well’

Natalie Sandoval at USA Today

At colleges, AI “makes cheating easier, certainly,” says Natalie Sandoval. But its “rise is downstream from a cultural shift in higher education.” Americans are “witnessing a move away from a culture that valued honor and integrity (think of the social conditions that once made ‘a man of his word’ mean something) toward one where ambition and prestige are the only markers of worth.” To “be a striver is to be concerned with the appearance of prestige above all else.”

Read more

‘The attack on workers begins and ends with Black women’

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Ayanna Pressley at The Boston Globe

Black women have “always been the backbone of the American economy,” say Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). In 2025, “thousands of Black women left or lost their jobs, with college-educated Black women and Black women in the federal workforce being disproportionately impacted.” What is “happening to Black women in the workforce is a harbinger for every worker and family in America,” a “perfect storm of this administration’s attacks on workers’ rights, equal pay and the workforce.”

Read more

‘“The Odyssey” will overwhelm you — and not only with spectacle’

Will Leitch at The Washington Post

The “movie industry appears to have been turned entirely upside down this year” as big-budget films have “dramatically underperformed,” says Will Leitch. This is “why there remains, truly, no one like Christopher Nolan,” who has “more on his mind than just spectacle.” His new film “The Odyssey” is “about the hubris of man, about how the more we convince ourselves we have conquered nature and the gods, and believe that we no longer need to look to history.”

Read more

]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-cyclosporiasis-health-college-black-women-odyssey 3Sb5dN22N6StzhSmTSwfBP Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:13:03 +0000 Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:43:15 +0000 false false false

‘This is why our fresh produce keeps making us sick’

Timothy D. Lytton at The New York Times

While “cases of cyclosporiasis have reached a new high this year, the parasitic infection has spread in recent summers, too, abetted by warmer weather and higher consumption of fruits and vegetables,” says Timothy D. Lytton. To “break the cycle of infection, the fresh produce industry has to step up its efforts to prevent contamination on farms and better sanitize food.” The government also “needs to identify outbreaks more quickly so that contaminated food can be removed from store shelves.”

Read more

‘The new college virtue isn’t about if you cheat, but how well’

Natalie Sandoval at USA Today

At colleges, AI “makes cheating easier, certainly,” says Natalie Sandoval. But its “rise is downstream from a cultural shift in higher education.” Americans are “witnessing a move away from a culture that valued honor and integrity (think of the social conditions that once made ‘a man of his word’ mean something) toward one where ambition and prestige are the only markers of worth.” To “be a striver is to be concerned with the appearance of prestige above all else.”

Read more

‘The attack on workers begins and ends with Black women’

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Ayanna Pressley at The Boston Globe

Black women have “always been the backbone of the American economy,” say Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). In 2025, “thousands of Black women left or lost their jobs, with college-educated Black women and Black women in the federal workforce being disproportionately impacted.” What is “happening to Black women in the workforce is a harbinger for every worker and family in America,” a “perfect storm of this administration’s attacks on workers’ rights, equal pay and the workforce.”

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‘“The Odyssey” will overwhelm you — and not only with spectacle’

Will Leitch at The Washington Post

The “movie industry appears to have been turned entirely upside down this year” as big-budget films have “dramatically underperformed,” says Will Leitch. This is “why there remains, truly, no one like Christopher Nolan,” who has “more on his mind than just spectacle.” His new film “The Odyssey” is “about the hubris of man, about how the more we convince ourselves we have conquered nature and the gods, and believe that we no longer need to look to history.”

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]]> ‘Trump’s war on journalists’

Ruth Marcus at The New Yorker

President Donald Trump “seized on another opportunity to threaten journalists,” as New York Times reporters “received subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury,” says Ruth Marcus. The Justice Department has “depicted the subpoenas as a benign move,” but “journalists’ access to information will evaporate if they cannot assure their sources of confidentiality.” This “risk is omnipresent, but it is heightened in the current moment, when reporting about the inner workings of government is more crucial than ever.”

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‘Vamos España? Why this World Cup victory for Spain feels so different from the others.’

María Ramírez at The Guardian

Spain’s FIFA World Cup victory “felt as though the success belonged to many more people around the world, from Gaza, where Spain has come to represent solidarity with the Palestinian cause, to Brazil,” says María Ramírez. The “country itself is in a better place despite the deep political polarization and widespread mood of dissatisfaction.” Spain’s “strength on the pitch lies not in individual brilliance but in a cohesiveness that becomes greater than the sum of its parts.”

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‘AI will shift “prestige careers” to talent, not pedigree’

Marcus Collins at Newsweek

Amid the “broader discourse about AI’s impact on jobs, there’s been a lot of chatter about AI obliterating what many think of as the ‘prestige’ career track,” says Marcus Collins. With “execution available at the touch of a button, the white-collar prestige career bargain is collapsing.” For “people who were counting on it, this may feel like the end of the world,” but “for the people who were never on that path, the future is as bright as ever.”

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‘Too many congressional races are over before they start. Here’s a remedy.’

Mark Z. Barabak at the Los Angeles Times

As “recently as the late 1990s, around four in 10 congressional districts were considered competitive,” but today “only 18 of 435 House districts are considered toss-ups,” says Mark Z. Barabak. This is “hardly an accident, as lawmakers have increasingly manipulated the election process to suit themselves, rejiggering congressional districts to sideline voters and boost their political parties.” Congress should “enact changes in time for the next scheduled round of redistricting, which is due to take place after the 2030 census.”

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]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-trump-journalists-spain-ai-congress ogmnXUG2btgupoNCVoN9w5 Mon, 20 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000 Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:23:48 +0000 false false false

‘Trump’s war on journalists’

Ruth Marcus at The New Yorker

President Donald Trump “seized on another opportunity to threaten journalists,” as New York Times reporters “received subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury,” says Ruth Marcus. The Justice Department has “depicted the subpoenas as a benign move,” but “journalists’ access to information will evaporate if they cannot assure their sources of confidentiality.” This “risk is omnipresent, but it is heightened in the current moment, when reporting about the inner workings of government is more crucial than ever.”

Read more

‘Vamos España? Why this World Cup victory for Spain feels so different from the others.’

María Ramírez at The Guardian

Spain’s FIFA World Cup victory “felt as though the success belonged to many more people around the world, from Gaza, where Spain has come to represent solidarity with the Palestinian cause, to Brazil,” says María Ramírez. The “country itself is in a better place despite the deep political polarization and widespread mood of dissatisfaction.” Spain’s “strength on the pitch lies not in individual brilliance but in a cohesiveness that becomes greater than the sum of its parts.”

Read more

‘AI will shift “prestige careers” to talent, not pedigree’

Marcus Collins at Newsweek

Amid the “broader discourse about AI’s impact on jobs, there’s been a lot of chatter about AI obliterating what many think of as the ‘prestige’ career track,” says Marcus Collins. With “execution available at the touch of a button, the white-collar prestige career bargain is collapsing.” For “people who were counting on it, this may feel like the end of the world,” but “for the people who were never on that path, the future is as bright as ever.”

Read more

‘Too many congressional races are over before they start. Here’s a remedy.’

Mark Z. Barabak at the Los Angeles Times

As “recently as the late 1990s, around four in 10 congressional districts were considered competitive,” but today “only 18 of 435 House districts are considered toss-ups,” says Mark Z. Barabak. This is “hardly an accident, as lawmakers have increasingly manipulated the election process to suit themselves, rejiggering congressional districts to sideline voters and boost their political parties.” Congress should “enact changes in time for the next scheduled round of redistricting, which is due to take place after the 2030 census.”

Read more

]]> ‘America’s trillion-dollar failure’

Ro Khanna at Foreign Affairs

The media’s Department of Defense coverage has “focused on military parades, high-profile firings and lectures about haircuts,” says Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). A “less-acknowledged but just as worrisome development has been progressively undermining the U.S. military: Defense acquisition remains stubbornly slow and wildly over budget.” The Pentagon “needs to be as nimble as it is strong or it risks losing its ability to respond to global hot spots and to deter great-power conflict.”

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‘When did sports get so loud?’

Ellen Cushing at The Atlantic

Baseball is “wall-to-wall stimulation,” and “in this way, baseball is explicitly following other sports, which were earlier to invest in state-of-the-art multifactor sound systems, huge screens and sophisticated lighting schemas,” says Ellen Cushing. Many organizations are “focusing not on season-ticket-holding diehards but on more casual fans who want a big night out, are willing to pay for it and may need to be guided through a game with aural or visual cues about how to feel at any given moment.”

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‘I see my father in the fathers killed by ICE’

Ingrid Rojas Contreras at Time

“As a Latina, it is impossible for me not to see my father when I think of” the men killed by ICE, says Ingrid Rojas Contreras. “In them, I see men who wanted nothing but a better life for their children.” Families “like mine can’t help but feel their families’ pain.” To “grieve is to take stock of what we have lost, can lose and to spend time deconstructing the harmful narratives that cause our grief.”

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‘How the networks handled President Trump’s speech about election integrity’

Tom Jones at the Poynter Institute

In the “days leading up to Thursday night’s address, there were questions about just how factual Trump’s address would be,” and “because of all the discourse beforehand, there were questions about whether or not TV networks would air Trump’s address,” says Tom Jones. It was “another night of networks trying to figure out how to cover a president who often makes claims that simply are not true or, at the very least, are misleading.”

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]]> https://theweek.com/politics/instant-opinion-pentagon-congress-sports-ice-donald-trump 6gxSvCznA7ctUsczXwYbn8 Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:40:55 +0000 Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:33:36 +0000 false false false

‘America’s trillion-dollar failure’

Ro Khanna at Foreign Affairs

The media’s Department of Defense coverage has “focused on military parades, high-profile firings and lectures about haircuts,” says Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). A “less-acknowledged but just as worrisome development has been progressively undermining the U.S. military: Defense acquisition remains stubbornly slow and wildly over budget.” The Pentagon “needs to be as nimble as it is strong or it risks losing its ability to respond to global hot spots and to deter great-power conflict.”

Read more

‘When did sports get so loud?’

Ellen Cushing at The Atlantic

Baseball is “wall-to-wall stimulation,” and “in this way, baseball is explicitly following other sports, which were earlier to invest in state-of-the-art multifactor sound systems, huge screens and sophisticated lighting schemas,” says Ellen Cushing. Many organizations are “focusing not on season-ticket-holding diehards but on more casual fans who want a big night out, are willing to pay for it and may need to be guided through a game with aural or visual cues about how to feel at any given moment.”

Read more

‘I see my father in the fathers killed by ICE’

Ingrid Rojas Contreras at Time

“As a Latina, it is impossible for me not to see my father when I think of” the men killed by ICE, says Ingrid Rojas Contreras. “In them, I see men who wanted nothing but a better life for their children.” Families “like mine can’t help but feel their families’ pain.” To “grieve is to take stock of what we have lost, can lose and to spend time deconstructing the harmful narratives that cause our grief.”

Read more

‘How the networks handled President Trump’s speech about election integrity’

Tom Jones at the Poynter Institute

In the “days leading up to Thursday night’s address, there were questions about just how factual Trump’s address would be,” and “because of all the discourse beforehand, there were questions about whether or not TV networks would air Trump’s address,” says Tom Jones. It was “another night of networks trying to figure out how to cover a president who often makes claims that simply are not true or, at the very least, are misleading.”

Read more

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