'I only fear that when I die, my story will be forgotten'

'We exist in constant darkness, the world illuminated only by the flashes of missiles'

Salma Hamad in the Los Angeles Times

"My life as a 17-year-old in Gaza was marked by the predictable anxieties and aspirations of a student applying to university," until war broke out, says Salma Hamad in the Los Angeles Times. Now we've been forced to flee our home to escape Israel's bombing. "I am not a terrorist," just a student, sister, daughter. But "I feel that I have been sentenced to death." Please, end the bombing. "Let the children of Gaza dream again."

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'The only thing you have to fear is fear of Tyrannus Trumpus itself'

Greg Sargent in The Washington Post

It's hard to deny former President Donald Trump "has a narrow but plausible path to authoritarian rule" if he wins back the White House, says Greg Sargent in The Washington Post. But don't give in to pessimism. Crowds flooded airports to protest Trump's 2017 Muslim ban. His election denial "hit a wall in the courts." Even if Trump follows through on his "dictatorial intentions," America "has thwarted Trump in the past — and will likely do so again."

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'To dump Ukraine now would be completely gratuitous'

Rich Lowry at National Review

Cutting off aid to Ukraine now would be "perhaps the stupidest, most senseless abandonment of a U.S. ally ever," says Rich Lowry at National Review. The $100 billion we've spent is "a fraction of the defense budget," a bargain given that it's thwarting Russia's aggression. "Not one U.S. service member has died" there. Yet Congress is deadlocked over sending more aid. To cut off Ukraine now "wouldn't be a crime, but an incredibly self-defeating blunder."

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'If there's one climate-change solution everybody seems to agree on, it's that trees are good'

Mark Gongloff at Bloomberg

Relax, chopping down a tree to "festoon with lights and ornaments" once a year won't hurt the climate, says Mark Gongloff at Bloomberg. "For one thing, Christmas-tree farming is "generally a sustainable business," and making artificial trees produces far more pollution. But you can buy any kind of tree "and still help fight global warming." The impact of talking to others and voting for politicians trying to fight climate change "will last longer than any Christmas decoration."

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