‘Let 2026 be a year of reckoning’

‘From Donald Trump to Benjamin Netanyahu, let 2026 be a year of reckoning’

Jonathan Freedland at The Guardian

“May the coming year see those leaders who have done so much damage” at last “be called to account,” says Jonathan Freedland. A “slew of congressional defeats” for President Donald Trump’s party in November’s elections would be “satisfying in itself, wounding that gargantuan ego,” and would “dispel the aura of indomitability that has enveloped” him. Likewise, Israel’s 2026 elections “might be the last chance to save key democratic institutions that have been under sustained assault” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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‘We’re living through the Great Detachment’

David Brooks at The New York Times

The U.S. is facing an era of “romantic recession,” says David Brooks. It’s not just a decline in marriage rates, “we’re seeing a systematic weakening of the loving bonds that hold society together.” Values have changed in recent decades, pushing young Americans toward “individual freedom” and away from romantic relationships. “You can build a culture around loving commitments, or you can build a culture around individual autonomy, but you can’t do both.”

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‘10 drugs just became more affordable for Medicare recipients, but America needs far more relief’

Emma Freer at MS NOW

“Starting today, older Americans who are enrolled in Medicare” will see lower prices on a handful of widely used drugs, which “will save a combined $1.5 billion annually on out-of-pocket costs,” says Emma Freer. These changes brought by former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act represent a “sea change in federal policy.” But the U.S. “must do more to lower the cost of all prescription drugs, and “those costs need to be lowered for all Americans.”

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‘New Year’s goal: Care to step outside? You won't regret it.’

Jean Case at USA Today

What if, instead of setting unachievable New Year’s goals, “we chose a resolution so simple, so achievable and so transformative that it could reshape not just our lives, but also our communities and even our country?” says Jean Case. Make this the “year you step outside for at least 10 to 20 minutes every day.” Urban nature exposure improves mental health to a measurable degree. “These aren't marginal improvements. They're prescription-strength results from the most accessible medicine on earth.”

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