'Republicans have a brand perception problem'

'The flight of moderates and suburban women from the GOP'

The Wall Street Journal editorial board

Republicans took another election "drubbing" this week, says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. The "twin issue set of abortion rights and fear and loathing" of the MAGA GOP cost Republicans dearly in votes they needed to win in Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia. President Biden's low approval rating should have dragged down Democrats. But the Biden factor was more than offset by "the flight of moderates and suburban women" from Donald Trump's MAGA-dominated GOP. 

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'The besotted, agonized, needy relationship our kids have with their phones'

Pamela Paul in The New York Times

Some school districts are finally "cracking down on cellphones," says Pamela Paul in The New York Times, and it's "the smartest thing" educators can do. Banning phones in the classroom "overturns many pro-tech school policies embraced before Covid and resorted to during lockdown," but it eliminates a distraction for kids "besotted" with social media and gaming. "The not-shocking result: less bullying, increased student engagement, even actual eye contact between students and teachers in the hallway." 

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'All these precious lives lost, to what end?'

Noy Katsman in The Nation

"My brother, Hayim Katsman, was one of the 31 Americans slaughtered in Israel on Oct. 7," says Noy Katsman in The Nation. He died shielding a neighbor on his kibbutz from gunfire. He believed "all life — Israeli and Palestinian, Arab and Jewish — is equally precious." With Gaza's death toll over 10,000, he would demand a cease-fire. If the war "is to avenge deaths like his, the moral stain would be impossible for my brother to stomach."

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'Is it possible to add regular movement breaks to our deadline-filled days?'

Manoush Zomorodi and Keith Diaz in the Los Angeles Times

"Everyone knows sitting too much is bad," say Manoush Zomorodi and Keith Diaz in the Los Angeles Times. It can kill you. The World Health Organization warns that "if we stay this sedentary, nearly 500 million people will develop heart disease, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases this decade." There's an easy fix. If businesses and institutions were as generous with exercise breaks as they used to be with smoking breaks, we could all be healthier.

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