'Trusted sources of information can step up'
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
'There is a good place to find trusted news online: actual news websites'
Dave Lee at Bloomberg
"Fake news" has been a problem for years, said Dave Lee at Bloomberg, but it's getting out of hand. "In the information war surrounding the Israel-Gaza conflict, fakery is taking many forms" — even video-game images presented as battle footage. And this kind of misinformation is about to be "super-charged" by artificial intelligence. "But while the internet served to cheapen the news," AI could save it by making "the value of honest news" outlets more obvious than ever.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Punishing prosperity comes at a cost'
Eric Boehm in Reason
California's high taxes are backfiring, says Eric Boehm in Reason. Roughly 343,000 people "fled the state" from July 2021 to July 2022, shrinking California's population for the third straight year. Many of those leaving are wealthy people driven away by California's high personal income tax rates, according to online real-estate firm MyEListing.com. "Their exit threatens to blow a hole in the state's finances." Out-migration cost California $343 million in tax revenue in 2021 alone.
'The Ukrainian offensive has not achieved Kyiv's stated goals'
Daniel L. Davis in Responsible Statecraft
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
"The political chaos in Washington and the explosive situation in Israel" are discouraging the "due diligence necessary to determine whether it makes sense to give more money to Ukraine," says Daniel L. Davis in Responsible Statecraft. The reality is there's "no likely path to a Ukrainian military victory," no matter how much money and how many tanks Congress sends Kyiv. "It is time to acknowledge this obvious on-the-ground truth and seek out other pathways forward."
'Full redemocratization in Venezuela is still a long way off'
Catherine Osborn in Foreign Policy
Finally, there has been "a breakthrough in one of the Western Hemisphere's most bitter" political and humanitarian stalemates, says Catherine Osborn in Foreign Policy. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's "undemocratic" government, opposition leaders, and the United States reached a deal exchanging sanctions relief for a promise to hold free elections. "Maduro's track record" suggests he'll try to hold onto power in the 2024 vote, but at least the opposition has a window to "build political legitimacy with voters."
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
5 cinematic cartoons about Bezos betting big on 'Melania'Cartoons Artists take on a girlboss, a fetching newspaper, and more
-
The fall of the generals: China’s military purgeIn the Spotlight Xi Jinping’s extraordinary removal of senior general proves that no-one is safe from anti-corruption drive that has investigated millions
-
Why the Gorton and Denton by-election is a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’Talking Point Reform and the Greens have the Labour seat in their sights, but the constituency’s complex demographics make messaging tricky
-
Big-time money squabbles: the conflict over California’s proposed billionaire taxTalking Points Californians worth more than $1.1 billion would pay a one-time 5% tax
-
‘The West needs people’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump links funding to name on Penn StationSpeed Read Trump “can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers,” a Schumer insider said
-
Trump reclassifies 50,000 federal jobs to ease firingsSpeed Read The rule strips longstanding job protections from federal workers
-
‘The censorious effect is the same, even if deployed covertly’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Supreme Court upholds California gerrymanderSpeed Read The emergency docket order had no dissents from the court
-
‘Various international actors hope to influence the result for their own benefit’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump demands $1B from Harvard, deepening feudSpeed Read Trump has continually gone after the university during his second term
