[aggregation-styles] The Washington Post Subscription President Trump’s most consistent case for his own reelection is simple — it’s the economy, stupid. He points to a U.S. economy that is in reasonably good shape, though of course nowhere near the “best ever” he claims. Growth has averaged 2.5 percent, a bit...
Sanders vs. Bloomberg Scenario Is Like a Jewish Joke Turned Ominously Real
[aggregation-styles] Haaretz The late and great Leo Rosten recounted in his book "Hooray for Yiddish" that whenever his father would marvel at the wonders of the United States, instead of using the staple quip “Only in America,” he would exclaim “America gonef!” The saying literally means “America the thief,” but...
What Young Iranians Think About the Latest US-Iran Conflict
[aggregation-styles] Vox Babak stays up late, so he saw the news in real time, in the early Friday morning hours in Iran. The Americans had killed Qassem Soleimani, one of the country’s most celebrated military figures, in a targeted strike. “I didn’t know how to feel,” Babak, a 25-year-old software...
'I Loosened My Hijab at a Chess Championship. Now I’m Afraid to Return to Iran.'
[aggregation-styles] The Washington Post Subscription Religious indoctrination starts early in Iran, when you are forced at school to learn the Koran. I was a dutiful student, praying assiduously while wearing a loose, ugly school uniform, with my hair hidden under a big scarf. At age 8, I even won a...
This Unsung Valley Hero Fought for the Dignity of America's Farmworkers
Gilbert Padilla is one of the most unheralded and relatively unknown heroes who made major contributions to the national farmworker movement between 1962 and 1980. A co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, he never sought the national spotlight or gained public recognition during his...
Will MLB Make NASCAR’s Mistake in Cutting Off Its Minor League Roots?
[aggregation-styles] OZY NASCAR, the governing body of stock car racing in the U.S., dumped North Wilkesboro Speedway into history’s dustbin in 1996 when it took away the North Carolina track’s two lucrative “Cup” races. But apart from the track, it also left behind bitter fans, its grassroots, as it chased...
Bernie Sanders’s Magical Thinking on Climate Change
[aggregation-styles] The Washington Post Subscription The prospect of Bernie Sanders becoming the Democratic nominee has startled many people who worry that his brand of democratic socialism won’t sell and would pave the way for a second Trump term. This might well be true, but it considers Sanders solely through the...
Bernie Sanders Isn’t a Socialist
[aggregation-styles] The New York Times Subscription Republicans have a long, disreputable history of conflating any attempt to improve American lives with the evils of “socialism.” When Medicare was first proposed, Ronald Reagan called it “socialized medicine,” and he declared that it would destroy our freedom. These days, if you call...
How a Bible Prophecy Shapes Trump’s Foreign Policy
[aggregation-styles] Vox When President Donald Trump authorized the drone strike that killed the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, he wasn’t just flexing America’s muscle in the Middle East. He was also acting on the advice of a politically powerful group of evangelical Christians who believe the US and Israel are...
Why the Coronavirus Should Change the Way We Think About China
[aggregation-styles] The Washington Post Subscription Some two months since the first reports of a new virus in central China, the death toll from the coronavirus has passed 1,000, eclipsing the number who died in the 2003 SARS epidemic. Recent estimates are that 40,000 are infected, but that is likely an...