opinion

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'Garbage Imperialism' of the '80s Never Really Went Away

New York Times columnist Alexander Clapp says the recycling story we've been told 'often isn't true'

(Newser) - In the '80s, hazardous waste from developed nations like the US began to get sent to undeveloped nations in bulk, with vows made to the recipients to pay them back with schools, hospitals, or cash for absorbing the rest of the world's trash. In 1992, the immorality of...

Trump's 2018 Steel Tariffs Cost US Consumers, Companies

Wall Street Journal debunks president's rationale

(Newser) - When President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in his first term, he said they were necessary to increase US production . But production was on the rise at the time. The real reason the industry wanted the tariffs was that higher prices on imports would let US companies...

Musk Is Now the 'De Facto President'
Musk Is Now the
'De Facto President'
OPINION

Musk Is Now the 'De Facto President'

6 takes on the richest man's mounting power with DOGE

(Newser) - As Elon Musk stood beside him, President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that gives Musk's Department of Government Efficiency group control over hiring and firing at federal agencies. Six takes on what that means:
  • Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo : "I don't think it's too
...

Silicon Valley's Anti-'Woke' Drive Isn't an 'Anomaly'

Guardian columnist Becca Lewis writes that hints of 'technofascism' stretch back decades

(Newser) - Anyone who's just now picking up on a real right-wing vibe from today's Silicon Valley set probably hasn't been paying too close attention to the tech bros over the past few decades—because hints of "technofascism" have been popping up in that demographic for years. So...

Opinion: For Guantanamo Migrants, Abuse Is 'Guaranteed'
'Abuse at
Guantanamo
Is Guaranteed'
OPINION

'Abuse at Guantanamo Is Guaranteed'

Children will be among the victims in this 'nightmare,' writes Spencer Ackerman

(Newser) - As President Trump signed an executive order to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay to "full capacity" on Wednesday, it was "like seeing a nightmare I've had for years manifest before my eyes," writes Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Spencer Ackerman. Ackerman, who's attended...

Want an Easy Way Cut $2T? Think Nuclear
Want an
Easy Way
to Cut $2T?
Think Nuclear
OPINION

Want an Easy Way to Cut $2T? Think Nuclear

Dan Vergano calls for ending nuclear weapons modernization

(Newser) - Elon Musk has an easy task in cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget in the view of Scientific American opinion editor Dan Vergano. But rather than going after the NOAA or the Labor Department , his Department of Government Efficiency should "recommend ending one of the most misguided, wasteful...

Kristof: What's Unfolding at USAID Is 'Sickening'

New York Times columnist says the world's richest are hurting the world's poorest

(Newser) - The headline of Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column on what's happening to USAID crystallizes the issue in his view: "The World's Richest Men Take On the World's Poorest Children." Elon Musk has been gloating about gutting the US Agency for International Aid Development,...

What Editorials Think of Trump's Day One
What Editorials Think
of Trump's Day One
the rundown

What Editorials Think of Trump's Day One

Wall Street Journal suggests 'Trump II' is off to a better start than some feared

(Newser) - President Trump described an America in "decline" in his inaugural address on Monday and promised to set things right. A look at how Trump's message, along with his mass pardoning of Jan. 6 defendants, is being received in editorials:
  • Wall Street Journal: Trump "delivered a message of
...

The 'Slippery Road' of Unending, 'Unbearable' Pain

Melanie Thernstrom explores the 'travesty' of navigating chronic pain for WSJ

(Newser) - At the center of the Brian Thompson murder is suspect Luigi Mangione , whose "evolution from valedictorian to vigilante may never be fully understood." But Melanie Thernstrom thinks Mangione's "bleak inner reality" can be partly explained by his chronic back problems, which caused "unbearable pain" that...

'Heinous Hues' of This Color Make It the Worst
'Heinous Hues' of This
Color Make It the Worst
OPINION

'Heinous Hues' of This Color Make It the Worst

Sorry, but purple just doesn't do it for Fast Company creative director Mike Schnaidt

(Newser) - Serving as creative chief for a major publication means you must have a discriminating eye for color—and in Mike Schnaidt's eyes, the color purple is as "confused" as they come. "Let me count the heinous hues: plum, lilac, orchid, lavender, violet, mauve. Barf," writes the...

Carville Doubles Down on His Famous Rule
Carville Doubles Down
on His Famous Rule
OPINION

Carville Doubles Down on His Famous Rule

'It was, it is, and it always will be the economy, stupid'

(Newser) - The James Carville of 2024 got it wrong in his election prediction of a Kamala Harris victory. Had he listened to the James Carville of 1992 , he might have gotten it right. "It was, it is, and it always will be the economy, stupid," the political consultant writes...

Exposing the 'Irrationality' of Nuclear Deterrence

Beatrice Fihn calls on ordinary people to challenge myths around nuclear weapons

(Newser) - The threat of nuclear weapons—"catastrophic destruction, potentially wiping out hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and spreading radioactive contamination across borders and generations"—is terrifying. But "nuclear weapons are remarkably inefficient tools of war"—"they are clumsy, expensive, and lack practical military utility,"...

The Scandal of 2024: A Coverup for Biden
The Scandal of 2024:
A Coverup for Biden
OPINION

The Scandal of 2024: A Coverup for Biden

Peggy Noonan argues concealing president's true mental state is 'Democratic Party gospel'

(Newser) - Looking back on 2024, Peggy Noonan has no doubt of the scandal of the year: "the decline of Joe Biden's mental acuity" and what she says was a coverup by White House staff. The Wall Street Journal columnist claims President Biden "has been in apparent cognitive decline...

Ex-Wife of Ariana Grande's New Beau Has Some Thoughts
Ex-Wife of Ariana Grande's
New Beau Speaks
ESSAY

Ex-Wife of Ariana Grande's New Beau Speaks

Lilly Jay talks breakup of her marriage 'in the shadow of my husband's new relationship'

(Newser) - As reports surfaced of a relationship between Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater last summer, there was much focus on when Grande had separated from her husband, Dalton Gomez, and when Slater had split with his wife, Lilly Jay. Now, we have more detail from Jay herself. "I...

Ex-Cigna Bigwig: I Left Insurer After 'Crisis of Conscience'
Ex-Cigna Exec: What I Saw
'Shook Me to My Core'
OPINION

Ex-Cigna Exec: What I Saw 'Shook Me to My Core'

In op-ed for NYT , Wendell Potter talks of time with health insurer, leaving due to 'crisis of conscience'

(Newser) - The gunning down of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has busted open an often-angry conversation about the state of health insurance in the United States, and now, an ex-exec with one of the country's biggest insurers is adding fuel to that fire. "What I saw made me quit,"...

Who's to Blame for High Health Care Costs? 2 Takes

Journalist points to overpaid doctors, doctor to the 'waste' of private insurance

(Newser) - One of the most talked-about policies in the national conversation around insurance is Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield's decision in Connecticut, New York, and Missouri to deny claims for anesthesia for surgeries that went longer than a set time limit. It was greeted with huge uproar before the insurer...

Guys, Welcome to the 'Pink Collar' Workforce
Guys, Welcome to the
'Pink Collar' Workforce
OPINION

Guys, Welcome to the 'Pink Collar' Workforce

We should embrace men taking on caregiver jobs traditionally done by women, per NYT op-ed

(Newser) - When it comes to evolving over the past six decades or so, "Plastic Woman" ("American women who made miraculous social progress in the 20th century") outpaced "Cardboard Man" ("American men who stalled out"), according to two archetypes described by Jessica Grose in an op-ed...

Pelicot Wore Sunglasses 'to Protect Herself.' No More

BBC essay describes Frenchwoman as 'global icon of courage and defiance' as husband stands trial

(Newser) - Throughout the rape trial of Gisele Pelicot's husband, Dominique Pelicot , and the dozens of other men of sexually assaulting her while she was drugged unconscious, the world has seen the Frenchwoman go through a series of stages—from "serene grandmother, to anguished and shame-haunted rape victim, to fearful...

Paul Krugman's Final Column: We're in a 'Grim Place'

Nobel-winning NYT economist laments losing optimism of the past, says to rebuff 'kakistocracy'

(Newser) - After nearly a quarter century, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has decided to wrap up his opinion column in the New York Times, with a final one dropping on Tuesday —and he's using it as "a good occasion to reflect on what has changed over these past...

In Academia, 'Professors Are Bad at Politics'
College Professors Need
to Back Off of Activism
OPINION

College Professors Need to Back Off of Activism

Case Western Reserve instructor Michael Clune says that 'professors are bad at politics'

(Newser) - For the past decade, Michael Clune has "watched in horror" as professors in higher education have hurtled toward what he calls an "existential crisis"—academics who've morphed into what he calls activists, with "nearly every scholar now [justifying] their work in political terms." Writing...

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