Ideas
Arguments. Essays. Inquiries.
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There’s Hope for Local Journalism
Everyone knows that local newspapers are in trouble. That’s why Deb Fallows and I have been chronicling examples of smaller papers that have bucked the economic trend—in Mississippi, in coastal Maine, in rural communities across the country.
But what “everyone knows” about the main source of the problem may be wrong—or misleading enough to divert attention away from a possible solution.
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Carlos Barria / Reuters Robert O’Brien Should Have to Face Senate Confirmation
Requiring congressional approval would be good for Trump, good for his choice for national security adviser, and good for the country.
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Alex Edelman / Getty Why the Kavanaugh Confirmation Still Haunts Us
The power of the stories is how normal they are.
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AP The Problem With Sugar-Daddy Science
The pursuit of money from wealthy donors distorts the research process—and yields flashy projects that don’t help and don’t work.
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Elijah Nouvelage / Reuters Finally, Facebook Put Someone in Charge
Deciding which postings to take down is a difficult and unpopular job. So Mark Zuckerberg is outsourcing it.
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Rebecca Cook / Reuters Why Isn’t Trump Helping the Autoworkers?
The president has been happy to stand up for manufacturing employees on the campaign trail, but has done conspicuously little as GM workers go on strike.
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Reuters We Spent 10 Months Investigating Kavanaugh. Here’s What We Found.
Two journalists detail the results of their reporting on the Supreme Court justice’s past.
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Pearl Gabel / Reuters American Migration Patterns Should Terrify the GOP
Millennial movers have hastened the growth of left-leaning metros in southern red states such as Texas, Arizona, and Georgia. It could be the biggest political story of the 2020s.
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Mike Blake / Reuters Let Them Fight
Democratic primary voters should have a chance to evaluate how their potential standard-bearers fare against hostile criticism.
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The Library That’s Also an Art Gallery
When it came to planning the new public library for downtown Winston-Salem, the people of the city had a lot to say, from the visionary to the practical. The library should “make an important statement” and “be a place for the public to be together,” Nan La Rosee, the central operations manager of the Forsyth County Public Library, told me during a recent visit.
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Toby Melville / Reuters The Corruption of ‘Privilege’
The Guardian twisted the social-justice concept to diminish David Cameron’s grief.
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Kyle Johnson / The New York Times / ... We Need a More Targeted Approach to Combatting Global Inequality
A new trove of data may allow us to replace a trickle-down approach with more precise efforts.
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Leonhard Foeger / Reuters Seven Questions That Need Answers Before Any Attack on Iran
President Trump’s threats of retaliation for strikes on Saudi oil facilities seem premature.
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Samantha Sais / Reuters The Michael Bennet Problem
What does it say about American politics that the Colorado senator hasn’t managed to stand out in the presidential race?
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Mike Segar / Reuters The Presidency’s Relentless Race to the Bottom
Presidents are, by definition, “presidential.” But Trump has scrambled what that word means.
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Tim Chong / Reuters Hollywood’s Great Leap Backward on Free Expression
Beijing moves to co-opt the American film industry as it seeks to penetrate the world’s largest market.
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press The Supreme Court Is Trump’s Enforcer
This administration seems to regard “extraordinary relief” from the high court as nothing more than its due.
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Baz Ratner / Reuters There Are No Nostalgic Nazi Memorials
Americans could learn from how drastically German society has moved away from the nadir of its history.
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Without a Functioning National Government, What’s Left?
Here is one more dip into the waters of ancient Rome. For those joining us late: In a…
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Nick Starichenko / Shutterstock Her Only Crime Was Helping Her Kids
Kelley Williams-Bolar, like Felicity Huffman, was punished for trying to get her children a better education.
