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Columns

The ‘N’ in SNAP means nutrition

SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, is one of the nation's largest welfare programs. And, like all welfare programs, it is massive, it has grown prodigiously over the years and it is inefficient. One glaring issue, which is gaining attention as a ...

European elites destroy democracy in order to save it

If you are a graduate of Yale University, you can vote every spring for a member of the Yale Corporation, which selects the school's president. However, you can only participate if you vote for one of the two candidates nominated by the Alumni Fellow Nominating Committee, a group of university ...

Government is usually useless

I have a conflict. I don't much like Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's new Education Secretary. I sued her once. She and her sleazy husband, Vince, owned a circus called World Wrestling Entertainment. When I did a silly ABC news video on how the matches are staged, one of their ...

Alcatraz? Not a good idea

“The name of Napoleon,” said the French emperor Napoleon III, “is a program in itself.” The same is true of Alcatraz, or as President Trump put it in a Truth Social post announcing his intention to re-open the prison in San Francisco Bay, “ALCATRAZ.” In his post, Trump declared, ...

The Guardian on Israel’s aid blockade of Gaza

Shameful. That was the word that Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, used to describe proceedings at the international court of justice (ICJ) last Monday. The United Nations asked the court to determine whether Israel must allow aid to enter Gaza, two months after it cut it off again ...

Politics and the age of politicians

Democrats are deep in debate over the age of their older leaders. Some need replacement, according to younger Democrats who want to replace them. And in some cases, they are right. But these arguments turn toxic when they equate age with capability. Ageism is bad politics, especially when you ...