Who will pay for the Crowdstrike outage?

Crowdstrike did not have a good day on July 19. During a routine software update, the file that the cybersecurity firm issued triggered a logic error that prohibited Windows machines from rebooting. Microsoft estimates that around 8.5 million computers may have been affected by the event.

Man up, MAGA. White Dudes for Harris are here

A mob of white men in the thousands amassed in a show of solidarity for their presidential candidate of choice, and no violence ensued. Not one broken window, makeshift noose or whiff of bear spray.

NATO needs better bridges — and bulwarks

Although the U.S. and its allies agreed recently to put Ukraine on an “irreversible path” to NATO membership, there’s no avoiding the obvious: A Trump presidency could well render such pledges meaningless.

Permission to build — Finally, a deal to allow for faster approval of energy projects

Months if not years in the making, a bipartisan bill in Washington seeks to speed up permitting for new energy infrastructure, which far too often today gets bogged down if not killed by exhausting regulatory processes and lawsuits. Here’s hoping the imperfect but worthy legislation isn’t bogged down or killed by the forces protecting the status quo, which far too often today carry the day in Congress.

How Trump and Vance betray America’s workers

It was a scene to behold: a union president delivering a booming, barn-burner speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — “the first Teamster in our 121-year history” to address the Republican Party, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien told the cheering crowd.

The Veep and the border — Kamala Harris’ role was never ‘border czar’

Among the attacks the Donald Trump camp is lobbing at presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is the notion that the vice president failed at her one crucial job in the White House, that of “border czar.” In truth, this was never her role; among other things in her portfolio was helping address the “root causes” of migration from other countries, a hazy task.

At the Olympics, must it be men versus women?

It may come as no surprise that the first modern Olympics were a men-only affair. The second, in Paris in 1900, included 22 women, and from then on, every Olympic Games has wrestled with whether, and how, to treat men and women differently. The concepts of equality and fairness are murky at the point where sports meets gender, and Olympic history is full of stories that show how hard it can be to muddle through.

Guns aren’t as good for self-defense as America thinks

A couple of hours before a young man shot an AR-15 rifle at former President Donald Trump, killing one bystander and wounding others, I had been finishing a column about gun violence as a public health threat. It was an eerie coincidence but not an unlikely one: More than 100 people die from gunshots on an average day in the United States.

Why Harris should pick former astronaut Mark Kelly as running mate

With the Democratic presidential nomination all but delivered for Kamala Harris, speculation has turned to who would best compliment her as the vice-presidential nominee. There are certainly several interesting possibilities but there is one who, like Harris herself, draws stark and strategic contrasts with the Trump-Vance ticket: Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.

Want cheaper prescriptions? Start bargaining

President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in a recent op-ed that there’s “no rational reason” why Americans pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs — almost three times more than their peers overseas, according to a recent analysis.

Secret Service director must answer for Trump near-assassination

Thomas Matthew Crooks should never have been able to get on a roof fewer than 150 yards from former President Donald Trump, let alone take several shots at him — almost killing him, wounding two rallygoers and murdering a third. The shot was an inch away from a national and international catastrophe, and the institutions tasked with securing the event must be held accountable.

The Supreme Court is a threat to American democracy

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was a wake-up call for Americans who had grown complacent about their rights and freedoms. The court’s decision was just the beginning of a series of rulings showcasing its alarming readiness to influence almost every facet of American life.