Americans trust Amazon more than the federal government
For the past three years the American public has trusted Amazon and Google more than the federal government. Despite that higher level of trust, the federal government is suing Google and Amazon.
Government shutdowns hurt federal worker morale
Unless Congress and the White House can agree on a budget or extend funding short term, the federal government will shut down on Oct. 1, 2023.
Can the US ever recover from Rupert Murdoch’s exploitation?
“What is ‘the bag’?”
The societal disruption of artificial intelligence
Who decided the world should be disrupted by AI? Do you recall receiving a voter pamphlet on the pros and cons of AI development and deployment? Was I the only one who missed election day?
How Medicare should negotiate drug prices
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, gave Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices for the first time. The government will start with 10 medications, which were announced last month. Now it just needs to figure out how much they should cost.
Florida is a standout when it comes to COVID quackery and book hysteria
Florida’s extremism has come home to roost. The Sunshine State has the distinction of championing misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines and intolerance on book bans.
Kevin McCarthy’s fealty to right-wing extremists makes a government shutdown more likely
A shutdown of the federal government, even if only temporary, would needlessly disrupt the lives of public employees and citizens who depend on government services. But, despite a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill, such a calamity remains all too possible next month.
Vivek Ramaswamy is confused
The theatrically combative presidential candidacy of Vivek Ramaswamy seems to be premised on two messages. One is his disdain for identity politics, which he argues creates a citizenry obsessed with victimhood and a corporate sector in thrall to trendy left-wing obsessions, leaving America trapped in a “cold cultural civil war,” as he put it last month in the first Republican debate. The other is his devotion to Donald Trump, whom Ramaswamy relentlessly defended in the debate, promising to support the former president, if Trump wins the Republican nomination, or to pardon him, if Ramaswamy wins the White House. He called Trump “the best president of the 21st century.”
Are Americans in a funk? It’s time for ‘The Little Engine that Could’
Trust in institutions is declining, expectations for small business outcomes are diminishing and real household incomes are sinking; it is fair to say that Americans seem to be in a funk.
The Island Intelligencer: Operation Lahaina — spies descend on Maui
Disasters present opportunities for some U.S. intelligence agencies to step out of the shadows to lend a helping hand. Conversely, they create ripe environments for adversarial nations’ spy services to sow confusion, fuel anxiety and influence public opinion through disinformation.
Mental health and the physician shortage
After graduating from the University of North Carolina in May, we recently spent five weeks travelling between the Hawaiian Islands and speaking with primary care clinicians, public health officials, community organizations and patients to learn about the policies and culture which affect people’s health in Hawaii. Our research took us from the state Department of Health in Honolulu to the Ka‘u district of Hawaii Island, the west side of Kauai, and Kaunakakai on Molokai.
Scuttling Senate dress code diminishes decorum when our politics needs it most
Congress is bickering as usual. A potential federal shutdown is looming. Public respect for the elected representatives of government is at historic lows.
How green mandates are driving UAW strike
President Joe Biden likes to sell himself as a pro-union president, but his policies are contributing to a major strike.
How COVID built a bridge between the worst of past and future
My colleague David Wallace-Wells, in his New York Times newsletter last week, described the COVID era as a time machine — one that unwound years or decades of progress and threw us back into the past. The rise in mortality, the spike in violent crime, the learning loss for children — each of these turned us back toward the conditions of an earlier period: the higher homicide rate of the late 1990s, the higher death rates of the turn of the millennium, the lower National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores of the 2000s.
If Joe Biden quits, Kamala Harris will be no easy pushover
The forces are starting to align to push President Biden out of the way in 2024 – leaving understudy Kamala Harris as the next weak link on the Democratic chain.
Planned cut to VA funding for ambulances would harm our nation’s veterans
Unless stopped, the Department of Veterans Affairs is set to knock over a domino that may drastically harm veterans’ health care and then spread to the general community.
GOP walks the impeachment tightrope
The evidence implicating President Joe Biden in influence peddling keeps piling up. There’s less evidence that impeachment proceedings will be an electoral boon for the GOP.
America’s safety net isn’t working
The US has a long-acknowledged problem of poverty and inherited economic disadvantage – though not for lack of policy interventions. Its social safety net is expansive, encompassing multiple schemes including Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or “food stamps”), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and numerous other subsidies to help pay for childcare, housing, energy and more. All told, such programs receive more than $1 trillion in federal spending annually.
Biden impeachment inquiry opens a dangerous new door
“I am your retribution,” Donald Trump told his followers earlier this year. And, while the former president technically has no role in the newly launched House impeachment inquiry against his once and probably future election opponent, that action is — make no mistake — all about fulfilling Trump’s malicious vow.
Adderall shortages could get worse. Blame regulators
Millions of children with ADHD are starting a new school year without regular access to their medications, known as prescription stimulants, which have been in shortage for almost a year. While there are reasonable concerns about the overuse of such drugs, the lack of supply poses a risk to those who legitimately need them — and misguided government regulations are making things worse.
