Statue in Prospect Terrace Park overlooking Providence, R.I. (SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images) Providence’s municipal-reparations scheme helps left-wing activist groups, not students trapped in Rhode Island’s union-dominated schools. It used to be referred to as the soft bigotry of low expectations: the unspoken bias among many liberals, who subconsciously believe that minority populations are not capable of succeeding

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Capitol Hill, April 15, 2021. (Amr Alfiky/Pool via Reuters) During an appearance on Fox News Friday, CDC director Rochelle Walensky indicated the Biden administration is considering a federal vaccine mandate, as vaccination rates plateau and skepticism persists in certain regions

Today on The Editors, Rich, Charlie, Alexandra, and Jim discuss the new CDC guidance on masking, the infrastructure deal developments, what’s happening with the Hyde amendment, and Simone Biles. Listen below, or follow this show on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or Spotify. Your browser does not support the HTML5 Audio element.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House at a celebration of Independence Day in Washington, D.C., July 4, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) Yesterday President Biden announced that all federal workers who do not get vaccinated for COVID-19 will face a series of burdens and intrusions designed to raise the costs of not submitting to

Texas governor Greg Abbott (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) Texas governor Greg Abbott on Thursday threatened to issue fines to local officials who enforce new mask mandates. Abbott’s warning comes after the CDC reversed course earlier this week and recommended that people in areas with substantial spread of COVID-19 should wear masks indoors — including vaccinated individuals. The

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference before the 2019 MLS All-Star Game at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Fla., July 31, 2019. (Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY Sports) There is a frustrating amount of glee dwelling within negative reporting on Florida. ABC affiliates run headlines that sound like sports coverage, such as “‘We’re not in

You should read this essay on trust and manipulation in public-health policy by Kerrington Powell and Vinay Prasad. A key point is that expertise is non-transferable: Even if we accept that it is ethical for public figures to mislead the public for the public’s own good, being an expert in infectious diseases does not give

(rarrarorro/Getty Images) The Senate voted 67–32 to advance a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal on Wednesday night. The vote comes one month after negotiators initially said they had reached a deal on infrastructure. A bipartisan group of ten senators and the White House then spent weeks finalizing the details of the proposal. The 17

Paul Lalli, global vice president of human rights at Coca-Cola, testifies during a hearing of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, July 27, 2021. (Screengrab via YouTube) A congressional panel’s hearing on the upcoming Beijing Olympics makes China-enabling executives famous. NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE C orporate America’s breathless courtship of the Chinese Communist Party was given

Alabama governor Kay Ivey speaks to the media after being sworn in in Montgomery, April 2017. (Marvin Gentry / Reuters) That was the name of a Gershwin musical, of 1926: Oh, Kay! It is largely forgotten now, but some songs aren’t: “Clap Yo’ Hands,” “Do, Do, Do,” and “Someone to Watch over Me.” I’ll get

Students raise their hands to answer a question at Kratzer Elementary School in Allentown, Pa., April 13, 2021. (Hannah Beier/Reuters) Less than an hour after the CDC released its guidelines, my local school district sent out a letter preparing parents for the probability that school — even school for very young children — would be

Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks to the media with members of the House Republican caucus before the opening hearing of the House (Select) Committee on the Investigation of the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 27, 2021. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) on Tuesday claimed that

A commuter receives a COVID-19 vaccination at Grand Central Station Terminal train station in New York City, May 12, 2021. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters) Welcome to the Tuesday, a weekly newsletter about many things. To subscribe to the Tuesday, which I hope you will do, please follow this link. On Vaccine, Between Persuasion and CoercionThe news seems

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WVA) removes his mask to speak on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 1, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) I’ve repeatedly written about how ridiculous and counterproductive it is for a group of Republicans to be negotiating a bipartisan deal on infrastructure with a Democratic Party that is racing to spend $4.1 trillion. But one

Students wait in line for a temperature check before their first day of in person school at I.S. 318, amid the coronavirus outbreak in Brooklyn, N.Y., October 1, 2020. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters) The middle section of today’s Morning Jolt makes the inconvenient point that despite the media’s preferred narrative, a significant portion of the remaining unvaccinated

Kodak screen in Times Square in 2012. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters) Kodak bends the knee for the Chinese Communist Party, whose influence now stretches into America through our own storied companies. NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE D ammit, another one. This time Eastman Kodak, makers of film and other gear for photography. Another what? Another American company that has

Ibram X. Kendi interviewed on CBS News in June 2020. (CBS News/via YouTube) He, too, is a racist according to his stupidly reductive premises. NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE E zra Klein of the New York Times doesn’t usually do brutal takedowns on his podcasts, but his conversation with “anti-racism” guru Ibram X. Kendi is an exception.

Opponents of Critical Race Theory attend a packed Loudoun County School board meeting in Ashburn, Va., June 22, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) National Association of Scholars president Peter Wood here likens today’s mania over critical race theory to the ancient belief in witchcraft. In Salem, people were convicted of witchcraft, then executed, based on “spectral evidence.”

Tthe Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project logo on a pipe at the Chelyabinsk pipe rolling plant in Chelyabinsk, Russia, February 26, 2020. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters) President Biden promised to unite the world’s democracies against global authoritarianism, but the administration’s new Nord Stream 2 bargain placates the Kremlin’s Western cronies and German business interests at the

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a news conference after thirteen people, including seven men associated with the Wolverine Watchmen militia group, were arrested for alleged plots to take Whitmer hostage and attack the state capitol building, in Lansing, Mich., October 8, 2020. (Michigan Governor’s office/Handout via Reuters) But do the Wolverine Watchmen militia members

The Capitol building at sunrise in Washington, D.C., January 11, 2021 (Erin Scott/Reuters) 2013—Senate Democrats expedite a confirmation hearing for President Obama’s controversial D.C. Circuit nominee, left-wing Georgetown law professor Cornelia Pillard, whom one former colleague describes as “Reinhardt in a skirt, but less moderate.” (The reference is to Ninth Circuit judge Stephen Reinhardt, who

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in before testifying during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., September 27, 2018. (Win McNamee/Reuters) In an interview with National Review, a former senior official in the White House counsel’s office confirmed much of John McCormack’s reporting on Senate Democrats’ latest attempt to damage the reputation of Justice Brett

The Kodak logo in a booth during the 2017 CES in Las Vegas, Nev., January 6, 2017 (Steve Marcus/Reuters) Kodak became the latest U.S. brand to censor itself and apologize to the Chinese government for speaking the truth this week. The ailing photography company deleted an Instagram post in which it had promoted the work

Low water levels visible under the Entreprise Bridge at Lake Oroville, the second-largest reservoir in California and according to daily reports of the state’s Department of Water Resources is near 35% capacity, near Oroville, Calif., June 16, 2021. (Aude Guerrucci/Reuters) The week of July 19, 2021: regulation, infrastructure, and other clickbait. This isn’t the first

(Zolnierek/Getty Images) A coalition of New York public-defender groups filed an amicus brief Thursday urging the Supreme Court to invalidate the state’s concealed-carry ban. Among the attorney offices and legal-aid groups who signed the plea were the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid, the Bronx Defenders, and Brooklyn Defender Services. Within the table of contents in the

The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Va., June 20, 2020. (Jay Paul/Reuters) Catesby Leigh, writing on NRO, asks whether “Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue is next,” i.e., next to be removed from the city’s Monument Avenue. (Statues of Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and Jefferson Davis are already gone.) Leigh’s

Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks at the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas, Texas, May 4, 2018. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) Texas governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant governor Dan Patrick deserve praise from conservatives on a number of issues. Unfortunately, their stand on the battle over critical race theory (CRT) and leftist indoctrination in Texas schools isn’t

(Chris Aluka Berry/Reuters) The “town hall” format for televised debates and other media appearances ostensibly originates from the Norman Rockwell ideal of civic participation, in which a lone engaged citizen boldly stands up to question a political figure. That’s all well and good. But in practice, they became commonplace in presidential politics in 1992, the

Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards in 2016. (Jonathan Bachman/Reuters) The Louisiana state legislature failed to garner enough votes to override the Democratic governor John Bel Edwards’ veto of a bill that would prohibit transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. The Republican-controlled Louisiana House secured 68 votes, with 30 lawmakers voting against, falling two short

A major, unintended consequence of the way America has oversold higher education is that degrees no longer betoken much learning or achievement. To maximize the number of paying customers, most colleges and universities have watered down the curriculum and allowed (even encouraged) faculty members to inflate grades. And this is while the cost of attending