ON MONDAY, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in 303 Creative v. Elenis. The case was brought by Lorie Smith, a graphic artist in Colorado who wishes to expand into the field of custom-made wedding websites. For religious reasons, Smith opposes same-sex marriage and is unwilling to design websites promoting gay or lesbian weddings. Under Colorado law, however, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal, and Smith may not refuse her services to same-sex couples.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

VOTERS HAD A LOT on their minds as they cast their ballots in this month's midterm elections, but inflation topped the list. In exit polls, nearly 1 out of 3 respondents said the issue that most influenced their vote for Congress was the relentless rise in consumer prices, which are up more than 13 percent since January 2021. With inflation running at a 40-year high, Democrats were lucky to lose only their majority in the House. They may fare considerably worse if inflation is still raging in 2024. As the fates of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter suggest, if Democrats cannot get inflation under control, they are apt to lose the White House.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

WHAT DOES it take to be a good citizen?

When the Pew Research Center recently asked nearly 3,600 Americans what traits or behaviors go to the heart of good citizenship, the most common response was voting: Seven out of 10 US adults described voting as a "very important" aspect of being a good citizen.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

Maimonides on the Mayflower

Thanksgiving has officially been cancelled at the University of Alaska Southeast. Students, faculty, and staff will have off from Nov. 24 through Nov. 27, but on the university calendar, what used to be identified as "Thanksgiving Closure" is now labeled "Fall Break." UAS adopted the change at the urging of X̱'unei Lance Twitchell, a professor of Native Languages, who called for "decolonizing Thanksgiving," a holiday that he said leads some people to feel excluded.

"We are not a white Christian organization," he said. "We are a university."

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

THE OUTBREAK of the coronavirus in 2020 set off not just a pandemic that caused 1 million deaths in the United States but also an eruption of anger, blame, and bitterness that widened even further the cracks in American society. In a recent essay for The Atlantic, Brown University economist Emily Oster calls for an end to this era of bad feelings, advising us to let bygones be bygones when it comes to COVID-19.

"Let's declare a pandemic amnesty," argues Oster, who has written extensively about the coronavirus and its effects. "We need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID."

Continue to the full article  |  More articles