[Doyle McManus] In Europe, Trump almost sounded like an adult

If you closed your eyes and listened to the words emanating from President Trump’s meetings in Europe last week -- instead of, say, reading his tweets -- it sounded as if American foreign policy had suddenly been hijacked by adults. Most of the time, at least.At the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Trump returned US policy on Russia toward something resembling normalcy. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the very model of a pragmat

July 13, 2017

[Rex Huppke] It’s been a few days since United did something terrible

As something of an expert in the communications field, I’d like to offer my services to United Airlines.The company has been going through a rough patch of late on the public relations front. The latest oopsie involved a middle school teacher from Hawaii who had to hold her 27-month-old son (a 2-year-old, if my math is correct) in her lap for an entire three-hour flight from Houston to Boston.According to a report in the Washington Post, the child had a ticket that cost nearly $1,000. But a Unit

July 13, 2017

[Jason Snead] The persistent problem of voter fraud

Some Americans believe voter fraud is essentially a non-issue. They insist voting irregularities seldom occur and are almost always accidental.Hard evidence, however, proves this is wishful thinking. Voter fraud is a more widespread, frequent and serious problem than many people are willing to admit.Indeed, the Heritage Foundation recently updated its Voter Fraud Database with 89 new entries, including 75 convictions and a slew of overturned elections and civil fines targeting vote fraudsters. W

July 13, 2017

[Cass R. Sunstein] A graceless president, a national betrayal

For leaders as well as friends, spouses and colleagues, grace is a precious characteristic. Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump’s policy choices, our nation has never had a president more lacking in grace.Whether or not Abraham Lincoln was the greatest American president, he was certainly its most gracious. Here’s the close of his brief Second Inaugural, delivered toward the end of the Civil War, when the nation was a house divided:With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in

July 13, 2017

[Other view] Dose of optimism: US jobs report brighter than expected

Accompanied by the customary cautionary note about analysis based on one month’s figures, June’s job creation rate, provided by the US Department of Labor, should have provided Americans with a shaft of light Friday.June produced a better-than-expected 222,000 new jobs, supplemented by an adjustment upward of 47,000 of April and May figures. Unemployment rose a tick, to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent, but that is still low. Average hourly wages were up 2.5 percent from a year ago. Labor-force part

July 13, 2017

[Jessica Yellin] Journalists need to stop taking Trump’s bait

Since President Donald Trump has taken office, reporting in the public interest has seen an encouraging resurgence. There is a renewed sense of purpose among reporters covering the White House and a renaissance in investigative journalism. All this should help burnish the media’s tarnished credibility.But this good work is competing with a less admirable trend. The media have a bad habit of turning themselves into the story. And their tendency toward solipsism is as unbecoming as the president’s

July 13, 2017

[Conor Sen] New economy needs to go retro

A taxi company that owns no cars. A media titan that creates no content. A retailer with no stores.A couple of years ago, this was the view of Uber, Facebook and Amazon: growing powerhouses even though they consisted of little more than software engineers and data centers (and, in Amazon’s case, a warehouse with no storefront). Perhaps the future of the economy was a handful of gigantic tech firms serving as an interface on the real economy, collecting a toll for all activity, while the rest of

July 12, 2017

[Peter Singer] Trump’s unethical aid cuts

When Americans are asked what percentage of US government spending goes to foreign aid, the median answer is 25 percent. The correct answer is 1 percent. No wonder, then, that when President Donald Trump justifies cutting aid on the grounds that other countries need to step up because they are not paying their fair share, many people believe him. The truth is that it is the United States that is not paying its fair share. Long ago, the United Nations called on rich countries to raise their forei

July 12, 2017

[Albert R. Hunt] Trump confidants, Russia and a pattern of duplicity

Skepticism about President Donald Trump‘s denials that his campaign colluded with clandestine Russian efforts to help him win last year’s presidential election are fueled by a disturbing reality: Trump operatives misled, lied or failed to disclose at least a half-dozen secret meetings they had with Russians last year until confronted afterward. In the latest episode, the New York Times revealed Saturday that Trump’s son and son-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, along with Paul Manafort

July 12, 2017

[Other view] The Macron Revolution should be about growth

It took brave, radical thinking for President Emmanuel Macron to transform French politics so completely. Reforming the French economy will demand no less focus and ambition. To judge by the speech he gave at Versailles last week, there’ll be no lack of ambition: It was positively regal. Focus, though, was less apparent. Once he turns to the task of governing, he needs to make structural economic reform -- especially to France’s broken labor market -- his overriding priority. Instead, France’s n

July 12, 2017

[Adam Minter] China cracks down on video games

Shareholders of Tencent Holdings, the world’s biggest video game company, panicked last week. People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, singled out “Honour of Kings,” Tencent’s biggest game, for an unusually high-profile criticism.“Poison,” the paper declared of a game played by roughly 1 in 7 Chinese. “Constantly spreading ‘negative energy.’” It linked the game to recent reports in which children allegedly stole money, experienced strokes and even jumped out of a hi

July 11, 2017

[Doug Bandow] How to get China to rein in Kim Jong-un

Even when President Donald Trump has a good idea, he doesn’t stick with it long enough. Like pushing China on North Korea.Of North Korea, said candidate Trump, “We should put pressure on China to solve the problem.” As president, he initially placed the issue front and center in the US-China relationship.But a couple of months later, Trump appears to have lost hope in Beijing. “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At leas

July 11, 2017

[Leonid Bershidsky] Does Trump understand nuclear game theory?

The US may use “considerable military forces” against North Korea, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says. President Donald Trump is thinking about “some pretty severe things,” too. Both achieve the same goal, and it’s the opposite of what the US wants.The North Korean regime of Kim Jong-un is a deliberately archaic one. To understand the game he’s playing, it’s worth going back to literature from the first decades of the nuclear standoff between the US and the Soviet Union. Thomas

July 11, 2017

[Other view] Italy’s migrant crisis is Europe’s problem

Summer makes it easier for migrants to cross the Mediterranean, so Italy is struggling to cope with another influx of refugees. And like before, its European partners are doing too little to help. The Italian government is asking for a new approach, and it‘s right: the EU should see this as a pan-European issue, requiring a pan-European response.More than 84,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea in the first six months of this year, nearly 20 percent more than in the first half of 2016. The

July 11, 2017

[Other view] The future of work demands big ideas

Donald Trump won the US presidency in large part on a promise to help American workers displaced by trade and technology. That’s a worthy goal -- but if he wants to deliver, he’ll have to rethink his approach. Above all, he’ll need to recognize that the modern economy is not just about digging holes and bashing metal.To date, Trump has focused narrowly on industries such as mining and manufacturing -- for example, by loosening environmental regulations on coal producers and by haranguing automak

July 10, 2017