Getting to Quality
Breaking the Polarization Spiral

How can we encourage the public to consume less “junk” news? It won’t be easy.

© Gage Skidmore
Alternate Reality
What If Trump Had Lost In 2016?

And another Republican had won.

Notes on a Phrase
“Better Angels” In Our Past

President Abraham Lincoln popularized the phrase for Americans in his First Inaugural Address. But he did not coin it.

African American and white school children on a school bus, Charlotte, NC – 1973 (Library of Congress)
Print & Pixels
School Busing: Yes, It’s Personal

The rhetoric flying around about school busing after the most recent Democratic debates was beyond sloppy. And the actual history is far from tidy.

Getting Russia Right
Putin, Unclassified

A new book is as sharp and precise as any top secret briefing on Russia’s authoritarian President might be. But for all the great detail, it gets part of the big picture wrong.

The Fight Over Facial Recognition Tech
Facing Big Brother’s Stare

Bipartisan concern over facial recognition is mounting. That’s a good thing.

&copy Getty Images
India at the Polls
Democracy à la Modi?

After a convincing win in last month’s elections, the question is whether Narendra Modi and his BJP are becoming entrenched political fixtures, or whether India’s rambunctious democracy will soon turn on the incumbents.

Politics Disrupted
Crashing the Parties

In Europe, the ancien régime of the moderate Right and Left is falling prey to the disruptors—mainly rightwing populists, but also non-threatening environmentalists like the surging German Greens who appeal to the center.

The New Public Square
How (Not) to Regulate the Internet

We should be more focused on protecting user rights than on policing content itself.

In the Name of Sensitivity
Whitewashing Art, and History

Officials in San Francisco have set their sights on destroying a set of 1930s-era murals tackling the legacy of slavery and the Native American genocide. Why? The themes are too upsetting.

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