politics

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Positive Symbol of American Power!

Rarely an Agent of the Government, Superman Defended the 'American Way' Through Simple Decency and Acts of Charity

I can’t really remember when I first encountered Superman. It might have been through the 1950s television series The Adventures of Superman, or it might have been in a Superman comic book—not an American comic book, but a black and white reprint, by the Australian publisher K. G. Murray.

Growing up in Australia, I learned the basic stories of American history from the pages of these Superman comics. I read about the Boston Tea Party; Nathan Hale’s patriotism; Washington crossing the Delaware (complete with a comic book replication of …

By Ian Gordon |

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California’s Housing Crisis Is a Nasty Intersection of the State’s Worst Problems

Behind High Rents and Ballooning Mortgages Are Challenges Ranging from Homelessness and Transportation to Taxation and the Environment

By Joe Mathews |

California’s sky-high housing prices haven’t just made it hard to find and afford a place to live. They’ve put pressures on the economy, the environment, transportation, and health that threaten …

It’s Hard to Be an American Traitor, Even If You Try

Legal Scholars Tell Warren Olney Why Treason Is So Difficult to Commit in the United States

By Joe Mathews |

Why is it so hard to commit treason in the United States?

The short answer—offered at the debut of a Zócalo/KCRW event series, “Critical Thinking with Warren Olney”—amounted to this: America …

Can American Jews Be White Nationalists?

White House Adviser Stephen Miller Is a Spokesman for Groups That Wouldn't Have Him as a Member

By James Kirchick |

Stephen Miller and I have a few things in common.

Both Jewish, we were raised upper-middle class in comfortable, liberal suburbia (he, Santa Monica; me, outside Boston). We both rebelled …

To Black Athletes, Donald Trump Is Playing the Dozens

This Time, the Age-Old Game of Exchanging Insults Will Have No Winner

By Kenneth L. Shropshire |

President Donald Trump did not say, “Yo’ mama!” in front of a partisan Huntsville, Alabama audience. But he might as well have because that is what athletes heard directed at …

How Trump’s Staff Could Save Him from Himself

Collegiality and Careful Deliberation Can Overcome Cronyism and Chaos

By Drew Mendelson |

The stupefying deeds of the Trump White House are passing in such a blur these days that it is hard to parse the incompetence. From policies foreign and domestic that …


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