‘Hunter Biden is becoming a populist internet guy. I have questions.’
Zeeshan Aleem at MS NOW
Hunter Biden’s X account “marked the opening salvo of a deliberate bid to reinvent himself using the miraculous powers of the social internet,” says Zeeshan Aleem. The “reason Biden is breaking through is he’s making blunt, self-deprecating humor a significant part of his online persona.” But “there’s an aspect of his new identity that I find more troubling: his attempts at cross-partisan political populism.” Regardless of “what his intentions are, he’s exhibiting a naivete about noxious right-wing ideas.”
‘Big Tobacco didn’t just sell cigarettes. It shaped what Americans eat.’
Leana S. Wen at The Washington Post
Junk food is “designed to be addictive,” and “much of it comes from the same people who made a living selling another highly addictive and harmful product: cigarettes,” says Leana S. Wen. In the 1980s, Big Tobacco “diversified their business holdings at a time of declining cigarette sales by aggressively expanding into the food industry.” Since “tobacco companies helped create the modern unhealthy food environment,” some of the “same approaches that proved successful in tobacco control may be worth considering.”
‘What the latest judicial sex scandal tells us about a broken system’
Aliza Shatzman at Slate
Georgia Judge Eleanor Ross “received a ‘private reprimand’ for having sex with a law enforcement officer in chambers,” says Aliza Shatzman. But “more important are the larger issues this illustrates — an outrageous lack of transparency and accountability in the courts; the judiciary’s inability or unwillingness to “self-police”; and Congress’ refusal to conduct oversight, pass legislation or cut judiciary funding to check a lawless co-equal branch.” Judges “hold positions of public trust, yet they’re never held accountable.”
‘Haiti is still a house on fire. Senate, extend Haitian TPS for three years.’
Thomas Wenski at the Miami Herald
The House “passed a bill that would extend TPS (Temporary Protective Status) protections for Haitians for three more years — a critical lifeline for those desperate to avoid returning to the chaos on the island nation,” says Thomas Wenski. It “would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions.” It is “up to the Senate now to vote ‘yes’ on extending TPS protections for Haitians.”