‘What Bourbon Street stands for’
Jordan Hirsch at Slate
New Orleans’ Bourbon Street terrorist possibly “meant to lash out at a symbol of American immorality,” but “instead, he attacked what has become one of America’s more inclusive and genuinely democratic public spaces,” says Jordan Hirsch. Bourbon Street is “America on its night off, distilled into about seven blocks,” and the victims were “representative of our country as a whole — Black, brown, and white; blue-collar and white-collar, young and old; women and men.”
‘Protecting culture should be a UN goal — and a human one’
Thangam Debbonaire at the Financial Times
Culture can “repair the damage of recent conflict, heal wounded countries, restore relations between nations with troubled pasts and create sustainable economies,” says Thangam Debbonaire. But “protecting culture is low as a political priority,” as “antiquities and sculptures of religious or cultural significance and artistic magnificence have become a commodity.” It is “in everyone’s interest to add culture as the 18th goal” of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and to “pursue all of them with a new urgency.”
‘The new phantom menace isn’t as bad as you think. Waymo rocks!’
Rick Reilly at The Washington Post
The “robotaxi Waymos can give you the willies,” but “for one thing, it’s cool,” says Rick Reilly. For a “second thing, it’s refreshing.” Waymo “won’t snarl at you because you made it wait” and is “happy to dally for up to five minutes.” Waymos “do have a potential yuck factor,” but “robotaxi is here whether you want it or not,” and “this is the future, no matter how many jobs it vaporizes or human interactions we lose.”
‘Biden should pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists’
Timothy William Waters at Politico
Trump promised to “pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. To stop him — and start healing our nation — Biden should pardon them instead,” says Timothy William Waters. Pardoning these “traitorous enemies of democracy is morally repellent — which is exactly why a pardon is necessary.” It would “serve a higher purpose: helping heal our national trauma.” For a pardon to come from the man whose election the insurrectionists tried to steal would send a powerful message of forgiveness.”