How can someone strongly oppose the practice of female genital mutilation — even if the under-age girl and her parents consent — yet still support transgender surgery on minors, which is arguably more invasive, disfiguring and life-altering?
Author: Merrill Matthews
5 takeaways from the Supreme Court’s tariff smackdown
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling against President Trump’s use of tariffs revealed the best of the court — and the worst in Trump. The decision will have far-reaching implications. Here are five.
- The decision was a victory for the U.S. Constitution.
- The three dissenting conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Smauel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh — got it wrong for all the wrong reasons.
- The challenge of returning the tariffs collected under the law was not a justification for supporting the administration’s actions.
- Trump’s press conference in response to the ruling was an embarrassment for him, not for the six justices who ruled against him.
- Trump quickly imposed 10 percent tariffs across the board under a different law, referred to as Section 122, and then raised them to 15 percent.
3 cheers for the anti-tariff House Republicans
Here are three cheers for the six House Republicans who voted with nearly all Democrats to repeal President Trump’s tariffs against Canada. They bucked their party and their leadership, and especially Trump, to do the right thing. The shame isn’t that the six voted with Democrats, but that no other Republicans joined them.
U.S. leaders put power politics over principles on spending, alliances
Does might make right, or does right make might? Are we a better country when we impose our will on other countries, including our allies — especially our allies — even to the point of potentially using military force? Or are we a better country when we embrace our longstanding principles and encourage other countries to embrace them as well?