He’s right here in The Publish to share some thrilling household information: He’s in all probability — nay, virtually definitely — associated to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In spite of everything, Trillin’s father was born in Ukraine, and Trillin and Zelensky are each of below-average top.
“Sufficient stated?” Trillin asks. “No? Nicely, there’s extra.”
I’ll allow you to decide whether or not Trillin’s “actual clincher” is sufficient to persuade you that “Cousin Vlod” is, in actual fact, a relation. Simply know that you simply’ll should battle some excited commenters in the event you disagree; greater than a handful of them, impressed by Trillin’s playful case, have determined they’re associated, too.
Chaser: One other similarity: Zelensky was a funnyman himself, in fact, earlier than changing into president. Final yr, Kathleen Parker analyzed him because the “fashionable warrior-artist.”
To reform democracy, reframe it
What are the large threats to our democracy?
There’s former president Donald Trump, in fact, whose reelection EJ Dionne says increasingly more individuals within the media are rightly figuring out as a would-be calamity. It’s onerous to take heed to his imaginative and prescient for a fascistic revenge time period and never conclude as a lot.
What will get much less consideration, E.J. writes, is the persevering with deterioration of the correct to vote that started with the Supreme Court docket’s 2013 gutting of the Voting Rights Act. E.J. examines an appellate court docket determination from simply final week that guarantees much more backsliding.
Perry Bacon throws onto the menace pile one other listing of anti-democratic forces: the electoral school, the Senate, gerrymandering, out-of-control marketing campaign spending, and so forth.
However another meta downside? How we focus on all of it. Perry writes: “I fear we now have an excessive amount of imprecise democracy speak.”
He explains that it’s simple to invoke “democratic” after we simply imply “the issues we like” and “anti-democratic” for “the issues we don’t like.” To have extra productive conversations about reform, Perry says, individuals must outline extra exactly what they imply by democracy.
He leads the way in which right here by itemizing all of the issues — extra majority rule, extra proportional illustration, extra political equality — democracy means to him.
From Colby King’s column explaining that Trump wouldn’t want Black votes to win once more in 2024; he’d simply want these voters to remain residence, as many did when given the possibility to elect Hillary Clinton.
Trump is aware of this (Colby quotes him from a 2016 victory rally saying, “They didn’t come out. And that was a giant — so thanks to the African American group”), however does President Biden? What to do in regards to the flagging enthusiasm for the person “who can’t assist it that he’s not Obama”?
Chaser: Alexi McCammond defined final week why RFK Jr.’s marketing campaign is interesting to so many Black voters.
Children! Run! Fast! Earlier than the Editorial Board takes away your telephone privileges!
However, if you’d like an opportunity to carry out higher at school, keep away from cyberbullying and expertise higher psychological well being, possibly fork these telephones over.
The board has regarded on approvingly as varied colleges and districts have curbed system use, and it’s able to prescribe a broader step: “Impose an outright ban on bringing cellphones to highschool, which folks ought to welcome and assist.”
Plenty of information reveals the potential advantages of this plan and few downsides. There’s nonetheless loads of enjoyable available sans telephones, even on screens — have at the moment’s youngsters by no means typed 80,085 right into a calculator? — however, extra importantly, it appears there’s some studying that may solely occur with out them.
- Biden’s diplomatic bear hug of Israel labored, Jen Rubin writes.
- School-educated mothers are powering the economic system, Catherine Rampell writes. Will their beneficial properties final?
- Argentine journalist Gabriel Pasquini argues that his nation’s new president-elect is pushing a disastrous previous agenda.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
Not fairly actual display screen time
Have your individual newsy haiku? Electronic mail it to metogether with any questions/feedback/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
