'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'

'Everyone hates this election'

Alex Shephard in The New Republic

The high stakes of the first election clash between Joe Biden and Donald Trump fueled record vote totals in 2020, and their rematch this year will again have "existential significance," says Alex Shephard. "Trump is openly campaigning on an authoritarian platform." Biden has "handled Ukraine well" but "divided the Democratic coalition" by continuing to back Israel's far-right government. But voters are meeting the campaign with a "collective yawn," because they crave change and are "sick of both candidates." 

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'Biden considers ridiculous "climate emergency" declaration'

Andrew Follett at National Review

The Biden White House is "considering declaring a 'national climate emergency'" in yet another attempt to appease its "extremist environmentalist donor base," says Andrew Follett. "The goal would be to suspend offshore drilling and oil exports to reduce carbon dioxide emissions." Biden surely knows this wouldn't really help the environment. But he might think it would help "his reelection prospects," and this wouldn't be the first time he "sacrificed America's energy interests" to do that.

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'Patients are losing trust in doctors. Medicine suffers.'

Daniela J. Lamas in The New York Times

"After a pandemic that twisted science for political gain, it is not surprising that confidence in medicine is eroding," says Daniela J. Lamas. Distrust contributes to doctor "burnout." In patients, it fuels "increasing rates of measles among unvaccinated children, failure to follow recommended cancer screening and refusal to take lifesaving preventive medications." Reversing the trend won't be easy. "But if we do not find ways to restore and strengthen trust with our patients, more lives will be lost."

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'Fast-food businesses hiking prices because of higher minimum wage sound like Gordon Gekko'

Larry Strauss in USA Today

Conservative economists always warn about the "dangers of raising the minimum wage," says Larry Strauss. Predictably, large fast-food chains are "raising prices — or threatening to" — and planning to use more kiosks to replace counter workers in California now that it has raised their workers' minimum wage to $20 an hour, from $16. It is "outrageous that multibillion dollar corporations begrudge their workers a living wage and are willing to take it out on their own disadvantaged customers."

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