Maybe such restraint will be proved wrong in 2020, and voters will reward the insult hurlers. But if Americans don’t desire a return to stability, honesty and decency, our democracy is already lost.

Democrats who say they want to focus on the economy, or the 2020 elections, or other kitchen table issues, give up more and more authority to the reckless, power-snatching president by the day.

To be clear: This isn’t an open rebellion just yet. And that is a testament to the power and fear that Pelosi retains among Democrats in the House. Because, under any other leader, the floodgates on impeachment would have already burst open.

What passes for the centrist mainstream of American politics — the supposed sweet spot from which it would be electorally suicidal to deviate — tends to be undergirded by powerful actors and big money far more than by popular opinion…

…although socialists have found real success pressuring liberals from the outside, it’s not nearly enough to achieve their ambitious goals. If socialists want to actually help shape policy in the short term, they can’t just write manifestos and mean tweets. They need to form a broad political coalition to work with them on everything from union actions to battles over legislation in Congress.

For any serious socialist, the current dustup is laughable. The left wing of the Democratic Party is a watered-down version of European-style social democracy. And European social democracy is a watered-down version of what many thought socialism ought to be… All of the Democratic Party’s left-wing issues — “Medicare for All,” taxing the rich, a Green New Deal, free college tuition, universal child care — are supported by landslide majorities.

…it is the Palestinian myth of eternal resistance, and the violence and terrorism the myth legitimates, that perpetuates Israel’s occupation. If the Palestinians were ready to end the resistance and instead promote reconciliation and close economic and political links with the Jewish state, there is no limit to the prosperity that the Palestinians could achieve.

It’s entirely futile to contrive humanitarian or economic solutions for a political problem, whereas a political settlement will end the need for humanitarian remedies and unleash the full potential of the resourceful, talented and thoughtful Palestinian and Israeli people.

Trump and Netanyahu’s aggressive promotion of the “economic peace” theory, along with the intra-Palestinian rift, the reduction in U.S. financial assistance and Israel’s reluctance to transfer tax money is pushing the Palestinians into an entirely opposite process: greater reliance on Qatari money and more frequent declarations of economic severance from Israel.

Regardless of whether Netanyahu succeeds in his bid to take control of the Supreme Court or whether a half dozen Likud Knesset members discover a sense of shame, the fight Netanyahu and his allies are waging against the rule of law has already inflicted heavy damage on “the only democracy in the Middle East,” as the prime minister proudly boasts of Israel. To quote the lyrics of the song Marimi performed at the Eurovision finals, “Nothing comes as easy as it goes.”

…the addition of the Override Clause, which would provide the ruling coalition with yet another legal avenue for restricting the fundamental rights of Israelis, can be compared to the theft of the poor man’s lamb. Adding such a clause to our law books [.] would make Israel an extreme anomaly in the democratic world.

Well, not “Erdoganization” and not “the elimination of democracy.” The reforms proposed in the legal system are intended for one purpose: restoring the proper balance between the Knesset, the government and the court, as is accepted by any self-respecting Western democracy. (Translated by Jewish Journal)

It’s a nationwide epidemic that can no longer be ignored: the use of tobacco products, particularly e-cigarettes and vaping devices, among teenagers and young adults… This is why we recently introduced a bipartisan bill to raise the legal age of sale for tobacco products from 18 to 21.

The best way to quit smoking is to never start in the first place — and that is exactly what commonsense public health policy proposals, such as raising the minimum purchasing age to 21, aim to do. Stop the addiction before it begins: prevent it. State and territorial public health is on the frontlines of these interventions.

…if there is going to be an age, it doesn’t make much sense to set it at 21. Americans attaining the age of 18 are considered responsible enough to serve in the military or to vote for our leaders, so there’s absolutely no reason to treat them as incapable of evaluating risks associated with tobacco use. Though, granted, I’d also be making a similar case about drinking ages, at least in that case it could be argued that drunk drivers pose a threat to the safety of everybody else.

Where’s the poetry in that? Where’s the history that connects mass with the Romans, the French Revolution and the very human requirement to occasionally scrub Le Grand K clean of deposits, as if the kilogram were a baby to be protected from the world? What does the Planck constant even feel like?

…a victory of humankind against the chaos that pervades the universe. When scientists met at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles in November, and voted for the change, they were realizing the founding dream of the metric system. The metric system — which evolved into the International System of Units, or SI — was designed to be “for all times, for all people.”

Until now, the kilogram hasn’t been for all time. It’s been imperfect.

The kilogram just got a revamp. A unit of time might be next… The change to the kilogram’s definition was carefully orchestrated so that it wouldn’t affect normal people: A kilogram of flour still makes the same number of biscuits. Any change to the second will be similarly coordinated.

So, sorry, there’ll be no chance to squeeze any extra seconds into a day.