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Columns/Opinion

Facebook has only itself to blame

by Joe Nocera Mark Zuckerberg always knew. In 2012, when Instagram was 2 years old, with 13 employees and no obvious path to profitability, Zuckerberg knew that the fast-growing photo app was a potential threat to Facebook Inc.’s social media dominance. “Instagram can hurt us,” he wrote in an email. In an internal discussion about whether to buy Instagram — and other startups that might one day pose a threat to Facebook’s social media monopoly — he added, “The basic plan would be to buy these companies and leave their products running while over time ...

Even as 2020 kills traditions, Christmas stands strong

by Salena Zito If you’re not paying close attention, you can easily miss the dirt road that leads to the Fleming;s Christmas tree farm just off U.S. Route 22 in New Alexandria, Pa. The sign for the turnoff from the two-lane highway is covered in fresh snow, and within just a few feet along the narrow road, you enter a winter wonderland that curves along a steep mountain ridge. The scene soon becomes majestic as you find yourself surrounded in all directions by the tree-filled Laurel Mountains that make up this nearly century-old farm. At the very base of the ridge is a ...

‘Going out of business sale’ in the Arctic

by Danny Westneat In 40 years of chronicling life in the Alaskan interior, Dermot Cole has seen no end of hustles and grand plans play out in America’s last frontier. He wrote a column for decades for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and has penned six books on the rambunctious history of the region — including an oral history of the stampede that first brought the black gold rush north, the building of the Tran-Alaska Oil Pipeline. So my ears perked up when he said he’d never seen a scheme quite like this. “It’s like they’re holding a going out of business ...

‘Stock Act’ isn’t stopping much trading

by Joe Nocera In the spring of 2012, Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed into law, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act — or the “Stock Act” for short. It was in response to a “60 Minutes” report in 2011 that documented examples of insider trading by legislators and pointed out that it was perfectly legal for them to make trades based on information they received in, say, private briefings — information not available to the rest of us. The vote was beyond lopsided: 96-3 in the Senate and 417-2 in the House. Eight years later, not a single ...

And so this is Christmas

by Leonard Pitts And so this is Christmas. So sang John Lennon in 1971. The Vietnam War took 2,414 American lives that year, so the song was a prayer of harmony and peace with a scrim of irony. Nor did the irony end there. Lennon was shot to death nine years later, 40 years ago Tuesday. And if the events of 1971 seemed sharply at odds with the hope of the holiday, the same can surely be said of 2020. On the surface, things seem much the same as they ever were, the same crush of manufactured joy and consumer avarice Charlie Brown’s been complaining about for 55 years. On ...

President Donald Trump is still winning on the economy

by Cal Thomas Some people can’t handle success. The latest jobs report shows that despite the pandemic President Trump’s policies of lower taxes and reducing regulations continue to work. Raising taxes and imposing regulations, as Joe Biden has pledged to do, has historically had the opposite effect, but there are people who continue to deny the history, believe lies and appear ignorant of sound economic theory. Yes, some businesses are struggling, or have closed, thanks to arbitrary orders from politicians, some of whom ignore their own directives. Employers added 245,000 ...