Manchin must take action on climate change

July 8, 2019

By Danielle Walker As a mother and a state official, I think about the health and well-being of West Virginia’s children every day. Unfortunately, many of our leaders in Washington do not. Nowhere is this more evident than their failure to take action on climate change, the single biggest threat to our children’s health and future. My two sons are among the 34,779 children in West Virginia suffering from asthma. This was one of the issues that spurred me to run for the West Virginia House of Delegates, because I know we must clean up the pollution in our state that makes asthma ...

Selling out Nike’s jobs to ‘outrage’

July 8, 2019

If you’re looking for heroes in the battle over the flag-emblazoned shoes Nike made and then recalled, you’re out of luck. The shoe giant made the first mistake when it tried to monetize American patriotism by introducing a new rendition of a 32-year-old shoe, the Nike Air Max 1, just in time for the Fourth of July with an early version of the American flag emblazoned on its heel. It’s hardly the first apparel company to try to profit off of flag worship, but still — commercializing the flag is tacky. In this case, the flag was the 13-star, 13-stripe version commonly ...

Is the political cartoonist an endangered species?

July 8, 2019

Here’s how I define unnerving times: When professionals who write, draw or talk about current events for a living worry that if they dare create anything satiric, mocking or funny, they’ll be laid off, shut down, let go or put through the wringer. America’s — and the world’s — increasing inability to tolerate irony, dissonance and humor is enough to make you bite your tongue or, worse, put your pencil down, as if democracy’s test has just been declared at an end. I’m particularly worried about the future of political cartoonists. The best political cartoonists, ...

Let’s all agree that America is more than ‘just OK’

July 8, 2019

It seems an inevitability that every year around the Fourth of July, certain media will publish a series of articles reminding people how unremarkable it is to live in America. This year The New York Times’ opinion team didn’t disappoint, publishing a video that declared, “we’re just OK,” and explaining to viewers that when compared to other industrialized nations, the U.S. really doesn’t stack up. The video cites “a whopping 18% poverty rate, closer to Mexico than Western Europe,” lower high school science, reading and math levels compared to other nations, and ...

Teach girls to be competitive

July 8, 2019

When a swim coach challenged my 3-year-old daughter to race against her 5-year old brother, she beat him so badly that it seemed the toddler swim equivalent of the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s 13-0 thrashing of Thailand in their opening game of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. My daughter did not worry about embarrassing her brother. She just did her best and won. That is why I cheered alongside millions when the U.S. women’s national soccer team advanced to Sunday’s finals of the 2019 Women’s World Cup after a hard-fought semifinal victory over England. My ...

Reining in ER bills and drug costs tall order

July 3, 2019

Lawmakers from both parties and President Trump have talked about their shared desire to end surprise medical bills and rein in rising prescription drug prices. But their feud over the Affordable Care Act may stop them from any meaningful legislative action on those problems. At issue are a set of proposals that would tweak the U.S. healthcare system, not overhaul it. The more ballyhooed and ambitious offerings that lawmakers have been touting — the single-payer Medicare for All model advanced by liberal Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the block-grant-based ...