No red wave. That’s the headline everywhere this week. Some people are disappointed; some are gloating; some are coping. I’m closest to the first group, but I’ve grown more optimistic over the course of these last few days. With the notable exception of Senator J.D. Vance, everyone I liked who was locked in a tough race lost on Tuesday. Most of them lost big. But none of the losses is very difficult to explain, and none is much more difficult to resolve. There were plenty of surprises on Tuesday. But there aren’t really any mysteries. First, some myths. The red…

Americans have long been much more likely to trust information from local and national news organizations than information on social media sites. This remains the case today, except among the youngest adults. Adults under 30 are now almost as likely to trust information from social media sites as they are to trust information from national news outlets. In a recent Pew Research Center survey, half of 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States say they have some or a lot of trust in the information they get from social media sites, just under the 56% who say the same about…

On 8 November, US voters will decide whether Democrats maintain their slim majority in both houses of Congress. This, in turn, will determine whether the administration of President Joe Biden will be able to pursue its agenda for the next two years. The midterm election – which takes place halfway through each presidential term – is also set to change the balance of power in state governments, with races in every state legislature and 36 gubernatorial elections. Here is how the election results could affect three key scientific issues: climate change, reproductive healthcare and covid-19 policy. Climate change The Inflation…

Throughout his remarkable public career, one of George Washington’s foremost wishes for his country was that it would remain free of political parties and partisanship. All of America’s founders at least professed an aversion to “factions,” as they were frequently called, but none loathed them more fiercely, consistently, and sincerely than he did. As Washington saw it, partisans are necessarily partial, meaning that they favor the interests of a parochial group over the public good. Partisans could not be true patriots. Parties were also, in his view, fatal to republican government. By sowing conflict, they divided the community and subverted public…

The following passages are from Dr. Raphael's book Jews and Judaism in the United States: A Documentary History (New York: Behrman House, Inc., Pub, 1983), pp. 14, 23-25.  "Jews also took an active part in the Dutch colonial slave trade; indeed, the bylaws of the Recife and Mauricia congregations (1648) included an imposta (Jewish tax) of five soldos for each Negro slave a Brazilian Jew purchased from the West Indies Company. Slave auctions were postponed if they fell on a Jewish holiday. In Curacao in the seventeenth century, as well as in the British colonies of Barbados and Jamaica in the…