All Else

Responding to street protests in Los Angeles against federal immigration enforcement raids, the president has ordered 2,000 soldiers from the California National Guard into the city on June 7 to protect agents carrying out the raids, and authorized the Pentagon to dispatch regular U.S. troops “as necessary” to support the California National Guard. The actions chillingly echo those that led up to the Kent State shootings. Some active-duty units, as well as National Guard troops, are trained today to respond to riots and violent protests – but their primary mission is still to fight, kill, and win wars. It is not policing.

About 1 in 4 U.S. children – nearly 19 million – have at least one parent with substance use disorder. This includes parents who misuse alcohol, marijuana, prescription opioids or illegal drugs. Our estimate reflects an increase of over 2 million children since 2020 and an increase of 10 million from an earlier estimate using data from 2009 to 2014.

Diversity training is more effective when it’s personalized, according to my new research in the peer-reviewed journal Applied Psychology. This personalized approach worked especially well for one particular group: the “skeptics.” When skeptics received training tailored to them, they responded more positively – and expressed a stronger desire to support their organizations’ diversity efforts – than those who received the same training as everyone else.

Five factors often decides whether local newspapers survive: Newspapers follow the money, not community needs. Newspapers don’t adequately serve diverse communities. Population growth doesn’t always save newspapers. Left or right? Local papers die either way.

Poland’s presidential election runoff will be a bitter pill for pro-European Union democrats to swallow. Nawrocki’s win has given anti-liberal, anti-EU forces across the continent a shot in the arm. It’s bad news for the EU, Ukraine and women. Meanwhile, Poland now has a bigger army than the United Kingdom, France and Germany. And living standards, adjusted for purchasing power, are about to eclipse Japan’s.

Single-stream recycling makes participating in recycling easy, but behind the scenes, complex sorting systems and contamination mean a large percentage of that material never gets a second life. Reports in recent years have found 15% to 25% of all the materials picked up from recycle bins ends up in landfills instead.

Nationalism is typically seen as the preserve of right-wing politics, and it has long been a cornerstone of authoritarian and fascist governments around the world. In democratic countries the term “nationalism” is linked to national chauvinism – a belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own nation and its citizens – but the picture is more complex than it first seems.

Americans’ electricity bills tend to tick up each year in line with inflation. But upgrades to electric wires, reinforcing and protecting power lines from severe weather, and changing fuel costs – among other factors – are sending rates soaring. High electricity consumption from data centers and other sources of rising demand will likely cause further increases in the near future. U.S. electricity demand rose 3% in 2024 and is expected to rise even more rapidly in the coming years.

Loneliness and isolation are indeed social problems that warrant serious attention, especially since chronic states of loneliness are linked with poor outcomes such as depression and a shortened lifespan. But there is another side to this story, one that deserves a closer look. For some people, the shift toward aloneness represents a desire for what researchers call “positive solitude,” a state that is associated with well-being, not loneliness.

The surge of so-called 287(g) agreements between federal immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) and local police agencies sets a dangerous precedent for local policing, where forging relationships and building the trust of immigrants is a proven and effective tactic in combating crime. In my view, the expansion of 287(g) will erode that trust and makes entire communities – not just immigrants – less safe.

In 1918, as World War I intensified overseas, the U.S. government embarked on a radical experiment: It quietly became the nation’s largest housing developer, designing and constructing 100,000 houses in more than 80 new communities across 26 states in just two years. These weren’t hastily erected barracks or rows of identical homes. They were thoughtfully designed neighborhoods, complete with parks, schools, shops and sewer systems. Few Americans are aware that such an ambitious and comprehensive public housing effort ever took place. Many of the homes are still standing today.