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Facebook and parental controls

Facebook has become the latest company that everyone loves to hate, and internal documents stolen by an employee have become an opening to blame the social-media giant for America’s ills. The company has made mistakes, but it’s worth sorting the genuine issues from the opportunism of politicians looking to censor opponents. Both were on display Tuesday as Frances Haugen, the former employee who leaked the documents, testified on Capitol Hill. One of her legitimate concerns is Facebook’s negative influence on the mental health of teenagers. It’s no surprise to parents that teens ...

Heartbeat bill can’t be fixed

There is no fixing Senate Bill 8 and the damage Texas has inflicted to women’s rights. Even Republican state Rep. Lyle Larson’s House Bill 99, which would provide exemptions for rape and incest survivors, is futile. It has zero chance of passage. Beyond this, Senate Bill 8 is irredeemable. Sure, Larson’s bill would rightfully provide exceptions to SB 8 for rape and incest survivors. This would fix important concerns, and yet it misses the most important point. There should be no Senate Bill 8. The only acceptable outcome is for the law to be found ...

Climate change and mammoths

The late author Michael Crichton would’ve loved the scientists and entrepreneurs at Colossal, the American company that wants to repopulate the Siberian tundra with herds of woolly mammoth-like creatures, ostensibly to help combat climate change. There’s an area in the remote Russian territory where imported bison currently roam, but there aren’t nearly enough of them to efficiently break up the moss that dominates the terrain and contributes to the build-up of carbon dioxide. Russian ecologists working with Colossal want to revive the wild grasslands that covered the land eons ...

Treatment of Haitian migrants

The most important leadership skill for any administration is to be frank, direct and purposeful — to say what they mean and mean what they say. In its response to the crisis of Haitian migrants at the border, the Biden administration has misled the American people. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has talked tough, suggesting the border with Mexico is closed and that the United States would deport Haitian migrants back to the island nation. Instead, the administration also was quietly releasing thousands with a summons back to a court in 60 days, information that ...

Pandemic of ‘hills and valleys’

From the start of the pandemic, we have used this space to pass along some of the latest science-based guidance from publications, experts and agencies worldwide. Officials have learned a lot over the past 18 months. Some of their early guidance was so naive it now seems quaint. Remember the push to wash hands vigorously for 30 seconds? How about the promises that the pandemic was just going to go away on its own? Fast-forward to the present and the messaging is far more focused. There is a better understanding of how the disease is spread, its effects and proven methods to treat it. ...

Migrant border surge response

The scenes from the border are dire and heart-rending. More than 14,000 migrants, most of them Haitians, crowded under and near a bridge in a makeshift camp. Women gave birth among the squalor. Men and children waded through the Rio Grande to Mexico for food, clean water and diapers. The wave of migrants, many fleeing poverty and political instability, overwhelmed authorities in the small community of Del Rio. Given the untenable situation and the realities of the pandemic, the Biden administration is right to use its authority to return migrants on charter flights. The Department of ...