A bump-stock ban is common sense

A semiautomatic rifle equipped with a “bump stock” can fire at a rate of up to 800 rounds a minute. Does that make it a machine gun? Joe Biden and Donald Trump have said yes. The Supreme Court appears divided.

Flying remains very safe, but alarm bells are sounding

Scott Kirby, the chief executive of United Airlines, recently sent a “message on safety” to United’s customers, acknowledging that the airline “experienced a number of incidents” — eight in two weeks, five of them on Boeing planes. The incidents, he said, were unrelated but “have our attention and have sharpened our focus.”

The miracle of nuclear energy derailed by politics

In many ways, nuclear energy and renewable energy are the inverse of each other. One is reliable and efficient, but has a terrible reputation and faces onerous government regulations. The other is unreliable and inefficient but is widely popular and receives many government advantages

A helping hand for Haiti: We can and should protect those forced to flee

Imagine that the Jan. 6 insurrection had succeeded. Perhaps the Oath Keepers who had been standing by with weapons caches ready to go had mounted a full-scale assault, capturing the Capitol and taking some lawmakers hostage, or even killing some. Maybe they did hang Mike Pence, and in the aftermath, the presidential results went uncertified, setting off a period of broad uncertainty as armed groups roamed the country trying to assert dominance, battling with security forces.

The test Biden can’t pass

President Joe Biden recently gave a rough, tough, eyes-ablaze, here-I-come State of the Union speech that some saw as a definitive disposal of his democratically diagnosed mental vacuity. But wait. The speech simultaneously raised all kinds of questions about Biden, and then, not too many days after that, TV sets were once again spreading news about Biden’s brain gone blank in a different situation, one that had included an impeachment possibility.

Trump tries to sell a normal-ish second term

In the debate about what a second Donald Trump term would mean for the stability of American democracy, parsing the “true” meaning of any given Trumpian rhetorical flourish — Was he just predicting a “bloodbath” for the auto industry if Joe Biden wins, or prophesying civil war? — is about 60 times less useful than figuring out who will actually staff a second Trump administration.

‘Quiet on Set’ allegations forced Dan Schneider to speak up. Now, more should

Child actors were exploited and sexually abused by the adults they worked with on several hit Nickelodeon shows throughout the ‘90s and 2000s. When one such adult — Brian Peck — was arrested on 11 charges of child sex abuse and then pleaded no contest in 2004, dozens of notable actors and television industry figures openly supported him during the sentencing portion of his case. And after he served his time for raping a child, the Disney Channel hired him to work on one of their hit series, “The Suite Life with Zack &Cody.”

Florida settlement illuminates MAGA strategy

In a federal court settlement last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature “don’t say gay” law — which cost the state millions in business and led to the governor attempting to subjugate a noncompliant Disney — was dealt a significant blow. This comes as the legislature abandoned more than 20 other anti-LGBTQ bills in a sign of a changing tide.

Schumer’s gambit against Netanyahu

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — whom we knew back when he was Brooklyn Assemblyman Chuck Schumer and Congressman Chuck Schumer — wants Israel to hold new elections, and makes no secret that he thinks and hopes when they do, Bibi Netanyahu will be turned out. So he conveyed in a Thursday speech on the Senate floor that surprised and rankled many fellow Democrats.

Fani Willis’ prosecution of Donald Trump may be alive, but it isn’t well

Special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s resignation Friday from the Georgia racketeering prosecution of Donald Trump and others was the right decision and, indeed, a virtually forced one. Judge Scott McAfee’s resolution of a defense motion to disqualify Wade’s boss, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, left no practical alternative.

TikTok scapegoated for failure to regulate Big Tech

In a political stampede Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force the social media app TikTok to be divested from China-based owner ByteDance, or face banning. The Senate should have more sense and slow this down.