Slate Voice

In 1832, horse racing was by far America’s most popular spectator sport. So when horses named Andrew Jackson and Nullifier appeared at the same racetrack in Richmond, Virginia, thousands of people saw their sporting and political interests overlap. The horses’ names reflected the most divisive political debate of the year, a constitutional crisis over “nullification.

Roy Moore, the former Alabama judge and accused molester, isn’t taking no for an answer. In a lawsuit filed this week, Moore, who lost a special election for the U.S. Senate by nearly 22,000 votes earlier this month, blames his defeat on electoral fraud and demands a do-over. A court has rejected Moore’s request to block certification of the election results. But the lawsuit, even if it goes nowhere, is a marvelous compilation of the derangements of the Trump era.

The U.S. has seen a 14-percent spike in roadway fatalities over the past two years. It’s also seen the biggest back-to-back increase in motor vehicle–related death rates per mile driven in more than 50 years and 37,461 lives lost by drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians in 2016 alone. What’s to blame? Many experts, writers, and organizations are pointing to smartphone use and other tech-related distractions while driving as major culprits. Official statistics from the U.S.

Five times a week for nearly 20 years, Meals on Wheels program coordinator Leisa Cotten would bring warm meals to the immobile and elderly of Cochise County, in the rural southeast corner of Arizona. But for the past decade, she’s had to switch it up. Now she delivers frozen meals, five at a time, once a week. “I haven’t seen you in a while” says Mark, one of Cotten’s clients (and whose name we have changed here), as she walks into his trailer.

China has the strange distinction of being both the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitter and the premiere solar energy producer (Trump being in office has really given them an opportunity to firmly solidify that second crown). On Thursday, the country took its latest solar energy leap by opening a new, kilometer-long solar highway in the northeastern Shangdon province.

The statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest had stood in Memphis for more than a century—and inspired protest for decades—when Bruce McMullen, the city attorney who has sought for two years to find a legal way to rid the city of this monument to the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, began to feel a sense of urgency.

Most of the time when a bill is unpopular, Congress doesn’t pass it. But in an echo of Democratic rhetoric after passing the Affordable Care Act, Republicans hope voters will change their minds about the massive tax overhaul they passed on Wednesday once they see the benefits of the law.

The first phase of Echo ownership, especially when you’ve received one as a gift, is skepticism. When John Hebert, a car-dealer manager in Rosenberg, Texas, got his, “It didn’t even come out of the box for the first two months,” he said. Shaunacy Ferro, a writer in Brooklyn, had a similar reaction when she received one from her father.

On Thursday, the second most valuable company in the world announced that one of its chieftains was stepping down. Eric Schmidt, 62 and enormously wealthy, saidhe would leave his postas executive chairman at Alphabet for an advisory role with the company. Alphabet is the parent company of Google, whose online empire Schmidt presided over as CEO and executive chairman for 17 years of unrelenting growth.

Sholom Rubashkin, whose 27-year sentence President Donald Trump commuted on Wednesday, is a corrupt criminal who deserves punishment for his misdeeds. The Rubashkin case was nevertheless a criminal justice scandal, and Donald Trump was absolutely right to commute his draconian and constitutionally defective sentence. The only shame here is that Trump will almost certainly decline to grant clemency to other prisoners whose cases are just as egregious. Rubashkin’s crimes are well-documented.

The biggest laugh line I ever delivered was when I told a group of some 300 women at a big Atlantic event in Washington that my husband believes in Santa Claus.

For many parents, questions about children’s television begin and end with “Why do I have to argue about screen time so much with my kids?” On one hand, parents get worried by frightening headlines such as “Digital Heroin” (no, video games are nothing like heroin) and “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” (no, they have not). On the other hand, parents must contend with kids eager to consume limitless hours of screen time.

After his tax bill victory on Wednesday, Donald Trump graciously called a Cabinet meeting—he probably sensed his staff was itching to get something off its chest. If he had not convened his cheerleading squad, it’s possible they would have been borne away by their unvented amazement, swept into the streets like Enoch to heaven. The president of the United States would not dare let such a thing happen to his beloved stuff. Right before the speeches began, though, Trump looked mad.

“None of us thought that much into it,” Ed Sheeran says, right before breaking down in great detailed bit by detailed bit just how much thought went into creating this year’s biggest musical hit, “Shape of You.” As they’ve done in the past with other popular songs, the New York Times released a fascinating video in which the artists give a behind-the-scenes tour of their inspirations and creative processes.

Remember when your parents warned that sitting too close to the TV would hurt your eyes? I didn’t really believe it either, but now that I’m a parent to a 6-year-old who yearns to stare at an iPad all day, I can’t help but revisit the issue.

When 18 Senate Democrats joined Republicans to pass a short-term spending bill on Thursday, it marked yet another day of disappointment for Dreamers and their allies in Congress. Earlier on Thursday afternoon, a dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus had marched across the Capitol to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office, asked his receptionist for a meeting, and soon found themselves in a room with the minority leader.

It has been a tumultuous month for Democrats in Congress, thanks in large part to sexual assault scandals within their own ranks. Few Democrats have seemed to ride that storm quite as smoothly as New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who fronted the initial wave of female senators calling for the resignation of their colleague, Sen. Al Franken. Gillibrand followed that with a call for President Trump to resign over the sexual assault allegations that have been resurfaced in recent weeks.

I’m squinting through the sun at the Polk County Steak Fry, trying to size up Seth Moulton. It’s a late September Saturday in Des Moines, and Moulton’s onstage, an immense American flag rippling behind him. “A lot of you must be asking,” he begins with a coy glance around, his voice echoing through the PA system, “what is a sophomore congressman from Massachusetts doing speaking here in Iowa?” Not really.

In 2009, Chris Brown viciously assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna. His sentencing as ordered by a judge included five years probation, as well as a five-year restraining order. (In 2011, the restraining order was lifted, conditionally.) In 2015, Brown was accused of forcibly ejecting a woman off of a bus during a video shoot. In 2016, former tour manager Nancy Ghosh alleged that the singer threatened her with violence, and she subsequently cut ties with him.

But if reality is indeed in danger here, it’s not because of Donald Trump. The story of the language rules at CDC has quickly broken free of underlying facts. Despite what you may have heard, the alleged “ban” of seven words does not reveal a secret “War on Science” carried out by thought police in Washington; nor is it some evil plot to “enforce a political and ideological agenda,” as the Washington Post editorial board suggested.