ICMYI: Elon Musk, daylight savings and the upcoming midterms
It's Saturday, which means it's time for the round-up of this week's top premium columns.
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1. Think we should make daylight saving time permanent? Sleep scientist busts 5 tired myths.
By Wendy Troxel
Permanent daylight saving time (DST) is widely favored by the public, and the House of Representatives may or may not follow the Senate in its recent approval of such a change in law.
But that delicious extra hour of evening recreation in the spring and summer comes at a major cost to people’s sleep, mood, alertness and productivity for the remainder of the year.
2. Democrats need to play hardball for country to survive 2022 election
By Jill Lawrence
It's astonishing to watch Republicans throwing public education, free speech, LGBTQ rights, parental rights, abortion rights and corporations like Disney under the bus, along with fair elections, voting equity, telling the truth and obeying the law. Imagine all of America subjected to the casual cruelty and hypocrisy of a Ron DeSantis or a Greg Abbott.
This might be good politics to win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, but much of the country is looking on in horror.
If Democrats and their like-minded allies want the America they love to survive, they need to fight and win – starting with the Nov. 8 elections for 35 senators, 36 governors and all 435 House members. So far, they’ve been heading toward Armageddon armed with plastic butter knives and major accomplishments that voters know nothing about. But there are signs the party's aversion to hardball could be changing.
3. Why Musk's purchase of Twitter is a 'nightmare' for progressives
By Jonathan Turley
"A brave new nightmare.” Those words from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich described the threat created by Elon Musk's bid to restore free speech values by buying Twitter.
Yet, despite warnings that censorship is necessary “for democracy to survive,” neither the Tesla CEO and billionaire nor ordinary citizens appear to be sufficiently terrified of free speech. Twitter confirmed Monday that Musk will acquire the company in a deal worth $44 billion. Once the deal is complete, Twitter will become a privately held company.
Progressives, in the meantime, have adopted a dangerous shift in their strategy of calling for corporations to censor speech.
4. Elon Musk buying Twitter to troll the world with his billions
By Carli Pierson
It was announced this week that the world's richest person, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk would be buying Twitter.
Media, academics and other platform users quickly took to their keyboards: What will this mean for Twitter, for freedom of speech, for a world in which online displays of vitriol are becoming steadily more normalized? Will things get worse for women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ community: some of the most frequent targets of Twitter trolls, and also groups that have been trolled by the billionaire himself over the years?
The good news is we have a lot of information about Musk to make an educated guess about what's to come for Twitter. The bad news is that information comes from his less than stellar record of accusations on speech, information transparency, racism and misogyny.
5. I'm making the most of my pardon and my second chance
By Khalil A. Cumberbatch
On the very last day of 2014, I was pardoned by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a crime I committed as a young man making bad choices. My pardon followed a state prison term of nearly seven years.
I know I was given the ultimate second chance, and I’ve used it to take care of my family, give back to my community and serve as an ambassador for those whose life experiences resemble mine.
But most formerly incarcerated people aren’t so lucky. As they struggle to reenter society, many face enormous challenges, including a criminal record that haunts them and exacerbates already daunting obstacles related to jobs, housing, health care and other vital dimensions of everyday life.