CORY BOOKER criminal records

The war on drugs has turned out to be a war on people — and far too often a war on people of color and the poor. . . . For poor Americans, an arrest alone is enough to block them from accessing the American dream — or at least a more secure American reality.

The Atlantic, March 6, on how arrest records cause chronic unemployment and damage to communities.

Anne Applebaum withdrawing from europe

As Trump’s appealing rhetoric makes clear, the costs of alliances (“millions of dollars annually’’) are easier to see than the longer-term gains. Western unity, nuclear deterrence, and standing armies gave us more than a half century of political stability. Shared economic space helped bring prosperity and freedom to Europe and North America alike. But these are things that we all take for granted, until they are gone.

The Washington Post, March 4, on political leaders in Britain, France, and the US pushing to splinter major alliances.

roger cohen Anti-Semitism

The West Bank is the tomb of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Palestinians, in turn, incite against Jews and resort to violence, including random stabbings. . . . Criticism of Israel is one thing; it’s needed in vigorous form. Demonization of Israel is another, a familiar scourge refashioned by the very politics — of identity and liberation — that should comprehend the millennial Jewish struggle against persecution.

The New York Times, March 7, on strains of anti-Semitism on the political left.