‘This is a structural weakening of elder protections’
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
‘Nursing homes are about to get a lot worse, thanks to Trump and RFK Jr.’
Sean C. Domnick at The Hill
For “years, families assumed that if a loved one lived in a nursing home, someone qualified was always watching,” says Sean C. Domnick. But “beginning Feb. 2, 2026, the federal requirement that nursing homes maintain a registered nurse on-site around the clock will no longer exist.” RNs “are the only ones with the training to identify subtle but serious declines,” and “missed diagnoses lead to preventable deaths.” This “takes us backwards at the exact moment we needed a stronger system.”
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‘On reparations for Black residents, the time for action in San Francisco is now’
Amos C. Brown at the San Francisco Chronicle
Rosa Parks “refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama,” because the “time for waiting for things to change was over,” says Amos C. Brown. San Francisco wants to “address discrimination and inequities that have affected the city’s Black community for generations,” but has “allocated not a penny.” An “apology without action and a fund without an allocation are not reparations.” The “time for waiting is over. The time for action has arrived.”
‘Christmas is not a Western story — it is a Palestinian one’
Munther Isaac at Al Jazeera
Christmas traditions “have become so common that many assume, almost automatically, that Christianity is inherently a Western religion — an expression of European culture, history and identity,” but “it is not,” says Munther Isaac. Christmas has “become a performance of abundance, nostalgia and consumerism — a holiday stripped of its theological and moral core.” But the holiday is a “story of empire, injustice and the vulnerability of ordinary people caught in its path.” This “disconnect matters.”
‘Walmart worship’
Michael Massing at The Nation
Since his “announcement in mid-November that he plans to retire early next year as the chief executive of Walmart,” Doug McMillon has been “basking in tributes,” says Michael Massing. During “his 12-year reign atop the world’s largest retailer, Walmart’s annual revenue has increased by nearly $200 billion,” but “what those numbers conceal is Walmart’s contribution to the nation’s stark economic divide.” And the “press has blithely ignored it.” This is “shareholder-driven capitalism at its most grotesque.”