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| It's Saturday, which means it's time for the round-up of this week's top premium columns. |
| These are columns our subscribers loved or that people subscribed specifically to read. Subscribe, read, share and let us know your thoughts. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
 | | X Holdings I, II, and III In his bid to acquire Twitter, Musk registered three companies under the name "X Holdings." He has been a vocal critic of the social media giant, questioning its commitment to free speech. With a 9.2% stake in the company, Musk wants to take Twitter private. According to SEC filings, X Holdings I would become the parent company if Musk completes the deal, while X Holdings II would merge with Twitter. X Holdings III would be used to help fund the transaction. Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in commitments to finance the deal. Investors now wonder if he will combine his other companies under X Holdings. As of Monday, Twitter has accepted Musk's buyout bid and the deal is expected to close this year - though according to Investopedia, "it is dependent upon Twitter shareholder approval, regulatory approval, and other closing conditions." ALSO READ: The Richest Americans of All Time | | Chesnot / Getty Images | |
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| 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. |
 | | Apr 8, 2022; Washington, DC, USA; Judge Ketanji Brown smiles during an event on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate her confirmation as the first Black woman to reach the Supreme Court.. Mandatory Credit: Megan Smith-USA TODAY | | Megan Smith, Megan Smith-USA TODAY | |
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| 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. |
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