Opinion Today: A decisive moment in Ukraine
Here’s what we’re focusing on.
Opinion Today
July 14, 2026
A soldier carries a drone in front of him.
Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press

Notable

Ukraine’s war is in the sky. “It is a grinding duel of attrition, destruction and death, intended to erode the enemy’s ability and will to carry on.”

— Serge Schmemann, an Opinion writer

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The Democratic establishment had this coming. “The mess in the Maine Senate race argues for more discipline on the left. But millions of rank-and-file Democrats — and anyone else keeping track — can see clearly that the positions, tactics and approach of conventional Democrats have failed.”

— Mara Gay, an Opinion writer

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The crisis behind the housing crisis. “Is there a way to develop these proposals to help solve the housing crisis? There is: give both retirees and the young a nest egg that isn’t a house.”

— Kyla Scanlon, a contributing Opinion writer

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Spotlight

An illustration of a woman dancing freely outside as her phone looks on, weeping.
Stephan Dybus

The Lo-Fi Way I Broke My Social Media Addiction

I’d tried many remedies to break my habit. A homemade hack worked best.

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ICYMI

Women have earned our menopause revolution. “A menopause revolution cannot just rebrand aging or offer us cosmetic solutions. To revolutionize menopause, we will have to revolutionize women’s health care.”

— Tressie McMillan Cottom, an Opinion columnist

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Listen (or Watch)

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What Americans Need to Understand About China

Kevin Rudd, a former prime minister of Australia, went back to school to try to understand how the Chinese president thinks.

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More in Opinion

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Guest Essay

Three Things Democrats Have to Do if They Actually Want to Win

It is these issues that serve to reinforce the perception that Democrats are willing to sacrifice the interests of the working and middle classes.

By Thomas B. Edsall

Victor Marx stands in front of a group of people with his eyes closed.

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He Says He Killed a Man. Republicans Nominated Him Anyway.

Once started, the process of voter radicalization isn’t easy to modulate.

By Michelle Goldberg

In Your Words

Re: I’m a College Professor Inflating Grades. I Need Help.

D

Designertrip

St Paul, MN

I consider grade inflation as much faculty weakness and laziness as student entitlement and ambition. In my 31 year career as a professor I was known as a hard – 'honest' is a better word – grader because I limited A and A- grades to fifty percent of the class. Of the ten faculty in my program, the grades earned in my courses averaged lowest. This was a point of pride for me!

I'll never forget the advice my first department chair gave me in the late 1980s: "Lighten up on your grading – let the marketplace sort them out." Isn't that being dishonest and critically anodyne?

To wit, three former students who've since achieved national recognition in the field all have this in common: they earned B's in my course.

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