‘Barbara Bush stamp is latest in USPS’ presidential tradition of living history’
Stewart D. McLaurin at USA Today
A “postage stamp is a small but mighty canvas,” says Stewart D. McLaurin. When they “bring to our everyday lives the leaders who shaped America, they transform a routine act of mailing a letter into a celebration of the nation’s past.” Barbara Bush “joined an elite group of first ladies honored on U.S. postage,” and these “tiny portraits keep America’s iconic leaders at our fingertips, their contributions to history forever stamped on our collective memory.”
‘Baby boomers’ luck is running out’
Charley Locke at The Atlantic
At the “core of every joke about baby boomers lies a seed of jealousy,” says Charley Locke. They have “largely been able to walk a straightforward path toward prosperity, security, and power.” But “recent policy changes are poised to make life significantly harder for baby boomers.” Social Security “cuts will most hurt low-income boomers, who are the likeliest to rely on benefits to cover their whole cost of living.” Boomers have “become particularly vulnerable.”
‘In India, war came dressed in feminist camouflage’
Amrita Datta and Arani Basu at Al Jazeera
India’s “political power is often framed through a gendered and mythologised lens, blending statecraft with religious symbolism,” says Amrita Datta and Arani Basu. But can “women leading war be inherently feminist? Nation-building, as feminist scholars have long warned, is not a gender-neutral project.” It “reconfigures women into roles that serve its ends: sacrificial mothers, grieving widows, or militant daughters of the nation.” The “mere presence of women in public or political spheres does not automatically equate to gender justice.”
‘Musk-Trump feud is a wake-up call on space’
Peter L. Hays at the Financial Times
The feud between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump is a “destabilizing clash with real consequences for the governance of space,” says Peter L. Hays. Trump’s “threats to cancel SpaceX contracts and his followers’ calls to nationalize the company are not just reckless; they are potentially catastrophic.” No “other company or state actor can match SpaceX’s cadence, cost-efficiency or orbital infrastructure.” A “politically motivated attack on SpaceX would not only endanger these contracts, it would do lasting damage to the credibility of the U.S.”
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
