President Joe Biden had barely occupied the Oval Office long enough to arrange his desk and hang pictures, but voters already held firm opinions about his job performance. That’s how polarized Americans are.

One person, one vote. That’s the dream of American democracy — and, sadly, the myth. The most powerful American lawmaking body patently violates that principle.

Are the COVID-19 vaccines effective? The early evidence is very encouraging. After the vaccine distributions began in December, we have seen a marked and sustained decline in hospitalizations in America for most of January.

It has been 20 years since I wrote an article for the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry titled, “The Impact of Media on Children and Adolescents: A Ten Year Review of the Research.” The article focused primarily on television, movies, music and music videos, and video games with only two paragraphs devoted to computers and the internet. Broadband internet and smartphones did not exist. The research reviewed was primarily survey data about how many hours children used media and studies about the possible effect of violent media leading to violent behavior. What was clear was that all media has the capacity to teach and that media shapes attitudes and behaviors. The discussion warned that media use would increase due to rapid advances in technology and “new forms yet to be developed.”

A series of executive actions by President Joe Biden has pulled U.S. policy to the left on a range of issues including fracking, abortion and transgender athletes. Progressives should savor the moment, because it could well represent a peak in their efforts to change the country.

It’s been 13 months since China shut down a region of 18 million people because of the rapid human-to-human transfer of a new strain of coronavirus. It’s been a year since the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency because of the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes. It’s been 11 months since California’s Gavin Newsom became the first governor to order a statewide lockdown. It’s been eight months since the U.S. recorded its first 100,000 deaths from the pandemic. And it’s been four months since Dr. Anthony Fauci — the federal government’s leading infectious disease expect — expressed optimism that effective vaccines would soon be available.

Legislatures across the U.S. are considering more than 100 bills aimed at restricting voter access, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice. The bills represent a direct, partisan reaction to the Democrats’ success in the 2020 election, when high turnout and mail-in voting powered blue victories in closely divided states like Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Like most Kansas Citians, we wish the best of luck Sunday to the Chiefs, who will compete in their second straight Super Bowl.

On Thursday, a panel of three people who call themselves judges ordered the release of the man convicted of orchestrating the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl — with the insulting coda that the reasons will “be recorded later.” America must not rest until this Pakistani travesty is corrected.

Voting is a right of citizenship and the opportunity to exercise it should be made easier, not more difficult.

It looks as though a likeness of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman finally will appear on American currency, resurrecting a plan that has been stalled for nearly five years.

It is already clear that President Joe Biden will be implementing a large number of his policies through executive action.

At best, President Joe Biden’s new commitment to “Buy American” is largely symbolic and won’t change much in practice. At worst, it marks a real intention to raise new import barriers, and poses a threat to international cooperation on trade. In either case, it represents a failure to explain to the country where its interests really lie.

The Democratic Party has before it a choice between two economic policies: a big increase in the federal minimum wage, to $15 an hour from $7.25; and a per-child cash benefit of several thousand dollars a year. The decision will have major implications, for the future of both the party and the U.S. economy. The cash benefit is clearly the better option.

America’s schoolchildren and teachers have just gotten some very good news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After reviewing data from multiple studies in the U.S. and abroad, the agency has concluded that in-person schooling poses very little risk of coronavirus transmission as long as basic safety precautions are followed. That should send a clear message to governors, mayors and teachers union leaders: It’s time to open the schools.

I’m going out on a limb here and saying that Republicans and Democrats have very different ideas of what “unity” means. The fact that President Joe Biden has been calling steadily for unity while his fellow Democrats are putting his predecessor on trial in the Senate leaves many Republicans with a severe case of cognitive dissonance.

The next few weeks may see the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines, like the cavalry, are on the way, but will not prevent the crisis from reaching its inevitable apex. Fortunately, we have convalescent plasma available, which could take a bite out of COVID-19 by saving lives and protecting our health care system from collapse.

Sen. Ted Cruz seems to have a penchant for improbable causes. If he’s not trying to audit the presidential election results, he’s seeking to amend the Constitution.

Silicon Valley is waging war on free speech.