TWO OF Congress's least dogmatic Republicans announced last week that they will not run for reelection when their current terms expire in 18 months. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska are staunch conservatives who usually vote with their party. But they also believe in bipartisan collegiality, in forming alliances across the aisle, and in making up their own minds. In today's GOP, that makes them radioactive.

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ZOHRAN MAMDANI, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, is a foe of capitalism who blames profit-seeking for the high price of groceries in his city. As befits a self-described "democratic socialist," he proposes to solve the problem by giving government more power.

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ONE OF the stated goals of the Trump administration is to grow the US economy by at least 3 percent per year. In theory that should be readily attainable — for most of American history, 3 percent growth has been the norm. But when population growth slows, so does economic growth. If America's gross domestic product (GDP) is to expand at a healthy clip, therefore, its population has to grow as well.

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ON BEACON HILL, to hear top Massachusetts lawmakers tell it, the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. The state Legislature — long notorious for its secrecy, authoritarianism, and fecklessness — has embraced the cause of reform and integrity. House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka preached the good news at a press conference Monday, when they announced a package of new rules that will, they claim, make legislating in the Bay State more straightforward, productive, and honest.

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ON SUNDAY, just hours after the United States entered the war against Iran with a devastating attack on its nuclear-enrichment sites, Pope Leo XIV posted an appeal for peace on social media.

"War does not solve problems; on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal," he wrote. "No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures. May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts!"

The new pontiff's words were earnest, compassionate — and deeply misguided.

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