One of the most electrifying shocks of the new Donald Trump era is how quickly the president has moved to ally with the Kremlin against Europe — and the security of the United States.

Let me repeat. Trump is eagerly courting Vladimir Putin, who has made clear in speeches and deeds he detests America and its NATO partners and wants to ...Read more

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and more than doubled the federal estate tax exemption rate for married couples, from $11 million to $27 million. An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee of Taxation found that beginning in 2027, lower- and middle-class families could ...Read more

My young friends told me the same story as the novelist: People don’t see them when they’re behind the counter. They might greet the customer by name and he’d looked confused or even annoyed, till something in his brain would click and he realized he was speaking to someone he knew. They were the help, and invisible.

Writing novels not ...Read more

As America’s capricious trade war rolls on, the European Union may be Washington’s next target. The EU’s instinct to retaliate is understandable — but a tit-for-tat escalation is exactly the wrong response.

Although details are murky, the White House plans to announce what it calls “reciprocal” tariffs on April 2 — with rates that...Read more

From Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Big Tech to Republican members of Congress to universities to law firms, President Trump is using bullying intimidation tactics to get his way. His targets can push back or give in, but capitulation to a bully only brings more bullying.

Zelenskyy now agrees to what Trump offers (although that ...Read more

What, exactly, does the Democratic base want? More. More of everything. Including new leaders.

When will Democrats step up to “flood the zone” with the vigorous fight for our democracy that this moment demands?

Our elected leaders repeatedly complain about President Donald Trump’s domination of the daily news cycle. Why didn’t it occur...Read more

Even before President Donald Trump started his trade wars, McDonald’s Corp. top brass knew this year would start sluggishly.

Prices are up for food, paper goods and labor, while many of the Chicago-based burger chain’s core customers are finding the menu unaffordable. As a result, CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors last month, “The ...Read more

For me, the daughter of small business owners, winter and the holidays meant more family time at the dining table, not just to eat but to hand-write thank you notes to our customers.

My brother would climb up to the attic to bring down bins full of greeting cards my mother and I had purchased the previous year after Christmas, when the holiday ...Read more

Over the past two decades, school districts have spent billions of taxpayer dollars equipping classrooms with laptops and other devices in hopes of preparing kids for a digital future. The result? Students have fallen further behind on the skills they most need to succeed in careers: the three R’s plus a fourth — relationships.

Today, about...Read more

We all learned long ago, perhaps on the playground, that giving in to a bully only makes things worse. That is why it is shocking to see capitulation on the part of those being illegally bullied by President Trump. This will only embolden him.

On Thursday and Friday, a law firm and Columbia University surrendered.

Trump said Thursday that the ...Read more

Electricity is already too expensive in California, but it could get even worse if we can’t find a way to partner with our neighboring states.

That’s because California could be left out of a fundamental shift in how electricity is bought and sold. Imagine if there wasn’t a New York Stock Exchange and that regions within every state had ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s drive toward the political center has hit a jarring speed bump: He’s spending way over budget on health care for undocumented immigrants.

Let’s put this in perspective:

Newsom presumably has been repositioning himself to run for president in 2028 — less as a wild-eyed California liberal and more like a sensible ...Read more

After years of poor decision-making, the federal government’s $1.64 trillion student loan program is in critical condition. Congress needs to stanch the bleeding — and give serious thought to overhauling this flawed system for the longer term.

The underlying problem is clear: Too many students have loans they can’t repay. Even before the ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent contentious meeting with President Donald Trump raised eyebrows among many Americans. Vice President JD Vance called the Ukrainian president “disrespectful,” but the circumstances of the meeting in the Oval Office were not unusual in diplomatic history.

When Dwight Eisenhower took office ...Read more

PLEASANTON, Calif. — It was a child's drawing — the kind of sweet, simple sketch you hang on the refrigerator — but something about the family portrait was off.

The heights and the adult-to-offspring ratio didn't line up, so Eric Swalwell asked his daughter, "Who are all these people?"

"That's Mr. Darly," the kindergartner replied, ...Read more

Over the last decade, it’s become commonplace to describe President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party as hostile — as if the one-time New York real estate mogul was the political version of a corporate raider. That’s a gross mischaracterization, one that has contributed to a misunderstanding of the source of Trump’s ...Read more

As a former Cook County state’s attorney and a former chief of staff in a district attorney’s office, we were alarmed to learn that President Donald Trump’s administration quietly deleted the first federal police misconduct database — a critical tool created to prevent federal law enforcement officers with histories of serious misconduct...Read more

Uncomfortable truth time: The biggest reason California’s electric rates are rising so fast is that utility companies are spending billions of dollars each year to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

Does that mean Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric should spend less money trimming trees, ...Read more

On March 8, Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born green card holder and Columbia University graduate student, was arrested at his New York apartment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The arrest was linked to Khalil’s involvement in pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University last spring. Now facing deportation, the Algerian ...Read more

A federal judge has held that Elon Musk and DOGE’s actions to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development likely violated the Constitution in “multiple ways.” U.S. District Court Judge Theodore D. Chuang also ordered the reversal of many of the steps Musk directed to be taken to close the agency.

The decision could mark the ...Read more