In the aftermath of the U.S. military strike that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, the Trump administration has emphasized its desire for unfettered access to Venezuela’s oil more than conventional foreign policy objectives, such as combating drug trafficking or bolstering democracy and regional stability.

During his ...Read more

To say Harry Reid and Jon Ralston had a fraught relationship is like suggesting Arabs and Israelis haven't always been on the best of terms.

Or there's a wee bit of tension between fans of the L.A. Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.

Reid, the former Senate majority leader and most powerful and important lawmaker ever to emerge from Nevada, went...Read more

President Donald Trump’s second inauguration one year ago found our nation more divided and apprehensive than at any time since the Civil War.

For his followers, it was a time for jubilation. For others, it foreshadowed grave danger for our republic.

The fears weren’t idle after Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election he had lost and ...Read more

Here’s the glaring sign of how drunk President Donald Trump has become on his own power: his ongoing threat to seize Greenland for security reasons, “whether they like it or not.” Anything else is “unacceptable,” Trump ranted last week.

Never mind that this icebound island is an autonomous territory of Denmark, one of our longest-...Read more

What round he would knock out his opponents in wasn’t the only thing boxing legend Muhammad Ali used to predict.

He once said the U.S. government should put his picture on a stamp.

“That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked,” he bragged.

Well, the U.S. Postal Service went ahead and did it. The champ is on a stamp.

“Those of you ...Read more

Thursday was a dark day for college basketball in general and DePaul University in particular.

A sprawling indictment unsealed by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania laid out an alleged gambling conspiracy in which players were recruited to underperform in specific games so that bettors could wager on point ...Read more

Uber loves to define itself as a most public-spirited company.

"We're reimagining how the world moves ... to help make transportation more affordable, sustainable, and accessible for all," as the ride-sharing giant declares on its website.

In 2020, when it spent nearly $100 million to pass Proposition 22, which overturned a state law ...Read more

What should concern Republicans heading into the midterms is not just policy disagreement; it’s pattern and posture.

President Donald Trump is once again attacking institutional guardrails, starting with the Federal Reserve. Publicly undermining Fed Chair Jerome Powell isn’t tough leadership; it’s a signal to markets and allies that ...Read more

For decades, the United States has perfected a familiar political ritual: condemn Latin American governments for the flow of narcotics northward, demand crackdowns, and frame the crisis as something done to America rather than something America helps create.

It is a narrative that travels well in press conferences and campaign rallies. It is ...Read more

From the oral argument last week, it seems clear that the Supreme Court will likely uphold state laws that prohibit transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports, even if the transgender girls have taken puberty blockers that reduce their testosterone levels to the point where they would not have a physiological advantage.

The ...Read more

While many view Los Angeles as a concrete jungle, there’s another side of the city more akin to the wild. L.A. lies within a biodiversity hot spot, with ecologically rich habitats such as the Santa Monica Mountains boasting endemic plants and animals not seen anywhere else on Earth.

According to iNaturalist, a site where users identify and ...Read more

For people, myself included, who are serving long prison sentences in New York, years pass, circumstances change, and lives take on dimensions that were not discernable at the time of sentencing. Yet under current law, no judge has the power to revisit a sentence once it has been imposed, no matter how much time has passed or circumstances have ...Read more

Changes are coming to the federal student loan program. And it can’t happen fast enough.

President Donald Trump’s “one, big beautiful bill,” enacted and signed last summer, includes a number of provisions intended to protect taxpayers from student loan defaults. This is in stark contrast to President Joe Biden’s approach, which was to...Read more

The close of the 2025 holiday season has revealed a stark divide in the U.S. economy. As 2026 begins, the United States appears to be operating in two financial realities: record corporate profits and soaring stock values for the wealthy, alongside deepening hardship for millions of ordinary households.

For many Americans, Christmas was ...Read more

Who the hell appointed Elon Musk to be the loudest defender of white men?

From the moment the South Africa native took over what was once called Twitter in 2022, the wealthiest human being on Earth has let neo-Nazi accounts flourish while repeating their insistence that white men are an endangered species as the world grows more diverse and ...Read more

Does Sen. Josh Hawley really believe in anything?

It’s a question we end up asking frequently about Missouri’s senior senator, whether the topic is health care, labor rights or — this time — the Trump administration’s military adventurism in Venezuela.

U.S. forces swooped into the Caribbean nation Jan. 3 to capture Venezuelan ...Read more

Over the winter break, I took my family to see the light show at the Bronx Zoo. Here, among the sea lions and penguins, holiday magic does not come cheap. I expected to have to negotiate some extras with my kids (yes to s’mores, no to the bubble wands). But there were the surprise add-ons, too, from the $4 train ride that went twice around the...Read more

President Donald Trump’s greedy stare at Greenland, with its mineral riches and strategic location, has put the world on high alert about what’s going on in the Arctic. Unfortunately, this obsession with the region’s geopolitics comes as the critical monitoring of its geography and climate is getting harder and harder.

Constructing a ...Read more

The Department of Justice is assembling a first-ever national voter database. It has demanded that states turn over their complete voter registration lists — loaded with private information such as driver's license and Social Security numbers linked to names, home addresses and dates of birth.

It has also turned the federal immigration ...Read more

For a man who made millions by slapping his name on buildings and various products, President Donald Trump has a special knack for tarnishing iconic American brands.

It goes like this: He grabs some broadly respected institution, rebrands it in his own image, and then hands it back smelling faintly of burnt hair and regret.

Trump’s style of ...Read more