We are at a dangerous precipice in the Middle East. Richard Haass, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told me Wednesday that it felt like we were at a “turning point” in the region. Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times was more alarmist: It is a “Code Red Time” he wrote.

But even before Israel’s campaign against...Read more

To most Western observers, it would appear that China has driven its technology industry off a cliff.

The number of startups fell by 50,000 between the peak in 2018 and 2023, with this year on track to be even lower. The market capitalizations of the biggest tech companies, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., have ...Read more

Two things can be true at once. Here are two things that are true about this year’s presidential race:

One, Donald Trump is the most fundamentally unfit presidential candidate ever nominated by a major party. He’s a congenital liar, a dangerous demagogue, a convicted felon who has long shown contempt for the Constitution and has ...Read more

At a recent campaign rally in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump disparaged Vice President Kamala Harris, suggesting she was mentally disabled and called her “a very dumb person.”

Trump told the crowd: “Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, ...Read more

War is unpredictable, but recent developments in the Middle East conflict have precipitously narrowed the options for key players. Contrary to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims, it leaves no possible path to peace.

For a year, U.S. officials have implored the warring parties to avoid further escalation and pursue diplomatic ...Read more

Having a romantic relationship with an employee didn’t used to be a fireable offense for CEOs. They would get canned for misappropriating funds to fuel the affair, or for not fully disclosing the details to the board when they eventually got caught. But it was rarely the relationship itself that got them fired — if they even got fired at all...Read more

A friend on dating apps recently told me she is often presented with men who are lying about their age — or rather, as they tell it, being forced to lie. The culprit, they are eager to explain, is the algorithm. “I am actually 57,” reads one profile she showed me, “but lowered my age because of the algos, LOL.”

What’s disturbing ...Read more

Clashes over immigration and control of the U.S. border have already figured prominently in the battle for the presidency. A better policy is certainly needed — one that admits far more workers with skills in short supply, restores an orderly process for accepting other economic migrants and asylum seekers, dissuades those who won’t qualify ...Read more

We’ve heard a great deal about so-called “real Americans” in this presidential campaign.

It was a theme of this summer’s Republican National Convention, where speakers like Hulk Hogan and UFC CEO Dana White used the phrase to praise Donald Trump and his supporters. And more recently, the former president and his running mate, JD Vance, ...Read more

It has been a long night of terror for American pluralism and democracy. The Republican Party since 2016 has burrowed ever deeper into authoritarian terrain. You don’t have to be a political scientist to register that reality. Democratic political parties aren’t awash in lies and they don’t nominate criminals and coup plotters to ...Read more

It’s good news that Instagram has launched stricter controls for teen accounts, strengthening privacy settings for those under 18. Underage users’ accounts are now automatically set to private mode. The platform is also implementing tighter restrictions on the type of content teens can browse and blocking material deemed sensitive, such as ...Read more

When I lived in the Sonoran Desert, I came to know it as a place of majesty and tragedy. The pink sand desert has incredible biodiversity and a vibrant border culture. But it can be an unforgiving place with coyotes, scorpions, rattlesnakes and, yes, temperatures in the 120s. In fact, temperatures in Phoenix surpassed 110 degrees 55 times this ...Read more

I often hear people say that humans are superior to other animals and see them behave as though this were somehow true. But can humans regrow body parts, fly among the clouds or navigate thousands of miles without maps or GPS?

Not only do other animals frequently surpass us in their physical capabilities, they often do so in the ethical arena ...Read more

Legalizing marijuana isn’t as hot-button an issue in this election as abortion or immigration, but both presidential candidates former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have weighed in, and for once, they’re in agreement.

Both, however, are missing a big point.

Last month, Trump posted on the Truth Social platform: �...Read more

Oh my gosh! They were just so darn nice to each other.

You may have expected nice from Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, Midwestern Everydad and running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris. A former high school teacher and assistant football coach, the guy's a good egg.

But what the heck was going on with former President Trump'...Read more

It’s baseball playoff season and since California stole the Dodgers and the Giants from New York, we have no issue copying two excellent ideas for education just enacted into law by the Golden State. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany legislators, please pay attention.

On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to bar private colleges ...Read more

Assembly Bill 3206 is why people hate politics.

Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom over the weekend, the bill creates an exemption to a decades-old state law banning the serving of alcohol after 2 a.m.

But don't head down to your local dive bar just yet to raise a toast: This applies only to a private club at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, which will ...Read more

Like most presidents, Joe Biden is using the final few months of his tenure to brag about his accomplishments. In fairness, he has stuff to be proud of, in both policy and politics, but it’s entirely possible that one of his administration’s most important legacies will be a little-noticed program it announced last week: a worldwide ...Read more

This election day, voters will have a direct voice in deciding whether to preserve or enhance abortion rights in 10 states, including six in which abortion is outlawed or seriously restricted.

As it happens, new data points arrive almost weekly to inform voters what's at stake in these ballot campaigns. To put it bluntly, the health of pregnant...Read more

Vice President Kamala Harris ticked off her presidential campaign checklist with a visit to the southern border last week. She talked with members of the Border Patrol and made boilerplate promises of getting tough on immigration.

Sorry, Kamala, you don’t get points for promising to close the barn door after the horses have escaped.

Harris, ...Read more