The $1.8 trillion federal budget deficit in the fiscal year that ended in September was the third biggest ever in dollar terms, trailing only the pandemic deficits of the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years. As a share of gross domestic product, a better gauge for historical comparisons, it was, at 6.4%, the biggest ever outside of a large war or global ...Read more

Before Democrats lose the White House and the Senate, they should push through legislation to repeal the Comstock Act, which could be used to prevent legal medically induced abortions everywhere in the United States. Given the success of ballot initiatives that protect the right to abortion in even conservative states in last month's election, ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears likely to guarantee a bleak future for the nation’s transgender adolescents — one where politically motivated lawmakers, not parents and physicians, are allowed to make health care decisions for them.

The case before the court, United States v. Skrmetti, originated with three ...Read more

If Democrats want to change their fortunes in future national elections, acknowledging that our public education system is disconnected from the modern workforce would be a good place to start.

President-elect Donald Trump won 56% of voters without college degrees, a reversal of historical trends in which Democrats have been the clear choice ...Read more

Exit polling suggests that the dominating issue for voters in the presidential election was the economy. Americans can barely afford groceries, rent and child care. Voters perceived President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans to be more capable of addressing the woes of inflation and globalization, but Democrats have been hawking a similar ...Read more

In the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Truth is great, and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons free argument and debate, errors ceasing to...Read more

Once more, Donald Trump’s lawyers are attempting to override the guilty verdict of a jury in the Manhattan hush money case, asking the court to toss it while slinging invective at the office of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, which successfully won Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts this year.

With Trump’s second White House term ...Read more

If voters delivered any certain message on Nov. 5, it’s that they were angry enough not to take it any longer.

There’s much to be angry about, but it’s harder to tell just what voters were protesting.

To some so-called experts, they were angry at the “elites,” narrowly defined as people with college degrees and liberal social views ...Read more

It’s an abiding promise of newly elected American presidents: The executive branch henceforth will be liberated from the perils of waste, fraud and abuse.

President-elect Donald Trump, in his contribution to the canon, has announced he’ll create the Department of Government Efficiency, led by tech impresarios Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. ...Read more

Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” is still trying to figure out how loyal and adoring fans quit watching him and Mika Brzezinski after the couple flew to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Donald Trump’s ring after the election.

I was not a regular consumer of the show, but when I did watch, Scarborough would drone on forever, oftentimes ...Read more

Imagine standing outside as winter winds bite your skin and snowflakes sting your face, with nowhere to find warmth or comfort. Buddy — an elderly dog whose owners reportedly chained him outside 24/7 — endured these conditions every day. His “shelter,” an uninsulated plastic igloo, did little to protect his frail, old frame. One Sunday ...Read more

This year's electoral rhetoric exposed the deep fissures in our body politic, leaving many feeling disillusioned and even fractured. In this moment of potential discord, people of faith have a profound opportunity to model a different path forward — one anchored in the timeless principles of civility, justice and a fierce commitment to our ...Read more

You can learn something about a city by just walking through it. Most of New York City’s Manhattan core feels bustling, whereas a San Francisco block can seem dormant. In Rome, it is common to see groups of men standing around, chatting or arguing.

We are all familiar with such casual generalizations, but what might the data show more ...Read more

Whew. Miami made it through another hurricane season more or less unscathed, but our relief at Mother Nature’s mercy on our little burg this year is tempered by the painful knowledge that so many others in this state and beyond didn’t fare anywhere near as well. It’ll be a long time before Florida’s West Coast and Panhandle can put the ...Read more

It’s telling that virtually the only positive spin economists of every political persuasion are putting on Donald Trump’s latest vow to ignite a global tariff war is the possibility that he doesn’t actually mean it. This is one instance in which Trump’s well-established tendency to say things he knows aren’t true is America’s best ...Read more

A new report highlights the urgent need to expand access to K-12 computer science education in the United States, as millions of students still lack these opportunities in a technology-driven world.

Only 60% of U.S. public high schools offer a foundational computer science course. While some underrepresented students lack access to these ...Read more

Donald Trump’s blustery diplomacy ignores the usual protocols — and that’s the point. Our adversaries are never sure what to make of his huffing. Uncertainty can lead to caution.

Consider the terrorists who attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and still hold dozens of innocent hostages they seized during their barbaric rampage. On Monday, ...Read more

As America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan came to a close, thousands of courageous men and women who risked their lives fighting for years to protect our country and our way of life began coming home and transitioning into civilian life. For so many of them, that transition left a gaping hole.

Just a few weeks earlier, they had been a ...Read more

The 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season ended on Sunday. For many in the eastern United States, who endured the devastating destruction caused by powerful storms this year, that’s not a moment too soon.

This year’s hurricane season was uncommon in many ways, but it also followed a pattern in recent years of the Atlantic producing more powerful, ...Read more