Donald Trump promised “shock and awe” during the first days of his presidency. He didn’t disappoint the majority of Americans who understood that the country has been on a distressing course over the past four years.

Historians will record that Monday was an eventful day. Donald J. Trump, after a four-year hiatus, took the oath of office ...Read more

As U.S. TikTok users rejoice at the site’s return from its 14-hour hiatus, curmudgeonly critics — me included — wonder whether President Donald Trump can really get around the congressional statute aimed at banning it.

The short answer: Of course, he can.

True, as a legal matter, a president can’t simply suspend the operation of a duly...Read more

Whether you think Donald Trump or Joe Biden deserves the credit for pushing Israel and Hamas into a ceasefire deal is largely a sideshow to the main event. As the Tribune Editorial Board astutely observed last week, the most important thing is the substance — 15 months after the war in Gaza started, the parties were finally able to come to ...Read more

Anyone who thought the grievance-wielding, enemy-targeting Donald Trump might have taken a day off after listening to his formal inaugural speech in the Capitol Rotunda didn’t need to wait long to find out just how wrong they were.

That’s when the true Trump, the not “beautiful unifying” Trump, came out. He rattled off complaints about ...Read more

Donald Trump on Monday took an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” and then promptly broke that oath by seeking to revoke the first sentence of the 14th Amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of...Read more

Fires are still burning, ominous wind warnings abound, and in ravaged communities, residents are searching the rubble for possessions and pets.

Eventually decisions will have to be made — by residents, elected officials, developers and planners — about what happens to this torched land.

The people who lived and lost in communities ...Read more

Taking the oath for the second time, President Donald Trump promised sweeping changes and a “revolution of common sense” and bluntly criticized his Democratic predecessor.

“We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad,” ...Read more

A city devastated; neighbors coming to its aid; the hunt for a scapegoat: Though the Angelenos enduring wildfires today lead lives dramatically different from those of the people who survived the Halifax Explosion more than a century ago, the stories of the two disasters intermittently rhyme.

On the morning of Dec. 6, 1917, an accidental ...Read more

Seven Illinois counties voted in November 2024 to explore seceding from the state of Illinois. Now, Indiana lawmakers want to capitalize on their dissatisfaction. Indiana’s House speaker, Republican Todd Huston, wants to adopt those counties and others whose residents are unhappy with Illinois politics, a move that would mean redrawing state ...Read more

Ashes are not the stuff of life.

I learned that in August 2023 from a mortician preparing to cremate my mother. The organic matter in a person’s body, I was told, vaporizes when burned hot enough, leaving behind the pulverized, inorganic substance we call ashes.

So what I might call “Mom” is actually a pile of inert minerals ...Read more

I was appalled to hear Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates’ recent remarks comparing Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to a special education student who cannot be suspended.

This statement is deeply offensive and perpetuates damaging stereotypes about students with disabilities who are disproportionately suspended and...Read more

I grew up seeing wine as a symbol of joy, holiness and a tool for elevating the mundane. From the weekly Kiddush (a blessing said over a wine cup) on Shabbat to holidays like Purim, Passover and Simchat Torah, wine occupies a sacred space in Judaism.

But this month, the surgeon general’s advisory on alcohol’s link to cancer has shaken me. ...Read more

The end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 have brought an onslaught of terror attacks and tumult. While the incidents that occurred over the last several months may not be connected, they do usher in a sense of chaos and fear.

As a country, to meet this moment of terror, we must all look both outwards and inwards.

All while balancing the ...Read more

Artificial intelligence has been heralded as a technological revolution that will transform our world. From curing diseases to automating dangerous jobs to discovering new inventions, the possibilities are tantalizing. We’re told that AI could bring unprecedented good — if only we continue to invest in its development and allow labs to seize...Read more

If aliens came to Earth, and you had only seven minutes to convince them not to experiment on you, eat you or exploit you in any other way, what would you say? Students across the country are pondering this question courtesy of PETA’s When They Came For Us virtual reality experience, which is landing on college campuses this semester. It’s a...Read more

If Donald Trump has a natural environment, it is cognitive dissonance. Nowhere was that on display more than the moment in his inauguration speech when he said, “I want to be a peacemaker and a unifier.” No American politician for 50 years has thrived more on strife and division than Trump.

But the dissonance in that first breath could not ...Read more

It was the day after President Joe Biden’s formal Farewell Address to the Nation.

As we remember, he had started his live Oval Office address rather traditionally. Then, just over halfway through, Biden made an epic, historic turn – and warned us that our democracy was being threatened by the rise of a powerful “oligarchy.” Right here ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Stu Spencer had certain guideposts he followed as California's premier political consultant for several decades.

Those guideposts helped elect actor Ronald Reagan California governor and, later, president, and also aided New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, President Ford, Gov. Pete Wilson and hundreds of lesser known ...Read more