This week marks the 16-month anniversary of Donald Trump becoming the 45th president of the United States, and nowhere has our unlikeliest commander-in-chief placed a greater stamp on America's place in the world than his dramatic -- and sometimes arbitrary and capricious, or so it seems -- shifts in foreign policy. None of these seismic changes...Read more

This time, the school shooter did not use an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to slaughter his classmates. That must be quite a relief to gun lovers.

This killer's weapons of choice were a shotgun and a .38-caliber handgun -- two of the most common firearms available. What more proof do we need, gun lovers will ask, that the problem isn't with guns ...Read more

The Missouri House has begun an unprecedented special session to decide whether to impeach a governor. No official matter could be more solemn. Lawmakers are treating the start of the process against Gov. Eric Greitens on Friday evening with the seriousness it deserves. Greitens, however, is doing his best to minimize this historic event and ...Read more

Missouri lawmakers, buckle in for a bumpy summer.

Impeaching and removing any officeholder is rightly difficult, and ousting Gov. Eric Greitens could drag on into the fall. Greitens has repeatedly said he will not go willingly. Because he's done nothing actionable, and because that's not what Navy SEALs do.

On Thursday, the New Yorker ...Read more

If Pope Francis ever visits Chicago -- it's been nearly 40 years since Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in Grant Park -- his presence would be a major event that illuminates a small contradiction: Chicago, in one specific way, isn't the reigning pontiff's kind of town.

Chicago is a business center and global hub of the futures markets, but ...Read more

Keyless ignition is one of those welcome advances in auto design that are easy to appreciate. No more fumbling for the key, no more dropping it in a gutter, no more trying to slip it into the ignition in the dark. Just open the door, get in, and punch the button. The fob never has to leave your purse or pocket.

But the convenience carries a ...Read more

The notion of a Nobel Peace Prize for President Donald Trump is a peculiar one, but only the most petty, hyperpartisan soul could wish for him to fail at the meeting currently scheduled for Jun 12 in Singapore. A lot is at stake.

Events are moving quickly, but at this writing both the meeting itself and its chances for a successful outcome ...Read more

Eighty-five percent of adults in the U.S. who do not play a musical instrument wish they had learned to play one, according to a 2009 Gallup Poll; 69 percent would like to play one now. Nearly all believe musical skills can be learned at any age. Yet a 2012 National Endowment for the Arts survey found that just 12 percent of U.S. adults were ...Read more

It is popular in some circles these days to refer to Fox News as state-run TV. That's because of the channel's steadfast support of President Donald Trump and the special Twitter-buddy relationship he has with some hosts like the morning crew of "Fox & Friends" or the bellicose Sean Hannity, who holds down the 9 p.m. hour on the conservative ...Read more

The knee-jerk reaction in the White House and Israel to the recent violence in Gaza is to blame Hamas and be done with it. The radical Hamas organization that controls Gaza drove thousands of Palestinians toward the fence, so the argument goes, and it is wholly to blame for the 62 killed by Israeli snipers, the bulk of them Hamas members.

But ...Read more

BUZZZZ!!! BLARG-BLARGGG!!! The infernal racket started just after 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, shooting strange vibrations like a throbbing pain into the gluteus maximus of the boys and girls in their skintight pants, exploding from the purses of the wafer-thin "social x-rays" in their puffy dresses and the "lemon tarts" pouring tea on Park ...Read more

Speaking ill of the deceased is frowned upon, particularly in the California state capital, when the subject is a former governor who held forth in Sacramento for many years and who supposedly reminded people of good old days when politicians drank together and worked together. Blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, sorry, I'm not in the Capitol clique. The ...Read more

Fact: I'm Team Meghan Markle. She's talented and speaks her mind. She's a brilliant actress, feminist and philanthropist.

And we have a lot in common. She's mixed like me, we're both divorced and have crazy families. I want to see her win in her marriage to Britain's Prince Harry.

But one thing Meghan is not: a beacon of hope for black women. ...Read more

Unemployment is at a record low. The U.S. economy has logged nine straight years of slow-but-steady growth. Yet somehow, 40 million Americans need help from the government just to put food on the table. Although that figure is down from its post-recession peak of 47.6 million in 2013, it's still far above where it was in 2007, when only 26 ...Read more

Connecticut will likely legalize sports betting now that the U.S. Supreme Court has opened that door by repealing the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. This state desperately needs the money it could reap from getting in on that action. And sports betting is everywhere, as anyone who has wagered on the Kentucky Derby or filled out ...Read more

It's shouting into the head winds of romantic swoonery, but Saturday's wedding will not create "Princess Meghan."

Quaint and odd they may be, but the rules of the royal road are both clear and strict, and neither tabloids nor TV will change them. In the House of Windsor, "princesses" are born, not made -- not even by marriage.

No members of ...Read more

President Donald Trump craved -- but didn't win -- an Emmy for his TV show. But we've all heard that he may be in line for a more coveted award: the Nobel Peace Prize.

Last week, that seemed like a possibility. This week, we're less certain.

For one thing, Trump's highly anticipated summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un may or may not ...Read more

This is the undocumented immigrant our nation should welcome: the Lawrence chemist whom immigration officials attempted to deport this year, much to the dismay of his family, neighbors and even strangers who came to know the story of Syed Jamal.

This immigrant's presence should be questioned: a man who was deported multiple times and who kept ...Read more