We’ve said little about Jeffrey Epstein, the serial sex offender who wormed his way into the upper echelons of elite America in no small part by trafficking underage teenage girls to powerful men. The affair is sordid, the conspiracy theories legion and much of the media coverage both exhausting and troublingly salacious.

But on Monday, the ...Read more

Earlier this year, I wrote about Jesreel Chimilio, a father of two from Philadelphia who was seized outside his home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and whisked away for deportation.

His wife, Charlene Maddox Chimilio, came running out after him with their 9-month-old son, Zechariah, on her hip, but it was too late.

Neither ...Read more

I was born in 1957. The word “colored” is on my birth certificate. The civil rights movement educated me around race identity, and I now identify as Black or of African descent.

When I was growing up, there were only two pronouns to describe oneself: she and he. As for gender, you checked a box, male or female. Same for bathrooms—it was ...Read more

This boy was lying to me. I could tell from the way he swiveled in his chair, fluffing up and then patting down his shaggy hair. I could tell from the rehearsed sentences he fed me, his voice bored and monotone. “I’m a white man,” he stated. “I have a lot of advantages in the world.”

Normally, I would have felt pleased that he ...Read more

Democracy in America is being driven into the shadows. Anyone in doubt need only pause to reflect on the events of June, when the military parade of the autocrat-in-chief in D.C. coincided with a manhunt for an assassin of lawmakers in Minnesota. Lawmakers who had stood up for reproductive freedom, as well as other progressive issues.

Let us ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump to move forward with shrinking the federal workforce. The move is notable as much for the outcome as for the dynamics involved.

The case stemmed from an executive order the president issued early in February directing administration officials to formulate plans for “large-scale�...Read more

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at the White House in a de facto Middle East summit on Monday. The two represent collectively the sole superpower in that turbulent region.

Israel sports nuclear weapons and a congressionally guaranteed “qualitative” military edge over its hostile neighbors. The ...Read more

In California’s never-ending effort to thin its forests to prevent devastating wildfires, crews are removing millions of tons of small trees and brush every year.

And then most of it goes up in smoke. It is burned, in controlled and intentionally lit fires, before the next fire season.

The search for a better solution has been elusive. One ...Read more

Nearly six months into Donald Trump’s presidency, a Trump Doctrine is coming into view. Contrary to the fears of his critics, and the hopes of some admirers, Trump is no isolationist. And contrary to those who claim Trump is simply a marvel of ac hoc-ery and inconsistency, there is a distinctive pattern to the policies he has pursued.

This ...Read more

I love sitting outside in the sun. There’s something grounding and peaceful about soaking up the warmth. But my 16-year-old dog, Jessa, doesn’t agree. After just a few minutes on the porch, she starts panting, shifting uncomfortably and giving me that unmistakable look: “I need to go inside.”

Once we’re back in the air conditioning, ...Read more

There are few things most American politicians seem to agree upon, but banning mobile phones in classrooms seems to be one of them. Based on the experiences of some schools that have required students to prioritize learning over TikTok scrolling, there’s also a welcome side benefit: less conflict and more “hellos.”

When school starts this...Read more

At least 18 were shot, four fatally, in Chicago's River North neighborhood after a drive-by shooting last week. Four families will prepare expenses for funeral services and seek mental health support in the wake of their loss. Or they may be so paralyzed by this event that they lose all functionality. The 14 who survived the shooting will fall ...Read more

Our nation’s paltry federal minimum wage of just $7.25 hourly is rightly criticized as far too little to sustain a worker, let alone a family, in 2025.

That’s bad enough, but did you know that there’s an even lower floor for workers who receive tips on the job? That’s right. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is just $2.13 an ...Read more

Many so-called experts predicted that President Donald Trump’s economic agenda would usher in an inflationary Armageddon. This projection was so oft repeated in the media that many Americans, especially Democrats, believed a depression was imminent. Yet the economy is thoroughly beating expectations, with consumers’ expectations becoming ...Read more

Proving once again that anti-vax quack Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a threat to public health, confirmed measles cases in the United States have hit a 33-year high.

It’s even worse since it’s been a quarter century since the deadly disease was declared completely eradicated in the country. But no more.

The ...Read more

The de-naturalization of foreign-born U.S. citizens isn’t new and has been done under both Democratic and Republican presidents. But the Trump administration’s latest guidance telling federal prosecutors to “prioritize” such cases raises a significant question: How will be this new priority be focused? Will it be stretched to go beyond ...Read more

The other night, after the House passed the “Big Beautiful Bill of Goods” (BBBOG), I went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Philadelphia. I know the people there; they are friendly, hardworking, and they allow me to speak Italian with them. It is a place where I can forget that I am in a city where some of the trash is ...Read more

One of the hallmarks that set the Social Security Administration apart from other government programs was its sedulous avoidance of anything resembling partisan politics. That was a key to its overwhelming popularity among Americans.

Apparently, those days are over.

The change occurred July 3, when the agency sent an email to millions of ...Read more

America’s leaders have latched onto the idea that they can address some big problems — most notably a gaping budget deficit — by forcing interest rates downward.

If only it were that easy.

President Donald Trump keeps turning up the pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower short-term rates, publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with ...Read more

Something troubling is happening to our brains as artificial intelligence platforms become more popular. Studies are showing that professional workers who use ChatGPT to carry out tasks might lose critical thinking skills and motivation.

People are forming strong emotional bonds with chatbots, sometimes exacerbating feelings of loneliness. And...Read more