Can nothing stop President Donald Trump? Despite widespread opposition, Trump continues his blustering, unchecked by the usual guardrails of American politics. He’s attacking Venezuela, then threatening Greenland and sending federal immigration agents into American cities from Minneapolis and Portland to Chicago and Washington. His power seems...Read more

One of the most dangerous mistakes Americans are making right now is treating the threat to our democracy as a collection of daily outrages — the latest social media post, the latest threat, the latest norm broken. Those things are certainly bad, often stunningly so. But they are not the real problem. The real problem is structural, and it ...Read more

Illinois recently joined 11 other states in enacting a law that allows physician-assisted suicide. I propose an additional tweak that would make dying more humane for those who might like to let go a bit prior to the six-month window of legality that seems to be the standard.

The American way of dying has been evolving, which I think is good. ...Read more

If Americans want to make a clear assessment of the “Schitt’s Creek” level of intergovernmental cooperation these days, they need look no further than the mighty Potomac River and the flood of sewage that has inundated it.

Last month, a major sewage pipeline known as the Potomac Interceptor collapsed, causing at least 234 million gallons...Read more

Even good news generates controversy in these polarizing times.

Violent crime is cratering in the United States, according to national statistics. Last year appears to have produced the sharpest decline ever for homicides.

“This is the fourth year in a row of declines, and each year has gotten a little bigger than the year before. And this ...Read more

Another day, another reversal by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. This one was yesterday, “Day 48 of a new era,” when he backed down on his rash and dangerous policy from Jan. 5 (Day 5 of the new era) to stop all sweeps of homeless encampments in the aftermath of a cold snap that froze to death 20 people.

We are glad that he did a backflip on this, ...Read more

I know so many people are approaching America’s 250th anniversary with a sense of trepidation, even dread. Is there really anything to celebrate given the recent chaos and uncertainty we’ve been experiencing? Is productively reckoning with our history a possibility these days? And how hopeful will we allow ourselves to be about the future of...Read more

Few federal agencies have undertaken as many star-crossed technology upgrades as the Federal Aviation Administration. Its latest overhaul — forthrightly called the “brand new air traffic control system” — needs to learn from those mistakes.

The FAA manages some 80,000 flights a day. Its staffers have a remarkable record under pressure ...Read more

It was early 2025 when Vice President JD Vance made his bombshell speech at the Munich Security Conference about Europe’s “threat from within.” A year later, and a continent no longer sure of American security guarantees has used the same event to assess its nuclear options.

Only France and Britain have nuclear weapons in Western Europe. ...Read more

How come high-ranking and important people elsewhere, such as Britain and Korea, can be held accountable for their actions, but not the highest-ranking and most important person in this country?

The man who was once called Prince Andrew has now been arrested in the U.K. in connection to his apparent sharing of privileged information with ...Read more

The world moves on different wavelengths. Some are high-frequency shocks — wars, emerging technologies, market panics — that spike quickly and dominate our attention. Others are low-frequency forces that move slowly but relentlessly: demographics, globalization, water and food scarcity.

The high-frequency waves feel urgent. The low-...Read more

The First Amendment looms behind the dispute between Stephen Colbert and CBS about the network’s decision to not air the host’s interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.

The network says the impetus for its decision was guidance issued by President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission in January. The ...Read more

The battle over the 2030 Census is intensifying — and compounding concerns about President Donald Trump’s broader moves to suppress the political power of the nation’s growing non-White population.

As in Trump’s first term, Republicans in the executive branch, in Congress and at the state level are advancing proposals to exclude ...Read more

The Supreme Court’s decision that President Donald Trump illegally imposed tariffs on U.S. trading partners under the guise that America’s trade deficit amounts to a national emergency is a victory for the rule of law. As such, it’s also a win for the country’s reputation as a destination for global capital. Financial markets should ...Read more

It took almost a decade, but Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court finally found a way to stand up to President Donald Trump’s executive power overreach, striking down the tariffs that are the signature initiative of his presidency. Not since the Supreme Court struck down the first New Deal in 1935 has the court reversed a policy of...Read more

Disenchanted voters are fleeing the Democratic and Republican parties in droves. Their exodus is perpetuating the skyrocketing partisanship they seek to escape.

Gallup published polling in January showing that as of last year, 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents, a record high. The migration began around 2008, with the ...Read more

California, like a careless heir who squanders a fortune, keeps menacing its top taxpayers. Unless lawmakers start showing some restraint, the state’s many economic strengths are likely to further erode.

An emblematic example is the recent campaign — orchestrated by a health-care workers union — to levy a supposedly one-time 5% wealth tax...Read more

Gustavo Arellano: Chipotle just saw its worst year ever. It may not get any better

Before me was a lunch as big and hefty as a brick, wrapped in gold-colored foil that gleamed with the promise of a delicious meal.

What I was about to try was no culinary treasure, though; it was a burrito from Chipotle.

Chicken al pastor smushed into cilantro ...Read more

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has returned again and again to a familiar target: the military’s long-standing refrain that “our diversity is our strength.” Last week, at Bath Iron Works in Maine, he dismissed it as “the dumbest phrase in military history” and mocked the generals who had repeated it “with a straight face.” Some ...Read more

We got a kick out of an old chestnut among conspiracy theorists — whether intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe and whether any of those aliens have visited Earth — that rose to the surface earlier this week thanks to the musings of none other than former President Barack Obama.

Obama’s off-the-cuff remarks to a podcast host ...Read more