For decades, American families have gathered to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve.

The 1946 Frank Capra movie, about a man who on one of the worst days of his life discovers how he has positively impacted his hometown of Bedford Falls, is beloved for extolling selflessness, community and the little guy taking on rapacious ...Read more

Who doesn’t have a soft spot for the smells of the holidays? The aromatic cinnamon stick flavoring a cup of eggnog or the hint of vanilla in grandma’s baked goods can trigger wonderful memories of the Christmas season.

Leave it to progressive climate Grinches to warn that global warming represents a threat to some of these cherished ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — I’ve got a wish list for Santa and it’s topped by this urgent request: a remodeled president with at least an ounce of humanity and humility.

Maybe a Ronald Reagan type. I’m not referring here to ideology or policies. Just common decency, someone who acts presidential.

I know, forget it. That’s beyond Santa’s ...Read more

The year was already a debacle for the Los Angeles Fire Department and Mayor Karen Bass, with multiple stumbles before and after the epic January blaze that obliterated Pacific Palisades, so it was hard to imagine that things could get worse in the closing days of 2025.

But they have.

A blistering Times investigation found that the Fire ...Read more

The grisly murders last week of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, allegedly at the hands of their deranged son, moved me to go back and watch two of my favorite “All in the Family” episodes.

They are both from Season 2. In the first one, “Edith Writes a Song,” a pair of thieves, Demond Wilson (“Sanford and Son”) ...Read more

I got my son an Elf on the Shelf this year. Do I regret it? Absolutely. But it reminded me of something this holiday season, something too easy to forget in our modern age.

For an otherwise bright child, my son is convinced that the elf is real in the sense that he moves himself around the house at night and ends up in all sorts of compromising...Read more

Just a week ago, we saw how fast a viral video could virally whip around the world.

It was taken during Australia’s Hanukkah-by-the-Sea family-fest that turned into a mass shooting tragedy. Yet it ended with that astonishing, made-for Hollywood heroic twist. It was quickly seen by just about all the planet’s most powerful deciders; and also...Read more

U.S. officials from across the political spectrum vow to ramp up efforts to wean the nation off rare-earth mineral imports from China. But the most promising path isn’t central planning or a federal industrial policy, but a reliance on the innovation and entrepreneurship that have made America’s private economy the envy of the world.

Rare-...Read more

For a president who is stingy with the Epstein files and refuses to release the video of the extrajudicial executions (probably) of a couple of shipwrecked Venezuelan mariners/criminals (maybe), Donald Trump has had a very transparent week.

How much more do we need to know about a person than was revealed by Trump’s erroneous and tasteless ...Read more

There’s not enough time or space to react to every Donald Trump rant that’s so offensive coming from a president of the United States.

What he said about the Reiner murders demands discussion — and not just because it was so vile. It confirms much of what’s deplorable in Trump.

Without waiting to hear who might have killed Rob Reiner ...Read more

In my corner of the world, it feels like 2020 all over again, experiencing the push and pull between losing someone I love due to medical misinformation, all while holding respect for free speech.

The tension between combating medical misinformation and protecting free speech represents one of the most challenging dilemmas of our age. On one ...Read more

For many decades, Iranian citizens have lived under one of the world’s most restrictive internet regimes. The Islamic Republic has crafted a sophisticated digital architecture that allows the state to surveil, monitor and limit access to information at will. Yet it was only recently — following Elon Musk’s decision to reveal the ...Read more

As the United States confronts the limits of its own divisions, it can feel as though blame has replaced problem-solving in nearly every area of public life. That perception has led to public trust in just about every major institution—from government to media, religious institutions, and nonprofits—reaching historic lows.

But Americans are...Read more

The world’s first social media ban of users under age 16 is now in effect in Australia. Whatever parents’ genuine concerns and understandable frustrations around their kids’ safety online, the Aussie approach is not the answer and should not be emulated by U.S. lawmakers.

The Australian ban covers Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube ...Read more

Should the United States follow Australia’s lead in banning children under 16 from social media platforms? Absolutely!

Australia has set a new global standard by requiring platforms to act in children’s best interests. Its new law raises the minimum age to 16, requires age verification, and holds platforms financially accountable for ...Read more

Last year, a doctor of physical therapy program at an institution of higher education faced an all-too-familiar challenge: how to celebrate the holidays in a way that felt meaningful for everyone. Instead of defaulting to the traditional catered lunch and gift exchange, the director invited faculty, staff and graduate students to co-create the ...Read more

The November inflation numbers are in, and they’re a disappointment for Democrats. The Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose 2.7% in November compared with a year earlier. That’s an improvement from the September rate of 3%.

Many economists had predicted a steeper rise. But even core inflation, “which strips out ...Read more

During the Christmas holidays, the word peace makes a frequent appearance, in sermons and carols and frequent performances of Handel’s Messiah, with its glorious Hallelujah Chorus praising “the Prince of Peace.”

That makes it even more infuriating to watch President Donald Trump demanding that Ukraine (and American’s European allies) ...Read more

Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Noam Chomsky and Woody Allen were among the familiar faces in the latest batch of photographs released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in connection to the late Jeffrey Epstein. With the Justice Department preparing to make additional files public, the images underscore an uncomfortable truth for us all: ...Read more

DENVER -- Just in time for the holidays, President Donald Trump has issued another of his dubious pardons. Or rather, make that a "pardon."

This one comes on behalf of a former Colorado elections official serving a nine-year sentence for election fraud.

"Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply ...Read more