France is great. I visit a few times a year, and the food is fantastic, the museums are amazing, and the day care is free (or heavily subsidized) starting at 3 months old. New York City, where I live, is also great, with pretty good food and architecture. The day care, not so much.

Of course that French day care comes at a steep price. The ...Read more

Muted yet deafening are the many dog whistles suggesting that American foreign policy under President Donald Trump is at least in part based on race, and specifically on white Christian nationalism.

Nobody in the administration has said so baldly. In fact, all involved reject the idea with well-rehearsed indignation. “I am, by the way, the ...Read more

Explaining cruelty to a child is difficult, especially when it comes from policy, not chance. My youngest son, just old enough to notice, asks why a boy with a backpack is crying on TV. He wonders why the police grip his father’s hand so tightly, and why the woman behind them is crying so hard she can barely walk.

Unfortunately, I tell him ...Read more

In 1761, James Otis Jr., a 36-year-old lawyer, ignited an early spark of the American Revolution when he resigned his post as Massachusetts Advocate General to represent merchants challenging the British use of overly broad warrants. Though he lost the case, his speech electrified the colonies: John Adams later wrote that Otis’s argument was ...Read more

For years now, conservative voices have railed against the outsize influence of public-sector unions on the running of American cities, with Chicago serving as one of the leading examples. Now, more left-of-center voices are sounding the alarm and saying the stakes for Democrats in charge of America’s largest cities couldn’t be higher.

The ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It was the Los Angeles Hispanic Republican Club's potluck party for President Trump's State of the Union address, but there was a problem:

Not many Hispanics showed up. Or people, period.

About half of the the 20-some folks who trudged into the club's Woodland Hills offices were Latino. Four of them were Chairman David ...Read more

For this year's State of the Union address, as usual, the president was the center of attention. That's just where Donald Trump lives, so it's no wonder that he broke his record for the length of the nationally televised speech. He was the star of his own unreality show, with an audience of tens of millions. In front of him, idolatrous ...Read more

The President of the United States “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” This is the constitutional basis for what has become known at the State of the Union address.

None of America’s founders ...Read more

It’s hard to pinpoint when the concept of the State of the Union address jumped the shark. But a good starting point for discussion would be 1996, when President Bill Clinton devoted considerable time in his long-winded oration to championing uniforms in public schools.

Since then, the events have become rather mundane affairs, often ...Read more

Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris have long circled one another.

The two moved in the same political slipstream, wooed the same set of Democratic donors and, for a time, even shared the same group of campaign advisors.

Harris rose from San Francisco district attorney to elected positions in Sacramento and Washington before twice running ...Read more

The U.S. and Iran are hurtling toward a conflict neither ostensibly wants but both seem unable to avoid. The long-standing rivals ought to pause and think carefully about where their true interests lie.

After weeks of buildup, two U.S. carrier groups and squadrons of advanced fighters and bombers are now poised to launch massive air and missile...Read more

America is now living in what might be called the Age of the Corporation. Corporate profits, after having reached 8% of GDP only once in the previous 94 years, have averaged 9% since 2021. The statutory corporate income tax rate, meanwhile, is now just 21% — down from 52% in 1960 — as federal tax revenue from corporations has fallen from 4% ...Read more

Is reality finally settling in on Capitol Hill? The nation can only hope.

As the national debt rushes toward $39 trillion, and Social Security and Medicare get nearer to insolvency with each tick of the clock, pressure mounts on the White House and Congress to craft a more sustainable path forward. After decades of apathy — which has pushed ...Read more

We have all had the experience of staying a few days in a hotel — say on holiday — which becomes home. Quickly, it becomes familiar. Individuals adjust to change. People who come into money get used to being well-off, and people who lose everything get used to that.

So, too, with nations. They adjust with this attitude: That is just the way...Read more

Thirty years ago, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was born out of real concerns for the future. Lawmakers feared that the early internet, fragile and experimental, would be smothered in lawsuits before it had the chance to become the marketplace of ideas many hoped it could become.

Section 230 offered a shield, allowing platforms...Read more

On World Wildlife Day (March 3), we’re asked to reflect on what it means to protect the earthlings who share this planet with us. Few animals reveal the answer more clearly than wolves.

Gray wolves have been protected under federal law for decades, yet their future remains perpetually under threat. This raises a practical and ethical question...Read more

Across the country, people are skipping meals and falling behind on housing payments while layoffs, automation and diminishing labor protections deepen insecurity. The message many workers hear is simple: You are replaceable.

In that climate, people take dangerous jobs and stay silent about hazards. They skip water breaks in extreme heat, avoid...Read more

In a country with a broken pension system that struggles to pay benefits to retirees, an injection of young laborers became crucial to increase tax revenue and keep the program afloat.

It’s not the first time this country has launched a program to legalize migrants; previous experiences have shown that subsidies and benefit programs are not ...Read more