As the latest and longest government shutdown enters its denouement, Congress will be left to tally the costs and repair the damage. One thing to be thankful for: The filibuster, the procedural oddity that has constrained Senate majorities for decades, remains intact — for now.

As Republican frustration mounted last week, the procedure ...Read more

Congress appears poised to effectively ban the sale of intoxicating synthetic hemp products such as delta-8 that have proliferated in gas stations, convenience stores and many other retail outlets in recent years.

This is bad news for Mayor Brandon Johnson and members of the Black Caucus in Springfield, who have shamefully treated this ...Read more

There is no company in the U.S. that has become more closely associated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids than Home Depot Inc.

In and around the retailer’s parking lots, masked and armed ICE agents chase and tackle and detain the day laborers who gather there to look for work.

Store employees who are upset by witnessing the grim...Read more

If there is one area where Americans still agree, it’s that free speech matters. Amid recent political protests, ongoing concerns about speech suppression, and the latest campus controversies, the First Amendment is (still) immensely popular.

In our latest national survey, 81 percent of Americans claimed freedom of speech should be protected ...Read more

JD Vance, it seems, is everywhere.

Berating Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Eulogizing Charlie Kirk. Babysitting the Middle East peace accord. Profanely defending the aquatic obliteration of (possible) drug smugglers.

He's loud, he's obnoxious and, in a very short time, he's broken unprecedented ground with his smash-face, turn-it-to-...Read more

“They gave your job to AI. They picked profit over people. That’s not going to happen when I’m in office. We’re going to tax companies that automate away your livelihood. We’re going to halt excessive use of AI. We’re going to make sure the American Dream isn’t outsourced to AI labs. Anyone who isn’t with us, anyone who is ...Read more

As the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier sails to the Caribbean, the U.S. military continues striking drug-carrying boats off the Venezuelan coast and the Trump administration debates what to do about Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, one thing seems certain: Venezuela and the western hemisphere would all be better off if Maduro packed his ...Read more

Imagine standing barefoot on frozen ground, tethered by a heavy chain, as you watch lights glow warmly in the house where your family lives—without you.

As winter’s chill creeps in and we draw closer to the comfort and safety of our homes, countless dogs spend the season shivering outside on a chain or confined to a pen. Sometimes they have...Read more

Gavin Newsom is in his glory this week, basking on the international stage at the world’s annual climate change conference, this time in Brazil, alone as the top representative from the United States.

It’s truly important that somebody high in office from this country attend this crucial gathering, given that climate change skeptic Donald ...Read more

If owning a home is still the American dream, then it is increasingly out of reach for many young Americans. The average age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40, up from 33 just a few years ago and 29 in 1981.

To which I say: It’s just as well. Buying a home in your 20s is not the best financial goal, nor should it define the American dream ...Read more

When you're a leading scientist who thinks Big Tech is chasing the wrong AI breakthrough, you probably won’t last long at a company desperate to catch up with the herd. Yann LeCun, a French-U.S. scientist known as one of the Godfathers of AI thanks to his foundational research on deep learning, is leaving Meta after 12 years to start his own ...Read more

After widespread defeats in last week’s off-year elections, Republicans should realize they made a bad bet by following President Donald Trump’s lead on mid-decade redistricting.

Desperate not to lose the House in the midterms, the president sought to rig the game. He pressured legislatures in red states to create new Republican-leaning ...Read more

The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case brought in an effort to persuade the justices to reconsider the court’s landmark 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges.

This latest decision is best read as a signal that the conservative majority has little interest in revisiting gay marriage, despite the call issued by ...Read more

Democrats just crumbled like soft-bake cookies.

The so-called resistance party has given up the shutdown fight, ensuring that millions of Americans will face Republican-created skyrocketing healthcare costs, and millions more will bury any hope that the minority party will find the substance and leadership to run a viable defense against ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s reelection stirred concern among many that constitutional protections, including the right to marry, could be put back on the table.

The Supreme Court put those fears to rest Monday when they decided to leave it well enough alone.

At issue was a petition from a former county clerk from Kentucky who had asked the ...Read more

Years ago, the BBC suggested in an interview with the Herald that a British murderer may have been falsely charged because someone linked to the case had Mafia ties.

That opinion was based on one fact: someone of Italian heritage was an innocent part of the case. It was a complete lie, and no law enforcement official ever suggested anything ...Read more

If there is one thing you can say about Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, it’s that she’s handled President Donald Trump quite well so far. This was by no means a given; as Colombian President Gustavo Petro is learning the hard way, Trump’s personal relationships with foreign leaders can run hot and cold depending on the day and the ...Read more

Has there ever been a presidential administration more deeply defined by the personality traits of the sitting president than this one?

America knows President Donald Trump well: His innate lack of empathy toward the weak, most recently demonstrated with his gutting of foreign food aid; a long history of racism, from his days as a redlining ...Read more

The way that Congress makes decisions seems almost designed to produce government shutdowns. Senate rules require a three-fifths supermajority to close debate on most bills.

In practice, this means that senators from both parties must agree to advance legislation to a final vote. In such a polarized political environment, negotiating an ...Read more