Politics can be a rough-and-tumble enterprise, a dominion where those with thick skin, steel jaws and bare knuckles thrive. Nobody expects the candidates competing in hotly contested races to resolve their differences with pillow fights.

But in a country where mental health services are sparse for those who need them and nearly everyone has ...Read more

As a vice presidential pick, JD Vance has been a big mistake, as even some of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago mafia and media friends concede.

A younger version of Trump, Vance brings no new voters to the Republicans' side; their ticket is MAGA squared. He's likely lost more than a few votes, by maligning millions of "childless cat ladies" — not ...Read more

The presidential debate has come and gone. The sitting American president is rattling the saber of long-range weapons for Ukraine. The sitting Russian dictator is expelling the West’s diplomatic staff. The outgoing president of Mexico has pulled off the largest-ever change of a judicial system in a substantial democracy. The prime minister of ...Read more

Vice President Kamala Harris is a gun owner. Apparently that fact is supposed to make other gun owners less leery of her stance on Second Amendment issues.

There’s just one problem. Harris is a gun owner who’s also currently an integral part of the most anti-gun administration in American history.

As President Joe Biden’s right-hand ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders vehemently oppose an anti-retail theft measure on the November ballot. But they're being ignored by California voters who support the proposal overwhelmingly.

Maybe voters don't know about the governor's and lawmakers' strong opposition. Or maybe they do and don't care....Read more

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — In a far corner of the continental U.S., amid the salty air and green-carpeted mountains of the Pacific Northwest, lies a unique place with an unparalleled record of political precision.

Clallam County, Washington, which takes its name from its Indigenous peoples, has voted for the winner in every presidential election ...Read more

Last month on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump reposted a collage of young women wearing "Swifties for Trump" T-shirts. Most of the images clearly looked as if they'd been generated by AI.

"I accept!" Trump told his 7.1 million followers, prompting the world's most famous childless cat lady to come at him with her claws out.

"...Read more

I try to stay optimistic that our institutions, our democracy and our American mixing-bowl experiment are all going to survive the current stress test they're undergoing.

But lately I've been having serious doubts. The reason is because I am originally from Springfield, Ohio.

Yes, that Springfield — the one that's suddenly been slandered as ...Read more

The presidential election has brought back a topic that always seems to need more momentum to succeed, but always has enough support to stick around: ending the Department of Education. Why has it stayed in political purgatory? While there are good reasons to end the department, there is no huge benefit if the programs it administers remain.

...Read more

Marie-Louise stood in Boston’s Logan Airport, clutching her two young children. Behind them was a life shattered by violence in Haiti, forcing them to flee for safety. Now, they face an uncertain future with no place to go. Access to housing will determine their fate.

Policy decisions, such as determining who gets access to emergency shelters...Read more

Whenever the topic of China comes up for discussion, President Joe Biden’s administration has a talking point waiting in its back pocket: While the U.S. and China are global competitors, Washington seeks to ensure that relations are managed responsibly so “competition doesn’t veer into conflict.”

U.S. officials, from Secretary of State...Read more

During a press conference at his golf resort in Rancho Palos Verdes last week, former President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the state if Gov. Gavin Newsom doesn’t divert more water to farmers in Southern California.

It was the former president’s latest swipe at Newsom, an attempt at punishment delivered via a ...Read more

If right-wing lawmakers really cared about what they call “parents’ rights,” they would not be spreading misinformation to pit parents against teachers. They would be listening to what parents really want instead of stoking racial and social divisions to drain resources from public schools.

In contrast, President Joe Biden has made ...Read more

It shouldn’t take another attempt on Donald Trump’s life to convince the Secret Service its strategy for protecting the former president is inadequate.

A second apparent try at assassinating the former president came Sunday, when a man with a high-powered rifle and scope set up on the perimeter of the Florida course where Trump was playing ...Read more

Australia’s government wants to ban children up to age 16 from social media, and is spending millions of dollars to figure out how. I’m willing to wager it won’t take long for tech-savvy teens who grew up on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to figure out how to log back on.

The promised regulation, currently sparse on details, comes at a ...Read more

A large national survey released last week by PRRI, a nonpartisan, nonprofit polling organization, applied some sharp detail to the rise of authoritarianism in the U.S. The overall trend, of course, is unmistakable. Donald Trump lavishes praise on international thugs and promises to unleash vengeance on any American who excites his insecurities ...Read more

Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is back in the news. As of early September, the World Health Organization has reported more than 5,000 laboratory-confirmed cases this year. Given the well-documented shortcomings of mpox surveillance, these numbers underestimate the true magnitude of the disease burden.

The highest number of cases are in the ...Read more

As a scientist, I view every animal behavior as a crucial data point, revealing an animal’s well-being through the collective story they tell. After 25 years in the wildlife world, this skill is finely tuned. That’s why watching the HBO docuseries “Chimp Crazy,” from the producers of “ Tiger King,” is so distressing. The image the ...Read more

Anyone glancing at the headlines might think the electric vehicle market is doomed: Mainstream shoppers are skeptical, old-fashioned gas guzzlers are making the profits, and ex-President Donald Trump has vowed to target the Democrats’ pro-EV policies if he wins on Nov. 5.

In fact, the market for EVs is growing at a good clip, albeit more ...Read more

Since President Jimmy Carter created the modern Department of Education in 1979, the department has faced continuous calls for its abolition. This threat has persisted through Republican administrations, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump.

Never following through on their campaign promises to abolish it, some presidents have often used the ...Read more