Most climate-change deniers don’t even bother fighting the established science anymore: The planet is warming, human activity is the cause, and we can do something about it if we really try. Modern deniers will concede all that, but fire back that the “do something about it” part is too hard, too expensive to be worth trying. We have to be...Read more

One way to hasten a long-delayed home renovation is to set the house on fire. Having helped torch much of the federal bureaucracy, Elon Musk says he plans to move on from his work at the Department of Government Efficiency. Here’s hoping a sounder reform of the civil service can now begin.

DOGE began with much hype. It promised some $2 ...Read more

Should a blatantly sectarian educational institution qualify for public funding as a charter school? The Supreme Court wrestled with the question Wednesday. The answer must be no.

Charter schools are public schools; we’ve said this many times, as have fellow advocates for the innovative instructional models they deliver. They are free and ...Read more

The Trump administration’s recent moves to cut federal funding for Medicaid are nothing new. The cuts proposed in the budget resolution resemble similar Republican proposals such as the 2017 Better Care Reconciliation Act, which failed to pass the Senate due to both disunity among Republicans and a swell of organized opposition against it.

...Read more

Reports that the White House may propose nearly a 50% cut to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate are both mind-boggling and, if true, nothing short of disastrous.

To make those cuts happen — a total of $3.6 billion — NASA would have to close the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and cancel the mission that will bring back samples ...Read more

In my family, voting isn’t just a right — it’s a lifeline.

My parents were sharecroppers in Arkansas until 1951, when my dad dared stand up to his boss for not paying him a fair wage at the agricultural weigh station. Under threat from the KKK, he left town in a wagon, covered in hay so he wouldn’t be discovered. Three months later — ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours once he was elected has proved to be utter nonsense as experts grade his first 100 days in office. One day, he blames the cause of the war on Ukraine, and then, finally, he criticizes Vladimir Putin after a Russian ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian city of ...Read more

For economists, America’s organ shortage is a perplexing public health problem. About 37 million Americans suffer from kidney disease, and more than 800,000 live with kidney failure. At this advanced stage, patients either receive a kidney transplant or remain on dialysis — an expensive and often debilitating treatment — for the rest of ...Read more

Dr. Charles DeCarli, co-director of the UC Davis Alzheimer's Research Center, got the news in a call from a colleague on March 24.

"Your study was terminated."

DeCarli had been conducting a six-year examination, funded by the National Institutes of Health, of brain and vascular conditions that can be risk factors for dementia. The study, ...Read more

Even in our ultra-polarized era, the public and private sectors seem to have reached a consensus on the common scourge of our time: bureaucracy.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon can’t hide his disdain for it, mentioning some form of the word 21 times in his April letter to shareholders and going so far as to say it “kills” companies. ...Read more

Men and women have long behaved differently in the political realm, with the former more inclined to vote for Republicans and the latter more likely to support Democrats. But significantly, these differences did not historically apply to 18-to-29-year-olds. For many years, both younger men and women have leaned decidedly left.

No longer. The ...Read more

The Trump administration has turned a spotlight on Harvard, one of the nation’s most esteemed institutions of higher learning, primarily over allegations of antisemitism. Last month the White House froze $2.2 billion in federal funds designated for the university, and Harvard has responded with a lawsuit.

But the school’s defense suffered a...Read more

In the months and years after 9/11, going to the U.S. was scary for many of us. Border security became harsh and unforgiving, and we could feel our rights drop away upon entering American airspace. Novels were written and movies were made about how an encounter with hostile, suspicious border officials could radicalize even those who previously ...Read more

“The United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest ally and partner. … At the same time, they’re talking about working positively with Russia (and) appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying murderous dictator. … Make that make sense.”

I have thought a lot about what then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a ...Read more

Naturally enough, newspaper staffers might get a little sensitive over the very idea of getting arrested, much less deported, for penning an op-ed article.

In the United States of America, mind you.

But that is the position in which Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk strangely finds herself. She was among four authors of a pro...Read more

Rumblings of a recession always lead to a panicked analysis of consumer spending patterns.

People taking fewer trips to cut and color their hair, for example, means the beauty salon indicator is dinging — “recession hair” is already trending on TikTok. Some analyze the “beer index” to see if pricey craft IPAs are being swapped for ...Read more

The White House deserves credit for revitalizing diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. In its haste for a deal, however, its proposals have too often looked indistinguishable from a surrender on Russia’s terms. If the U.S. wants to secure a lasting peace, it will need to put forward a more credible offer — and, most important, increase the ...Read more

The arrest of a Wisconsin judge in her chambers is just the latest and most dramatic effort by the Trump administration to intimidate the judiciary. It follows the playbook of other countries where those seeking authoritarian power have sought to remove judges and lessen their authority.

President Donald Trump and those around him know that at ...Read more

Under new legislation proposed by Republican lawmakers, drug dealers who sell or give out fentanyl that leads to an overdose death could face felony murder charges.

It’s about time.

As The Hill reported, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, one of the sponsors of the legislation proposed in both the House and Senate, said in a statement that the ...Read more

A single feather. So simple. Light as the wind.

I’m sure we all have found one in the yard or on a trail or sidewalk. With its colors and geometry, it’s like spotting a ruby or diamond. Kids are instinctively drawn to picking up a feather. It’s made to be discovered and ruffled.

Of course, one thing we do with a feather is let it go and ...Read more