Some years back, I fired off a forgettable social media post referencing the “three co-equal branches” of government. A friend — a smart journalist steeped in American political history — responded with a gentle correction reminding me that Congress was the “supreme branch,” befitting its Article I status in the United States ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Trump administration’s screwup texting about military attack plans while using an unsecured app instantly reminded me of a phone call I made when Ronald Reagan was president.

The anecdote illustrates the contrast in competence and grasp of real world dangers between Reagan’s team and Trump’s toadies — and ...Read more

In a moment defined by fracture and division, a surprising development has emerged in America's religious landscape. The decades-long decline of Christianity is leveling off.

According to new research from the Pew Research Center, the share of Americans identifying as Christian has stabilized at around 62% — a dramatic shift from previous ...Read more

About 63% of U.S. public school students now have the freedom to choose not to dissect animals, according to data published in the journal The American Biology Teacher. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have passed dissection-choice laws, which give young learners the ability to complete a similar assignment using a modern, ...Read more

President Donald Trump likes superlatives: He often asserts that everything—the economy, the military, his ratings—is better, bigger and stronger than ever before. Everything is at levels no one’s ever seen. That’s what everyone is saying.

It’s certainly true for presidential impeachments. The United States had experienced only two of...Read more

By now, most newspaper readers know the basics: Somehow, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and a dozen other high-ranking officials were chatting on ...Read more

Oskar Jakob, 94, is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who once assembled V-1 flying bombs in a subterranean concentration camp, and I’m the granddaughter of the engineer who developed those secret Nazi super weapons. Despite or perhaps because of our respective histories, we’ve worked to become friends. And while I’ve known Oskar for a few years...Read more

While seeking another stay in the White House, Donald J. Trump did what most politicians do: promised the moon to those who might help him get elected. Trump also assured us that promises made would be promises kept. But as former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo is famously quoted, “You campaign in poetry. Some of the promises called for ...Read more

Some of the fiercest blowback in recent years against “diversity, equity and inclusion” greeted Stanford University in 2022 when it launched the website of its Elimination of Harmful Language initiative. Back then, it was the right that was appalled by the efforts to limit language.

Developed by campus experts in technology and inclusion, ...Read more

I remember walking into my local library as a child, breathing in that distinct scent of books and possibility. The tall shelves, the peaceful atmosphere, the librarians who seemed to know exactly what book might capture my imagination. These experiences shaped my understanding of what it means to be part of a community that values knowledge.

...Read more

The stretch of Interstate 5 that runs through the heart of California’s sunbaked Central Valley would be forgettable if not for the stench of manure. Cattle ranches, some tightly packed with livestock, sprawl to the horizon.

As demand for meat continues to soar, it’s hard to blame these hardworking ranchers for earning a living. Yet the ...Read more

There are many intriguing mansions in the great house of MAGA but perhaps the most intriguing of all has its own name: MAHA or Make America Healthy Again. America undeniably suffers from a serious health crisis: Almost half of Americans have high blood pressure, three-quarters are obese or overweight, and 15% have type 2 diabetes. Previous ...Read more

Fort Knox, home to much of the nation’s gold reserves, doesn’t get many visitors. That may soon change: President Donald Trump and his sidekick, Elon Musk, claim there’s a chance someone has stolen the shiny stuff. They want to visit and see it with their own eyes.

It’s tempting to dismiss this demand as paranoid raving, but history ...Read more

“Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country!”

So began a recent post by President Donald Trump on social media. He seeks to end the practice that allows a judge in a single district to issue an order that blocks his policies from taking effect nationwide. His proposal is ...Read more

The White House claims American companies are losing business abroad because U.S. law prohibits them from paying bribes. That’s just one of the fictions underpinning its ill-advised decision to pause enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a move that threatens to unravel decades of progress in global anti-corruption efforts.

The ...Read more

On March 15, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared sensitive details about an imminent attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen — including timing and targets — on Signal, an unclassified commercial app. On Monday, a journalist revealed he had been accidentally added to this Signal group. In the days since, the story has snowballed into the familiar...Read more

One factor contributing to the complacency that Americans have long held about the strength of our democracy has been the conviction that, should it come under threat, institutions such as our universities would fight to safeguard our political norms.

Columbia University, through a thoroughly pusillanimous capitulation to a multi-million-dollar...Read more

Ultra-processed foods, or UPFs for short, are suddenly the hot health concept — the new antihero in global diets. The topic is exploding both in scientific literature and on social media. There’s even an AI system to help consumers select less-processed foods while shopping.

But once you get past the important and obvious idea that junk ...Read more

Europe finally appears serious about rearming. German legislators have agreed to exempt defense from constitutional limits on debt spending. The European Commission is urging members to raise military budgets to 3% of gross domestic product and issue joint debt to fund weapons purchases — moves that could unlock more than €800 billion ($867 ...Read more

Democrats continue to exhibit that they’ve learned little from their November election drubbing. The latest example comes from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who this month went on “The View” to criticize productive Americans.

Schumer told the hosts, “The Republican Party is a different kettle of fish than it used to be, and that...Read more