“No king in America,” said the hand-lettered signs at protests across the nation Saturday.

It was the 250th anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord that started the American Revolution, which rid our nation of despotic rule forever.

Or so we thought.

Our new tyrant plans to dominate next year’s 250th anniversary of the ...Read more

A number of otherwise skeptical senators took at face value the pledge by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Senate hearings in January to "follow the science" on issues related to the causes of disease in the U.S., helping him receive confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services.

As he demonstrated last week at his very first news conference ...Read more

Three children as members of a “board of directors.” Housing for more than 100 monkeys consisting of backyard fencing and plastic sheets. No veterinarian. No medical records. And, for years, no permit to experiment on animals.

Practically the only thing legitimate about the “consortium” of overlapping animal testing businesses created ...Read more

It has become as predictable as the sun rising and setting each day, that the REAL ID requirement for air travel gets delayed.

The current deadline requiring REAL ID for air travel is May 7, with no word from the Department of Homeland Security that it will be moved. The Transportation Security Administration will enforce the deadline, while ...Read more

Since becoming a parent, one of my favorite domestic tasks is taking out the bins on trash night. Not only are the blast of fresh air, the sudden darkness and the sigh of suburban quiet a welcome break from the barrage of stimulation of family life with a young child, it’s also a chance, on a clear night, to reflect on all the iterations of my...Read more

The political news these days is enough to make some Chicagoans wish they were a million miles away. But consider this: Even in the depths of space, there’s no escape from politics.

The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is literally parked 1 million miles away. In the nearly three years since it became operational, “Webb,” as it’s ...Read more

Nevada is home to the largest known lithium deposit in the United States and one of the largest in the world. Radical greens would prefer the mineral remains buried in the Nevada outback. Thankfully, more rational voices are on the verge of prevailing.

This month, Ioneer Limited signed a deal with Esmeralda County to provide up to $17 million ...Read more

The United States had planned to send a delegation to Greenland, headed by Vice President JD Vance’s wife, Usha. But guess what? Greenland wasn’t having it, saying the visit was too provocative.

It’s a pattern. When President Donald Trump talks about buying Greenland, taking over Canada, or getting back the Panama Canal, it makes people ...Read more

If there was one moment that exemplified the work and message of Pope Francis, it would be this: the late Pontiff embracing Vinicio Riva, a man covered in the disfiguring growths of neurofibomatosis in November 2013.

Riva, like so many others, made his way to St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican hoping for a glimpse of the pope. He got so much ...Read more

Five homes, so close to one another in Rustic Canyon.

The one just up the hillside from me, the flames swallowed whole.

Outside another, two doors down from mine, five-gallon spring water bottles in a wooden casing leaned against wooden siding. When the two homes between us — one a Prohibition-era speakeasy — blazed in livid rage, the ...Read more

Donald Trump can’t get rid of Pete Hegseth fast enough as the tough talking former Fox News host looks more and more like a huge liability and a soft target for Democrats.

The White House has already begun looking to replace the Pentagon chief, according to AP, after the latest scandal involving him sharing classified information in a Signal ...Read more

The death of Pope Francis silences a powerful — and increasingly solitary — voice for peace, equality, and disenfranchised people in the face of a growing threat from authoritarianism and climate change.

The pope strived to be a compassionate force for good, and a unifier at a time when many world leaders — including President Donald ...Read more

A symbolic turning point for U.S. climate policy, and by extension the world, happened when President Ronald Reagan removed the solar panels that his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, had installed at the White House, signaling a return to business as usual — i.e., burning more fossil fuels and hastening a growing climate crisis.

After the death of...Read more

Amid a world with growing rancor and discord and hate and war, we have lost a needed voice for peace and human compassion with the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, leaving behind a church marked by the imprint of his humble and caring character.

“Blessed are the peacemakers” says the Gospel of Matthew and Francis was a world leader ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom made headlines Friday for his comments about wrongfully deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, when he was trying to make news about tariffs.

Speaking at a Central Valley press conference announcing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its wildly unpredictable trade policies, Newsom answered a question ...Read more

Across 12 eventful years, the reign of Pope Francis saw no shortage of resonant images. One thinks of him standing all alone in St. Peter’s Square, in the darkest days of COVID, offering prayers for the world. Or greeting enormous crowds at papal masses in Iraq, East Timor, Myanmar. Or indeed, dispensing an Easter blessing, amid an adoring ...Read more

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency wants more power and more data. DOGE has attempted to defy a court order to access Social Security data. It has forced or tried to force access to IRS data systems, Medicare data, SEC data, National Labor Relations Board data, and Education Department student data, among other things.

DOGE is ...Read more

Two of my books are among the 381 volumes that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered removed from the library of the U.S. Naval Academy because they were deemed to relate to the topics of diversity, equity or inclusion.

The arbitrary removal of these books reveals a sophomoric approach to history by word search. That amateurish tactic of ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled recently that Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be released and returned to his family. He was wrongfully deported to the high-security prison in El Salvador based on what the Trump administration calls an “administrative error.”

However, during a recent visit to the Oval Office with ...Read more

In these tough times, as we grapple with saving America itself, it is important to note progress and victories.

This year, for the first time, women make up a majority in California’s state Senate. Across both chambers, 58 women — a record high — are serving. This is just two seats away from gender parity, which would make California the ...Read more