President Donald Trump wants to give back $9.4 billion in federal spending to Congress that it has already approved. But it’s proving to be an uphill battle with Senate Republicans. Some GOP senators don’t want to claw back funds for certain programs, including $1.1 billion to public broadcasting and $900 million in foreign aid for […]
President Donald Trump is a unique political figure, both his admirers and detractors would agree. But as he decides whether to become directly involved in Israel’s military strikes against Iran, some comparisons can be made to several of his predecessors. Like Ronald Reagan, Trump’s opponents have cast him as a warmonger despite a much more […]
Senate Republicans have a new messenger-in-chief as Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) embarks on a media blitz to sell President Donald Trump‘s agenda. Thune has been scheduling interviews on a near-daily basis as the Senate prepares to vote on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” He started the week with an appearance on Shannon Bream’s Fox News […]
In the opening pages of his 1940 novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway recites the English writer John Donne’s famous poem from centuries past. “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Both works warn about the dangers of hubris. On Friday the 13th, the bell began to […]
Israel‘s preemptive strikes against arch-enemy Iran, and a tacit green light by the United States to continue, have capped years of aggressive international economic sanctions. Combined with diplomacy, with recent diplomatic efforts to head off Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons, it’s all set the stage for the Iranian regime’s deep vulnerability. This would have been […]
Ten million bleary-eyed Israelis were awoken at 3 a.m. local time on June 13 by a siren and an unusual phone notification. “Extreme Alert!” it read. “Due to the preparations for a significant threat, it is required to immediately comply with the Home Front Command guidelines that are currently being distributed throughout the media.” Over […]
With the 2026 midterm elections about 16 months off, specifics of congressional churn are becoming clearer. Per the chart below, a swath of House members is giving up their seats in bids for statewide offices. So far, only one representative is set to retire after the November 2026 elections, though more lawmakers almost certainly will […]
The FBI under former Director Christopher Wray is facing renewed scrutiny for allegedly suppressing an intelligence memo warning of alleged Chinese efforts to interfere in the 2020 election on behalf of then-candidate Joe Biden, the latest in a series of damaging disclosures casting a shadow over Wray’s tenure. Newly revealed documents and congressional letters show that the FBI, under former President Joe […]
Senators who were once governors often highlight their accomplishments in their previous roles. Wistful tales of trade missions abroad to drum up business for their states and enacting legislation on a bipartisan basis pepper Senate floor speeches, stray comments to reporters, and other remarks. It’s often a direct reaction against Congress’s accelerating slide into irrelevance, […]
“Artificial intelligence” is a tech fantasist’s dream bubble, but let’s play along. Suppose tomorrow’s robots have human intelligence, self-directedness, and skill. Won’t they have our laziness, as well? Murderbot, the latest science-fiction series from Apple TV+, attempts to answer precisely that question. The popular fear is of machines that slay us in our beds. Apple’s […]
