Since the earliest days of the republic, termed-out or defeated American presidents headed out of the White House issue pardons to a chosen few (or, on occasion, a hefty stack) of accused or convicted applicants hoping to breathe free. The executive branch’s “get out of jail free” cards come out of the fading president’s deck […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin played coy about whether troops from North Korea were in Russia during a question and answer session after the conclusion of the BRICS Summit on Thursday.  During the closing session of the summit, Putin was asked about the recent reports and satellite photographs of North Korean troops on ships in Vladivostok, […]

The great cities of Europe are becoming museums. Venice has already completed the transition. Its resident population is now less than a third of what it was in the 1950s. The Venetians whom one meets as a tourist are commuters from the mainland. The Eurodisney complex outside Paris also leaves the lights on at night. […]

To watch Apple TV+’s new limited series Disclaimer is to observe the streaming era at its most ambitious and maddening. The show’s creator, Alfonso Cuarón, is the famed cinematic visionary behind such masterworks as Children of Men (2006) and Gravity (2013). Its leading performers, Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, are the long-beloved winners of basically […]