If there was any doubt that the current U.S. administration is the world’s greatest threat to action on climate change, President Donald Trump removed it on Sept. 23 when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly and called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” and a threat promoted by “stupid people.”

He ...Read more

The British have, at long last, cast away Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — and rightly so. His shockingly parasitic existence, alleged sexual and financial misconduct, association with Jeffrey Epstein, evasions and astonishing lack of remorse have rendered him an embarrassment even by the indulgent standards of hereditary privilege.

But now, ...Read more

"I knew that of course most private-equity investors make the U.S. economy stronger," the man wrote, a little indignantly. I'd come across the quote, from The City Journal in 2012, while looking for something else. It's published by the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and prestigious enough for Barnes & Noble to sell it.

...Read more

Joshua trees face an uncertain future. Scientists warn that without significant climate action, the species could be functionally extinct by 2070 because of climate change.

The recent government shutdown left Joshua Tree National Park vulnerable to vandalism during peak visitor season, with the Mojave Desert Land Trust reporting graffiti and ...Read more

It's sheer coincidence that I'm writing here on the same subject as my Los Angeles Times colleague Jonah Goldberg's most recent column: The crying need to amend the Constitution to do something about the much-abused presidential pardon power, the only unchecked power that a president has.

The fact that both Goldberg, a right-of-center ...Read more

It has long been established that some of President Donald Trump’s most frequently used rhetorical weapons have been misogynistic insults. It is just as well known that the president seldom hides his contempt for journalists.

So it’s hardly surprising anymore when Trump degrades women reporters. But the president reached a new level of low ...Read more

Kim Kardashian’s bar exam fail offers a cautionary tale for fans of AI.

Kardashian told Vanity Fair earlier this month that she used ChatGPT to answer legal questions while preparing for her law school exams. According to Kardashian, the AI chatbot frequently provided incorrect answers.

“I use (ChatGPT) for legal advice, so when I am ...Read more

In one respect, New York City’s unusual election results this year fit a national pattern: Voters opted to make housing easier and faster to build. Here’s hoping it’s a trend that lasts.

A lack of housing has become a nationwide problem. High prices and mortgage rates have depressed sales. With rent costs outpacing incomes, nearly half ...Read more

The bedrock life principle, the house always wins, derives from the mathematical advantage casinos build into their games. But what if that wasn’t the price of admittance?

On an American roulette wheel, a bet on the number 13 pays off at 35:1. If there were 36 slots on the wheel, both the house and the bettor would break even in the long run,...Read more

“Why is no one doing anything about ICE?” is the question I'm most frequently asked when people find out I’m a constitutional law professor.

They’re not wrong to ask. In the 10 months of President Donald Trump’s administration running roughshod over the Constitution and federal law, nothing has been more upsetting to our collective ...Read more

There is a familiar saying that you can choose your friends, but not your family. For most of the year, that fact can feel like a blessing and a curse. During the holidays, when we squeeze around crowded tables, eat more than we should, and bring many personalities into one home, it should feel like a blessing.

Family members are the people who...Read more

My family will be shocked when they read this piece. One of them might even call and suggest I am a victim of identity theft, and I should proceed with caution.

For almost three decades, I have explicitly ruled out political talk at our holiday meals. Our gathering is huge and meaningful, and I love the Kumbaya moment of extended family and ...Read more

Floridians are not used to hearing the word “extinct” applied to species that play significant roles in the state’s ecological and economic landscape.

So last week, when researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the grim news that two key species in Florida’s iconic coral reefs had become “...Read more

I heard about the special prison favors granted Ghislaine Maxwell while I was reading “Nobody’s Girl” by Virginia Giuffre, one of her reported victims. The most poignant moment is not the first time Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein allegedly sexually violated her. It’s the morning before, when Giuffre sits at the reception desk at the Mar-a-...Read more

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has waged war on suspected drug smugglers in the waters off Venezuela, blowing up boats of what he calls “narco-terrorists” — people accused of bringing fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States.

These military strikes have drawn deserved condemnation. First, President Donald Trump’...Read more

In October of 2018, U.S.-based journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Istanbul, Turkey. The CIA concluded that the assassination was carried out by Saudi operatives, on order of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The prince denied the accusations, although other U.S. ...Read more

By the time James Watson died earlier this month at the age of 97, he was one of the world’s most famous — and infamous — scientists.

In 1953, he and three fellow researchers co-discovered the double-helix structure of DNA — a breakthrough that unlocked the secrets of how life works. The discovery revealed how a molecule could store ...Read more

Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to work in Chicago last month when she drove onto a street where an immigration enforcement action was in progress. As she attempted to drive around the chaos, an unmarked vehicle collided with her car. Masked men jumped out of the vehicle, guns drawn and dragged Figueroa from her car by her legs. She was thrown ...Read more

When President Donald Trump was booked and fingerprinted at the Fulton County Jail in 2023, there was just one elected official there to support him — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

When Trump was huddling with his lawyers to defend himself in criminal cases around the country, Greene joined then-U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to hold “...Read more

As affordability politics take center stage across America, at least 18 states are attempting to lower or eliminate property taxes to offset the dramatic rise in property values. It’s a worthy debate, but wiping out property taxes, or dramatically limiting them, is dangerous.

It not only strips local communities of an economically efficient ...Read more