In his first few days back in office, President Donald Trump engaged in a whirlwind of executive actions, from exiting the World Health Organization, to deploying military personnel and National Guard troop to the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these actions are unprecedented. Some appear to be illegal and unconstitutional, according to legal experts and judges....
The Greek divinity Nemesis, rarely depicted in art, has no place in the Olympian pantheon of a dozen gods and goddesses. But she’s an omnipresent force of retribution, an implacable force of punishment that arrives, if not sooner, then later. Nemesis can bide her time for generations, but there’s no escaping her. So too, it...
Undocumented immigration is a key issue in American politics, but it can be hard to nail down the basic facts about who these immigrants are, where they live and how their numbers have changed in the past few decades. I study the demographics of the U.S. immigrant population and have seen how the data has...
US president Donald Trump is surrounded by a new cohort of politicians and officials. While one of his campaign promises was to overthrow the “corrupt elites” he accuses of flooding the American political arena, his second term in office has elevated elites chosen, above all, for their political loyalty to him. The media’s focus on...
The 2024 elections in the United States were memorable in several aspects, not least being the appearance of PolitiFi. It’s a new form of meme coin cryptocurrency inspired by internet culture and humour that is explicitly affiliated with a political candidate. Among the biggest were MAGA, supporting the Donald Trump campaign, and BODEN, linked to the...
– Jay Balagna, Alyson Harding, Vanessa Parks The destructive winds and devastating fires that are sweeping through the Los Angeles area this week drove many, understandably, to their phones seeking information—and seeking to help. Downloads of apps like Watch Duty soared as Angelenos anxiously searched for information about evacuation boundaries, evacuation sites, and the fate of their...
Mexico’s president said Monday that prosecutors are investigating officials in a town where a sign was posted thanking a drug lord for holiday season gifts for children. In the past, drug cartels in Mexico have often handed out gifts or bags of food to local people around the holidays, to try to improve their image or build...
“I am definitely not following the news anymore,” one patient told me when I asked about her political news consumption in the weeks before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. This conversation happened around the time I talked with a local TV channel about why we saw fewer political yard signs during this year’s election season,...
Monarch butterflies are among the most beloved insects in North America. They are brightly colored and unique, both as caterpillars and later as mature insects. Monarchs are found in every U.S. state except Alaska, so nearly everyone has seen a monarch flutter by on a warm day. During their incredible yearly migration, monarchs travel each...
By nominating unqualified loyalists, Trump undermines the Constitution’s vision of merit-based governance. The term “kakistocracy” (rule by the worst) emerged from obscurity during the first Trump administration. The word, which was previously used to describe troubled foreign governments, gained mainstream usage as critics pointed to controversial appointments such as Tom Price at the Department of Health and Human...
