America Becomes a Stan  —  In 2015 the city of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, was graced with a new public monument: a giant gold-plated sculpture portraying the country's president on horseback.  This may strike you as a bit excessive.  But cults of personality are actually the norm in the …

Many in U.S. Skeptical Trump Can Handle Presidential Duties  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — As Donald Trump prepares to take the presidential oath on Jan. 20, less than half of Americans are confident in his ability to handle an international crisis (46%), to use military force wisely (47%) …

State Rep. Martinez shot in head by ‘stray bullet’ while celebrating  —  The District 39 representative says he is doing well  —  NORTH OF WESLACO — State Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez confirmed Sunday evening that he's now doing well after being shot in the head earlier that morning …

Impeaching Trump  —  The process begins now.  —  Donald Trump is wildly unfit to be president, and he will demonstrate that in ways that break the law and violate the Constitution.  Since the election, there have been three wishful efforts to keep Trump from the presidency …

Claiming mandate, GOP Congress lays plans to propel sweeping conservative agenda  —  For six years, since they took back the House of Representatives, Republicans have added to a pile of legislation that moldered outside the White House.  In their thwarted agenda, financial regulations were to be unspooled.

Obama could still force Garland onto court during ‘intersession recess’  —  President Obama will have one last chance to force Judge Merrick Garland onto the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday — but it's a legal gamble and one that has so many pitfalls that even those who say he could get away with it believe it isn't worth the fight.

Cuomo vetoes bill that would have required state to fund legal services for the poor  —  ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo vetoed a bill late Saturday that would have required the state to fund legal services for the poor in each county.  —  Cuomo's office in a New Year's Eve statement released …

Aide downplays Trump hacking revelation … Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday tamped down expectations that President-elect Donald Trump  —  will reveal new details about alleged Russian hacking during the U.S. presidential election in the coming days.

Black pols plan Trump resistance  —  After eight years of the nation's first African-American president, black lawmakers were in for an adjustment no matter who won the White House.  —  But members of the Congressional Black Caucus say they're bracing for the worst in Donald Trump …

Trump tells Schumer he likes him more than other GOP leaders  —  More On:  —  Donald Trump told Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer in a phone call he likes him more than his GOP brethren House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a source close to the transition team said.

For Democrats, 2017 Will Be The Year of Living Stupidly  —  If you thought 2016 was packed full of liberal foolishness, just wait until you get a load of 2017.  As 2016 ends, progressives enter the new year terrified that Donald Trump will continue to run circles around them …

Obama's closest adviser says president has been scandal-free  —  Scandal, what scandal?  —  President Obama has been squeaky clean, according to his closest adviser, Valerie Jarrett.  —  “The president prides himself on the fact that his administration hasn't had a scandal …

Obama Plans Farewell Speech From Chicago  —  HONOLULU — President Obama will give a farewell address next week from Chicago, his hometown, most likely his last chance to defend his legacy directly to the country before Donald J. Trump is sworn in, the White House announced on Monday.

The art of getting to know Trump  —  In the fall of 2006 right after then Sen. Barack Obama announced to Tim Russert on Meet the Press he was seriously considering a run for the nomination of the Democratic Party for president, thousands of reporters, journalists, bloggers …

Intellectuals for Trump  —  A rogue group of conservative thinkers try to build a governing ideology around a President-elect who disdains ideology.  —  The most cogent argument for electing Donald Trump was made not by Trump, or by his campaign, but by a writer who, unlike Trump …

Between 2012 and 2015, 1,565 refugees were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, according to annual reports published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  —  The CDC data, which has been public but obscure until now, shows that the number of refugees diagnosed …

Islamic State kills 24 in Baghdad blast, cuts road to Mosul  —  An Islamic State car bomb killed 24 people in a busy square in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City district on Monday, and the militants cut a key road north from the capital to Mosul, their last major stronghold in the country.

The Return of Civil Disobedience  —  The sixties produced a conviction that “democracy is in the streets.”  The Trump era may echo that.  —  On December 6th, less than a month after the election, Vice-President Joe Biden, who was in New York to receive the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award …