Hard Wire

California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing pointed criticism from members of his own party — and across the aisle — after failing to appear in Stockton following a horrific mass shooting that claimed the lives of three children and a young man during a birthday party over the weekend. The Stockton shooting, which erupted Saturday …

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, whose name became synonymous with a cultural turning point in America, is once again back in court headlines. This time, he’s asking for something that once seemed almost unthinkable: a new trial for the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a case that sparked nationwide protests, ignited global calls for …

The Republican rift in the House just broke into full public view — and it’s Elise Stefanik leading the charge, hammering Speaker Mike Johnson in a blistering rebuke that lays bare the party’s deepening divisions over surveillance reform, intelligence oversight, and accountability for the so-called “deep state.” On Tuesday, Stefanik — a rising GOP star, …

There is a long tradition in Christianity of using the Nativity to stir reflection — but this year, a Catholic church in Massachusetts may have pushed that tradition into pure provocation. St. Susanna Parish in Dedham, a Boston suburb, unveiled a jarring twist on its annual Nativity display: an empty manger and a sign declaring, …

After nearly five years of unanswered questions and nationwide speculation, the man allegedly responsible for planting two pipe bombs near the U.S. Capitol on January 5, 2021, has been identified: Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia. According to multiple sources familiar with the arrest, Cole is now in FBI custody and faces serious federal …

In a moment of unapologetic bluntness and bureaucratic resolve, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins made clear during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that the Trump administration is done playing nice when it comes to waste, fraud, and abuse in the nation’s sprawling Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The numbers she revealed were staggering. According to Rollins, over 800,000 …

In politics, few rules are more unforgiving than the standards you set for others eventually being applied to yourself. President Donald Trump, in his second term and at 79 years old, now finds himself face-to-face with the very expectations he once weaponized—most notably in his relentless portrayal of Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe.” But what …

Senator Rand Paul has never been known to hold back when confronting contradictions in U.S. foreign policy, and his remarks this week during an appearance on Bloomberg’s Balance of Power were a striking example of that signature candor. Responding to the controversial pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, Paul delivered a searing critique …

In a striking example of how quickly a headline-grabbing narrative can unravel under the weight of facts, the story surrounding the alleged “second strike” ordered by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is rapidly losing steam. What began as an explosive accusation—painted in stark, emotional strokes by The Washington Post—is now being recontextualized, and quite thoroughly, …

Once again, Portland finds itself at the center of a cultural flashpoint — this time over something as seemingly benign, even beloved, as a Christmas tree. But in a city where tradition increasingly collides with ideology, the 41st annual tree lighting ceremony became less a celebration of unity and more a case study in quiet …