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After a brief meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Sunday morning, Pope Francis' annual Easter speech included a condemnation of unnamed political leaders who use "fear" to oppress marginalized people including immigrants and refugees.Pope Francis, who is recovering from a bout of pneumonia that kept him in a hospital for five weeks, met for a few minutes in the papal residence with the vice president, a Catholic convert who has drawn criticism from the Vatican for his claims that Catholic teachings support the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign.The pope, who is 88, said little during the encounter, thanking Vance for his visit through a translator and overseeing a presentation of se

When Democrats recaptured the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms and enjoyed a net gain of 41 seats, President Donald Trump's unpopular efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare, were cited as a major factor. Obamacare, many Democratic strategists argued, had become a toxic issue for Republicans. But during his 2024 campaign, Trump once again called for the ACA to be repealed. In an

The word "performative" is often used to describe President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. In contrast, Never Trump conservative and veteran Washington Post columnist George Will once described the conservative movement of the past as "bookish "— and he meant it in a good way. Will applauds yesterday's conservatives for their attention to detail, and he has a very low opinion of MAGA's love of theatrics and over-the-top spectacle. The word "performative" is also used in connection with professional wrestling. And Politico's Zach Montellaro, in an article publishe

Economists on both the left and the right are warning that President Donald Trump's steep new tariffs could lead to harsh inflation, unemployment and a painful recession. But Trump and members of his administration, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and trade adviser Peter Navarro, are insisting that the tariffs will be great for the U.S. economy and create a manufacturing renaissance. Trump and Lutnick acknowledge that the tariffs could bring some short-term discomfort, maintaining that the economy will flourish in the end.According to Politico's Liz Crampton, however, Trump voters may los

Critics of President Donald Trump believe that too many Americans are capitulating to him out of fear, from media companies to tech CEOs to universities to Republicans in Congress. And those critics are applauding Harvard University and the law firm Perkins, Coie for, they saw, standing up to Trump rather than going along to get along.According to John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, another group facing the choice of either capitulating to Trump or standing up to him is charitable organizations. And Palfrey is hoping they will refuse to be bullied.The Guardian's David Smith, in an ar

Jo Ellen Grzyb, a member of this Substack community, noted in response to one of my posts that she’s seeing a lot of the phrase “courage is contagious.” She mentioned Bernie, AOC, Cory Booker, Tim Walz, Jasmine Crockett, and Elizabeth Warren.She’s right. And in these darkening times, this contagion is critically important. A staggering 36,000 people attended Bernie and AOC’s rally in Los Angeles; 34,000 attended their rally in Denver. These numbers are unprecedented. Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of you turned out in your communities to condemn Trump and his regime. In front of the White House, protesters shouted “shame!”This is the contagion of courage. Every person who stands up to th

Investors are encouraged to think long-term, especially if they are younger and aren't planning to retire anytime soon. Some investors, depending on their circumstances, are more risk-averse than others. And a risk-averse investor might be in the stock market or have a 401k, but also have some investments that are considered low-risk but low-ROI (such as certificates of deposit or fixed annuities). According to New York Times financial journalist Jeff Sommer, investors are experiencing major anxiety during Donald Trump's second presidency — and one thing that troubles them is a

On Monday, El Salvador’s self-described “cool dictator” President Bukele appeared in a skit in the Oval Office with Donald Trump, where both men pretended they couldn’t undo their own actions in imprisoning Abrego Garcia. Both Trump and Bukele delivered Oscar-worthy performances as they smirked for the cameras, mocking the audacity of a

Until recently, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) was viewed as the most likely person to win New York State's 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary — and the most electable if he runs against incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in the general election should he become the nominee. Lawler is conservative, but he isn't far-right. And his frequent appearances on liberal-leaning MSNBC demonstrate that he is quite capable of having a polite conversation with Democrats.Lawler's supporters view him as a Republican in the George Pataki vein. New York is a blue state, but Pataki served as governor from 1995-2006 and fared well among swing voters and centrist Blue Dog Democrats.READ MORE:

Conducting his first press conference as secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved swiftly to demonstrate yet again why he is so unfit for that critical cabinet post. In one of many egocentric abuses of his newfound power, Kennedy has directed his department's resources away from vital research on cancer and Alzheimer's, among other major diseases, initiating instead a massive effort to discover an environmental cause of autism -- which reflects his own obsession more than sound science. But leaving aside the gross mismanagement of HHS, the National institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the many other agencies whose capacity for good he is rapidly destroying, Kennedy went out of his way on Wednesday to stigmatiz