By Ross Douthat Opinion Columnist In U.F.O. arcana, one of the figures claiming a whistle-blower’s knowledge of a secret U.S. program to reverse-engineer recovered alien technology is a man named Bob Lazar. Here’s how Lazar has told the story: As a physicist educated at M.I.T. and Caltech, he was hired by the U.S. Navy in […]

Donald Trump has been indicted again. He is now the first president, former or current, to be charged with a federal crime. The charges stem from an investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents that he kept after he left the White House. Federal officials tried to get those documents back, and Trump is accused […]

Tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet/Google have seized a large lead in shaping our potentially A.I.-dominated future. This is not good news. History has shown us that when the distribution of information is left in the hands of a few, the result is political and economic oppression. Without intervention, this history will repeat itself. In just […]

As apocalyptic smoke bore down on New York City from Canadian wildfires this week, a familiar sensation rose in the acrid, choking air. New Yorkers, once again, were on their own. Mayor Eric Adams’s slow, muted response to the unhealthy smoke left the city’s more than eight million residents unprepared, scrambling to protect themselves. By […]

Trump indicted in documents case The Justice Department lodged federal criminal charges against Donald Trump, following an investigation into his handling of classified documents upon leaving office and into whether he obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim them. It remains unclear precisely what materials were found at his Florida residence and what national security damage […]

By Frank Bruni Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer who was on the staff of The Times for more than 25 years. From the breathless media coverage of Ron DeSantis’s recent visits to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, you could easily get the impression that: Voting starts in approximately five minutes. You’re really […]

Residents of the western U.S. and Canada have become grimly accustomed to smoke-clogged air from wildfires during the summer months. This week, the problem has spread to the Midwest and the East Coast. New York City was filled with reddish haze yesterday, with its worst air quality on record. A Broadway matinee was interrupted when […]

If the Supreme Court rules this term that affirmative action is unconstitutional, relying on a case called Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, one response will be to chalk it up to the changed composition of the court. After Donald Trump added three justices, legal arguments that had repeatedly failed to convince justices over 45 […]

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GENOA, Nev. — Thick gray wildfire smoke is pouring down from Canada into the Northeast this week, but it may have a silver lining. Every summer and fall, wildfires in America wreck homes, air quality and lives. While many of the current fires in Canada were caused by lightning that landed on dry forests, here […]