Broken cease-fire 1. How did it start? Nearly three months ago, Khader Adnan — a Palestinian prisoner in Israel and a leader of an armed Palestinian group called Islamic Jihad — began a hunger strike to protest his detention. Adnan, who was 45, died last week. Almost immediately, his death set off violence. That afternoon, […]

The alleged shooter in last weekend’s massacre at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas — which left eight people dead and at least seven injured — wore a vest inscribed with the letters RWDS, short for Right Wing Death Squad, and had tattoos of a swastika and an S.S. lightning bolt insignia. He was also […]

Hosted by Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen Produced by Phoebe Lett Listen to and follow ‘Matter of Opinion’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon Music On the inaugural episode of “Matter of Opinion,” a new podcast from New York Times Opinion, our hosts Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen […]

More from our inbox: To the Editor: Re “Biden and McCarthy Talk Debt, Getting Nowhere” (front page, May 10): Republicans have less than zero credibility on the deficit. Starting with Ronald Reagan, who tripled the national debt, Republican administrations have generally blown gaping holes in the budget by enacting tax cuts for the superrich. Not […]

“Christianity’s got a branding problem,” Phil Zuckerman, a professor at Pitzer College who researches atheism and secularity, told me. It is seen by many as the religion of conservative Republican politics, he said, and there are otherwise believing people out there who “don’t want to be associated with that.” Zuckerman shared that thought with me […]

At the heart of the American ethos is the contested idea of freedom. In the video announcing his 2024 re-election bid — pointedly called “Freedom” — President Biden staked out his vision, declaring: Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on bedrock freedoms, cutting Social Security that you’ve paid for your entire […]

Hunker down, America. Here we go again. The presidential election is still a year and a half away. But on Wednesday evening, Donald Trump will elbow his way back into the campaign mainstream. At a town hall event in New Hampshire hosted by CNN, the former president will field questions from audience members and the […]

Trump found liable in civil sexual abuse case A Manhattan jury found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the former magazine writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages. More than a dozen women have accused the former president of sexual misconduct over the years, but this is the only […]

Not long after my appointment as director of President Clinton’s National Economic Council in 1993, a letter arrived in my West Wing office. I immediately recognized the writer’s name: Mrs. Dorothy Collins. “Are you the same Robbie Rubin,” the letter asked, “who was in my fourth-grade class at North Beach Elementary School?” On one level, […]

If only all cities had forests like the one that slashes through Dallas. At 6,000 acres, the Great Trinity Forest is one of the largest urban woodlands in the United States, an expanse of hardwood trees, ponds, swamps and meandering creeks. It is not its size that is remarkable so much as its wildness. Neglected, […]