Call me crazy, but a few weeks ago, as the summer of 2019 was winding down, I’d been thinking that it had its good points. Yes, there were tragedies. Heat waves. Mass shootings. The snap, crackle, fizzle of the Mueller testimony. Another credible allegation of rape leveled at our president. But there were also glimpses […]

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Representative Rashida Tlaib won’t visit the Israeli-occupied West Bank after several days of controversy and reversals. On Thursday, after President Trump urged Israel on Twitter not to admit Ms. Tlaib, pictured above, and Representative Ilhan Omar for a planned […]

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Activist investor Paul Hilal’s Mantle Ridge LP bought nearly 10% of U.S. food services company Aramark’s (ARMK.N) common stock and while it plans to push for changes, the fund is stopping short of making an outright bid for the company, a regulatory filing showed. News of the investment comes roughly three […]

I am going to say this as simply and clearly as I can: If you’re an American Jew and you’re planning on voting for Donald Trump because you think he is pro-Israel, you’re a damn fool. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Trump has said and done many things that are in the interests of the […]

To the Editor: Re “Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?,” by Preston Greene (Sunday Review, Aug. 11): Let me get this straight. I’m neither real nor alive and neither are you. Nor is anyone we know. Nor is our planet or for that matter our entire universe. We’re all merely computer simulations created by […]

Anyone who attempted to put themselves in the shoes of Meabh and Sebastien Quoirin this week did so at their peril. Who would wish on themselves the cold dread that must have enveloped the Quoirins as they travelled unfamiliar Malaysian roads to an unknown hospital to identify the body of their 15-year-old daughter Nóra? The […]

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently took a pointed jab at the political turmoil in the UK by drawing comparisons with the relative stability in Ireland because of his confidence and supply deal with Fianna Fáil. “Most people including myself believed that wouldn’t last very long and we’re now on our third British prime minister already,” Mr […]

Status matters. Being top dog affects the way one thinks. For generations, Americans have known that they have the biggest and most successful economy on the planet. They overtook Britain to lead the global league table in 1872, according to the estimates of economic historian Angus Maddison. The primacy of the US economy paved the […]

I’m really glad we’re having a discussion about what the Statue of Liberty means to America, even if it is precipitated by nefarious thinking. This week, the Trump administration moved forward with a change in legal immigration policy that will limit people allowed to enter the country to those who are well enough off not […]

It was 50 years ago this week the North erupted into violence. We hope that violence and those dark days are in our past. However, we all suspect and fear there will be a return to violence in Northern Ireland as a result of a hard Border due to a no-deal Brexit or a rushed […]