In East Asia, Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s death and entrance into final enlightenment in February. But at my local Zen temple in North Carolina, the Buddha’s enlightenment is commemorated during the holiday season of December, with a short talk for the...

When Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos spoke at the American Enterprise Institute on Jan. 16, she began by emphasizing her role as an outsider.

“Outside Washington. Outside the LBJ building,” she said of the...

The federal government shut down this weekend, as Congress failed to pass a stopgap spending measure. Many may wonder what this means for the nation’s public health battles against threats like the flu and the opioid crisis.

In a shutdown, contingency plans...

Government shutdowns are rare.

This one is unique because the U.S. has never before experienced a shutdown under a unified government, a time when the White House and Congress are controlled by the same party.

The policy consequences of this shutdown are likely to be minimal. And, the shutdown itself will...

Infrastructure supports and facilitates our daily lives – think of the roads we drive on, the bridges and tunnels that help transport people and freight, the office buildings where we work and the dams that provide the water we drink. But it’s...

The federal government shut down for the first time in a little more than four years after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a last-minute deal to keep funds flowing for another few weeks.

The immediate and most visible impact will be in the...

Twenty years ago, major news outlets reported allegations that then-President Bill Clinton had a sexual relationship with a 22-year-old White House intern.

Looking back, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair heralded a sea change in political discourse by normalizing public discussion of sex acts. Today, it is hard to believe that esteemed presidents, from Th...

Climate change is increasing the frequency and strength of some types of extreme weather in the United States, particularly heat waves. Last summer the U.S. Southwest experienced life-threatening heat waves, which are especially dangerous for elderly people and other...

For a moment, it looked as though 2018 might be the year that ended a three-decade streak of failure to pass so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”

On Jan. 11, a bipartisan group of six senators brought forth a plan for...

Earlier this month, hopes were high that a bipartisan deal could be reached to resolve the fate of the “Dreamers,” the millions of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Those hopes all but vanished on Jan. 11 as...