Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died Saturday night at his Capitol Hill home. He was 71. The District of Columbia medical examiner's preliminary findings point to an aortic dissection, a tear in the body's main artery, brought on by underlying arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Emergency responders had answered a call reporting cardiac arrest and transported him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His office released the findings and asked for privacy

President Trump flew home from the NATO summit in Ankara on two different planes on July 8. He left Turkey on an old Boeing VC-25A, the same baby-blue jet that has ferried presidents since 1990. The new Qatari-gifted jet flew ahead to Britain, where Trump switched back for the final leg to Washington. Trump attributed the choice to sentiment. "For old time's sake, we'll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey," he posted on Truth Social. The New York Times reported th

McConnell Still Chairs the Rules Committee From His Hospital Bed Mitch McConnell has been well enough to discuss Iran, Ukraine, national security, and a Supreme Court ruling on campaign spending from his hospital bed. He has not been well enough to do it in person, on video, or in front of anyone outside his own staff and a handful of allies who have relayed the conversations secondhand. The Kentucky Republican, 84, entered the hospital on the morning of June 14. His office h

The Reagans Built the Modern Political Con That Handed Donald Trump the Presidency Ronald Reagan's parents were Democrats in a Republican-leaning part of Illinois, Dixon, a small river town in Lee County where the Reagan family settled in December 1920, when Reagan was nine. Jack and Nelle Reagan's Democratic loyalty ran deeper than just voting. Jack Reagan had a grade-school education and worked as a shoe salesman, and after FDR's 1932 election, he was rewarded for his Democ

What Happens When the Powerful Stop Playing by the Rules A quote often attributed to Bob Marley warns: “You’ll never find justice in a world where criminals make the laws.” For many Americans, that sentence no longer sounds dramatic. It sounds familiar. Across the country, people are living through a growing distrust of institutions that once carried unquestioned authority. In communities large and small, people have always understood that justice often moves differently for

Starr County's Arroyos Have Been Flooding Residential Streets for Over Thirty Years On the evening of September 6, 1993, Yolanda Teran D. Martinez was driving through Roma, Texas, when Arroyo Roma swallowed her car. A thunderstorm had dropped nearly five inches of rain in ninety minutes. The arroyo, dry most of the year, became a current strong enough to carry a Ford LTD off the road and into the water in minutes. Three of her passengers survived because neighbors ran outside

Does Your Vote Arrive Late… or Right on Time? Look, m’ija, if you thought voting was already complicated, now imagine that even when your ballot arrives is being debated at the highest court in the country. This week, the nine justices of the Supreme Court spent more than two hours arguing over something that sounds simple but isn’t: can mail-in ballots be counted if they arrive after Election Day, as long as they were sent on time? Let's break it down. The fight started over

Senator Mark Kelly, the combat-tested Navy captain turned Arizona senator, has launched a blistering 46-page federal lawsuit against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon, exposing what can only be described as a brazen, vindictive power grab by the Trump administration. This isn't justice—it's a political hit job, a chilling warning shot fired across the bow of any veteran or lawmaker daring to speak truth to power. In a move reeking of authoritarian overreach, Heg

Elizabeth Warren fumbled the easiest question in progressive politics. Asked whether she'd continue funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Massachusetts senator offered a conditional yes—funding with restrictions on behavior. A technocratic answer that misses the entire point. The correct answer was no. ICE didn't materialize from Trump's fever dreams. The agency was created in 2003 under the Homeland Security Act, signed by Republican George W. Bush but supported b

"We will move next week in the House Oversight Committee markup to hold former President Clinton in contempt of Congress," Rep. James Comer announced. The threat itself matters less than what came next. Bill and Hillary Clinton responded with a letter that abandons the careful distance former presidents typically maintain from congressional battles. The response extends far beyond the testimony request that prompted it. "Every person has to decide when they have seen or had e

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina didn't have to do much to earn President Donald Trump's endorsement. He just had to not be Henry Cuellar. That's the peculiar calculus propelling Tijerina's congressional campaign in Texas's 28th District, where Trump's backing arrived Tuesday as punishment for someone else's insufficient gratitude. The president pardoned Cuellar five weeks ago, eliminating federal bribery charges that threatened prison time. Cuellar responded by staying Democr

Stephen Miller is the man who looks like every mall Santa’s lawyer, if that lawyer’s specialty was getting kids deported for crying in line. He is best known not for one bad policy or one ugly soundbite, but for a sustained, years‑long crusade to turn the immigration system into a weapon, especially against Latino families who dared to believe that “land of opportunity” was a promise and not a legally unenforceable slogan. He is the human embodiment of the “Do Not Enter” sign