The dispute over President Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda has reached the impeachment debate. Representative Al Green’s effort raises a question that goes beyond whether Americans favor more deportations: When does the way an administration enforces immigration law become grounds for removing a president? House lawmakers rejected the effort. That establishes its immediate legislative outcome, but…
How Much Restraint Should Guide America’s AI Race?
Artificial intelligence has reached a critical point: some of the people developing it warn that its rapid advancement could pose extraordinary dangers, while political leaders caution that slowing down could allow China to gain the technological advantage. A former Anthropic researcher has resigned publicly, leading AI executives are urging greater caution, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck…
Britain’s West Bank Trade Ban and the Settlement Dispute
Britain has dramatically hardened its policy toward Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The government will prohibit imports from the settlements and prevent British companies from providing them with services such as financing, construction, infrastructure development, real estate assistance, and advertising. Supporters describe the policy as a carefully targeted effort to discourage settlement expansion, settler…
What Saxony-Anhalt’s Election Says About Germany
Germany’s political establishment just received the electoral equivalent of a brick through the window, and responding with another lecture about the neighborhood’s declining manners probably won’t repair the glass. The Alternative for Germany, commonly known as AfD, won a commanding 43.8 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election, more than doubling its previous showing.…
Trump, Kristen Welker, and the Boundaries of FCC Authority
President Trump and NBC’s Kristen Welker have managed to turn two ordinary words—“mixed results”—into a national argument about political influence, media bias, federal authority, and the First Amendment. Apparently, Washington had a quiet moment and needed something to do. The dispute began when Welker, appearing in a live promotional segment on NBC-owned WRC-TV before Meet…
AI Data Centers and the Future of Local Economies
President Trump has a characteristically understated message for communities resisting AI data centers: Accept them or risk becoming “backwards and poor.” He says the facilities will bring jobs, prosperity, and lower taxes, while opposition will please China and kill America’s technological “Golden Goose.” Subtle it’s not. Still, beneath the presidential megaphone is a serious question.…
Oil, Power, and the New U.S.–Venezuela Agreement
President Trump announced what he calls the biggest oil deal in history: an agreement that could give the United States a controlling interest in the output from 17 Venezuelan oil fields containing a reported 65 billion barrels. The arrangement could reshape American energy security, revive Venezuela’s battered petroleum industry, and shift influence in the Western…
Lake Ontario or Lake America? The Politics of a Name
Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to replace “Lake Ontario” with “Lake America” in federal maps, contracts, documents, and communications within 30 days. The order can’t force Canada, international organizations, private mapmakers, state governments, or ordinary people to follow along. It…
Trump’s Bulk-Power Emergency Order and the Security of the U.S. Grid
President Trump has declared a national emergency involving foreign-made equipment used in America’s bulk-power system. The executive order seeks to prevent certain equipment associated with foreign governments or entities from being purchased, imported, installed, or operated when federal officials determine that it presents an unacceptable security risk. Despite the more dramatic headlines, this isn’t a…
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Latest Challenge: Finality, Fairness, and the Epstein Files
The Jeffrey Epstein saga has produced an almost endless supply of sealed files, suspicious timing, institutional embarrassment, political opportunism, and questions that refuse to die. This week, however, a federal judge answered one question quite firmly: Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction is staying put. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer rejected Maxwell’s attempt to overturn her five…
The Independent Christian Conservative 