Articles by Eleanor Stratton

New Video Shows 6-Year-Old’s Defiance After Virginia Classroom Shooting

Newly released body camera video from Newport News, Virginia shows the moments after the Jan. 6, 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School, when a first-grader shot his teacher, Abigail “Abby” Zwerner. In the footage, the 6-year-old curses at officers as they try to locate the gun and secure the...

Trump Administration Suspends Microsoft From Green Card Track, Alleging Fraud

President Donald Trump’s administration is suspending Microsoft from a program that allows employers to apply for green cards for workers who come to the United States to live and work using H-1B visas , while accusing the company of fraud . Vice President JD Vance announced the move at the White...

Trump’s ‘Super Intelligence’ Order and the Politics of Language

Presidents have always loved naming things. Wars become “operations.” Agencies get new acronyms. Policies are baptized in patriotic phrasing and released into the bloodstream of government paperwork. But President Donald Trump just pushed the naming instinct into a more combustible place: everyday...

Willie Nelson Endorses James Talarico for Senate

You can learn a lot about American politics by watching who decides to speak plainly, and when. This week, Willie Nelson did just that: a short video, a familiar face, a kitchen table setting, and a direct appeal to Texans about the next U.S. senator. Nelson has officially endorsed Democrat James...

Trump Rally Interrupted in San Antonio

When President Donald Trump took the stage at Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio on Oct. 7, 2026, he was there to rally support for Republican Texas Senate nominee Ken Paxton ahead of November's midterm elections. The night was repeatedly interrupted, and Trump folded the disruptions into his message....

The Susie Wiles FBI Records, Explained

You can learn a lot about American power by watching what happens when a name shows up in a federal file. The viral controversy around newly surfaced FBI records tied to Susie Wiles and members of the Trump family is not really about gossip, or even about one adviser’s phone. It is about the...

Trump, Tom Cotton, and the Daylight Saving Time Doxxing Fight

Daylight saving time is one of those issues that feels too mundane to light up a national political firestorm. Most Americans encounter it twice a year as a sleepy inconvenience. But this week, a timekeeping bill turned into something else entirely: a test of party discipline, a demonstration of...

Denaturalization and the Supreme Court’s Materiality Rule

Citizenship feels permanent because we talk about it like a destination. You naturalize, you take the oath, you become an American, full stop. But in a small corner of federal law, citizenship can be taken back. Not casually and not by paperwork whim. Still, it can be taken back. The Department of...

Robert De Niro’s Trump Attack Lands Again

Robert De Niro has never flirted with subtlety about Donald Trump. That is part of the point. And in a fresh round of comments, De Niro reached for language that is blunt, personal, and morally categorical. De Niro called Trump a “coward” and a “piece of s‑‑‑.” Those are not policy arguments. They...

Karoline Leavitt Joins Fox News as a Contributor

Washington has a revolving door, and the hinges are greased with airtime. Karoline Leavitt, the 29-year-old former White House press secretary , has landed her next high-profile perch: she is joining Fox News as an on-air contributor. The network said Monday that her start date is November 1 , a...

Trump’s Ohio Rally and the New Loyalty Test for Republicans

Campaign rallies are supposed to be about persuasion. Bring the base, broaden the coalition, remind voters what you stand for, and leave the local candidate with a few usable clips. Donald Trump’s stop in Ohio, as he rallied for Republicans, also carried a sharper edge: a warning about what could...

TSA Pulls Chairs From ID-Check Posts Under Trump Fitness Push

Airport security has a thousand little rituals we barely notice until one changes. Shoes off. Liquids out. Laptop in its own bin. And now, at many checkpoint entrances, the TSA officer who checks your ID will be standing, because the chair is gone. The Transportation Security Administration has...

Reflecting Pool Case Dismissed: What “With Prejudice” Means

A D.C. judge has permanently dismissed the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn, ending a monthslong legal fight that drew in the Justice Department, the White House, and President Donald Trump. D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case...

Can the IRS Require Citizenship Status on Tax Returns?

When most Americans picture the IRS, they picture math. Forms. W-2s. A government agency that asks about income, not identity. That is why a new proposal from the Trump administration lands as more than routine paperwork. The IRS has posted a draft 1040 form for 2026 that would ask filers to...

Did IRS Cuts Reduce Audit Revenue? What the Numbers Mean

When people hear “IRS cuts,” they usually picture fewer audits and a looser enforcement posture. The newer question is more pointed: did workforce reductions actually cost the government money? Here is one striking data point. Revenue collected from IRS examinations fell 35% , from about $10...

What Lawmakers Want in a Planned Parenthood Funding Review

In Washington, the phrase “taxpayer funding” has a way of turning a policy dispute into a fight about rules, compliance, and oversight. Who gets federal money. What strings come with it. And what happens when lawmakers believe those standards are not being met. That question is now at the center of...

Ghost Students and Federal Aid Fraud

You do not have to be a hacker to steal from a federal program. Sometimes you just have to become a student on paper. That is the logic behind the "ghost student" scam, a scheme that exploits how federal student aid is awarded. On its face, it looks like ordinary enrollment. Names appear in class...

Why the FAA Was Chronically Understaffed and What Record Hiring Means

Air traffic control is one of those federal jobs you almost never think about until it falters. When it works, it is invisible. When it does not, you notice the strain, especially in a system that has spent years short of its own staffing goals. That is the context for a striking milestone: the...

What a DOJ Criminal Referral Means for a Former Federal Prosecutor

A “criminal referral” sounds like a verdict. It isn’t. It is closer to a knock on the government’s door that says: you should look at this. That distinction matters, especially when the person named is a former federal prosecutor. Prosecutors are representatives of the United States, and the...

What the Election-Crime Cases and SAVE Act Fight Are Really About

Two arguments have been talking past each other for years, and this week’s headlines just made the cross-talk louder. On one side: a run of federal cases accusing noncitizens of registering and voting. On the other: elected officials insisting the problem is either “extremely rare” or flatly...