Author: James Caldwell

A president’s power to grant mercy is one of the most sacred trusts in our constitutional system. In a series of breathtakingly brazen moves, President Trump is now wielding that power not as a tool of justice, but as a political weapon to reward his friends, pardon his allies, and place himself and his inner…

A federal court has just revived a controversial Texas law, plunging performers, business owners, and families into a state of profound legal chaos. The decision, a complex legal maneuver, has not settled the debate. It has thrown gasoline on a fiery national conflict over the First Amendment, public decency, and who gets to decide what…

He was one of the most electrifying and feared baseball players of his generation, a New York legend whose fall from grace was as spectacular and public as his rise. Darryl Strawberry’s story became a dark American tragedy of immense talent destroyed by cocaine addiction, tax evasion, and prison time. Now, that long and painful…

The old guard has fallen. The political machine that defined New York politics for a generation has been decisively broken. In a stunning and historic election with the highest voter turnout in decades, the “capital of capitalism” has been handed over to a new, radical, and profoundly different kind of leader. Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old…

Dick Cheney died Tuesday at 84 from complications of pneumonia and cardiovascular disease that plagued him throughout his adult life. The former vice president who served alongside George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 was the most powerful second-in-command in American history – the architect of the war on terror, the Iraq invasion, and an…

The lights in the federal government are staying off. A tense and predictable vote on the Senate floor has just ensured that the United States will officially enter the longest government shutdown in its history, a moment of profound institutional failure. Senate Democrats, for the 14th time, have blocked a Republican-passed bill to temporarily fund…

The nine justices of the Supreme Court are about to hear arguments in a case that could fundamentally redraw the map of power in Washington. The case, which the President has just framed as “literally, LIFE OR DEATH for our country,” is not about a social issue. It is about one of the oldest, most…

The battle for the future of New York City’s traffic is heading for another major collision between state and federal power. President Trump has just renewed his promise to kill the city’s controversial congestion pricing plan, ordering his Transportation Secretary to once again find a way to terminate the program. This is not just a…

A political “civil war” has been raging within the conservative movement, a battle for its very soul. This week, the shooting has stopped, and a victor has been declared. The man who says “Hitler is awesome” has been welcomed in from the cold. The friendly, legitimizing interview of white supremacist Nick Fuentes by conservative media…

The words were vile, specific, and violent. A former Coast Guard officer wrote online that he wanted someone to “take the shot” at President Trump, adding that he “would twist the knife after sliding it into [Trump’s] fatty flesh” and would “pitch in” for a hitman. The Department of Justice charged him with a felony…