Zelenskyy explained, “I told him that if he gave us the weapons we need and stopped supporting Putin, we would let him build Trump-branded hotels and other Trump-branded buildings in Ukraine’s ten largest cities, as well as Trump golf courses in the countryside. He was quite excited.”   read more

Americans are waiting longer than ever to try matrimony for the first time. Statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau show the medina age of men who have their first wedding is now 28.1 years old, and for women it’s 25.9. In both cases, the ag...   read more

Francis S. Collins brings one of the more eclectic, and highly regarded, profiles to the Obama administration as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A leading figure in the completion of the Human Genome Project, which is consider...   read more

Having had his first pick (Homer Wilkes) back out as Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, President Barack Obama turned to Harris Sherman, Colorado’s longtime natural resources chief. Sherman...   read more

Telling the financial industry it’s time to meet its responsibilities and help cover the cost of the federal bailout, President Barack Obama this week unveiled his tax on big banks to recoup almost $100 billion in costs. The tax would last 10 year...   read more

The United States should take advantage of the near-miss terrorist attack on Christmas Day and seriously consider large scale reforms to airport security, says Clifford D. May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. May offers up ...   read more

Just as it did in 2000 and prior decennial periods, the federal government this year is using the term “Negro” on forms for the 2010 Census. But the word is creating opposition among younger African-Americans who consider Negro not just outdated, ...   read more

Yet another Chicagoan tapped by President Barack Obama, Fay Hartog Levin is a longtime Democratic activist and fundraiser and an early supporter of the president’s who also has family roots in the Netherlands. Levin was sworn in August 13, 2009, a...   read more

The state of Utah wants nothing to do with 1,600 tons of low-level nuclear waste from Italy that a local U.S. corporation is trying to bury in a landfill. EnergySolutions Inc. has been trying for two years to import the radioactive waste, but Utah...   read more

There simply is no comparing al-Qaeda to the U.S. military, write Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt of TomDispatch.com. At its potential mightiest, al-Qaeda numbers a few thousand fighters spread throughout the world—a force one-fifth the size of Amer...   read more

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), created to manage the federal government’s bailout of Wall Street, is supposed to conclude this October, but issues stemming from the unprecedented rescue operation are likely to linger long past that. In ...   read more

Wal-Mart may be able to beat competitors’ prices, but it can’t match others’ generosity. The world’s largest retail chain has pledged to donate $500,000 to the victims of the Haiti earthquake, as well as aid kits valued at $100,000. This combined ...   read more

In case you happen to be wandering down the street, pass a tall, 50-something Middle Eastern gentleman sporting a long gray beard, and wonder, “Was that?….” the FBI has released age-enhanced photographs of Osama bin Laden to help the public recogn...   read more

The unemployment rate may in double digits and foreclosures may be on the rise, but over at JPMorgan Chase life is good.   To hear Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, tell it, his bank could have done better last year, a...   read more

Public universities are increasingly giving more financial aid to students from relatively wealthy families instead of lower income homes in order to recruit academic achievers and boost the school’s reputation. The Education Trust, a nonprofit ad...   read more

The federal investigation into the financial crisis of 2008 received its first mea culpa from Wall Street on Wednesday. Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that his bank engaged in “improper” behavio...   read more

Iraq wants to rival Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil producer, and American corporations are happy to help Baghdad get there. With the Iraqi government ready to rebuild and expand its petroleum industry, some of the biggest oil drilling and sup...   read more