Author: Reporter

Leaving Israel is easier, Shira Z. Carmel thinks, by saying it is just for now. But she knows better. For the Israeli-born singer and an increasing number of relatively well-off Israelis, the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack shattered any sense of safety and along with it, Israel’s founding promise: to be the world’s safe haven for Jews. That day, thousands of Hamas militants blew past the country’s border defenses, killed 1,200 people and dragged 250 more into Gaza in a siege that caught the Israeli army by surprise and stunned a nation that prides itself on military prowess. This...

Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there is one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kаnsаs. That is because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kаnsаs imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory....

Republicans plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress to push through long-sought changes that include voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements. They say the measures are needed to restore public confidence in elections, an erosion of trust that Democrats note has been fueled by false claims from President-elect Donald Trump and his allies of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. In the new year, Republicans will be under pressure to address Trump’s desires to change how elections are run in...

When Elon Musk first suggested a new effort to cut the size of government, Donald Trump didn’t seem to take it seriously. His eventual name for the idea sounded like a joke too. It would be called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a reference to an online meme featuring a surprised-looking dog from Japan. But now that Trump has won the election, Musk’s fantasy is becoming reality, with the potential to spark a constitutional clash over the balance of power in Washington. Trump put Musk, the world’s richest man, and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and former Republican...

A Democrat who immersed himself in political news during the presidential campaign, Ziad Aunallah has lots in common with many Americans since the election. He tuned out. “People are mentally exhausted,” said Aunallah, 45, of San Diego. “Everyone knows what is coming and we are just taking some time off.” Television ratings — and now a new poll — clearly illustrate the phenomenon. About two-thirds of American adults say they have recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of overload, according to the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research....