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Remember all the recent caterwauling in Washington about trillion dollar plus budget deficits? Never mind. The latest estimate puts this year’s deficit — the difference between what comes in and what goes out — at $642 billion. That’s half what it was four years ago and $200 billion less than was projected just three months ago. So, what happened? The economy got off the mat and began growing. That...

IRS officials owe the nation more than a canned apology. It must provide honest answers about who is responsible for letting politics creep into it process.

The agency made a chilling admission Friday, acknowledging that the tax collectors singled out conservative political groups for unfair scrutiny between 2010 and 2012. An agency with privileged access to the intimate details of our financial...

In a priceless comeuppance for Republicans who tried to suppress the Democratic vote in the 2012 election, black voters, who are overwhelmingly Democrats, turned out at a rate that surpassed that of whites for the first time on record.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau 66.2 percent of eligible blacks voted, compared to 64.1 percent of eligible non-Hispanic whites.

And among all racial...

For the first time in a decade Congress is poised to take a high dive into the politics of immigration this week. Usually Washington waits until a problem becomes a crisis before taking the plunge. Not this time.

The situation with illegal immigration has actually gotten better. Border security has been beefed up dramatically in recent years. With the United States economy weak and the one...

Crazed or calculating? That's what the world needs to know about North Korea's young Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

The answer has been impossible to fathom so far. But the cloistered nation has nuclear weapons and long-range missiles and Kim's reckless saber-rattling has been incessant since he succeeded his father Kim Jong Il on Dec. 28, 2011. So hopefully the answer is calculating. 

Kim...

As the American public passionately debates how to curb lethal gun violence here at home, the world’s nations are negotiating a treaty aimed at achieving the same result globally.

If approved, the Arms Trade Treaty which was debated Thursday at the United Nations would establish the first international standards for cross border sales of conventional weapons, a $70 billion a year trade in...

The assault weapons ban is the flash point in the congressional debate over gun violence, but the wrangling over background checks is the battle to watch. Requiring the checks for all gun sales is the true heart of reform.

The howls of protest have been loud and long since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the bill that will come to the Senate floor next month will not include a ban on...

President Barack Obama’s speech before a young Israeli audience in Jerusalem Thursday was in part a throwback to his “yes we can” days as a candidate. It worked then. Maybe it will again.

His call for a two-state solution with Palestinians had the feel of a political rally. And the response was enthusiastic.

His words won't change the hard political realities that have repeatedly thwarted...

President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans have been dating lately, but they haven’t decided whether to hook-up and consummate a budget deal. They should.

Reacting to criticism that he’s too aloof, Obama went to Capital Hill today to see Senate Republicans. He stopped by Wednesday to visit with House Republicans. And last week he took a few GOP Senators out to dinner at a posh hotel...

The Obama administration called China out on cyberattacks Monday. It demanded the Chinese government stop the theft of data from the computer networks of American companies that appears to be the work of hackers operating inside China.

Before National Security Advisor Tom Donilon spoke Monday at the Asia Society in New York City, the administration had avoided mentioning China by name when...