By EZRA KLEIN Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., offered the graduates of Wesleyan University wise counsel in his commencement speech a few weeks back. “You are about to step out into a world that prizes efficiency and the annihilation of drift and friction above all else,” he said. “Our entire economy is built on rewarding companies that are efficient at making a profit, not based upon how they treat their workers, the social value of their product or the impact they have on the co

Statuary in Vatican City, May 7, 2025. (Camillo Pasquarelli/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” is a movie in which characters argue about whether the discovery of extraterrestrial life would be a threat to religion, something that a great many people have decided to argue about since the Pentagon started releasing tranches of UFO-related files. The film’s formal perspective, not surprisingly given that Spielberg has always been both alien-

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN The leaders of Israel, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and the United States have one thing in common: None of them want a commission of inquiry looking into their performance in the latest Middle East conflict. So I have decided to do it for them, and I can summarize my conclusions in two words that apply to them all: “You lost.” There — I’ve saved you all the time and money of an internal investigation. You’re welcome. This truly is the Middle East war that eve

Signage for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, April 16, 2026. One month short of America’s 250th birthday, it’s clear that we won’t be getting an extravagant and unifying celebration of American greatness and patriotism. (Hannah Beier/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT One month short of America’s 250th birthday, it’s clear that we won’t be getting an extravagant and unifying celebration of American

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF After Elon Musk “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” as he put it last year, he and President Donald Trump scoffed that American humanitarian aid was, in effect, woke nonsense. Yet in reality American humanitarian aid not only saved one life every 10 seconds but was also safeguarding the world from epidemics. So now we face a rapidly increasing outbreak of Ebola, and the Trump administration is finding that some of the things that went

A rosary and iPhone, brought by an attendee for Pope Leo XIV’s first remarks from St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, May 8, 2025. (Camillo Pasquarelli/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT Of all the reactions to Pope Leo XIV’s manifesto on artificial intelligence, from its liberal humanist appreciators to its digital-consciousness-believing critics, one of the most notable is the disappointment of the AI skeptics who think the pope didn’t go nearly far enough. Writing in Co

By M. GESSEN “They walk among us.” The glowing green letters emerge ominously against a dark backdrop. Above them hover the words “aliens” and “declassified,” suggesting the release — long awaited in some corners of the internet — of secret government files concerning extraterrestrials. Slowly, tantalizingly, more text appears: “For 60 years, the U.S. government has kept a closely guarded secret.” Then the big reveal: It’s not the trailer for a horror film; it’s a White House

American flags are displayed on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 3, 2025. (Mark Peterson/The New York Times) By THE EDITORIAL BOARD In the 20th century, Americans learned how government abuse of secrets can threaten liberty. It happened during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, the McCarthy era and J. Edgar Hoover’s long reign at the FBI. After the Watergate scandal, however, Democrats and Republicans joined forces to put in place new rules and procedures to prevent federal officia

Construction workers etched President Donald Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center in Washington, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. A federal judge in Washington ordered on Friday, May 29, 2026, that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts remove President Trump’s name from the building’s facade and all official branding, finding that the board’s decision to add it was unlawful. (Eric Lee/The New York Times) By BRET STEPHENS To: Our greatest president From: Your greatest fans

The Meta data center in Covington, Ga., Sept. 14, 2017. “AI is here. It will be used,” Times columnist Ezra Klein writes. “But how it is used, for what and by whom are meaningful questions.” (Dustin Chambers/The New York Times) By EZRA KLEIN So far, the policy conversation about artificial intelligence has focused on preventing harms to the public. What if AI leads to mass job loss? What if it’s used for surveillance? For bioweapons? What if it concentrates wealth and power i