Protesters face federal officers and local law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, demonstrating against federal officer activity in Minneapolis, Jan. 9, 2026. The ICE Shooting Displays the Need for Equilibrium. But How? (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT It may seem hard to believe when you’re inside the social media cascade, but American society actually stabilized meaningfully across 2025. The homicide and crime rates dropped

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN President Donald Trump said last Tuesday that Venezuela would begin handing over oil worth up to $3 billion that Trump would dole out “to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.” On what legal basis this is being done and where exactly the money will go was not made clear by the president. But for the people of Venezuela, here is what is certain: If you didn’t know before, now you know. Trump came to liberate your oil, not your people. Sor

Nicolás Maduro, the ousted president of Venezuela, and his wife, Cilia Flores, are escorted off a helicopter en route to the federal courthouse in Manhattan on Monday morning, Jan. 5, 2026. (Vincent Alban/The New York Times) By BRET STEPHENS There are good reasons to celebrate the downfall of the tyrant Nicolás Maduro, as so many Venezuelan exiles did when they heard the news Saturday morning. Not among those reasons: an America that seizes Venezuela’s oil assets while keepin

Law enforcement personnel hold a line outside the Capitol in Washington, hours after it was stormed by a mob of pro-Trump rioters, Jan. 6, 2021. (Mark Peterson/The New York Times) By JAMELLE BOUIE Most Americans like to believe that this is a nation of laws, where justice is blind to power and status. But that is a bit of self-flattery. The truth is that as a country we have often found one reason or another to let the powerful escape the consequences of their actions. Consid

By M. GESSEN In the initial rush of news Saturday morning, many commentators speculated that the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela was also a blow to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, since Venezuela and Russia are allies. To the contrary, it is a victory for Putin, because it is a blow — quite likely fatal — to the new world order of law, justice and human rights that was heralded in the wake of World War II. That order was never as robust as its champions

President Donald Trump exits an appearance in the White House Rose Garden on April 2, 2025. (Damon Winter/The New York Times) By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Over the past few months, President Donald Trump has deployed an imposing military force in the Caribbean to threaten Venezuela. Until recently, the president used that force — an aircraft carrier, at least seven other warships, scores of aircraft and 15,000 U.S. troops — for illegal attacks on small boats that he claimed were fe

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. He is joined by, from left: Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “It is far too early to have clear answers as to what will happen next in Venezuela in the wake of the Trump administration’s removal of President Nicolás Maduro to stand trial in the United S

“Mobile photography keeps our creativity alive,” UPR-Carolina professor John Rivas writes. (Freepik) By John Rivas Special to The Star Peek-a-boo… what do we see? Ever since mobile photography carved out its space in the world of digital phones, our surroundings have become more vivid, more noticeable. Everyday life -- its events, its fleeting moments -- now finds its chroniclers in urban photojournalists armed not with bulky cameras, but with sleek smartphones. These modern