WASHINGTON - After the slaughter last month of 20 schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., cynics said the response wouldn't be any different from those to the many mass killings that came before.

Revolutionary changes are coming at us at supersonic speed, bringing new challenges that are existential and global. Yet our political system seems incapable of adapting to, or even fully acknowledging, those changes.

Congratulations! The cost of your health insurance is increasing. What? You don't think that's a reason for celebration? Good, you're avoiding a mistake that's far too common among economic analysts, especially Republicans.

"I'm a pretty friendly guy," President Obama said near the end of his White House news conference Monday afternoon.

Much ink has been spilled over what's wrong with Washington. The rise of partisan media, too much money in politics and congressional gerrymandering that rewards ideologues with safe seats have all been offered as diagnoses for government dysfunction.

The continuing drought in much of the U.S. has raised real concerns about long term fresh water supplies. 2012 was one of our country's driest years since official records began in 1880. Barges are now scraping bottoms on a shrinking Mississippi River.

As you reflect on your high school experience, many of you have positive memories of friends, school events, and classes that were interesting and relevant to life.

NEW YORK - The United States of America isn't going to default on its debt, even if Congress doesn't increase the statutory borrowing authority in the next couple of months. Everyone in Washington knows, or should know, this.

This is a video letter to Minnesota Congressman Rick Nolan, and Senators Amy Klobucher, and Al Franken. This video letter proves that a duck hunting shotgun is more destructive and lethal than a Huldra AR-15 modern sporting rifle. Stewart Mills Nisswa...

As if life in Washington wasn't dispiriting enough, we must now get ready for a bruising fight over whether former Senator Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee as the new secretary of defense, has a 'Jewish problem.