Agood indication on how church-state issues will play out in Donald Trump’s second presidential term can be found in his shameless hawking of an “Inauguration Day Bible,” part of a merch promotion from which he’s personally receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties. In marketing this book ($69.99, not including shipping) Trump has insisted, “We must make America pray again.”

It is hard enough to promote or save democracy when the public is relatively united in its desire to do so. The experience of the “color revolutions” in former Soviet Republics offers powerful evidence for that proposition. It may seem almost impossible to do so when much of the public is disillusioned with the democratic system in which they live or when they are, at best, indifferent.

When scientists constructed a puzzle-solving task and pitted teams of people against teams of ants, the insects sometimes proved to be the smarter species. That’s not to denigrate human intelligence — ants are smart, and their feats of coordinated activity are rare in nature.

By most measures, Donald Trump is inheriting a booming economy. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, we’ve enjoyed historically low unemployment and added nearly 1 million manufacturing jobs. Real wage growth has outpaced its rate under Trump. Gross domestic product growth is strong, and COVID-19-related inflation has fallen below 3%.

On top of the human tragedy they’re still inflicting, the Los Angeles wildfires are exposing a gap between what people thought their homes were worth and what they’ll actually get from insurance companies when those houses have been reduced to ash. Potentially thousands of homeowners are learning it won’t be nearly enough.

President-elect Donald Trump demonstrated in his first term a willingness to withhold and otherwise weaponize relief funding to American communities stricken by disaster, providing help to states — or not — depending on his whims.

That wagging tail and those hopeful eyes that keep glancing toward the door are telling you something: January is Walk Your Dog Month. Even if wet, dreary, chilly weather has you tempted to stay indoors, your canine companion is counting on you to get out there and give them a chance to stretch their legs, see the sights and sniff the hydrants. Contrary to what some might think, walks aren’t optional; they’re essential to dogs’ health, happiness and well-being.

The United States faces a nationwide crisis in which our young people are reading at alarmingly low rates, with just 1 in 3 fourth graders meeting proficiency standards. So why are some on the right focused on standardized testing, not for students but for teachers?

During most of the 100 years of his life, and even in these first two weeks of his death, former President Jimmy Carter has been gifting us with the enduring example of how he chose to live his life.

On Dec. 16, in Madison, Wisconsin, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow shot and killed two other people before taking her own life. Authorities quickly discovered that she had allegedly plotted the attack with Alexander Paffendorf, a 20-year-old California man who admitted to having his own plan to arm himself with a gun and explosives and target a government building.