Donald Trump's Maga policy challenges Ireland ’s political economy, which relies on extensive US investment.

As one of the three remaining EU member states that are neutral, Ireland is out of sync with most of Europe .

Ireland will hold the presidency of the EU council of ministers during the second half of 2026 but it is an outlier because of its low spend on national security.

Ireland needs to deepen engagement with the EU ’s defence initiatives and cooperate more closely with Nato if it is to enhance its defence capability.

But domestic opposition could limit or prevent both.

If there is an enduring transatlantic rupture, stand-alone European security structures will be created and Ireland will have to decide on its place in these structures.

Frida Ghitis : In a democratic society, the population must endure the brunt of ludicrous ideas imposed by elected officials.

Ghitis says tariffs are taxes consumers in our country pay for imported goods; they raise prices, reduce our access to foreign goods and spark reciprocal tariffs that then punish our country's farmers and manufacturers.

She says it's hard to understand the idiocy of picking a fight with Canada , except in the context of an administration that likes to punch down. Any infinitesimal issues between our countries can easily be handled through diplomacy, Ghitis writes.

A mother-of-two broke up with her daughter after her ex died when she was 13 and her son was 17 .

Her son thinks his daughter is mentally ill and needs professional help.

" Torn Mother " is tired of putting her daughter's life on hold, but she needs to grow up and act civil.

My daughter, “ Sonia ,” won a scholarship to an elite private school, but is struggling to carve out the peace she needs to study.

One of her cousins went in and hid her school laptop and didn't confess for three days .

Sonia was beside herself with worry since we would have to pay to replace it.

Sonia refuses to have anything to do with her cousins now.

Divorce is painful and the blame you are receiving is unfair, but your relationship and home situation had become untenable.

Don’t let your desire for him to have a relationship with your children put them in harm’s way.

If you’re concerned that your husband will mistreat your kids when they’ve been in his care, you should push for his visits with them to be supervised.

The " R"-rated Anora is inappropriate viewing material for children too, including teens.

When the film’s stars aren’t having sex, they’re usually drinking, taking drugs, or shouting profanities.

The film has a pro-prostitution agenda too, as reiterated in the leading actress's speeches where she committed her allyship to the “sex worker community”.

Marrying into wealth provides Ani an escape hatch from prostitution, but she senses there’s more to marriage than its outward appearance.

Desperate, Ani pleads with whoever will listen to stop the annulment.

Millions of spouses divorced against their will will relate to her desperation.

They have no power to save their marriages either.

Letters To God From A Former Atheist by Jason Hill is an autobiography told through the fearless and humble language of unfiltered and impassioned prayers.

Hill is so bracingly honest that his book can be unnerving at times.

Hill 's trust in the reader is second only to his trust in God.

Labour grandee has waltzed into another publicly funded non-job.

She has a terrible track record when it comes to the oppressed and the victimised.

In the 1970s , a civil-liberties campaign group where she worked as a legal officer allowed the Paedophile Information Exchange (the clue’s in the name) to become an affiliate member.

She allegedly suggested that a pornographic photo or film of a child should not be considered indecent unless it could be shown that the subject had suffered.

Not long before she was handed the envoy job, she was granted a peerage.

Her colleague, Patricia Hewitt , general secretary of the NCCL from 1974 to 1983, at least had the belated decency to say in 2014 that she got it wrong on PIE .

Nicola Sturgeon will not seek re-election as a MSP at next May ’s Holyrood elections.

Her departure seems a good time to consider what she did and the imprint she has left on the recent history and future trajectory of her country.

An introvert with down-to-earth charm, she was and still is among many in the SNP and the wider Scottish public adored, a progressive ally and advocate.

Sturgeon proved it was possible to govern in an entirely different tone of voice from the Tory bombast at Westminster .

Her legacy is as much in what she made visible and normal in Scotland .

For now, Sturgeon’s Instagram followers can see her enjoying the ordinary stuff that most people take for granted’.

Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders addressing three overarching goals: Meritocracy and non-discrimination instead of “equity” for favored groups.

This won’t be easy because the weeds of wokeism are deeply rooted in the Defense Department .

Defense Department officials replaced equal opportunity with outcome-based preferences favoring some demographic groups over others.

President Trump ’s executive actions will not be permanent unless Congress codifies them in law.

Congress should affirm four main principles: merit as the exclusive basis for personnel actions.

Three more principles should guide congressional action to eliminate wokeism in the military: Defund DEI and CRT in all DoD agencies.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ( CMS ) recently released a proposed rule relating to the Obamacare Exchanges .

Peter Bergen : The rule would end coverage for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) participants, months after changes pushed through by the Biden administration.

He says the rule would also end the legal wrangling over taxpayer-subsidized coverage for illegal immigrants and restore the pre-Biden status quo.

A Pew survey on the religious landscape of America was released by Pew Research Center .

Frida Ghitis : The de-Christianization of American society is not going to stop anytime soon.

She says the loss of America ’s Christian identity has huge implications for everyone in the country, Christian or not.

Ghitis says the number of Americans who don’t identify with any religion has increased from 16 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2014 .

Peter Bergen : America is losing its Christian religion, Pew study shows.

America is rapidly de-Christianizing , Bergen says.

He says the decline of Christianity occurring simultaneously with a growth in “spirituality’s” He says future of the West will be one of atheistic, secular materialism but of re-enchantment and neopaganism.