From the Left

'I Won't Abandon My Country'

From the Left / ACLU / May 19, 2025

I live every day in fear. My husband, Miguel, is undocumented and, despite what many believe, being married to a U.S. citizen does not protect him from Donald Trump's unlawful efforts to deport millions of people.

Miguel is my best friend. He is wonderful, kind and humble. We have a beautiful life that includes a successful business, a home, ...Read more

Trump Embraces South Africans — the White Ones

From the Left / Clarence Page / May 19, 2025

President Trump’s refugee policy reminds me of what automaker Henry Ford supposedly said about his company’s Model T:

“A customer can have a car painted any color he wants as long as it’s black.”

So it is with the Trump administration’s policy toward refugees who are fleeing war or political persecution, albeit with a color ...Read more

Voters Reject President Trump's Dystopian Plans for 'Public Safety'

From the Left / ACLU / May 12, 2025

President Donald Trump has been pushing mass deportations, aggressive law enforcement measures and a sweeping expansion of the death penalty as the path to public safety -- all while cutting the very programs that actually make communities safer.

Voters aren't buying it.

New research from the American Civil Liberties Union, conducted in ...Read more

Pope Leo XIV Seems Well Loved, But for How Long?

From the Left / Clarence Page / May 12, 2025

Once loyal Chicagoans got over the double shock of hearing that a local native, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, has been named the 267th pope, some critically important, locally familiar questions came up:

Which parish is he from?

Sox fan or Cubs fan?

And what bearing will his papacy have on the Great Pizza Schism, under which the local deep...Read more

Your Questions Answered: Trump's First 100 Days

From the Left / ACLU / May 05, 2025

In the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's second term, we've seen a whirlwind of executive orders, policy proposals and media commentary that have left many of us questioning the future of our democracy. It can be hard to separate what's truly important, what's fact and what can be done to safeguard our rights. We believe that an ...Read more

Let’s Take Advantage of the Crime Downturn to Learn What’s Gone Right

From the Left / Clarence Page / May 05, 2025

Will Donald Trump have Chicago to kick around anymore?

That question, an update of Richard Nixon’s memorable farewell to news reporters as he dropped out of the California governor’s race in 1962, came to mind on the heels of some unusually welcome news about violent crime in Chicago.

The city finished April with only 20 reported murders, ...Read more

Welcome to the World of MAGA Machismo, Where Muscles Trump Brains

From the Left / Dick Polman / Nov 16, 2023

Ladies and gentleman, here is your United States Senate, then and now:

Sen. Daniel Webster on March 7, 1850: “It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States (with) a just sense of its own dignity, and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which the country looks with confidence for wise, moderate, patriotic, and healing ...Read more

Trump and his lawyers think he can get away with anything. It's outlandish.

From the Left / Ruth Marcus / Oct 25, 2019

WASHINGTON -- "The king can do no wrong." That is the ancient legal maxim used to explain why a sovereign should not be held to account for misdeeds. President Trump and his lawyers are now making arguments that make this legal doctrine look wimpy. Their vision boils down to: The king can do whatever wrong he damn pleases, and there's nothing ...Read more