Tax-advantaged employer-sponsored retirement savings accounts hit a milestone not long ago: At least half of all private sector U.S. workers now participate in a 401(k).

That is good news in this respect: The alternative of not saving money for retirement could prove crushing. Finance experts have long cautioned against relying solely on ...Read more

Not caring about the U.S. Constitution is a regular refrain for President Donald Trump, who now wants to exclude undocumented people from the 2030 census count — a nonstarter as much else is in this bizarro world we now inhabit, promulgated via a screed on his Truth Social platform — is both a terrible idea and certainly a rehash.

Trump ...Read more

Remember “I alone can fix it”? President Donald Trump, who made that laughable statement in his 2016 convention acceptance speech, is now testing the theory in Washington.

Trump and his party have been threatening a D.C. takeover for years and made it part of the Republican platform last year. But it was all just empty talk and random ...Read more

You're doubtless familiar with the term armchair quarterback, and probably with its myriad modifications for disciplines outside of football, like armchair meteorologist to connote enthusiasm for forecasting despite an obvious lack of expertise, but I heard a different usage yesterday that sounded truly groundbreaking.

Armchair epidemiologist. ...Read more

Once again, a willfully blind President Donald Trump is walking into a trap set by Russian leader Vladimir Putin — by agreeing to meet him for a summit in Alaska on Aug. 15.

No matter how many times Putin insults the president and ignores his calls for a total ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump returns for more humiliation. He refuses to recognize ...Read more

Gov. JB Pritzker is once again talking about gerrymandering — just not in Illinois.

This week, he welcomed Texas Democratic legislators to Oakwood, Illinois, to denounce Republican redistricting efforts in that state. But while Pritzker lectures red states about fairness, he continues to ignore the glaring problems in his own backyard.

Don�...Read more

President Donald Trump using an obscure emergency provision in federal law pertaining to Washington, D.C. to attempt to take full control over the capital’s local police force is not responding to any “emergency,” but just a pure power grab.

Coming a day after he’d sent federal agents to patrol the streets and moved to deploy the ...Read more

“If the United States is to deter a nuclear attack,” then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said in a 1967 speech in San Francisco, “it must possess an actual and a credible assured-destruction capability.”

McNamara was elucidating a long-established defense concept known as “mutually assured destruction,” meaning that if ...Read more

Actress Gina Carano, Lucasfilm and its parent company Walt Disney Co. have settled the federal lawsuit filed in which Carano claimed that, in 2021, she was wrongfully terminated from her role in “The Mandalorian” after she expressed her conservative political views on social media.

The settlement details have not been made public, but ...Read more

When Texas legislators lit out for New York and Illinois in order to deny Republicans the quorum that they need to enact a mid-decade redistricting map, I wasn’t thrilled. The cause is righteous, but when has quorum-busting actually worked?

Democrats fled Austin in 1979, 2003 and 2021 in efforts to prevent Republicans from railroading bad ...Read more

Ukrainian and European leaders are worried President Donald Trump will get played for a second time when he meets his Russian counterpart in Alaska on Friday — and they’re right to be nervous.

Indeed, if Trump wants to emerge from the talks a master negotiator rather than a pushover, his smartest move may be to postpone the summit until it...Read more

President Donald Trump just threw India under the bus. After months of affronts and barbs, Washington now treats New Delhi more as foe than friend, undermining a relationship that several American administrations — including Trump’s first — tried to strengthen, not least to contain China in the Indo-Pacific. Instead, India will now ...Read more

In the early 1900s, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration created a special “Chinese Division” to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was the first major U.S. immigration law to ban entry based on race and nationality. Federal agents were sent to Mexican border towns and tasked with secretly photographing, tracking and cataloging ...Read more

The American story is one of constant innovation and renewal, where democracy rises to meet the challenges of each new age. Our history documents a journey of transformation, inviting us to reflect on centuries of innovation in American democracy.

Citizens have routinely amended outdated practices, reinforced core tenets, and forged new ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political ambitions have reached a new low. In his efforts to look like a “fighter” ahead of a potential run for the presidency in 2028, he’s willing to ignore democratic rules in pursuit of political aims, setting aside the state’s independent redistricting system to counter Texas Republicans’ proposed partisan ...Read more

One of the more notable successes of President Donald Trump’s first term was how the administration was able to develop effective COVID-19 vaccines so quickly.

That impressive speed — less than one year compared to the decade or more of research and development that other vaccines have required — likely saved millions of lives worldwide....Read more

Zohran Mamdani’s sudden 180-degree turn on defunding the police, from supporting the foolish concept to opposing it, coincides with his political necessity and rank opportunism as he tries to be elected mayor.

At least the old anti-cop Mamdani was consistent, if wrong. And it’s not the only area where the Democratic mayoral nominee and ...Read more

PETA is celebrating a milestone this month: 45 years of pushing, persuading and provoking for animal liberation. I’ve been here for 33 of those. My son, now 22, grew up vegan and is going to protests with me. We’ve made world-changing, lifesaving progress in his lifetime alone. I’m now stepping into my new role as PETA’s president, ...Read more

President Donald Trump wants new congressional maps in Texas — now. Not in the next decade. Not after the next census. Not when it’s traditionally done. He wants it done smack dab in the middle of the decade.

Why the odd timing? Because he wants it done in time to help his presidency.

In Trump’s mind, Texas is a vending machine: insert ...Read more