A record 45% of American adults now identify as political independents, according to new Gallup polling — up from 33% in 1990. That’s a big change.

As the ranks of the politically homeless grow, the share of Americans who call themselves Democrat or Republican continues to shrink. That’s hardly surprising.

Both parties increasingly ...Read more

The current trajectory for college sports is unsustainable. Big-revenue sports such as football and basketball have undergone massive transformations over the past decade, facilitated by a number of policy changes. Yet the changes they’ve undergone provide a clue as to how to salvage them.

The transfer portal was created in 2018 to facilitate...Read more

Now that I know how fond chatbots are of the em dash — the thing I just used to convey a thought that intruded on but is connected to the main sentence — I have a confession to make.

It’s in part my fault, apparently. Watch out for the semicolon, too; I sprinkle them like salt.

I’m one of those authors whose books AI ate for lunch a ...Read more

There’s only one way to describe President Donald Trump’s fixation with seizing Greenland: madness.

It’s a preoccupation that’s untethered from reality and lacks any rational justification. Indeed, none of the shifting rationales offered by the Trump administration makes any sense — particularly the supposed national security grounds ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland has triggered the predictable chorus of elite disbelief. Pundits scoff. European officials bristle. Commentators frame the idea as fanciful or provocative. Strip away the noise, however, and the case is simple: U.S. leadership in Greenland is strategically sound, increasingly urgent, and ...Read more

In the move to obliterate diversity, equity and inclusion, one word — merit — has stood out as an effective cudgel. The president’s executive orders claim to restore “meritocracy” and “merit-based opportunity” from the scourge of DEI.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth condemns the “toxic ideological garbage” of inclusive ...Read more

Florida Republicans have developed a bad habit of renaming things.

The Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America. Sections of roads were renamed to honor President Donald Trump and late conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. And now there’s a push in the Florida Legislature to force the renaming of roadways across 40 Florida college...Read more

The siege of Minneapolis represents a fitting, if foreboding, capstone to the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. Since returning to office one year ago, Trump has pursued no goal more passionately or persistently than breaking the ability of blue jurisdictions and their leaders to resist him.

In the process, he is straining ...Read more

The pre-AI world is gone. Estimates suggest that already, as many as one in eight kids personally knows someone who has been the target of a deepfake photo or video, with numbers rising to one in four who have seen a sexualized deepfake of someone they recognize, either a friend or a celebrity. This is a real problem, and it’s one that ...Read more

Some of the country’s most pressing problems have a simple solution — remove the regulatory obstacles that slow progress.

One obvious example is housing. The best way to reduce the cost of housing isn’t rent control. It’s to construct 10 million new houses. When supply dramatically increases, prices fall.

There’s an increasing demand...Read more

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk,” as Mark Zuckerberg famously put it. Judging from Meta Platforms, Inc, parent company of Facebook, announcement that it’s investing in new nuclear energy -- supporting up to 6.6 Gigawatts-- he wasn’t kidding. The plan includes two plant life extensions, three power expansions, and two advanced ...Read more

On Tuesday morning, all eyes on Wall Street seemed glued to the nearest screens in expectation that the Supreme Court would finally disgorge its opinion on the legality of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

It had been a long wait: The court heard oral arguments on the issue Nov. 5, when questions from the justices suggested that a majority was ...Read more

There are many things Donald Trump could regret about the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Perhaps it could be his nonstop lying about voter fraud, or how he was recorded asking Georgia election officials to “find” him the votes he needed. Maybe he has remorse about inciting the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol, violence that led to seven ...Read more

Although well-intended legislation, Illinois’ biometric privacy law has turned into a bonanza for opportunistic lawyers under the guise of protecting everyday people against threats to their personal data.

Take what happened on Dec. 17: The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld the certification of a class-action lawsuit against...Read more

I have a confession, shameful as it may be for someone who has spent decades studying retirement policy and advising individuals and institutions on how to save for and think about retirement: When I bought my apartment a few years ago, I raided my retirement account for the down payment.

Yes, I am well aware of the sacrosanct rule — never ...Read more

Such a nasty woman.

Remember when Donald Trump, then a candidate for president, directed that invective at his Democratic opponent, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton?

It was October 2016, the third and final general election debate. Clinton was talking about raising taxes on the wealthy to fortify Social Security and took a ...Read more

Just because marijuana is now a legalized, ubiquitous $32 billion business that’s outpacing alcohol to become America’s drug of choice doesn’t mean it’s good for you. The 21-year-old pot emporium clerk advising you which gummies to take for insomnia is not a physician or licensed pharmacist. While doctor-prescribed THC and CBD medicines ...Read more

As a U.S. citizen living abroad, I sympathize with European outrage over Donald Trump’s naked attempt to bully Denmark, a particularly loyal NATO ally, into handing over Greenland. In fact, if he stays on this path I’d encourage Europeans to boycott American imports, social-media platforms, and maybe even the World Cup.

But as some leaders ...Read more

We spend tens of billions of dollars each year on K-12 public education in Illinois. We argue endlessly about how best to invest that money to improve student outcomes, and we despair when those investments don’t produce an adequately literate and numerate student population.

But our fixation on budgets and balance sheets may be obscuring ...Read more

The men you see in masks on your television savagely arresting people may not seem like your affair. But they are your affair and mine, and that of every other American.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates outside of the law. It doesn’t disclose charges, and no one arrested sees a court of law.

ICE agents are also the affair of...Read more