Politics
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Joe Battenfeld: Kamala Harris Harris teases run with mob boss misfire
Just when you thought Democrats couldn’t sink any lower, along comes retread Kamala Harris to kiss the ring of Al Sharpton and adopt a fake mafia boss accent to tease another presidential run.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Harris, the failed 2024 White House nominee, said over the weekend she just “might” run again.
“Listen, I ...Read more
Editorial: On President Trump's war of words with Pope Leo
Twenty-two years ago, the U.S. was at war, just as it is today, and a president visited the pope at the Vatican.
President George W. Bush’s meeting with Pope John Paul II was reported to be an awkward one. With the war in Iraq raging, the 84-year-old pope, weakened by Parkinson’s disease and less than a year from his death, condemned the ...Read more
Editorial: Don't mess with Chicago O'Hare, DHS Secretary Mullin. Start talking, instead
“Abolish ICE” makes for red-meat copy on the side of a Chicago street sweeper. But neither Mayor Brandon Johnson nor Democratic Senate candidate Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton really wants to abolish immigration and customs enforcement in the United States.
Having a say over who comes and goes into a country is an intrinsic part of what defines ...Read more
Commentary: Trump's desecration of the flag
Since Trump and his followers make such a show of honoring the flag, how can I say that he desecrates the flag? The answer comes from the Pledge of Allegiance itself, which clearly states the meaning of the flag. Republicans recite the pledge at every gathering, and many Trump supporters fly the flag outside their homes; indeed, that is how they...Read more
Editorial: Battle Creek, a Rust Belt icon, battles back as American manufacturing jobs decline
For generations, the Kellogg food company and Battle Creek, Michigan, went together like corn flakes and milk. Then came 2023.
After decades as an independent public company, Kellogg split in two, later selling its storied cereal business to Italy’s Ferrero Group and its valuable snack business to Mars Inc., which has extensive operations in ...Read more
Commentary: Build better AI
Something I think just about all of us agree on: We want better AI. Regardless of your current perspective on AI, it's undeniable that, like any other tool, it can unleash human flourishing. There's progress to be made with AI that we should all applaud and aim to make happen as soon as possible.
There are kids in rural communities who stand to...Read more
Editorial: For now, Chicago's public schools will be open May 1. But the CTU saga may not be over
Will Chicago Public Schools be open on May 1?
As of now, they will. That’s thanks to CEO Macquline King’s directive last Thursday following a confusing closed-door meeting Wednesday of the Chicago Board of Education during which board members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson pressured King into closing schools on May 1. Their agenda? The ...Read more
Abby McCloskey: Can RFK Jr. save Republicans' midterms hopes?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, is once again out in front. This week, he launched his new podcast, which promises “fearless conversations” because “the government lies to us.”
He’s scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday. And he’ll be going out on the campaign ...Read more
Gustavo Arellano: Pope Leo isn't afraid of President Trump. We shouldn't be, either
"I'm not afraid."
With these three words Sunday morning, Pope Leo XIV offered as powerful a rebuke of President Donald Trump and everything he has wrought on the world as anyone ever has.
Three words that mocked Trump for being the bully that he is.
Three words that undercut Trump's self-hyped aura of invincibility.
Three words to inspire ...Read more
Commentary: The election that unseated strongman Viktor Orban is the most important I've witnessed
On Sunday night, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat in one of the most important elections I’ve ever witnessed. The right-wing strongman stepped down from power in Hungary after a rule of 16 years — years that spanned the adult lifetime of a generation of young people, who have now made their voice heard, through their ...Read more
Commentary: Artemis II does for our era what Apollo 8 did for 1968
Millions in the streets. An unpopular war. Violence. And in the middle of all that: a moonshot.
The parallels between today and 1968 are eerie.
Nearly 60 years ago, civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam-war rallies burst across the country. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. Police beat protesters outside the ...Read more
Commentary: In Iran negotiations, the White House's military options are dwindling
With no breakthrough between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad this past weekend, President Donald Trump is reverting to his preferred tool: the U.S. military. Last week he vowed to keep American forces in the region at an elevated level and to restart shooting (“bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before”).
Last ...Read more
Steve Lopez: Trump says his social media post depicted him as a doctor, not Jesus. A Catholic school alum weighs in
The general consensus is that President Donald Trump's social media post of himself dressed in robes, after a busy weekend in which he blasted Pope Leo and attended a prizefight while an Iran peace plan fell apart, was an attempt to cast himself as a Jesus-like figure.
But Trump says we have it wrong.
"It's supposed to be me as a doctor, ...Read more
Commentary: The global ripple effects of the United States' diplomacy with Iran
Vice President JD Vance and hundreds of expert-level U.S. officials arrived in Islamabad last weekend with a sliver of hope that a deal to end the nearly seven-week war in Iran could be hammered out. By the time they left on Sunday after 21 hours of negotiations, that hope had deflated. Vance, who never wanted the United States to wage a ...Read more
Andreas Kluth: It's the worst time to be an American ally
The Iran war, which is now likely to flare up again after talks in Islamabad between Washington and Tehran have failed, has been a humanitarian, economic and geopolitical disaster. One heuristic for grasping the scale of the strategic catastrophe is to look at America’s allies and adversaries worldwide and ask: Cui bono, who benefits? Cui malo...Read more
Howard Chua-Eoan: Is the Pope American? No, he's Catholic
President Donald Trump has unleashed a diatribe against Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social that brings the simmering imbroglio between the two most powerful Americans in the world to a boil.
On one side, there’s the New York-born chief executive of the planet’s paramount military superpower. On the other, Chicago-born Robert Prevost, supreme ...Read more
Mark Gongloff: Your expensive cheeseburger is a taste of what's to come
When I was in grade school back in the 1800s, they fed us cheeseburgers extended to the frontiers of human palatability by hefty amounts of what some call “textured vegetable protein” but all the kids knew was soy. Nobody liked them. But Americans might start considering soy burgers this summer when they see what happens to the price of beef...Read more
Commentary: Vaccine confusion sets up US for a resurgence of hepatitis B in babies
Measles is back in the United States. More than 1,500 cases have already been reported in the first months of 2026, putting the country on pace to surpass last year’s total of more than 2,200, the highest number in decades. Public health officials warn that the nation’s status as “measles free” is now at risk as childhood vaccination ...Read more
Robin Abcarian: I just got back from Europe. Anti-American sentiment is on the rise
It was midday just before Easter in Paris. My niece and I walked past the city's famous opera house, where tourists were relaxing on the wide steps. French soldiers armed with assault rifles strolled around, a comforting sight given the warnings about Iran-backed sleeper cells and potential retaliatory attacks. A busker with a guitar and a ...Read more
Commentary: Climate education makes economic sense
In January 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Education Act, which framed the issue of environmental protection not only as a matter of regulation, but also of education. A year later, in his 1971 environmental message to Congress, Nixon emphasized that building a better environment would require “a citizenry that ...Read more




















































