Columns

A young woman reacts as she looks at her damaged home after Russia's night missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 14, 2026. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Elizabeth Shackelford: Trump’s abhorrent Russian diesel deal defies US laws and won’t lower gas prices

By Elizabeth Shackelford

October 16, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Donald Trump has illegally undone sanctions efforts against Russia. For all of this, Americans won’t...

Saturday Night Live Host Shane Gillis during the monologue on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Will Heath/NBC/TNS)

Heidi Stevens: Shane Gillis ‘SNL’ opener misses the mark — and the moment

By Heidi Stevens

October 16, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

The most disappointing thing about Shane Gillis’ shopworn, hackneyed, tone-deaf, retrograde, unfunny “Saturday Night Live”...

Former Indiana U,S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, who was co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, in his office at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington on Nov. 24, 2006. (Pete Souza/baiduhai)

John T. Shaw: We need Congress to ponder the long term with a new future-focused group

By John T. Shaw

October 14, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Half a century ago, many lawmakers viewed their responsibilities differently and created a forum to...

Tenants rights advocates march on Jan. 13, 2021, in Boston. The protest was part of a national day of action calling on the incoming Biden administration to extend the eviction moratorium initiated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Column: The eviction moratorium shows the cost of good intentions

By Steve Chapman

January 22, 2021 at 1:17 p.m.

On his first day as president, Joe Biden reversed a raft of Donald Trump's ill-conceived...

Then-President Donald Trump watches a military plane flyover at Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, on July 3, 2020. Trump's White House released the President's Advisory 1776 Commission report on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, before the new president, Joe Biden, revoked it on Thursday.

Column: Trump’s 1776 Report was not the only response to the 1619 Project; pragmatism is the focus of my 1776 Unites essay

By Clarence Page

January 23, 2021 at 9:54 a.m.

I have an extra reason to be pleased that President Joe Biden has revoked the...

President Joe Biden conducts a virtual swearing-in ceremony at the White House for members of his new administration, just hours after his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021.

Column: Joe Biden is the worst president in history and he’s turning my dog into a socialist

By Rex W. Huppke

January 22, 2021 at 8:57 a.m.

Joe Biden is doing a terrible job as president. My name is Jingo Patrioticson, host...

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes throws during the second half of an NFL divisional round football game against the Cleveland Browns on Jan. 17, 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Column: If Mahomes plays Sunday after a concussion, will we not be entertained?

By John Kass

October 13, 2022 at 11:19 a.m.

If you're a fan of NFL football, you know what happened to Kansas City Chiefs...

President Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon speaks with reporters in New York on Aug. 20, 2020, after pleading not guilty to charges that he ripped off donors to an online fundraising scheme to build a southern border wall.

Column: The unpardonable reach of the presidential pardon power needs limits

By Eric Zorn

January 21, 2021 at 6:29 p.m.

Give him credit, NFL Hall of Fame Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher still knows how the...

Outgoing President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Jan. 20, 2021.

Column: The End: The final poem in a four-year rhyming chronicle of Trump’s presidency

By Mary Schmich

January 21, 2021 at 3:37 p.m.

For the past four years I've chronicled the presidency of Donald J. Trump in rhyme,...

Protesters gather at O'Hare International Airport on Jan. 28, 2017, after at least 18 people were detained, including green card holders. They were heldbecause of an executive order by President Donald Trump temporarily blocking refugees coming to the U.S. and placing a temporary moratorium on immigrants from seven barred countries.

Column: Chicago’s Muslim community celebrates Biden lifting travel ban. ‘It’s a joyous time. I feel like we are getting our America back.’

By Heidi Stevens

January 21, 2021 at 1:41 p.m.

Shortly after taking the oath of office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order ending...

President Joe Biden delivers his inaugural address at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20 in Washington.

Column: Biden calls for an end to ‘uncivil war,’ but will he defend free speech?

By John Kass

January 21, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

As Joe Biden was sworn in as our 46th president, he delivered a simple yet...

Column: Wearing pearls in honor of Kamala Harris, my mother and hope for a new day

By Dahleen Glanton

January 21, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

I wore my mother's pearls on Wednesday. They were not perfectly round or flawless, lustrous...

Even with Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan front and center, little in the trailer of "The Dig" seemed particularly promising,? I gave it a go and it's good. Some of it's true, too: Along the east coast of Britain in 1939, with war clouds looming, self-taught Suffolk archeologist Basil Brown was hired by ailing widow Edith Pretty to discover if anything of value lay beneath the earth mounds on her property. There was indeed, and the remains and artifacts of a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon burial ship stunned the world. Fiennes is Basil; Mulligan is Edith; around the halfway point of director Simon Stone's film, the focus (for better or worse) shifts to others in the orbit of the excavation effort, particularly characters played by Lily James and Johnny Flynn. Based on the 2007 novel by John Preston, "The Dig" freely mixes fact and invention, overloading the crises a bit but generally succeeding. A fair amount of screenwriter Moira Buffini's dialogue plays out as Terrence Malick-styled voiceover, while the camera focuses on the stark beauty of the surroundings, and men and women actually doing the work. The results are trim, well-made and quite moving. So much for my prejudgments. (Netflix) — Michael Phillips

Opinion: At the Biden inauguration, six minutes of poetry just revived a nation’s cultural hopes for the future

By Michael Phillips

January 20, 2021 at 5:23 p.m.

Our new president is a man for prose. In his inaugural address Wednesday, on the...

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