The world’s first social media ban of users under age 16 is now in effect in Australia. Whatever parents’ genuine concerns and understandable frustrations around their kids’ safety online, the Aussie approach is not the answer and should not be emulated by U.S. lawmakers.

The Australian ban covers Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube ...Read more

Should the United States follow Australia’s lead in banning children under 16 from social media platforms? Absolutely!

Australia has set a new global standard by requiring platforms to act in children’s best interests. Its new law raises the minimum age to 16, requires age verification, and holds platforms financially accountable for ...Read more

Last year, a doctor of physical therapy program at an institution of higher education faced an all-too-familiar challenge: how to celebrate the holidays in a way that felt meaningful for everyone. Instead of defaulting to the traditional catered lunch and gift exchange, the director invited faculty, staff and graduate students to co-create the ...Read more

The November inflation numbers are in, and they’re a disappointment for Democrats. The Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose 2.7% in November compared with a year earlier. That’s an improvement from the September rate of 3%.

Many economists had predicted a steeper rise. But even core inflation, “which strips out ...Read more

During the Christmas holidays, the word peace makes a frequent appearance, in sermons and carols and frequent performances of Handel’s Messiah, with its glorious Hallelujah Chorus praising “the Prince of Peace.”

That makes it even more infuriating to watch President Donald Trump demanding that Ukraine (and American’s European allies) ...Read more

Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Noam Chomsky and Woody Allen were among the familiar faces in the latest batch of photographs released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in connection to the late Jeffrey Epstein. With the Justice Department preparing to make additional files public, the images underscore an uncomfortable truth for us all: ...Read more

DENVER -- Just in time for the holidays, President Donald Trump has issued another of his dubious pardons. Or rather, make that a "pardon."

This one comes on behalf of a former Colorado elections official serving a nine-year sentence for election fraud.

"Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply ...Read more

Every year around this time, the noise starts to drop. The pace eases a bit. Families gather, neighbors reconnect, and people who disagree on just about everything still manage to pass plates across the same table.

Something about late November into December nudges us toward reflection. Whatever you call it — holiday spirit, cultural memory,...Read more

As Americans gather for holiday celebrations, many will quietly give thanks for the health care workers who keep their families and friends well: the ICU nurse who stabilized a grandparent, the doctor who adjusted a tricky prescription, the home health aide who ensures an aging relative can bathe and eat safely.

Will most of us notice how many ...Read more

Much has been written about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) since it was signed into law last summer, but one of its more interesting provisions has been somewhat overlooked: the expansion of charitable contribution benefits for all taxpayers, which allows all Americans to potentially lower their tax bills by giving to qualified ...Read more

My friend Sara, eight weeks after giving birth, left me a tearful voicemail. I’m a clinical psychologist specializing in postpartum depression and psychosis, but mental health wasn’t Sara’s issue. Postpartum weight gain was.

Sara told me she needed help. She’d gained 40 pounds during her pregnancy, and she was still 25 pounds overweight...Read more

I understand your anger. And that anger is justified. I, too, am angry at the Democratic Party for turning away from its traditional role as the supporter of the American worker.

After having been neglected and disappointed by Democratic politicians for decades, you responded to Donald Trump's full-voiced support for your grievances against the...Read more

Before Illinois became a state anchored by a sprawling metropolis, it was a humble prairie. Flat, yes, but that open horizon offered the perfect home for creatures big and small to graze and lope.

Among those creatures were bison, giants that called this place home for thousands of years until we humans edged them out of their habitat, ...Read more

This will go down as the year when the president of the United States openly went to war against the rule of law. I’ve been writing about the many battles of this war throughout 2025.

In this column, I’m going to zoom out and take a broad view of the overall state of the battlefield, with special attention to the main combatants defending ...Read more

A group of middle school girls is puzzling over a pie chart about reading habits in the U.S. Their “math designer” stands at the front of the room, encouraging students to share what they “notice and wonder.” A data talk, as it’s known, is meant to empower students to ask questions about the data-filled world around them and embrace ...Read more

The holidays have arrived once again. You know, that annual festival of goodwill, compulsory spending and the dawning realization that Santa and Satan are anagrams.

Even in the best of years, Americans stagger through this season feeling financially woozy. This year, however, the picture is bleaker. And a growing number of Americans are feeling...Read more

In the last year or so, health influencers — and a lot of women on social media — have talked up testosterone therapy as a kind of perimenopausal panacea. They promise boundless energy, crisper thinking, better sleep — and, most of all, a roaring libido.

Sounds awfully tempting.

But like a lot of things when it comes to women’s health,...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Nearly one year after the Eaton fire incinerated their block in west Altadena, neighbors gathered again, greeting one another with hugs that spoke to a bond forged by shared loss.

They had agreed to meet with me at the same burned-out lot where we'd gathered in February, and talk again about what they once had, what they lost, ...Read more

At the sixth-ranked American public university, UC San Diego, a quarter of students taking a remedial math course placement exam couldn’t solve for x in this equation: 7 + 2 = x + 6. A third couldn’t subtract 1/3 from 3/4, and fewer than half could round a six-digit number to the nearest hundred, according to the school’s recent viral ...Read more