Fulfilling Reagan’s vow: How eliminating the Education Department fits a larger political agenda
By Kevin Welner, Professor of Education Policy & Law; Director of the National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado Boulder In her role as former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, Linda McMahon oversaw an enterprise that popularized the...
A history of military rule: What the short-lived Martial Law says about South Korean democracy
By Myunghee Lee, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University During a whirlwind few hours in South Korean politics, President Yoon Suk Yeol placed the country under martial law on December 3, 2024, only to lift it just a short while later. It marked the first time...
Reshaping government: Why Movement Conservatives attacked the liberal consensus to subvert democracy
Cas Mudde, a political scientist who specializes in extremism and democracy, observed recently on Bluesky that “the fight against the far right is secondary to the fight to strengthen liberal democracy.” That is a smart observation. During World War II, when the...
Legal documents allege that TikTok was aware of the health risks kids and teens face on its platform
TikTok was aware that its design features are detrimental to its young users and that publicly touted tools aimed at limiting kids’ time on the site were largely ineffective, according to internal documents and communications exposed in lawsuit filed by the...
Podcast: A “Deep Dive” into Milwaukee County’s budget for 2025 and its implications
The Deep Dive podcast by Milwaukee Independent takes a closer look at the stories that matter most, uncovering the layers of complexity behind today’s pressing issues. From groundbreaking research to critical social movements and the intersection of local and global...
Podcast: A “Deep Dive” into Milwaukee County’s approach to breaking the cycle of homelessness
The Deep Dive podcast by Milwaukee Independent takes a closer look at the stories that matter most, uncovering the layers of complexity behind today’s pressing issues. From groundbreaking research to critical social movements and the intersection of local and global...
Podcast: A “Deep Dive” into Milwaukee County’s emergency medical services initiative
The Deep Dive podcast by Milwaukee Independent takes a closer look at the stories that matter most, uncovering the layers of complexity behind today’s pressing issues. From groundbreaking research to critical social movements and the intersection of local and global...
Post-Thanksgiving retail rush: What the history of Black Friday shows about holiday shopping in 2024
The holiday shopping season is about to reach full speed with Black Friday, which kicks off the post-Thanksgiving retail rush. The annual sales event no longer creates the midnight mall crowds or doorbuster mayhem of recent decades, in large part due to the ease of...
Milwaukee celebrates Thanksgiving with gratitude, grievances, and growing divides after 2024 election
As Milwaukeeans gather for Thanksgiving, they do so in the wake of a turbulent presidential election season. This year’s holiday arrives less than a month after a highly contentious vote, leaving many with a mixture of hope and trepidation as they look toward the new...
U.S. military tests how to protect troops from explosive blasts as combat brain injuries increase
The blast shook the ground and its red flash of fire covered the doorway as U.S. special operations forces blew open a door during a recent training exercise. Moments later, in their next attempt, the boom was noticeably suppressed and the blaze a bit smaller,...
Great power competition: Why U.S. military planning pivoted from terrorism back to old adversaries
By Eric Rosenbach, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School President Joe Biden’s recent approval of a major shift in U.S. nuclear weapons strategy highlights the attention the country’s national security officials are paying to Chinese ambitions for...
Sake brewers in Japan hope UNESCO heritage recognition can boost the appeal of its rice wine
Deep in a dark warehouse the sake sleeps, stored in rows of giant tanks, each holding more than 2,640 gallons of the Japanese rice wine that is the product of brewing techniques dating back more than 1,000 years. Junichiro Ozawa, the 18th-generation head of Ozawa...
