Independent Conversations

Former President Trump is now the subject of multiple indictments for violation of criminal statutes. Do these indictments raise troubling questions about the nature and use of criminal law, and its place in our public life? Watch this episode of Independent Outlook and find out…and also learn about the Hunter Biden case, and the teaching of slavery in the Florida classroom curriculum, while you’r...

The U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on racial bias in college admissions, President Biden’s fiat forgiveness of student loans, and the freedom of creative designers to disagree with the state’s view of marriage. Another federal judge has weighed in to put the kibosh on Biden administration efforts to press social media companies to censor on their behalf. That’s a lot of legal heavy-lifting! And...

So we don’t have to worry about the debt ceiling until after the next presidential inauguration in January 2025. What was all the hullabaloo about, and was it worth it? And while we’re talking about money, is it ok to stop worrying about the U.S. banking system now? We will discuss these matters and more in today’s episode of Independent Outlook.

Independent Institute Chairman and CEO Mary L. G. Theroux interviews Senior Fellow Christopher Coyne on his new book, In Search of Monsters to Destroy, including his intellectual journey, the shift in America’s culture post 9/11, preemptive war, the loss of liberty and security at home resulting from such wars, and the viability of a path to peace without a deep state. In Search of Monsters to Des...

“Nobody is above the law.” That’s a proper American sentiment. How does New York’s 34-count indictment against Donald Trump measure up to it? On another legal front, should Congress ban TikTok? And what are we to make of the revelation that at least one FBI field office set out to create a spy network within Catholic churches?

That Chinese balloon floated over the American heartland for days before it was shot down. But are concerns about it just so much hot air? And a year after Putin’s invasion, does Ukraine deserve a “blank check” from the U.S., and is there an end game? In other news, will Section 230 survive the Supreme Court? And what’s with this effort to rewrite and sanitize Roald Dahl’s children’s books? We dis...

It turns out that former Presidents and Vice Presidents walk away with classified documents. But is it okay if you keep your stash in a locked garage next to your Corvette? Or maybe the issue gets blown out of proportion since the government classifies too many documents in the first place? Also, Ron De Santis is taking on the woke warriors in Florida. But is he going about it the right way? On an...

The U.S. Supreme Court has been hearing oral arguments in a number of explosive cases, including the freedom of web designers to choose what version of marriage they will adorn through their work, plus cases dealing with Joe Biden’s executive order transferring student loan debt from borrowers to taxpayers, and Harvard’s race-based admissions policies. At the same time, Elon Musk’s Twitter revelat...

It looks like American voters were not as alarmed about inflation and the sagging economy as many people thought they were. On a possibly related front, what should we make of the reaction to the despicable attack on Paul Pelosi? And what is the deeper meaning of the race-based affirmative action cases now before the U.S. Supreme Court? We will discuss these issues and much more.

Is Russia getting desperate over Ukraine? Where could that lead, and what should the US do? Here at home, what in the world did PayPal think it was doing when it announced financial penalties for any of its users who went public with political opinions that PayPal doesn’t like? And what did Vice President Kamala Harris mean when she said that disaster relief after Hurricane Ian would be allocated...

Is President Biden’s massive student loan forgiveness really wise? Then looking at the K-12 world, teacher unions pushed hard to keep the schools closed as long as possible, but at what cost to students? We now have hard evidence that keeping kids out of the classroom tanked their test scores. Also, university history professors are going all in on wokeness. Finally, after the death of Mikhail Gor...

When Nancy Pelosi touched down in Taiwan, the lawless communist mainland government of China threw a fit; does their overreaction mean that the United States should now overtly pledge in advance to fight against China if it invades Taiwan? Looking back at home, is the rule of law threatened by the recent FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago? And let’s hear it for the latest miracle political words: it’s called...

What’s one thing both parties agree on? Subsidies for big businesses with lots of employees—even if it comes at the expense of taxpayers and consumers. That’s the impetus behind last week’s semiconductor pork-barrel bill. At the same time, the Biden administration, spooked by inflation, sets out to change the definition of “recession,” apparently in hopes that terminology will ease the impact of d...

Resisting unprecedented political and ideological pressure—including public violence and an attempted assassination of a sitting Justice—the U.S. Supreme Court just issued two 6-3 decisions demonstrating the majority’s resolve. In Bruen, the Court struck down New York state’s discretionary handgun licensing law, as a violation of the 2nd Amendment. In Dobbs, it ruled that there is no Constitutiona...

Inflation spirals to a 40-year high; but should we be surprised, given federal fiscal policy? Ukraine’s agony drags on; will the economic after-effects also drag on and, more importantly, will Russia’s slogging success end up triggering a Chinese move against Taiwan that puts the U.S. in a quandary? Then there’s homelessness: is there any way out for the growing numbers of people trapped in the “h...

What’s behind the outbreak of mass shootings and what can stop it? Would banning more types of guns, or more features of guns, or giving officials more power to seize guns, solve the problem? Or is a more radical solution necessary, as argued by those who say the U.S. Constitution is the obstacle to safety? Is there wisdom in President Biden’s plan to cancel college student debt, or would that deg...

How can it be that New York State’s gun control laws—some of the toughest in the country—failed to stop a race-crazed killer who unleashed his mania on innocent citizens in Buffalo, NY? Also, why is baby formula suddenly in short supply? How about galloping inflation? Is the U.S. Treasury Secretary right that Build Back Better’s federal spending surge played only a small part in rising prices? And...

In this Independent Conversation, Senior Fellow and author Stephen P. Halbrook is interviewed by Dr. Graham H. Walker (Executive Director, Independent Institute) to discuss the Supreme Court’s upcoming gun rights decision on New York State’s discretionary-license law and Ukraine’s experience with an armed citizenry during the Russian invasion sheds light on the underlying issues.

Does President Joe Biden have what it takes to “stand with Ukraine” without provoking a wider war? Will Biden’s “Disinformation Governance Board” protect Americans or quench their freedoms? How could the U.S. Supreme Court allow the unprecedented leak of its draft opinion revoking Roe v. Wade? And how will the Court navigate the apparently complex religious freedom cases now before it? We’ll discu...

David Theroux, Williamson Evers, and Graham Walker discuss if it's easy to agree that Vladimir Putin’s war tactics are monstrous and malignant. But what happens in Ukraine if Putin is getting desperate after Ukraine sank his naval flagship with Western-supplied armaments? Is U.S. President Joe Biden displaying the kind of judicious statesmanlike leadership that the moment requires? On the home fro...

David Theroux, Williamson Evers, and Graham Walker carefully examine the war in Ukraine, the folly of those pressuring for U.S. engagement, and how best to end this dangerous and horrific conflict; Elon Musk and the prospects for free speech at Twitter; the culture war and Disney's folly; media bias and cover-up with the Hunter Biden laptop; Woke Math; Critical Race and Gender Theory; and more.

David Theroux, Williamson Evers, and Graham Walker examine Biden; sky-rocketing inflation that is crushing American consumers; democracy, sanctions, energy, censorship, and the dangers of and the staunch resistance to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine; the folly of the World Economic Forum's New World Order ("Great Reset"); the Constitution and nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Sup...

In this timely and insightful Independent Conversation, bestselling author, feminist and human rights activist Dr. Naomi Wolf is interviewed by Dr. Graham H. Walker (Executive Director, Independent Institute) to discuss how truth, science, ethics and constitutional rights have all been trampled in the elite media stampede and government mandates of the COVID-19 pandemic. As new revelations appear...

David Theroux, Williamson Evers, and Graham Walker examine Biden, NATO, and the U.S. in the midst of the Russia's invasion of Ukraine; the impact of the Freedom Convoy in Canada and now the People's Convoy in the U.S.; school board recalls and the rebellion against woke schooling; John Durham's indictment of Hillary Clinton's corruption; honoring the late P.J. O'Rourke; and more.

Research Fellow William J. Watkins, Jr., joins with Williamson Evers, and Graham Walker to examine the complex issues surrounding the military tensions between Russia, Ukraine, and the West, especially President Biden's recent steps to threaten both economic sanctions and military action in response to Russian activity in the region. We also look at what the Beijing Olympics are revealing about th...