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Almanac for Aug. 31, 2026

Today is Monday, Aug. 31, the 243rd day of 2026. There are 122 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed after the car she was riding in crashed in Paris; her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul (who was found to have been intoxicated at the time of the accident) also died. Also on this date: In 1881, the first U.S. tennis championships (for men only) began in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of up to 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people. In 1962, the ...

Twilight’s last gleaming

There is a point in the decline of republics when the problem is no longer that government breaks its own laws. Governments will always behave unlawfully. The deeper problem comes when the constitutional machinery designed to prevent those acts stops functioning — when spending becomes ...

Almanac for Aug. 29, 2026

Today is Saturday, Aug. 29, the 241st day of 2026. There are 124 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in southeast Louisiana, breaching levees and spurring floods that devastated New Orleans. Katrina caused nearly 1,400 deaths and an estimated $200 billion in damage. Also on this date: In 1814, during the War of 1812, Alexandria, Virginia, formally surrendered to British military forces, which occupied the city until Sept. 3. In 1825, the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro was signed by Portugal and Brazil, officially ending ...

Few Democratic Socialists Are Blue Collar. Most Everyone Knows It

Classic Labor Day imagery shows men wearing hard hats and tough women in uniforms. These are Americans who did not build their muscles at a wellness club. By contrast, actual photos of the Democratic Socialists of America show seas of white faces belonging to college graduates. The only work ...

Sayonara, my friend. It was so good to meet you

“My transistor radio comes from far away; and when it's night over here, over there, it's breakin' day,” – Bob Morris and Faye Morris It was evening, about an hour or so before dark would descend, when I set out on a walk to enjoy the natural experience around me. I was with our recent ...

Almanac for Aug. 28, 2026

Today is Friday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2026. There are 125 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech before an estimated 250,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Also on this date: In 1845, the first issue of Scientific American magazine was published; it remains the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. In 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run began in Prince William County, Virginia, during the Civil War; the Union army retreated ...