Opinion

Almanac for March 27, 2026

Today is Friday, March 27, the 86th day of 2026. There are 279 days left in the year. Today in history: In 2022, Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock onstage at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony; Smith won the Oscar for best actor just minutes later. (Smith later resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and received a 10-year ban from the Oscars.) Also on this date: In 1794, Congress approved the "Act to provide a Naval Armament" of six armed ships, which provided the foundation of the permanent U.S. Navy. In 1912, in Washington, D.C., first lady Helen Herron ...

Editorial cartoon for March 27, 2026

Trump can't deliver a quick exit from Iran

Whatever else Donald Trump’s “pause” is, it is not a ceasefire. Iranian barrages targeted Israel, Gulf Arab states and northern Iraq on Tuesday, while Israeli and U.S. warplanes struck across Iran. What Mr. Trump’s statement did was to narrow U.S. targets to exclude power plants and energy infrastructure to calm jittery markets. But the fighting continues. With reports that the U.S. is considering boots on the ground, Washington is waging war while searching for an exit — without a credible or unified negotiating position, as Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu pursues his own ...

The economists who got it right

Politicians say they can "make the economy work better." I once believed they could. But years of reporting taught me that politicians' attempts to "fix" the economy usually make things worse. Twenty years ago, Republicans and Democrats helped create the Great Recession by telling ...

Trump interrupts Cabinet meeting to talk Sharpies

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump may believe the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword — as long as it's a Sharpie. During a Cabinet meeting Thursday that discussed the war in Iran, record-long security lines at many of the nation's top airports, rising oil prices and ...

Editorial cartoon for March 26, 2026