America’s budget on the precipice of catastrophe
The budget of the federal government is the largest of any organization in human history. It's larger than the entire economy of every foreign country except China. And it mostly grows automatically, without regular input from elected officials. In the past, huge surges in the national debt were largely caused by wars or recessions. They were temporary. When the war concluded or economic growth resumed, debt as a share of the economy would fall. That's not how it works anymore. The debt increases due to demographic trends as the bulk of spending goes to programs that serve an aging ...
Almanac for Aug. 18, 2026
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 2026. There are 135 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing American women's right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it. Also on this date: In 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony (in present-day North Carolina), returned to Roanoke after nearly three years abroad only to find the settlement deserted; the fate of the "Lost Colony" remains a mystery. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation ...
Trump Promised to Be a Dictator. Now We Know Which One
It was already one of the most clownish (if sinister) moments in the Trump administration — the Department of Justice actually brought criminal charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for sabotaging the president's big, beautiful reflecting pool. It then dropped them for legal ...
The Right to Be Left Alone
"The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. ... They conferred against the Government the right to be let alone — most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." — Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) The ...