In 1869, the first-ever American transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, then in the Utah Territory. Passengers and cargo from the industrial cities of the Northeast could make the steam-powered one-week journey toward the West Coast, stretching the American frontier and settling the West. Nearly 160 years later, highway systems and airplanes have taken […]
Earlier this year, as parents across the United States filed their taxes, a serious question kept coming up at kitchen tables: Why are we paying into an education system that no longer reflects our values, and then struggling to afford the education we actually want for our children? That question deserves an honest answer. The […]
President Donald Trump has set high expectations for Iraq’s newly designated prime minister, Ali al Zaidi, expectations that reflect Washington’s long-standing hope for a stable, reliable partner in Baghdad. But Iraq’s reality is far more complicated. In Iraq, leadership is not just about capability — it is about constraint. And those constraints are built into the […]
The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and Iranian officials are reportedly begging Washington to reopen it. Beijing has tightened its grip on rare earths. And Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is raising $100 billion through Project Prometheus to buy the American manufacturers whose production lines depend on both. Three crises. One vulnerability. And a solution sitting […]
Democrats keep learning the hard way that what goes around comes around. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) changed voting rules in 2017 so Democrats couldn’t filibuster Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court. He did the same for future Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. This helped President Donald Trump promote three originalist […]
After five decades of conflict, Iran under the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei constituted a “clear and present danger” to the West. The notion proffered by some that there needed to be an imminent threat to trigger military action only invites future tragedy. With this said, while the administration’s decision to attack Iran appears to be […]
By the time you’re reading this, the United Arab Emirates, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, will have left the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after nearly 60 years of membership. In an existential blow to the historically indomitable oil cartel, the Gulf monarchy announced that it would instead “respond to evolving market needs” by […]
In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here. Republicans are scrambling to show the public they are trying to […]
Eight years after the publication of 1984’s Bright Lights, Big City, that riotous and audacious first novel about a twenty-something man crashing and burning in the glittering streets and shadier corners of Manhattan, Jay McInerney broadened his scope and produced a multistranded, multivoiced work. Published in 1992, Brightness Falls documented the charmed lives of New […]
When the Chinese Communist Party’s English-language flagship, Global Times, lectures American readers about the “high energy consumption” of U.S. data centers, it isn’t because Beijing has developed a soft spot for our electric bills. It’s because every server farm we don’t build in Texas or Virginia is one China gets to build first. That line […]
Inland Ale Works is a great brewery in Cheney, Washington. Established in a remodeled auto shop, the whole place is decorated with photos of old Spokane, Washington, breweries and horse-drawn wagons loaded with beer barrels. There are ads for Rainier, National Bohemian, and Golden Age beers. I was there on Saturday to talk to my […]
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s attempt to certify the results of her redistricting constitutional amendment referendum, a procedural step Spanberger had scheduled for today. Now the court has more time to decide whether the governor violated the commonwealth’s Constitution in her mad dash to alter it. The arguments in Virginia’s […]
