Breaking News

National Columnists

War and constitutional indifference

Since its inception, the government of the United States has inexorably exceeded its powers under the Constitution. All three branches have been complicit in a consistent pattern of constitutional indifference. Congress has regulated in areas of governance nowhere articulated in the Constitution. Its general regulatory powers were granted to address interstate commerce, but during the FDR years, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress can regulate events that affect interstate commerce. This has resulted in federal regulation of matters too infinitesimal to measure, that are not ...

Mamdani doesn’t have victory yet

Yes, Mayor Zohran Mamdani's socialist picks just knocked off some Democratic incumbents in New York City. They included surprising defeats, especially that of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Espaillat lost to Darializa Avila Chevalier, whose social media swims with past calls to abolish the police, free prisoners and stop deportations for any reason, presumably including murder. It's not like Espaillat's district was dominated by the young professionals who flocked to Mamdani. His electorate is 52% Hispanic and includes such non-hipster ...

Will China ever be held accountable?

Kudos to the Trump administration and Sen. Rand Paul for persevering in holding Dr. Anthony Fauci's feet to the fire. Fauci allegedly covered up the origins of COVID-19 as 1.1 million Americans died from the virus. But what about the biggest culprit, China? For seven weeks or more, starting in the winter of 2019, Chinese officials violated their international commitments and ethical obligation to prevent a domestic epidemic from becoming a global pandemic. They muzzled and even jailed Chinese doctors and journalists, allowed international flights to carry infected ...

There is no trust, no fund

What cruel irony that we recently learned Social Security is going broke even sooner than we thought. The Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2032, according to the latest Trustees Report. How odd that it is even referred to as a "trust fund," because there is no trust, and there is no fund. Because of the Ponzi scheme structure of Social Security that only works if you have more young people paying in than old people collecting checks, the system is crashing. Right now, roughly 11,000 Americans are retiring every day (the baby boomers), and only about 8,000 ...

Trump’s second term is costly spectacle

Every time I get asked by a TV anchor what I think about the drama of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, my favorite "historical" headline from the Onion comes to mind: "World's Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg." And every time I do, I hear from defenders of the Trump administration complaining about the disproportionate media coverage of what should be a very minor story in the grand sweep of things. They have a point. President Trump has done some good work rehabbing Washington, D.C., where I live. But the Reflecting Pool has bedeviled him. Algae keep returning to the pool, despite ...

World Cup visitors get it

Several things have taken place over the past week that shore up the importance of understanding what has truly made the United States of America the most prosperous country in human history. First, we have the foreigners visiting the U.S. to cheer on their teams in this year's World Cup soccer championship. It’s been heartwarming to see how much these people love America, and how surprised they've been to find that Americans are warm, welcoming, generous and kind people. Another aspect of America that has astonished our guests is the number, size and variety of our businesses: ...