The State of the Union is usually a useless stale slog that turns healthy brain cells to mush. Charlie Cook, the veteran Washington pundit, got it right some years ago when he said of the State of the Union, “On my deathbed, watching it will be on the long list of hours that I will […]

Here’s a phone call that never took place. “Mr. Secretary of State, this is the Ambassador of China. I call to alert you that China has lost control of a weather balloon that may head toward American airspace, and we are trying to get it under control. We would appreciate your cooperation and understanding.” That’s […]

Once upon a time, I ran marathons — six Boston Marathons, to be exact. You wouldn’t know it looking at me today. In fact, I wouldn’t believe it looking in the mirror. But it’s true. In 1991, when Tina and I lived in Boxborough, Massachusetts, we decided to go see the Boston Marathon. So we […]

The state of the economy, unlike the state of the union, seems to baffle people, including those who seemingly should know all about what’s going on. One of them is Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, originally appointed by Donald Trump in 2017 to reassure Wall Street after the chaotic start to his administration. Powell was […]

It’s tough to decide what’s more odious: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ racist, authoritarian, and nakedly political power play rejecting an Advanced Placement course on African American studies, or the College Board’s cowardly decision to revise the course in the face of this thuggish criticism. The board’s decision has effectively erased broad swaths of history, dropping […]

The IRS is so kind. Our most beloved federal agency has delayed until next year a new income-reporting law it has carefully designed to squeeze the last drops of tax revenue out of many of us. The new IRS rule is aimed at millions of self-employed people and small business people who sell goods or […]