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Who is monitoring the debt?

People of a certain age will recall a lyric from the Tennessee Ernie Ford song “Sixteen Tons”: “Another day older and deeper in debt.” I thought of that song as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth asked Congress to approve a $1.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2027 to put the military on what he called a “wartime footing.” Hegseth says the Pentagon needs the money for more drones, munitions and modernized systems. Though President Trump has denied it, bragging that we have the strongest military in the world, it would appear that the Iran conflict has significantly depleted ...

Tucker’s somebody days are nearing end

Tucker Carlson’s problem, it would seem, is that what he says doesn’t matter, because he has a long history of not saying what he thinks. True, he once starred at Fox News, and even now his followers on social media number in the millions. But he’s shifted into crackpot conspiracies and turning on Donald Trump. Anything for an audience. Carlson long hated Trump in his heart while praise poured from his mouth. The war in Iran polls poorly as does Trump, and so Carlson uses the opportunity to inflate his diminished importance by blaming himself for making Trump possible. ...

Same old, same old: Target Trump

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Donald Trump was the target of yet a third assassination attempt — this time in full view of the Washington press corps. The event was presented as a spirited night with Trump. After 11 years of avoiding the predominantly left-wing media event, he decided to revisit the dinner. He anticipated that he would be the object of ridicule inside the hall — and that he might see possible violence outside it. Indeed, protesters ringed the hotel. In grimly prescient fashion, the usual sort of crowd that night was channeling John Wilkes ...

The real reason Trump doesn’t want Congress to vote on war powers

April 30 marked 60 days since the start of Trump’s failed war in Iran. The U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8) gives Congress the power “To declare War,” and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 — enacted over Nixon’s veto — mandates that troops be withdrawn within 60 days unless Congress extends the deadline or declares war. Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that Trump doesn’t need Congress’ approval to continue the war past the 60-day mark because the ceasefire agreement with Iran has effectively stopped the clock. (Trump echoed Hegseth’s claim in ...

The Trump surveillance state

The Fourth Amendment protects all persons from warrantless government searches and seizures of their persons, houses, papers and effects. It requires that warrants be supported by probable cause of crime and specifically describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. Last week, for the first time in the modern era, the government argued to the Supreme Court of the United States that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution did not outlaw general warrants. General warrants were issued in the colonial era by a secret court in London. They were not based ...

The energy triumph of the United States

It’s not 1973 anymore, and that’s a very good thing for the United States. Back then, the U.S. imported more than a third of its oil, much of it from the Middle East, and it paid the price. Now, it’s in a transformed position. “Drill, baby, drill” is arguably the most successful public policy of the past 20 years. It started life in 2008 as a catchphrase coined by Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, and has now been effected, with enormous economic and strategic benefits to the United States. On top of sweeping innovations forged by private industry, ...