Editorial Cartoon
Editorial Cartoon
Three theaters from one retreat
There is a coherent worldview behind the vice president's foreign policy and that is exactly the problem. J.D. Vance does not stumble into the outcomes he produces. He believes in them. He sees a tripartite world with America secured in its own hemisphere, Russia dominant across its near abroad and China supreme in Asia. He appears willing to trade away 70 years of American primacy to build it. The retreat is the design. Start with Iran. Vance made himself the public face of a memorandum of understanding that reopens the Strait of Hormuz toll-free, lifts the naval blockade and dangles ...
Other voices: Keep an eye on the rise of socialists
The story of the year in American politics so far, after Donald Trump ’s falling popularity, is the rise of the Democratic socialists. Their influence bears watching as the next generation tries to fulfill Bernie Sanders’s goal of taking over the Democratic Party. Avowed Democratic Socialists of America candidate Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic nomination for mayor of Washington, D.C., last week, and it wasn’t close. The 38-year-old won 53.5%-35.9% over mainstream black Democrat Kenyan McDuffie, and she did better in some upscale white areas than in the city’s black ...
Trump’s second term a murky, 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 ...
U.S. paying for electricity that was never generated
Here is something your utility does not advertise on your monthly bill. You are paying for electricity that was never generated. Not occasionally. Routinely. By design. The wholesale electricity markets that set the prices underlying your bill are operated by Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs), through rules so complex that entire law firms and consulting businesses exist just to navigate them. That complexity is not a bug. It is a feature. Every layer of rules that is hard to see is a layer that never gets scrutinized, never gets reformed, and never stops costing you ...