On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed H.R. 1, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a sprawling reconciliation package championed by President Donald Trump as “arguably the most significant piece of legislation” in American history....
Featured Articles
TGIF: Maestro Trump and Drug Prices
by Sheldon Richman | May 23, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
When encountering a public problem, people tend to fall into one of two camps: one camp, the larger one, says, "There oughta be a law." The other one asks, "How has the government created or aggravated the situation?" We know which camp Maestro Trump belongs to. Take...
Republican Senators Want War, Republican Voters Don’t
by Jack Hunter | May 22, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics
Last week over two-hundred Republicans, including every GOP senator except Rand Paul (R-KY), signed a letter urging President Donald Trump to insist that Iran give up all enrichment capabilities in any nuclear deal with that country. In other words, they don’t want a...
Can India and Pakistan’s Fragile Truce Hold?
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | May 22, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
On May 10, 2025, a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the most intense India-Pakistan military confrontation in decades, sparked by the April 22 militant attack in Pahalgam that killed 26, mostly Indian tourists. The truce, announced with fanfare by U.S. President Donald...
The Gulf States ‘Harsh Enlightenment’
by Matt Wolfson | May 21, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
On March 20 of this year, Maria Kovalchuk, a twenty-year old Ukrainian model, influencer, OnlyFans content creator, and antiwar activist was found lying on the side of a road in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, after going missing from a party...
Corporate Interests and Think Tanks Dictate U.S. Foreign Policy
by José Niño | May 21, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
While partisan battles dominate headlines, U.S. foreign policy remains strikingly consistent across administrations. Many realists and non-interventionists were cautiously optimistic about Donald Trump’s second term bringing some modicum of restraint to foreign...
Syria and the Dark Side of the Force
by John Weeks | May 20, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
There is a charming scene in the film Clerks (1994) in which the sidekick character Randall discusses his misgivings about the film Return of the Jedi (1983) with the protagonist Dante. Randall is upset that the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Empire’s new military space...
Iran Nuclear Negotiations Bring New, Surprising Developments
by Ted Snider | May 20, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
In the past several days, there have been surprising developments in the negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s civilian nuclear program. U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently, but not always, defined the goal of the negotiations as being limited...