To the surprise of many, Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election handedly. Even more are surprised by his rapid—and sometimes head-scratching—nominations ahead of taking office again.

One week before Thanksgiving, the U.S. government’s total public debt outstanding surpassed $36 trillion for the first time ever.

Feast and football. That’s what many of us think about at Thanksgiving. Most people identify the origin of the holiday with the Pilgrims’ first bountiful harvest. But few understand how the Pilgrims actually solved their chronic food shortages.

It’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving is upon us. Tomorrow, millions of us will join together with friends and family to celebrate the Holiday. The day after, “Black Friday,” kicks off the holiday shopping season with a variety of sales.

The U.S. government got off to a very bad start for its 2025 fiscal year. The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government spent $257 billion more than it took in as revenue in October 2024. That is the second-worst figure ever recorded for the first month of the fiscal year. Only October 2020 has seen a bigger deficit.

Fall brings us pumpkin spice, college football, and seasonal illness. Although RSV and flu cases are increasing regionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others believe the worst of “flu season” is behind us. 

Incoming FCC commissioner Brendan Carr recently announced his intentions to investigate NewsGuard. This company publishes “misinformation” ratings of websites based on a scoring system from its self-described “fact checkers.” NewsGuard’s most distinctive feature comes from its integrated browser plug-in, which aims to affix these ratings to search engine results. According to the group’s website, NewsGuard has “partnerships” with several tech giants to encourage the adoption of its app and content ratings. In doing so, they intend for their “Nutrition Label” ratings to promote websites that they deem trustworthy while also de-boosting sites that receive “yellow” or “red” warning labels for alleged promotion of “misinformation.”

Law & Liberty published “The Electoral College in Context” by Robert G. Natelson—who provides historical context to help us appreciate the wisdom behind the Electoral College in the US system of electing the executive. The main point of controversy today is that, as compared to a straight national popular vote determination, the Electoral College apportions a bit more sway to less-populous states. Natelson explains one important point about how the Electoral College’s apportionment of sway is for the good. But outside the scope of Natelson’s essay lies another, more important reason for defending the institution: the Electoral College checks some of the nastier hazards of mass politics.

Many state utility regulators, policymakers, utilities, and others construct an orthodox and politically palatable argument that market failure justifies utility energy efficiency (EE) programs and that the vast majority of those programs would pass a cost-benefit test. (Incidentally, the alleged major culprits of market failure are energy consumers incapable of making the correct calculations from a societal perspective, or making decisions contrary to their self-interest. That so-called “EE gap” provides the raison d’etre for both government and utility subsidies to encourage the adoption of efficiency-promoting technologies.)

The United States faces a growing housing shortage, which is driven heavily by the scarcity of available apartments. According to a joint study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), the US needs to add 4.3 million apartment units to the housing supply by 2035 to catch up to demand.