Making housing more affordable means letting more of it be built—and making it worth the cost for companies to build it. Image Credit: Alistair Berg/Getty Images It is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. has a deep housing deficit. The visible evidence is hard to miss: Hundreds of thousands of families are moving out of the most expensive cities each year. Thousands of others are increasingly living unhoused in those cities. Rents are rising, year after year, and vacant units are becoming more and more scarce. The statistical evidence is clear also, with estimates of the shortage rangi ..read more

Two years into a post-Roe America, federal and state representatives are still not matching their rhetoric with needed action. Image Credit: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, pro-life activists sighed in relief. With the high court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the pro-lifers had at last won the 49-year legal battle over abortion and could finally retire from the field. Congratulations were passed around, backs were slapped and banquets were held. Their celebrations were justified. The long-derided 1973 deci ..read more

19th-century techlash. Image Credit: “The Leader of the Luddites”/Wikimedia Commons In a November 2023 New York Times interview, OpenAI’s on-again, off-again CEO, Sam Altman, was asked about the risks of novel AI technologies and even the ominous possibility of AI-driven human extinction. He responded, rather dismissively, by reaffirming his belief in technology as the driver of human progress. “Yeah, I actually don’t think we’re all going to go extinct,” he said. “I think it’s going to be great. I think we’re heading towards the best world ever.” This statement made the rounds online mere d ..read more

Liverpool hillbillies. Anglo-Saxons like Elvis Presley and the Beatles (shown here in 1967) helped to create rock and roll. Image Credit: Getty Images This being an age of social justice, I want to recognize the achievements of today’s most ruthlessly marginalized and stereotyped ethnicity: the Anglo-Saxons. In film, television and the news media, the mandatory depiction of the Anglo-Saxon is either as a plutocrat or a hillbilly. The little Monopoly guy with the top hat and the monocle? He’s an Anglo-Saxon. The inbred yokel in “Deliverance” who kills anyone not married to his own sister? An ..read more

Local projects such as New York City’s High Line illustrate the benefits of conserving and cultivating native plants in U.S. cities. Image Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture/Wikimedia Commons Before the High Line opened in New York City in 2009, the unsightly remnants of a long-abandoned elevated railroad spur were part of everyday Manhattan life. Now, thanks to the work of local organizations who pressured city officials, it’s a stunning public park, a rare greenway among high-rise buildings and even a conservation area for the city’s native plants. The transformation of a former eyesor ..read more

High drama. The 1995 trial of O.J. Simpson riveted the nation, helping spark the modern true crime genre. Image Credit: AFP A little over a week ago, football running back and accused murderer O.J. Simpson died at age 76. Lots of ink has been spilled since then about the legacy of the “Trial of the Century”—in which Simpson stood accused of killing his wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman, at her home in Brentwood, California, in June 1994. As many commentators have already noted, Simpson’s criminal trial and ultimate acquittal were major moments in the history of American race re ..read more

Treasure hunters. Shoppers peruse the shelves at the Old Florida Book Shop in Fort Lauderdale. Image courtesy of the author. Oliver Goldsmith once famously said that he loved “everything that is old; old friends, old times, old manners, old books and old wines.” To this estimable list I would add old bookstores. Every time I go to a new city or town, I seek out old, even run-down bookstores, from storefront charity shops all the way up to wood-paneled antiquarian booksellers. To be clear, I generally don’t look for new bookstores, especially the local independents that seem to be thriving in ..read more

The bread of poverty. As American Jews prepare for Passover, they recall the long history of antisemitism and its current resurgence throughout the world. Image Credit: Cavan Images/Getty Images When President Biden announced his candidacy in 2019, he began with a sober reflection on the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville that had taken place a year and a half earlier, invoking in particular the antisemitism on display there. One of the slogans chanted by the demonstrators was, “Jews will not replace us,” something that few of us at the time recognized as a reference to the so-called G ..read more

A banner in Tehran, Iran, features some of the missile models used to target Israel earlier this month. Image Credit: Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images The completeness of Iran’s failure to land significant blows on Israel in its status quo-breaking direct attack of April 13 has led some to question whether the entire affair is being stage-managed by Iran for propaganda effect. But more likely, Israel’s diplomatic breakthroughs via its bilateral peace agreements and the Abraham Accords have increased its defense capacity—and pulled back the curtain on the challenges Iran faces in its regional ambiti ..read more

A DOJ antitrust complaint may help some of Apple’s competitors, but it will make consumers worse off. Image Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images On March 21, the Department of Justice (DOJ), along with attorneys general from 15 states and D.C., filed a lawsuit against Apple for monopolizing the smartphone market—a violation of the Sherman Act. The complaint alleges that Apple maintains its monopoly “by selectively imposing contractual restrictions on, and withholding critical access points” to its smartphones from developers. The argument is that Apple’s practices lock consumers into using its s ..read more