Until the Industrial Revolution came along, communities could only grow and thrive if they first managed to push agricultural productivity well beyond bare subsistence. Italy’s late-medieval and Renaissance ascent—from 1250 to the mid-16th century—demonstrates how a functioning rural economy could break the cycle of the chronic poverty that had shackled mankind for millennia.

[Radical Universalism: Beyond Identity by Omri Boehm (New York Review of Books, 2025; 192 pp.)]

A few days ago, cannabis stocks surged after news broke that President Donald Trump is considering ordering his administration to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a move that would represent a significant shift in US policy.

Due to wartime inflation of bills of credit (“Continentals”) during the American war for independence and the predictable economic effects, an old American colloquialism developed, “not worth a Continental” (although this phrase may have come about much later than the Revolutionary era).

Many view Charles Dickens as the inventor of modern Christmas. This is largely due to his beloved 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. Given his association with the holiday, Christmas is an appropriate time to reassess the man. Rather than a kindhearted champion of the oppressed, Dickens was a monstrous villain who taught millions to hate capitalism.

I applaud the online magazine Slate for its recurring series on “the dismal science,” as they call it. Rather than boring discussions of the housing market or the NASDAQ index, economists such as Steven Landsburg and others tackle interesting issues. Don’t get me wrong, I just about always disagree with the columns.

Many democratic socialists in America claim that the path to their ideal utopia has already been paved and walked within the Scandinavian Nordic Model. Politicians like Mandami and AOC claim to be inspired by this “socialism” and use it as a guideline for their horrific policies and central planning. However, their “Nordic Model” actually serves as a perfect example as to why socialism fails.

Our plane landed at JFK at 10:30 p.m. after a nine-hour flight from Istanbul. Our day had begun in Riga, Latvia, where my wife, me, and our adopted Latvian daughter had been visiting, the Latvia trip being her high school graduation present.

While Christians the world over look to the celebration as a way to remember the incarnation of Christ, some dismiss it as a Christianized version of the ancient Rome’s Saturnalia. Whatever one’s view happens to be, I humbly suggest that it ought to be used by Christians and non-Christians alike as a reflection upon a collision of two kingdoms and two forms of rule. One that makes the way for life, and the other for misery, suffering, and death.

President Trump has promised a $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” for the US military. This article from Military.com seems to offer as thorough an explanation of what is known so far, which isn’t much.