In “Lincoln as Statesman,” a chapter in his book On Statesmanship (Yale University Press, 2026; vii + 312 pp), Steven B. Smith portrays Lincoln as a political leader of almost superhuman wisdom and virtue. He says:

The Iran war could claim a casualty far more consequential than a missile battery, an air base, or an oil tanker: the petrodollar system.

“The lesson of the Cornell controversy is that justice is not measured by whether prosecutors satisfy public anger. It is measured by whether they faithfully apply the law.”

“”It’s not a simple story ... But I would say that I think we are in a rising term-premium environment.”

The 2026 FY just ended, and we find the new annual deficit was 12% above 2025’s deficit. 

For some odd reason, the CIA steadfastly refuses to disclose all of its records relating to the 1973 Chilean coup, which the CIA ardently supported. The CIA says that “national security” will be jeopardized if its records are disclosed to the American people.

That’s ridiculous. What do they think will happen — that the United States will fall into the ocean or be taken over by the communists, the terrorists, the Muslims, or some other scary boogeyman?

In a small country like Canada, a 68K job loss is huge. The decline follows 42,000 job losses in August.