“The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. ... They conferred against the Government the right to be let alone — most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis ...
CAIRO (AP) — U.S. negotiator and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had a rare meeting with the Hamas chief Sunday in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet today with Israel’s prime minister, who is under pressure after ...
Today is Monday, Aug. 17, the 229th day of 2026. There are 136 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave grand jury testimony via closed-circuit television from the White House concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky; he then delivered a TV address in which he admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was “wrong” but denied previously committing perjury (Clinton was subsequently impeached by the House of Representatives, but acquitted in the Senate). Also on this date: In 1807, Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat made its first ...
The budget of the federal government is the largest of any organization in human history. It’s larger than the entire economy of every foreign country except China. And it mostly grows automatically, without regular input from elected officials. In the past, huge surges in the national debt were largely caused by wars or recessions. They were temporary. When the war concluded or economic growth resumed, debt as a share of the economy would fall. That’s not how it works anymore. The debt increases due to demographic trends as the bulk of spending goes to programs that serve an aging ...
Today is Saturday, Aug. 15, the 227th day of 2026. There are 138 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York; more than 460,000 people attended the three-day festival, which would become a watershed event in American music and culture. Also on this date: In 1057, Macbeth, King of Scots, was killed in battle by Malcolm, the eldest son of King Duncan, whom Macbeth had killed 17 years earlier. In 1914, the Panama Canal officially opened as the SS Ancon crossed the just-completed waterway between the Pacific and Atlantic ...
