Politics

“If only I had bought at the bottom.” It’s a thought nearly every investor has had at some point. The allure of perfect timing is powerful: buy low, sell high, and retire rich. The trouble is, nobody—not even seasoned professionals—consistently calls market tops and bottoms. What ordinary investors can do, however, is embrace a disciplined, proven strategy that turns the market’s swings into a friend rather than a foe. That strategy is dollar-cost averaging. ...

For much of the post–Cold War era, the Arctic was held up as the one place great-power rivals still cooperated — search and rescue, fisheries, scientific monitoring, the kind of work that doesn’t function unless everyone at the table shows up. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine broke that. In March 2022, the seven other Arctic Council members — the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden — suspended their participation rather than sit across from Moscow.1 Russia has spent the years since trying to build a substitute reality: hosting its own forums, leaning harder on a partnership with China, and treating Arctic diplomacy less as shared stewardship than as a stage for proving it isn’t isolated. ...

Donald Trump didn’t invent American interest in Greenland, but he did put it on billboards. In August 2019, after Denmark’s prime minister called the idea of selling the island “absurd,” he canceled a planned state visit and posted a meme of a gold Trump Tower Photoshopped into a Greenlandic coastal town, captioned “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”1 It read, at the time, as a punchline — the kind of story that gets a segment on late-night television and then quietly disappears. I wrote about it that way in the original version of this piece. ...

I’ve never seen much value in tearing a person down for the sake of it. Savage criticism might feel good in the moment, but it rarely changes minds. What does help is pointing to what could be better—offering constructive criticism that invites reflection and growth. With that in mind, here are five ways President Donald Trump could strengthen his leadership right now. 1. Bipartisanship and Unity America is deeply divided. Trump’s style often sharpens those divides. But the presidency carries a unique opportunity to build bridges. If Trump works with Democrats on shared priorities—like infrastructure, veterans’ care, or the opioid crisis—he can show that unity is not weakness but strength. ...

I’m not chasing a fantasy of elsewhere. I’m chasing a better use of my remaining time. Albania keeps coming up because it offers something I can’t seem to buy in the States at any reasonable price: a quieter life that still feels alive. What I want is simple. I want mornings that begin with a short walk to coffee, not a long drive to errands. I want a budget that buys time—time to write, read, and call the people I love—rather than buying square footage I barely use. I want streets that reward curiosity, not speed. Albania, from Tirana’s café lanes to the Adriatic towns, looks like a place built for human pace. ...

If caring about people makes me woke, then I’ll wear the word like a medal. Somewhere along the way, a simple idea—that we should stay alert to injustice and aware of the struggles of others—was dragged through the mud. The word “woke” didn’t come from politicians or pundits; it came from ordinary people warning each other to keep their eyes open, to see the truth, to act with compassion. It was a call to vigilance, not a declaration of war. I don’t believe being woke is a cause for shame. I believe shame belongs to those who mock it. ...

Last Saturday, as President Trump celebrated his 79th birthday with a military parade in Washington, D.C.—at a reported cost of $25–45 million—something far larger and more democratic was unfolding across the country. In all 50 states, in U.S. territories, and even abroad, the No Kings movement organized what may be the largest single-day protest in American history. Backed by more than 200 organizations—including Indivisible, the 50501 Movement, ACLU, MoveOn, Working Families Party, and the American Federation of Teachers—the protest united an estimated 4 to 6 million people across more than 2,100 locations. ...

In an era of rising disinformation, polarization, and institutional decay, it is no longer hyperbole to say that American liberal democracy is under serious threat. The freedoms and norms that once formed the backbone of this republic are being eroded from both within and without. But despite these dangers, or perhaps because of them, it is worth fighting to preserve what remains—and rebuild what has been lost. At its core, liberal democracy rests on three foundational principles: free and fair elections, the rule of law, and the protection of individual rights. These aren’t abstract ideals. They are the reason civil rights movements succeeded, the reason journalists can hold the powerful to account, and the reason a citizen’s vote matters. When these principles are weakened, everyone suffers—not just the politically engaged, but ordinary people whose lives depend on fair governance. ...

The first time I truly understood what rage could do to a man, I wasn’t watching the news or reading some philosophical text. I was standing in my own home, unmoored by betrayal. I had just found out that my first wife was involved with someone else, a friend of a friend. No slow unraveling. No explanation. Just a blunt, soul-jarring truth that hit me like a punch to the chest. I remember the heat crawling up my neck. My hands trembling. My vision narrowing like I was looking through a straw. I don’t remember exactly what I said—I only remember the volume. The force. The aftermath. ...

Justice rarely disappears in a single dramatic act. More often, it bends. It bends for the well-connected defendant whose mistake is treated as youthful indiscretion. It bends for the executive whose failure is rewarded with a bonus while workers carry the cost. It bends for the public official whose conduct would ruin an ordinary person’s career. It bends whenever rules remain formally intact but consequences are distributed according to power. ...