Economic sentiment and President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are low despite strong output and employment growth for reasons both obvious and subtle.

The public is gloomy about the state of the economy even though two of the most important measures of economic health are strong — namely, GDP growth has been strong in recent quarters, and the employment rate is high by historical standards.

A safer, saner social media world is possible, former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen told members of Congress in 2021. Instead, she said, leaders at the social media company chose engagement over democracy, using algorithms that kept people glued to the site but also angry, anxious, and ill-informed.

The last-minute turnabout in Congress that staved off a government shutdown reflects one of the most significant conundrums in American politics: Voters can’t decide if they want their leaders to compromise or to fight.

Coffee County, Georgia, seems an unlikely setting for espionage. It sits far from the intrigues of Washington, far from the coming politico-criminal trials in Atlanta. Far, in a sense, from anywhere.

This is a speech about speaking your mind when other people don’t want you to.

To those of you who are protesting or planning a walkout, I thank you for not seriously disrupting my speech. And though I’m sorry you won’t hear me out, I completely respect your right to protest any speaker you dislike, including me, so long as you honor the Chicago Principles. It is one of the core liberties that all of us have a responsibility to uphold, protect and honor.

The House Appropriations Committee took a nearly two-hour-long recess in the middle of a Tuesday hearing after Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro compared Republican members of Congress to terrorists.

The committee met to debate Fiscal Year 2024 funding for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Shortly after 12 p.m., Republican Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole introduced an amendment that would strike earmarks for three LGBTQ community centers. Several Democrats objected to it, claiming that revoking funding would cause violence against the LGBTQ community.

In the closing weeks of 1969, a debate broke out in the pages of National Review about how American conservatives should respond to the threat posed by the New Left—the expanded universe of socialists, civil rights activists, anti-war protesters, feminists, environmentalists, and other lefty radicals then making political waves. Fifteen months earlier, police and demonstrators had met in a bloody clash outside the Democratic National Convention.

The presidential race sure does seem like it’ll wind up coming down to Biden vs. Trump — and a whole lot of people would rather have an alternative.

Here’s an important early message: Even if you aren’t thrilled by the Republican and Democratic options come Election Day, don’t vote for anybody else.

We’re talking here about the attraction of third parties. So tempting. So disaster-inducing.

The lure is obvious. Donald Trump’s terrible and Joe Biden’s boring. Much more satisfying to go to the polls and announce you’re too far above the status quo to vote for either.