The Pentagon wants an extra $200 billion for a war that started three weeks ago. Here is what that number actually means — for American history, for the federal budget, for the things the administration says it cannot afford, and for the person paying the bill.
iran war
Only the Good Photos
Pete Hegseth banned photographers from Pentagon war briefings because he didn’t like how he looked. A federal judge just told him why that’s not how the First Amendment works.
The System Always Chooses for You
In 1914, no government chose a world war. The alliance system they had built chose one for them. In 2026, a structurally similar system has been assembled across the Middle East, the Gulf, and the Pacific. The question is not whether history repeats. It is whether the guardrails still hold.