Author: Brittany Mays

Short, reflective piece about a daily ritual titled “Food for the Soul,” exploring how small moments, a rotating gallery of images, historical touchstones, cartoons, and video commentary can shape a thoughtful morning routine. “Food for the Soul” sits like a prompt on the kitchen counter, a tiny nudge to slow down and think. The tagline “Something to ponder over your morning coffee.” is part of that gentle invitation and it sets the tone for a short pause in a busy day. These moments are not grand, but they stack up into something steady and sustaining. One corner of this practice…

Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed away from a planned near 9.5 percent property tax increase and rewrote his budget mix, swapping a broad homeowner levy for state aid, a targeted pied-à-terre tax, pension tweaks, and other fixes. Mamdani announced that a property tax hike is off the table in his executive city budget, after facing pushback from Albany, the city council, and the business community. He had pitched the across-the-board increase as a last resort to close a budget gap he described as substantial, then reversed course when that threat failed to land. The proposed 9.5 percent property tax increase would…

This article critiques a major newspaper’s portrayal of families left behind when undocumented spouses are detained, arguing media narratives often overlook the law-and-order reasons voters back stricter deportation policies. The Washington Post ran a human-interest story about women suddenly raising kids after their undocumented husbands were detained, and it framed the situation as a personal tragedy. From a Republican viewpoint, sympathy for families is natural, but sympathy should not erase the context of illegal entry and criminal behavior that led to detention. Newspapers choose angles, and those choices shape how people understand policy trade-offs. Reporting that spotlights the emotional consequences…

Republican senators who upset President Trump are scrambling to survive primaries by copying his playbook, but doing it without his endorsement leaves them exposed and opens room for challengers who can claim purer loyalty to the base. Three Republican incumbents — Cassidy, Massie and Cornyn — face primary voters after crossing President Trump. Now they’re running his playbook without his blessing, and their political surviva This trio of incumbents is juggling two competing realities: they need to appeal to a conservative electorate that rewards fight and loyalty, yet many of their recent moves put them at odds with the loudest…

Jevons Paradox and AI: a practical lens on job anxiety Jevons Paradox argues that greater efficiency can lead to more overall use, not less, and applying that idea to artificial intelligence suggests a different way to think about job losses and opportunities. Instead of assuming automation only shrinks work, the paradox points toward expanding demand, new tasks, and shifting skill sets that reshape labor markets. This piece explores how that dynamic plays out across professions and what it means for workers, employers, and communities. At its core, Jevons Paradox says that making something cheaper or easier often increases how much…

Iran’s Parliament took a step closer to formalizing its management over the Strait of Hormuz, the head of its National Security Foreign Policy Committee announced Wednesday, signaling a potential change in who sets the rules for one of the world’s busiest maritime choke points. The announcement from the head of its National Security Foreign Policy Committee Wednesday comes as Tehran seeks to convert informal influence into structured authority over transit and inspection inside the waterway. What looks like bureaucratic housekeeping could reshape how ships are treated, how permits are handled, and who enforces maritime rules. For countries that rely on…

Federal data released Wednesday shows wholesale prices climbing at their highest yearly pace in more than three years, signaling persistent inflation pressures that ripple through businesses and consumers. Wholesale prices rose at the highest annual rate in over three years, the government said Wednesday in another sign of stubborn inflation. That line captures the core of the report and frames what businesses and households are watching closely. The increase reflects a mix of goods and services pressures rather than a single, isolated spike. Producers are facing higher input costs across a range of categories, and many firms are already weighing…

South Korea signaled it may join a U.S.-led effort to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz after a South Korean ship was targeted, raising questions about regional security, alliance commitments, and the protection of global trade routes. South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Wednesday Seoul may offer support for the U.S.-led effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz after a South Korean vessel came under what officials described as hostile action. The announcement marks a clear shift toward closer operational cooperation with Washington in response to growing threats to merchant shipping in the Persian…

The debate over COVID’s origin has been tangled for years, split between a natural spillover “(that is, in the open-air markets of China)” and a lab-linked scenario at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that involved U.S. taxpayer-funded research. The world has struggled for years to sort facts from spin about whether the COVID virus came from a natural animal spillover “(that is, in the open-air markets of China)” or from human activity at a laboratory. That division has shaped policy, international relations, and public trust. Plainly put, the question of origin matters because it affects how nations prepare and how…

The True Cost of COVID-19: a tight look at lives, livelihoods, and choices The pandemic reshaped societies in ways that will be measured for decades, combining direct health impacts with economic shock, education gaps, and public-health tradeoffs. This article traces the measurable costs, the human stories behind the statistics, and the policy questions that still matter as communities rebuild. It keeps the focus on concrete outcomes — deaths, delayed care, mental health, lost schooling, and economic disruption — while asking a single blunt question that many still worry about. “Were countermeasures worse than the disease?” The human toll remains the…