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On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant’s six reactors melted down, and it became the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. On the other side of the world, German
Charles Howard, the 11th Duke of Norfolk was known as the “Jockey Duke” for his hard gambling, hard-drinking, hard eating, and hard womanizing. But above all else, he was politically ambitious. And the Duke had his eye particularly fixed on the borough of Horsham in southern England because of its unique political characteristics.
It was the early 2000s, and poor Monty was down on his luck. An aging, out-of-work game hunter and security guard, Monty had been unemployed for quite some time. Fortunately, he was getting by, but living off the generosity of a family in southern California who had taken him in. Without them Monty
The Persian Sasanian Empire– also known as the Empire of the Iranians– had become a major problem for Rome by the middle of the 3rd century AD. The Iranians were ruled by an extremely aggressive king named Shapur I who had little respect for the Roman Empire’s grandeur and authority. And with limited
A new Gallup poll finds that 29% of Americans now say government itself is the country’s biggest problem. That’s a higher percentage than people who think America’s biggest problem is the economy. Or immigration. Or inflation. Think about that for a moment. The institution whose entire job is to solve problems has become,
Try to wire $15,000 to a foreign bank account sometime. You’ll be asked to fill out compliance forms explaining the purpose of the transfer. Your bank’s compliance department will review the transaction. A Currency Transaction Report will be filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. And depending on the bank, you may receive
“OK, so now I just want a bunker,” a close friend of mine texted over the weekend. And I get it. Fear, apprehension, unease… these are completely normal feelings right now. Google Trends shows that searches for “WW3” and “nuclear war” spiked over the weekend. Similar hashtags on social media (#WW3, etc.) also
Western civilization is starting to feel like one big satire. And at some point you have to stop and remind yourself— none of this is normal. And you’re not crazy for thinking so. Here are a few of this week’s most absurd stories in case you missed them. In New York City: Voter
In 1954, Frank Sinatra was on top of the world. He’d just won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in From Here to Eternity — a comeback role that rescued his career after years of decline and a voice hemorrhage that nearly ended it all. Hollywood was paying him handsomely again. But
In 1779, in a textile workshop in the English village of Anstey, a young apprentice named Ned Ludd was put to work on a knitting machine — one of the large mechanical frames that wove thread into stockings. He was too slow. His master had him whipped for it. So Ned grabbed a
Just imagine how tranquil your retirement could be in… sunny Afghanistan! You could wake up in the morning to the pleasant sound of celebratory gunfire… then artfully dodge landmines left behind by not one, but two different superpower invasions on your way to witness the day’s beheading. You could cap off the afternoon
For decades, Germany operated its rail system on an honor model. There were no turnstiles, no barriers. Passengers bought tickets, boarded trains, and conductors performed random spot checks to make sure everyone had paid. It was a system built on trust— and for a long time, it worked, because Germany was a fundamentally
These days there aren’t too many people clamoring to move to New York City. Maybe it’s the rats. Or the high taxes. Or the homeless. Or the socialism. You can see the effect in the city’s population numbers: in 2018, roughly 8.4 million people lived in the five boroughs. Today, the population is
The Congressional Budget Office just released its annual long-term budget outlook. And, as usual, the numbers are grim. Also as usual, practically no one in Congress is paying attention. America’s elected representatives are focused on everything else— virtue signaling, trying to keep illegal immigrants in the country, launching lawsuits against government spending cuts, and
In January 1933, a farmer named Wallace Kramp was about to lose everything. A lender in Wood County, Ohio was foreclosing on his farm over an $800 mortgage he couldn’t pay. Kramp wasn’t a bad farmer. It was actually the government’s fault: during World War I, the US government had urged farmers to
