Sports betting has become so ubiquitous and so massive in the US that it can be difficult to remember that at the start of 2018, it was only legal in four states, and only in Nevada could you bet on individual games.  All that changed in May of that year, when the Supreme Court stuck […]

Beginning in the early 20th century, a new ethos for taxes took hold: Taxes should be imposed on the basis of means, with the greatest burden falling to those with the greatest capacity to pay.  Such “tax the rich” sentiments informed the design of the two tax rules at the core of the modern tax […]

President Donald Trump has demolished the East Wing of the White House to make way for his planned $300 million ballroom. From start to finish, it only took a few days to destroy the more than century-old structure, which was built in 1902 and substantially renovated and expanded in 1942. As of Thursday, the whole […]

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy was one of the most beloved children’s book series of the 2000s — and one of the most frequently banned, too. Tragic, philosophical, and fervently opposed to classic Christian dogma, Pullman’s series sparked widespread outcry and religious boycotts. This week, Pullman released The Rose Field, the final volume in […]

Love — or at least sex — was in the air of the small, windowless, biosecure room at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas. Sixteen rectangular, clear plastic bins lined the room’s back and side walls, tiny stages for unlikely romances.  Each bin contained a plastic green pond plant — the kind you would buy […]