Inflation cooled — but your grocery bill never did By Joe Palaggi The headlines say inflation is down. The politicians call it progress. But for most Americans, those headlines don’t make it past the checkout line. Prices may not be climbing as fast, but they never came back down. Grocery inflation cooled only after household budgets were scorched. Before COVID, grocery prices were stable. In 2019, “food at home” inflation was just 0.7 percent. Then the pandemic hit: empty sh

This Thanksgiving, we can choose understanding over outrage — one meal at a time. Every year, as the holidays approach, the same warnings echo across television screens and social media: “Avoid politics at the table.” It’s become a sad ritual of modern America. Families who once argued good-naturedly about football or pie recipes now brace for ideological crossfire. People uninvite their own relatives, not because of anything they’ve done, but because of the box they checked

By Joe Palaggi Eight months into Donald Trump’s second term, public opinion still judges his presidency by what happens at the checkout counter. Gas prices, grocery bills, and mortgage rates have become the shorthand for the economy’s health. That’s understandable — it’s the pain people feel first. But while most of Middle America measures success in dollars and cents, Trump’s economic team has been focused on something less visible but far more consequential: rebuilding Amer

By Joe Palaggi America’s immigration policy has become a pendulum swinging between extremes. For years, we drifted toward de facto open borders—lax enforcement, midnight relocation flights, and public benefits extended to recent arrivals, including hotel housing, food stipends, and even cell phones in some cities. The result? A surge in unlawful crossings and overwhelmed public services. Now, that pendulum has swung back with force. Some now call for the mass deportation of a

By Joe Palaggi Americans love to talk about freedom. It’s stitched into our national DNA, the common thread of our Declaration, our Constitution, and our politics. But scratch beneath the surface, and “freedom” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. On issues like abortion, vaccine mandates, and the death penalty, the principle of liberty is applied not consistently but selectively—shaped by political loyalties and moral priorities. The irony is that everyone claims to be d

Trump reminds us what true leadership looks like — something we’ve been missing for a long time. By Joe Palaggi Leadership. Real leadership. It’s rarer than gold and twice as valuable when the world begins to unravel. And the timing couldn’t be more critical. The world feels like it’s held together by tape and hope. Ukraine’s war has reached a painful standstill, with peace efforts between Kyiv and Moscow stalling despite months of negotiation. In Gaza, a fragile cease-fire—

By Joe Palaggi Charlie Kirk’s assassination should force us to confront the question too many dodge: Who really owns political violence in America — the right or the left? Charlie’s assassination should have ended one convenient narrative: that political violence in America is only a problem on the right. It wasn’t a Proud Boy or a militia member who pulled the trigger. It was a man who appears to have convinced himself that killing Kirk was the same as killing “hatred.” That

By Joe Palaggi The last time the world tried to buy peace by giving a dictator what he wanted, it got World War II instead. That moment was Munich, 1938. Britain and France pressured Czechoslovakia into surrendering the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler, gambling that a small concession would calm his ambitions. Instead, within a year, Hitler had taken the rest of Czechoslovakia, rolled into Poland, and plunged the world into war. The lesson was painful and clear: appeasement isn’t

By Joe Palaggi Teachers’ unions once had a clear mission: fight for fair wages, protect classroom conditions, and give educators a voice. That mission was honorable. But in 2025, it’s no longer what drives them. Today, America’s largest teachers’ unions operate less like advocates for workers and more like entrenched political machines — siphoning taxpayer money while delivering little for students. A recent watchdog report revealed that the National Education Association (NE

By Joe Palaggi The last time the world tried to buy peace by giving a dictator what he wanted, it got World War II instead. That moment was Munich, 1938. Britain and France pressured Czechoslovakia into surrendering the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler, gambling that a small concession would calm his ambitions. Instead, within a year, Hitler had taken the rest of Czechoslovakia, rolled into Poland, and plunged the world into war. The lesson was painful and clear: appeasement isn’t

Washington missed its chance to close a billion-dollar tax loophole that lets billionaires live tax-free—and now the budget pain is...

By Joe Palaggi In the battle for America’s future, we seem to be offered two visions—one rooted in rugged pragmatism, the other in unbounded imagination. On one side, Donald Trump promises to restore American strength through energy dominance, manufacturing revival, and national sovereignty. On the other, Elon Musk is building electric cars, launching rockets, and sketching blueprints for Martian colonies. One man looks out eight years; the other looks out eight centuries. Bu

By Joe Palaggi In every high school, the theater kids were hard to miss—always emoting, always rehearsing, and often convinced the school play was the most important event in Western history. They were expressive, passionate, and allergic to subtlety. And while their energy could light up a stage, it isn’t necessarily what’s needed to run the PTA, let alone the country. Fast forward a couple of decades, and it seems a certain segment of America's political class—particularly

By Joe Palaggi I am a second-generation American of Italian descent. My grandparents arrived at the beginning of the last century with little more than their Catholic faith, a belief in hard work, and the hope that America would reward both. Like so many immigrants of their time, they faced poverty, prejudice, and uncertainty—but they also saw opportunity. My grandfather obtained his U.S. citizenship not solely through paperwork, but by enlisting in the Army and fighting in W

By Joe Palaggi America’s immigration debate is often framed in stark moral and legal terms: compassion versus control, humanity versus lawlessness. But beneath the surface of partisan shouting matches lies a quieter, more calculating truth. Illegal immigrants have become political currency—not just a crisis to be managed, but a lever of power to be exploited. And both the left and the right are playing the game. At the heart of this is the U.S. Census. Mandated by the Constit

By Joe Palaggi Walk into any big-box store and take a good look around. See those brand-name items sitting at eye-level? They didn’t get there by being the best. They paid to be seen. This practice—called a slotting fee —lets deep-pocketed corporations buy prime shelf space, blocking out competitors before the customer even has a choice. Now, look at U.S. trade policy in 2025. President Trump’s renewed tariff strategy is playing out like that same marketing game—but on a glob

By Joe Palaggi At first glance, we’re just another species among millions. Flesh and bone, blood and breath. We hunger, we sleep, we reproduce, we die—just like the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. But scratch beneath the surface, and something far more complex emerges. Something that separates us—not just in kind, but in essence. That something  is not merely sentience . Plenty of creatures feel. A dog feels joy when you come home. An elephant mourns its dead. S

By Joe Palaggi A government of, by, and for the people requires a balance of power—one that ensures no single branch can wield unchecked authority over the others. The United States was founded on this principle, with the executive, legislative, and judicial branches acting as counterweights to one another. However, when the judiciary steps beyond its intended role of interpreting laws and instead assumes the power to dictate policy based on personal ideology, it ceases to fu

By Joe Palaggi History is a graveyard of great ideas turned oppressive. Whether religious, political, or ideological, movements often begin as forces for liberation but eventually become the very thing they once opposed—dogmatic, intolerant, and tyrannical. The Catholic Church, communist regimes, Puritan theocracies, the French Revolution, Islamic caliphates, and cults all share a pattern: they claim absolute truth, demand unwavering loyalty, suppress dissent, and punish here

By Joe Palaggi In the grand architecture of existence, pleasure, and pain are not opposing forces in perpetual conflict but rather complementary elements of a single design. Pain is the crucible in which character is forged, and pleasure is the reward for enduring its fire. When properly aligned, suffering gives pleasure its depth, making it a hard-won prize rather than an empty indulgence. However, in the modern age, where instant gratification is increasingly accessible, pl