| Here's a chart that might put some pep in your step: "Notwithstanding the two-month Covid-19 recession of 2020, the US hasn't experienced a downturn since the end of the financial crisis in the middle of 2009," remarks Jonathan Levin. Scarily, that means that I haven't endured a lengthy downturn since I was in the eighth grade, back when Taylor Swift's Love Story came out. Does this mean that recessions are going extinct? Sadly no, says Jonathan. Back in 2003, the University of Chicago's Robert Lucas infamously declared, "mission accomplished!" in preventing all future macroeconomic disasters. Five years later, the nation endured the worst downturn since the 1930s. There's a nonzero chance that we'll repeat history. On the ground, the economic vibes aren't great. The Bloomberg Editorial Board says high prices are a top concern for voters and for those who own homes, Mark Gongloff says insurance inflation in particular is draining wallets: Voters are also worried about job prospects, as this new poll from Gallup shows: And — don't forget — we're at war, which Marcus Ashworth says has eroded reliable havens in the market. Even the dollar — "typically the biggest beneficiary of a flight to safety" — is not making major gains. You'd think all those bad vibes might lead us down a dark, stagflationary path, yet "the US economy looks amazingly resilient," Jonathan notes. We might escape the "r-word" in 2026, but heed his warning: "Streaks can deceive us." The Problem With Joe Kent | When Joe Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, some saw it as a valiant protest against President Donald Trump's adventure in the Middle East. Alas, writes David M. Drucker, that's an imperfect read on the situation: "Kent, 45, is a conspiracy theorist of such questionable character that he lacks almost all credibility, rendering him useless as an avatar for foes of the Iran war and Trump."  Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America "Kent was twice rejected by the voters of Washington state's 3rd Congressional District," David writes, and for good reason. Beneath that head of perfectly coiffed hair is a brain consumed by the same election conspiracy theories parroted by Nick Fuentes. David notes that in Kent's mind, President Joe Biden cheated his way into the White House and Jan. 6 was an inside job. And the assassination of Charlie Kirk? Well, Israel might be to blame. Given all that quackery, David says "lionizing Kent as a conscientious objector to Trump" is pure "folly." Read the whole thing. | 
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