THE QUESTION Every four years, somebody points out a candidate can win the popular vote and still lose the election, it happened in 2000 and 2016. Somebody else defends the system as core to American federalism. Who's actually right about what it was built to do? WHAT WE KNOW The Electoral College came out of the Constitutional Convention as a compromise. Some framers worried a direct popular vote would let dense states dominate; others worried leaving it to Congress made the

THE QUESTION Politicians on both sides invoke the national debt constantly, existential threat, talking point against the other guy's spending, or "worry about it later." What do the government's own nonpartisan projections actually say? WHAT WE KNOW CBO's latest projections show debt held by the public rising from 101% of GDP at the end of FY2026 to 120% by 2036, and to 175% by 2056 under current law, more than three times the 50-year average. In dollars: roughly $31 trillio

THE QUESTION Over the past year, federalized National Guard troops showed up in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and other cities, citing threats to federal personnel and property during immigration-enforcement protests. Governors and courts pushed back hard. What was the actual legal basis, and what happened to it? WHAT WE KNOW Normally, the Posse Comitatus Act bars the military from domestic law enforcement, with narrow exceptions, the best-known being the Insurrection Act,