Nancy Mace

The ledger keeps coming up wrong. Credit lands on the wrong desk, blame finds the wrong door, and the person who did the actual work is usually standing just outside the frame. Nobody ordered this invoice—but everybody's paying it.

Bill Pulte ⬇

President Donald Trump's pick for acting Director of National Intelligence had never worked a day in intelligence when Republicans and Democrats united against him—loudly enough that Congress let FISA Section 702 lapse for the first time since 2008—then Trump withdrew the nomination anyway and replaced him with Jay Clayton. Mortgage records can't rummage themselves.

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Nancy Mace ⬇

The retiring South Carolina congresswoman spent her MAGA tenure collecting enemies and canceling legislation before finishing fifth in a gubernatorial primary to a challenger who apparently had an answer. She once wrote a New York Times op-ed asking "What's the Point of Congress?" The answer, apparently: not preparing her to win future elections.

Gwynne Shotwell ⬆

Employee No. 11 at a company with an unbuilt rocket, Shotwell spent 24 years running SpaceX while her boss went off to buy social networks and chainsaw the federal government. Now, post-IPO, she's a billionaire. Nice work if you can get it.

Gustavo Petro ⬇

The Colombian president came to New York City for a private meeting with Mayor Zohran Mamdani—until the Trump administration blocked it, saying it would violate the visa restrictions they put on the outgoing head of state after he criticized boat strikes in the Caribbean. The full machinery of American foreign policy, aimed squarely at a city hall coffee meeting.

Patrick Mahomes ⬆

The Kansas City quarterback inked the first NFL contract to surpass the $500 million mark with a new deal through 2033. But Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, the NFL's all-time earner with $408 million over 17 seasons, is still likely to collect $500 million first.

Stevie Nicks ⬇

Taylor Swift showed up to the Knicks' NBA Finals Game 4 wearing a "Stevie Knicks"'" T-shirt, turning the '70s rock legend into a courtside celebrity. The greatest compliment Swift has paid her mentor yet was a spelling mistake.

Originally a staple of Newsweek's print edition, Conventional Wisdom used arrows to track whose stock was rising or falling in the political circus. We're reviving it in the digital age because the problem it lampooned—hyperbole and partisan certainty masquerading as insight—has only intensified.

CW assigns arrows—up, down, or sideways—to the figures and forces shaping current events. The arrows don't predict the future or claim special insight. They capture the prevailing winds of the moment, uncluttered by tribal howling. In an era when partisan media reinforces rather than questions assumptions, CW operates from the center—skeptical of left and right alike, committed to puncturing inflated reputations and recognizing overlooked truths.