Category: General

A remembrance from Richard HaassThe United States has had only 45 presidents over its two and a quarter centuries as a nation, and we just lost one of them: George H.W. Bush, the 41st. Of course we will and should mourn, but we would be remiss if we did not as well take a few…

On Monday, the Open Markets Institute released new evidence of increased corporate concentration in 32 different industries, from cellphone providers (where four firms control 98 percent of the market) to peanut butter (four firms control 92 percent). The data, which has gone uncollected by the federal government since President Ronald Reagan’s Federal Trade Commission stopped the…

(CNN)It’s been a week since the 2018 election. And while there are 10 House races — and a Senate race (hello, Florida?) — still not called, we now have a very good sense of who voted, why they voted and what it tells us about the electorate both now and moving forward. We have that…

On Friday, President Trump tweeted “Sanctions Are Coming,” regarding moves he was planning to make against Iran.Saul Loeb/Getty ImagesThis week has been so long that it’s almost difficult to remember that it started with the horrific deaths of 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, which prompted reports about the growth of anti-Semitism in the US,…

The erosion of the country’s postwar order has created a populace open to messages and movements previously banished to the fringes.By Oliver NachtweyMr. Nachtwey is the author of “Germany’s Hidden Crisis: Social Decline in the Heart of Europe.” Dec. 7, 2018ImageChancellor Angela Merkel of Germany visiting the Hamburg Messe building this month.CreditCreditJohn Macdougall/Agence France-Presse —…

One of Donald Trump’s closest advisers spoke during the 2016 election campaign with a Russian offering help from Moscow and a meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the special counsel Robert Mueller revealed on Friday. Federal prosecutors also alleged that Trump directed the adviser, Michael Cohen, to make illegal payoffs to two women who…

PoetryImageAdrienne Rich in New York City, 1987.CreditCreditNeal Boenzi/The New York TimesESSENTIAL ESSAYS Culture, Politics, and the Art of Poetry By Adrienne Rich Edited and with an introduction by Sandra M. Gilbert 411 pp. W.W. Norton & Company. $27.95.SELECTED POEMS 1950-2012 By Adrienne Rich Edited by Albert Gelpi, Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi and Brett C. Millier 421…

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram stories are the future of candidate marketing. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is honest about her knowledge gaps and her insecurities in her Instagram stories. Screenshot from Instagram Awkward Oval Office Fight With Trump Delivers Exactly What Pelosi and Schumer Came For Why Nancy Pelosi’s Quiet Trump Burn Was Uniquely Satisfying The Single Fatal Flaw…

PHOENIX/TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) – Members of an Arizona evangelical church are for the first time taking Central American asylum seekers into their homes, responding to record arrivals of migrant families at the US-Mexico border. The predominantly white Central Christian Church, a Phoenix area “megachurch” had in the past assisted Muslim refugees. Church leaders wanted to…

What was once a Democratic pipe dream is now a real possibility. By Thomas B. EdsallMr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C. on politics, demographics and inequality.Nov. 15, 2018ImageA converted school bus in Houston offered free rides to polling places on Nov. 6.CreditCreditTamir Kalifa for The New York TimesEnthusiastic Democrats can often be…

ImageDennis Hof, a brothel owner and reality television star, died on Oct. 16. Voters still elected him to the Nevada State Assembly on Tuesday.CreditCreditJohn Locher/Associated PressIn life, Dennis Hof claimed many titles: “America’s pimp” and “the P.T. Barnum of Booty,” based on his notoriety as an outspoken brothel owner in Nevada. He called himself the…

As these Instagram photos show, 2018 has been turbulent, troubling, joyous, and beautiful. Tyrone Siu/Reuters Reuters does a yearly roundup of its most-liked photos on Instagram. The 2018 images feature the World Cup tournament, flooding in North Carolina, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding, and migrant caravans, among other scenes. Here’s a recap of…

Home Other Sciences Social Sciences / Political Science November 13, 2018 November 13, 2018, Dartmouth College Partisan groupings evolve to become extreme, ultimately resulting in the formation of “echo chambers” in which political beliefs go unchallenged and increase in strength. Credit: Tucker Evans/Dartmouth College. The basic human need to get along with others results in…

Another Florida recount prompts appreciation of a man nothing like Donald Trump.Nov. 13, 2018ImageVice President Al Gore on the campaign trail with his wife, Tipper Gore, during his 2000 presidential run.CreditCreditBrooks Kraft/Sygma, via Getty ImagesTime and Donald Trump do interesting things to a man.They make Al Gore glitter.It’s almost impossible not to be thinking of…

11.29am EST11:29 Summary We are wrapping up our politics liveblog for the day now, thanks to everyone who read it and got involved in the debate. Here is a quick summary of the days main developments: In her first television interview since revealing the government’s proposed withdrawal agreement with the EU, Theresa May has defended…

Opinion|What the Lawless Obamacare Ruling Means It’s not based on a solid legal argument. It’s an exercise in raw judicial power. By Jonathan H. Adler and Abbe R. GluckMr. Adler is a professor of law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Ms. Gluck is a professor of law and the faculty director…

Some one billion people around the world are now being ruled by populists of one sort or another. That number will continue to grow if we continue to view populism as the result of economic rather than political dysfunction. LONDON – Nearly 330 million Americans are governed by Donald Trump. Brazil, with 210 million people,…

We’ve all experienced that immediate panic after saying something stupid. The hot rush of shame pumps through our bodies and we are gripped by the forlorn hope that we could rewind time. The claustrophobic fear that we are forever diminished in the eyes of those who witnessed our stupidity causes genuine panic. We are convinced…

Conservatives get serious about criminal justice reform.Dec. 20, 2018ImagePresident Trump speaking about the First Step Act, which would provide more education and treatment to prisoners and expand early-release programs while shortening some sentences, at the White House in November.CreditCreditAl Drago for The New York TimesThis year is ending with one truly surprising development, a real…

There is an exact moment that Christmas Day tensions peak: 12.56pm. In 2013, Magimix found it was at this point, after an average four-and-a-half hours of cooking, that, as frazzled hosts start to bring the dinner together, once happy homes from Aberdeen to Hastings kick-off like Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. It need not be like…

London, United Kingdom – Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said a week is a long time in politics. This week, the United Kingdom’s ongoing political drama over its bid to depart the European Union has stretched that maxim to its fullest. On Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May pulled off a parliamentary vote on her widely criticised…

Federal Reserve leaders for the past quarter-century have made decisions about interest rates without being pressured by the president. President Trump has broken that streak, calling the central bank “crazy” for raising rates and more than once saying the Fed is damaging the economy. That has prompted Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to update playbook rules…

The name is Schiff. SCHIFF. With two Fs.Image: Chelsea Lauren/Variety/REX/ShutterstockBy Adam Rosenberg2018-11-18 22:02:34 UTC It’s the afternoon of a day ending with “y,” so you know Donald Trump has offended someone already. Look no further than Trump’s Fox News interview with Chris Wallace. A clip from that interview went viral earlier on Sunday when Wallace…

Akram Saifi (extreme right) with the captains on the field before the India-West Indies T20 game in Lucknow Nov 6. Before Akram Saifi met veteran cricket administrator Rajeev Shukla nine years ago, only one cricketer from his hometown of Saharanpur had represented Uttar Pradesh in a national tournament. Since then, 24 players from the district…

Why “political correctness,” often seen as a source of division, is exactly what’s needed to heal America. People protest the arrival of President Donald Trump as he visits the Tree of Life Congregation on Oct. 30 in Pittsburgh. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images I’m a Developer. I Won’t Teach My Kids to Code, and Neither Should You.…

The midterms offered some painful lessons for Democrats.Nov. 7, 2018ImageBeto O’Rourke supporters were among the Democrats disappointed on election night.CreditCreditTodd Heisler/The New York TimesIn the end it was only a blue ripple, and that should prompt soul-searching among Democrats — particularly as everyone looks ahead to 2020. Don’t listen to Democrats who portray these midterms…

In a year that brought North and South Korea closer, British politics to the brink and criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record to the fore, NPR’s international and national security correspondents stayed plenty busy helping make sense of these and other events around the globe. Meanwhile, plenty else was going on — and those…

Spreading fake news, bribing media outlets, and exploiting caste tensions are all tactics that Indian political parties have for long been accused of using to win elections. Now, even lay Indians are getting to try their chops at them—in a board game.The Poll: The Great Indian Election Game simulates India’s national electoral process, warts and…

Educators with Acero charter schools strike outside the Veterans Memorial Charter School Campus, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018, in Chicago.CHICAGO – Teachers and administrators agreed Sunday to suspend the nation’s first-ever charter school strike, ending a four-day work stoppage at one of the largest charter networks in Chicago. But the fight could portend more to come in the labor…

After an “impassioned” five-hour meeting Theresa May, Britain’s prime minister, said her cabinet had approved a provisional withdrawal deal from the European Union. After the meeting Mrs May said she believed the draft deal was “the best that could be negotiated”. She now needs Parliament to back it, but may struggle to find enough votes…

“CEU has been forced out.” That is how Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian president of Central European University (CEU), announced the end of his university’s more than 25 years of operation in Budapest, Hungary. And 20 years after I started my first academic job at this unique university, CEU will no longer be part of Hungarian…

CLOSE Supreme Court justices, lawmakers and members of the public filed into the Capitol Monday evening to pay their respects to former President George H.W. Bush, who is lying in state in the Rotunda until Wednesday. (Dec. 3) APPresident Trump and first lady Melania Trump pay their respects as former President George H. W. Bush…

John Avlon is a CNN senior political analyst and anchor. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN. (CNN)Every Southerner knows the truth of William Faulkner’s words: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” History hangs over Southern politics with a heaviness less known in the…

December 20, 2018 1:30PM PT The past 12 months seemed more like 48, as the year’s craziest political pop culture moments managed to top even the year before, when the surprise of Donald Trump’s presidential win was still fresh. Most of the moments center around President Trump, who once again was willing to weigh in…

ImageSenator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, is at odds with most of his party over his support of coal.CreditCreditSarah Silbiger/The New York TimesWASHINGTON — During his first run for the Senate in 2010, Joe Manchin III, the Democrat from West Virginia, took aim — literally — at a climate change bill, shooting a…

Last May, Chase Koch, the 41-year-old son of billionaire businessman Charles Koch, gathered about two dozen wealthy young professionals for a weekend retreat in Vail. This was no regular Koch get-together, the kind of uber-elite gathering of big ideas and bigger checkbooks that Charles and his brother David have made a feature of their political…

This story appears in VICE Magazine’s Burnout and Escapism Issue. Click HERE to subscribe.The only time I went to Disney World was in November 2001. My family hadn’t been planning on going, but after 9/11, my father rightly assumed we’d be able to get cheap airplane tickets from Newark, New Jersey, to Orlando. I was…

ImageAn oil field near Epping, N.D. The United States has become a central player in global oil markets.CreditCreditJim Wilson/The New York TimesVIENNA — On Thursday, over 200 oil industry representatives, financial analysts and journalists are expected to crowd into a basement auditorium at the headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is…

In the wake of a fairly catastrophic behind the scenes glimpse into Facebook’s high-level decision making, one question remains: Who brought a controversial Republican opposition research firm into the fold? In a long call with reporters on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg denied any knowledge of his company’s own dealings with Definers Public Affairs, the firm in…

Democrats take back the House, Republicans widen their Senate majority, and some major races still haven’t been called. Madeleine Carlisle Nov 7, 2018 A supporter listens as Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia Stacey Abrams on November 7, 2018Lawrence Bryant / Reuters Democrats woke up to a lukewarm victory. Buoyed by the suburban vote, they retook…

CENTRAL BANKING can be agonising. The effect of monetary policy on the economy is not immediate, so decisions must be based on expectations for two years’ time. That means putting faith in forecasts that could well turn out to be wrong.Get our daily newsletterUpgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor’s Picks.Some soul-searching…

It’s coming home, it’s co-ming … politics is coming home. The seizure of initiative by parliament on Tuesday night is a repatriation of power worth cheering. For two years Brexit has been a performance of bluster and bluff in public. Theresa May hammered out the terms in private and in Brussels. Now the House of…

Donna Zuckerberg didn’t expect to spend two years trawling through the corner of the internet defined as “the manosphere”, unpicking the grim alliance between pick-up artists, men’s rights activists, incels (involuntarily celibate men), the far right and the most ardent Make America Great Again advocates. “It started as a curiosity,” she says, as we video…

Essentials Week spotlights unexpected items that make our daily lives just a little bit better. I realized this year that podcasts have supplanted practically every other form of media to become my most consumed entertainment.  My Spotify usage has dwindled. I haven’t been making it to the theater much since all those MoviePass hijinks. And…

The new Dick Cheney biopic doesn’t just fail as comedy. It fails as history. Christian Bale as Dick Cheney in Vice; Dick Cheney in 2000. Photo illustration by Slate. Photos byAnnapurna Pictures and Scott Olson/AFP/Getty Images. What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Welcome to Marwen The New Men in Black Movie Trailer Promises Something That…

ImageDemonstrators gathered at the State Capitol building in Lansing, Mich., to protest measures that would hamstring Democrats who will take over the legislature in January.CreditCreditDale G. Young/Detroit News, via Associated PressLANSING, Mich. — On both sides of Lake Michigan this month, Republican-dominated legislatures pushed forward measures aimed at hamstringing Democrats who will take over their…

Europe Edition(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)Good morning. France makes a concession, Theresa May suffers defeats and Italy arrests mobsters. Here’s the latest:ImageCreditThibault Camus/Associated Press• France backs down. In an extraordinary concession after three weeks of increasingly violent protests around France, the government of President Emmanuel Macron announced a six-month suspension…

The fishermen of Kilkeel campaigned for Brexit two years ago under a jovial banner of a cartoon fish which sported a helmet, armour, a union jack shield and the legend “Fishing for Leave”. The image symbolised hope that this fishing community in Northern Ireland and others across the UK would escape European Union strictures and…