At the beginning of the year, I wrote that the coming changes to our workforce and the demise of the blue social model would strike at the heart of the Black middle class. One year later, it is clear that 2011 was a calamitous year for the Black middle class, and more is to come. […]

Despite the dismal economy and this Administration’s failure to inaugurate the progressive utopia its backers were hoping for, most liberals still support Obama and will vote accordingly. According to the Washington Post: Although African Americans remain the base group most broadly supportive of Obama, liberals and Democrats are very much in his camp as well. […]

Responding to Via Meadia‘s recent essay on Yale professor Harold Bloom’s attack on Mitt Romney, well-known sci-fi author Orson Scott Card had this to say: The Mormon Church has repeatedly made statements that directly contradict Orson Pratt’s statement about laws, as the Mormon Church officially refuses to support or oppose any party or candidate and […]

With pressure mounting on European leaders to do something about the sovereign debt crisis engulfing the continent, we now seem to be approaching an endgame of sorts for the euro drama that has dominated headlines for the past year. As usual, Southern Europe is the epicenter, as bad news from Italy has sent investors scurrying […]

For a disorganized and divided organization like the Arab League, this week’s decision to impose sanctions on Syria is a big move — the first of its kind. The Washington Post reports: The Arab League on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a series of economic sanctions against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including freezing the […]

From the BBC comes word that US and EU officials at yesterday’s understated and low key summit agreed to explore the possibility of a bilateral trade agreement.  Since the US and the EU together account for about half of the world’s GDP, this could be a big deal.Put this deal together with US proposals to […]

The report that a group of Iranian “students” has entered the British Embassy and begun to vandalize the facility is more than disturbing.  In the early reports there is no word about the safety or whereabouts of embassy personnel.  Nor do we yet have any idea what the Iranian government will do in response to […]

Jeffrey Goldberg has an important piece at Bloomberg on anti-Semitism and the Arab Spring.  It makes for deeply depressing reading, but it tallies well with my own experiences in the region.  Goldberg’s most important observation comes at the end, where he writes: The Arab Spring should liberate people not only from oppressive rulers, but also […]

Those Via Meadia readers old enough to remember Hurricane Katrina can no doubt remember the many moralizing predictions of smug and condescending green climate hacktivists that followed: global warming was going to mean more hurricanes and bigger ones.  Our coasts were toast; it was baked in the cake.  The rising sea level combined with the […]

Here at Via Meadia, we have written extensively about how reports of impending American theocracy have been greatly exaggerated. Indeed, put into historical perspective, the religious forces acting upon American politics today are far gentler than those of generations past. But it appears that the New York Times remains unconvinced, as evidenced by a recent spate […]