Who’s to blame for the massive blackout in Venezuela last week that left more than half the country without power? Shady saboteurs, enemies of Hugo Chavez, and American spies, of course, the same people who were responsible for a huge blast at an oil refinery last year that killed 40 people. According to Nicolas Maduro, […]

Google has just become the latest tech giant to jump in to the MOOC world, announcing yesterday that it will be partnering with Harvard and MIT’s edX to develop the company’s online MOOC platform. The project aims to create a “Youtube for MOOCs”, allowing any interested party, from schools individuals, to easily sign up and […]

Questions about technical glitches in Obamacare’s new digital platforms have dogged implementation for months now. The administration blamed the employer mandate delay on technical failures related to computer reporting systems, and observers worried that state-level exchanges wouldn’t launch on October 1st.A flurry of news stories today suggests that this particular ACA crisis has passed. California is now […]

Here at Via Meadia, we’ve long held that 401(k) style defined-contribution pension plans are a much better option for workers and employers than defined-benefit plans. They’re more stable, less susceptible to abuse by politicians, and less prone to collapse should an employer or municipality go broke. With more and more states struggling with their pension costs, […]

An environmental law in California, designed with the best of intentions of course, has helped wreck middle class prospects—and state lawmakers are finally taking note. The California Environmental Quality Act, signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1970 and beloved by environmental groups, mandates strenuous reviews of the environmental effects of all proposed construction projects. […]

It’s no secret that New York City is expensive. Anyone who has spent time in Manhattan has almost certainly felt they were being overcharged for normal expenses—parking, hotel rooms, coffee, subpar lunch buffets, etc. But obviously the problem is worse than an $8 cup of coffee.ZeroHedge posted an infographic on Monday that highlights the costs of […]

On September 4, 2013 there was an interesting story in The Christian Century, the banner publication of liberal Protestantism. It contained an objective account of a development that probably did not please the editors of the Century (they deserve good marks for unbiased reporting!).  The report is about a success story of a decidedly non-liberal […]

Don’t look now, but Egypt is causing widespread suffering among Gaza’s Palestinians: As part of a crackdown against Sinai militants, Egypt’s military-led government destroyed at least 40 smuggling tunnels over the last two weeks, according to officials in the Gaza Strip. The move has exacerbated shortages in Gaza of construction materials and cheap Egyptian-produced gasoline, […]

Poland is considering paying Qatar an estimated 40 to 50 percent more for natural gas than it currently pays Russia’s Gazprom. For Warsaw, it’s a small price to pay to lessen its dependence on Moscow, which has a long history of leveraging its prodigious natural resources—natural gas, especially—to wield influence abroad.Qatar is the world’s biggest […]

The district of Muzaffarnagar, 80 miles north of Delhi, is still reeling from riots that killed 40 people and gravely injured many more this weekend. Thousands of police officers patrol the streets and curfew is strict.The details of the chaos are still emerging. The authorities claim that after two Hindu youths were killed two weeks ago, […]