A new report out last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters finds that it is theoretically possible to not only feed the world’s current population with current crops and agricultural technology—we could potentially feed 4 billion more. Malthusians have been warning that humans have charted a course towards apocalypse as we grow beyond the […]

In the current issue of National Review, Avik Roy has an excellent piece on the perverse effects of hospital consolidation. Unfortunately the article is behind a paywall, but he gets right to the nub of the problem in the opening paragraphs: In 1994, two eminent Boston hospitals, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, […]

The most compelling cause for worry regarding the data that the NSA is collecting on people’s online activities was that it could end up being used in cases that are strictly outside the scope of anti-terrorism. According to the New York Times, other government agencies are trying to get at the NSA’s vast data stores […]

“You left the Egyptians. You turned your back on the Egyptians, and they won’t forget that,”  Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi said angrily in a rare interview with a Western newspaper. “Now you want to continue turning your backs on Egyptians?”Given the state of public opinion in Egypt, it makes lots of sense for Sissi to stress his […]

Barry Diller is dumping Newsweek. The mogul is scraping what is left of this once prestigious media brand off his shoes in a deal with IBT. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; it is unlikely that the shell of Newsweek cost much.  The Daily Beast will continue to appear, but it is clear now […]

Click here to watch a viral video (with subtitles) that is sweeping Egypt. It mocks President Obama as a naive double-dealer whose policies in Egypt have collapsed in humiliating disarray. The song, “Obama Your Mother, Your Father” (apparently an Egyptian insult) portrays him as the dupe of Islamist forces whose ill judged machinations have made […]

Canadian investors are noticing a trend that perceptive Americans have seen already: a booming Mexico is a great place to invest. The Globe and Mail reports: Too much attention is given to the country’s horrific, drug-related murders and the hot-button issue of illegal immigration to the U.S. Not enough is given to Mexico’s continuing economic […]

The New York Times announced today that it had finally managed to unload the Boston Globe and its New England Media Group to the owner of the Boston Red Sox, John Henry, for the not-so-princely sum of $70 million. Considering that the Times paid $1.1 billion for the Globe in 1993 and that analysts were expecting the […]

George Mitchell was the son of a poor Greek goatherd who worked his way through college, graduated top of his class, and became known for his determination and vision. The Economist describes him as the father of fracking: He did not discover shale gas and oil: geological surveys had revealed them decades before he started. […]

There appears to be a hard-nosed strategy of sorts trying to emerge from under the rubble of the Obama administration’s Middle East policy, and it may not be a bad one. FP is reporting that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is on the cusp of concluding a massive $10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi […]