In recent days we’ve been hearing a lot of hysterical chatter, from the NYT, the National Geographic, and other media outlets—about how 2012 was the hottest year ever for the continental United States. Obviously, this is evidence that global warming will soon destroy us all: Scientists said that natural variability almost certainly played a role in last year’s […]

We’re big fans of our colleague Peter Berger’s blog here at Via Meadia. His takes on religious issues of the day are always worth reading. His latest observation: The religiously unaffiliated in America supposedly make up as much as 20 percent of the population according to recent surveys. Yet at times of tragedy, the atheist/humanist […]

[UPDATE] France is at war in Mali, launching air strikes against jihadi forces threatening the country’s fragile (and not very impressive) government. Given the sharp limits on France’s ability to project power, French officials are in discussions with the Pentagon about possible American intelligence and logistics support.The conflict in Mali is France’s third military intervention […]

South Africa continues its slide. Last year Africa’s largest economy saw its sovereign debt rating downgraded by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s after widespread mining strikes undermined investor confidence. Yesterday Fitch followed suit, following a new outbreak of strikes by grape farmers. South Africa’s economy has now received a vote of no confidence from all three major […]

Is the momentum for new action on gun control slowly leaking away? That seems to be the message of this New York Times piece on Vice President Biden’s task force on gun control, which has tempered its expectation of a renewal of an assault weapon ban as Washington’s gun rights lobby flexes its muscle: [T]he White House has […]

The international intervention in Mali has finally begun: French troops are on the ground and warplanes in the sky, helping Malian soldiers fight Islamist militants who have taken over the northern part of the country. Just in the past few days the (loosely but dangerously) al Qaeda-linked militants advanced south toward the capital, panicking residents […]

Healthcare policy experts have long predicted that electronic medical records would allow us to streamline and modernize much of our healthcare system. But despite some encouraging signs, many of the promised benefits of the new technology have yet to materialize: The conversion to electronic health records has failed so far to produce the hoped-for savings in […]

As Americans who were alive during the Carter administration know all too well, stagflation—low growth mixed with inflation—is something you don’t want. Unfortunately, Brazil could be headed in that direction, according to the FT. Last year, inflation there reached 5.84 percent, well above the central bank’s target of 4.5 percent. That figure, combined with disappointing economic […]

Greece just can’t get out of its own way. Acting under a law enforcement strategy meant to protect the economy from foreign workers, police detained and beat a Korean tourist whom they mistook for an illegal immigrant. This story echoes a similar one from last year, in which police beat an African American tourist until […]

You know that long-held conventional wisdom that the human population will grow exponentially, wreaking havoc on the planet and depleting its resources? According to a recent report, it’s bunk. Demographers are predicting that global population will soon taper and eventually decline. Slate has the story: It took humankind 13 years to add its 7 billionth. That’s […]