What does the rise of mixed martial arts (MMA) say about American culture? And is it barbaric human cockfighting or a noble sport?

James Galbraith’s prediction of the collapse of the nation’s financial system has earned him a well-deserved reputation for prescience. His understanding of recent history, however, is another matter.

What you see of 1990s-era America depends on where you stand.

The global dimension of the U.S. war on drugs needs downsizing.

Hollywood-produced movies like Kung Fu Panda paint Chinese culture in a positive light for all the world to see, which has Beijing wondering, “Why can’t we do that?”

Historians traffic in characters and plots. They appreciate the extent to which timing, location and personality matter. Anthropologists, on the other hand, eschew the importance of contingency, inadvertence and timing, treating humans like predictable atoms, not willful Adams.

Today there is a sizeable gap between elite and non-elite opinion on immigration reform. Time to cut through the fog of fear and moralizing dividing them.

This is not your grandfather’s Great Depression. It’s ours. And it will scar and mold and re-shape us in its own unique way.

The age-old scourge of piracy has come back to haunt us off the waters of Somalia. Our troubles in dealing decisively with the problem are largely of our own making.

French immigration dilemmas can no longer be denied.