This week’s essay looked at Egypt’s deep state dilemma. The recent coup-that-wasn’t-a-coup will likely end up giving the army what it wanted all along: “managed democracy” with an authoritarian bent. The deep state, which worked behind the scenes to undermine Morsi’s regime, will also be looking to mold this new era in its own image […]

Misplaced government subsidies and Obamacare combining to create a massive crisis in medical education. An excellent piece in Washington Monthly looks at the perverse incentives dominating medical residency programs that push people away from primary care and toward specialization: Specifically, the programs turn out too many specialists who go on to practice in places where […]

Driverless cars are poised to transform the way we live, but in the meantime, chicken-fed regulators are doing their best to choke state innovation. Google co-founder Sergey Brin explains in the WSJ that legal uncertainty, not technology, is now the main obstacle to the driverless car revolution: If it weren’t for fear among innovators of […]

Jordan has already been hammered by the Syrian civil war. Refugees are pouring into the country. Spies, arms dealers, terrorists and shady characters of every kind are trying to move money, goods and information through the fragile Kingdom. Trade relations with an important neighbor have been crushed by Syria’s economic collapse. Other countries including the […]

Elon Musk, maker of electric cars and launcher of civilian spaceships, has a plan for a new transportation system that could make California’s massive high-speed rail undertaking a failure at launch. It’s called the Hyperloop, and it plans to whisk passengers in car-sized capsules through enclosed tubes at great speed, shortening the LA to San […]

One of the biggest problems with care delivery in our healthcare system is the huge variation in the quantity and quality of care provided by different doctors and hospitals. The WSJ reports on new efforts to use big data to cut costs and improve quality by standardizing care. Hospitals and healthcare providers across the country […]

Via Meadia hasn’t said much about the Zimmerman trial; that was by design. There’s nothing morally wrong with following every twist and turn of a court case, but in our book that is entertainment and drama rather than news. When some event captures the attention of the country and even the world like the Simpson […]

Texas passed its much-contested abortion law on Friday, and it appears to be immediately headed to the courts. The hubbub from the pro-late term abortion camp is that the new law in Texas is insane and outrageous. We will see whether the courts uphold it, but to many voters this will look like a law aimed […]

Humans may never have to worry about the supply of fresh water again. The University of Texas at Austin reports that some of the university’s scientists have found a new way to desalinate sea water, potentially easing concerns over one of the crises facing human civilization we’ve been told is just around the bend: The […]

Readers interested in the Affordable Care Act should take note of an excellent new resource from the Wall Street Journal. The paper has collected all of its running coverage of the ACA implementation as well as a lot of extra features and put them on a single “Health Law Rollout” page: This guide explains the […]