After months of bitter debate, Chicago’s Board of Education voted to close 49 underused and underfunded public schools—the largest school closure America has seen in decades. The New York Times reports: Chicago now has 145,000 fewer school-age children than it had more than a decade ago, according to district data, and the district had already […]

Just two days after the President of the Philippines announced a $1.8 billion naval expansion, mostly to combat Chinese “bullying”, Japan pledged its help. “Japan will provide patrol boats to the Philippines to help the country bolster its capabilities in the face of China’s growing presence in regional waters,” reports the Asahi Shimbun. “In a meeting […]

College isn’t for everyone, and there’s data to prove it. During the 2011-12 academic year, the number of students enrolled in American colleges and universities dropped by 1.6 percent, while the number of degrees awarded increased by 5.1 percent, according to a new study. As colleges attract fewer marginal students who wouldn’t have succeeded in attaining a degree, […]

The gutsiest, highest risk economic drive for growth in the world these days is coming out of Japan. After decades of stagnation, accompanied by deficit spending and Keynesian stimulus on an enormous scale, the world’s third largest economy is crashing its currency to stimulate exports and doing everything nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe can think […]

The ballots are in, and City Councilman Eric Garcetti has won the Los Angeles mayoral election. The race was notable for a lack of differences between between the candidates, low public enthusiasm, and dismal voter turnout, which barely cracked 20 percent. What’s most interesting about the race was the role of unions. Garcetti’s opponent, City […]

The American people are not dupes. Regarding the scandals, they’re showing a level of sense and good judgment that frequently escapes the denizens of the “Acela cocoon.”A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that more than half of Americans believe the Obama administration is covering up over Benghazi, and that a narrow plurality also thinks the […]

A cabal of rich corporate donors is funding and in some cases calling the shots at the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP). Ken Silverstein and The Nation get big points for sticking to principles for this great investigative report on the center’s ominously bland-sounding “Business Alliance.” Here’s a small taste of what they found: Last […]

Westerners have been saying for a while now that what the Islamic world needs is its equivalent of the Reformation. “Where is Islam’s Martin Luther?” they ask anxiously as they watch radicals rise from the wreckage of the Arab Spring and make good showings in Pakistan’s recent elections.In fact we have been witnessing the fruits […]

Europe’s stratospheric energy prices and economic doldrums are forcing a basic rethink of energy policies. The FT reports: [There is] a growing fear in Europe that rising energy prices now pose a threat to the industrial competitiveness of a region mired in recession. It has been driven home by a steady stream of announcements from European manufacturers about plans to […]

…is coming from the distinegrating reputations of Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett, commentators who at one time were taken seriously by some serious people, but whose most recent book will find a comfortable home on the shelves next to the finest works of regime apologists and hacks. “It often seems in these pages that Flynt […]