What happens when the all-powerful Israel lobby teams up with former US government officials and Israeli politicians to get its way?Sometimes, very little. Despite nearly three decades of lobbying for his release, Jonathan Pollard, a spy who received a life sentence for giving classified US documents to Israel, is still in jail.As Pollard’s health deteriorates and […]

Congress seems intent on exploring how low its approval rating can go. (Americans now prefer Genghis Khan to our federal legislature.) But the story is completely different for U.S. state legislatures, where new reforms and innovations are helping to keep Americans’ faith in government alive. This weekend’s Economist echoed Via Meadia in a piece lauding states for picking […]

Ahead of the presidential trip to Israel, Tom’s Dispatch has lined up a list of technological marvels to be be demoed for President Obama, all of which have been developed either in Israeli universities or start-ups (h/t @DavidFrum). The ReWalk exoskeleton featured in the video above, which allows paraplegics to walk again, is particularly awe-inspiring.This is one […]

Reuters reported yesterday that President Obama is looking to establish guidelines for international drone use. The President is feeling pressure both at home, because of unease with the ill-defined limits of drone deployment, and abroad, because America is rapidly losing its edge in drone technology: “People say what’s going to happen when the Chinese and […]

It’s often said that Republicans are the Daddy Party in American politics, while the Democrats stand in for Mom. Mom is about putting nice meals on the table, pushing us to do well in school and teaching us to be kind to other kids; Dad worries about the budget, enforces the rules, teaches us to […]

We’re fans of good longform writing here at Via Meadia. We’re also always on the lookout for experiments in how to sustainably fund online journalism. As such we’ve been keeping our eye on an interesting little startup called Matter. Their idea is simple: they publish magazine-length reported pieces and charge readers $0.99 per article. They […]

This week’s big story was at the Vatican. Our take on the Conclave’s canny choice: It appears that, among other qualities, he is a compromise between those still nostalgic for the long Italian stranglehold on the papacy (Pope John Paul II was the first non-Italian Bishop of Rome since 1523) and those who want a […]

Negotiations begin tomorrow for a UN treaty that would track global arms sales and shipments aimed at stopping the flow of weapons into conflict zones. The NRA’s lobbyists have been working overtime recently to oppose domestic gun control legislation, but they are preparing to open up an international front to oppose this treaty. Though the […]

The NYT ran a curious little eulogy for the ethanol industry in yesterday’s paper. Last year’s persistent drought and an overall decline in gas consumption have forced nearly ten percent of the nation’s ethanol plants to close. Here’s the gist of their story: Backed by government subsidies and mandates, hundreds of ethanol plants rose among […]

Thomas Friedman’s column this weekend, on his frustration with the political system for keeping carbon taxes off the table, ends with a nice mention of AI editor Adam Garfinkle’s latest ebook, Broken: American Political Dysfunction And What To Do About It. Why is any kind of meaningful reform difficult, asks Friedman? First, because our democracy today […]