[As regular VM readers know we have been writing about the decline of the “blue social model” — which you can read more about here and here.]While many ask whether the blue social model has a future, it may be more interesting to ask what kind of future the blue social model offers. Blue opinion […]

Peter Berger has a fantastic new post on his AI blog on the complexities of secularism in the West. Some recent cases limiting religious expression in public spaces led him to connect Western secularism with Christian teachings on sexuality: Let me venture a sociological hypothesis here: The new American secularism is in defense of the sexual revolution. Since the […]

The Italian mafia has been raking in money meant to subsidize renewable energy in Sicily. The Washington Post reports: In an unfolding plot that is part “The Sopranos,” part “An Inconvenient Truth,” authorities swept across Sicily last month in the latest wave of sting operations revealing years of deep infiltration into the renewable energy sector by […]

American private schools have identified a potentially lucrative solution to their budget problems: enrolling students from China. The WSJ reports: As growing numbers of Chinese students seek a college education in the U.S., many are turning to American high schools as a steppingstone. The resulting surge in Chinese enrollment has helped private high schools, and religious […]

A new paper by Daniel Thornton, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, contains some useful graphs on the causes of our debt crisis. The first graph below illustrates the rise of spending relative to government revenue; the second shows that the lion’s share of increased spending has been on social services, […]

The most dangerous terror groups in the world are coordinating in new and alarming ways across north and west Africa, a development that has been underreported by the mainstream media.Nigerian insurgents defending what they call the “Islamic Empire of Mali” attacked a convoy of Nigerian soldiers rushing to the assistance of international troops in Mali on Saturday. […]

Upon further editorial review, we have determined that this post does not live up to the standards of quality and fairness we have set for ourselves. Please click here to read more.Israelis turned out to vote yesterday in record numbers, delivering a major shake-up to the Knesset. Bibi Netanyahu is still a lock for Prime Minister, […]

Amtrak plans this year to shift spending away from small, local routes, the better to service the highly trafficked ones. Now some states must decide whether to pay for the trains themselves or to cut the routes altogether. The WSJ reports: Most Amtrak routes require subsidies because revenue collected through ticket sales is less than the […]

David Cameron finally delivered his long-anticipated speech on the EU, promising that he would put the UK’s membership up to a referendum, provided he wins the next election. The promise of a referendum delighted the euroskeptics in his coalition, though Cameron himself vowed to fight for staying in the EU so long as the upcoming […]

Is China’s population going the way of an aging Japan? The Financial Times has the story: China’s working-age population shrank in 2012, marking the beginning of a trend that will accelerate over the next two decades and have profound implications for the world’s second-largest economy. . . .China’s labour market remains tight in many places […]