For the second time in two weeks, Chen Guangcheng phoned into a congressional hearing. The Washington Post recounts that while Chen said his immediate family was doing well, others close to him have suffered retribution after he sought sanctuary in the U.S. embassy in Beijing: He expressed particular concern for his nephew, Chen Kegui, who has […]

Even after the financial crisis, Wall Street is still the dominant economic force in New York, accounting for 20 percent of the state’s tax revenue prior to the recession—and this is not even counting the multitude of businesses that have sprung up to support the financial sector and its employees.Yet in the wake of  JP […]

The Arab League tried to gather the various councils and organizations claiming to represent the “Syrian opposition” in Cairo this week. Only a few people showed up: the international envoy groups, none of which were Syrian. The effort to unite Syria’s dissidents and opposition groups in a united front has since been postponed.Syria’s opposition groups […]

Via Meadia has steered clear of the various ephemera dominating news coverage of the campaign season (such as the current hubbub over Ann Romney’s alleged Hitlerian overtones on motherhood). Over at BuzzFeed, Rebecca Elliot, writing about Americans Elect, reminds us why we feel so comfortable ignoring the punditocracy.Americans Elect bills itself as a grass-roots organization that […]

The budget crises that have been wreaking havoc on state finances for years now may have just reached a new low: Many states are now taking money from homeowners to cover other budget shortfalls. In a recent settlement with the states, five of the country’s largest banks have agreed to pay a settlement of about […]

Being a religious minority in the Middle East is an extremely tough assignment. Whether it’s the Copts in Egypt, other kinds of Christians in Iran and Iraq, Shiites in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, or Sunnis in Iran, minority faithful often find themselves persecuted and under siege. Add the Bahai to that list.Writing in the Chronicle […]

Recently, Via Meadia wrote that, while the Obama administration’s “pivot” to Asia is in part a continuation of some of the policies of the Clinton and Bush years, Washington’s deepening commitment to the Asia-Pacific region represents the biggest geopolitical event since 9/11: The legacy press, still befuddled from drinking too much of the ‘US in […]

Remember when Occupy Wall Street was sweeping the nation? The media branded it the left’s answer to the Tea Party, the start of a grand national mobilization; depending on who you ask, half of America once supported the OWS protestors, double the amount who back the Tea Party. The Huffington Post even launched a separate […]

According to the Washington Post, the FDA is currently considering approval of a new home HIV test, which could be purchased over the counter and administered within 20 minutes by performing a simple gum swab.There are still some hurdles to clear before this test pops up in your neighborhood pharmacy. Its false negative rate, 7 […]

As Via Meadia has reported in the past, the smart money has been quietly edging out of Greek banks for a long time. As concern spread, the bank walk turned into a bank jog. This weeks, there are signs the jog is breaking into a bank run: Greek depositors withdrew €700 million ($898 million) from […]