On November 11, 2013, Religion News Service reprinted an Associated Press story by Gillian Flaccus on the development of “atheist mega-churches”. These have the rather revealing name “Sunday Assemblies” (perhaps an allusion to the Pentecostal Assemblies of God—in the hope of emulating the success of the latter?). The story described a recent gathering of this […]

Does the Obamacare debacle mean the death of the American liberal dream? Thomas Edsall, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, thinks that it might. In a strongly worded and closely reasoned piece, Edsall asks what, for many loyal Times readers, is the unthinkable question: [I]s the federal government capable of managing the provision […]

Judge Richard Posner has publicly thought better of one of his earlier controversial rulings on the constitutionality of an Indiana voter ID law. This reset should encourage other courts not to rely on Judge Posner’s opinion, but rather to look at each voting restriction and evaluate its constitutionality on the basis of prior constitutional decisions and the facts presented in each case that challenges restrictions in a voting law.

Everyone keeps telling me that short posts sprayed out more frequently are vastly better in the blogosphere than long-form, more deeply considered analysis less often offered.  But they never say better for what, or for whom. Well, never mind that for now. I’m so busy  with other, higher priorities, that I’m in a rare mood […]

It’s been a grim month for fans of Obamacare, and perhaps especially for the red state Democrats in Congress who voted for it. Between the ghastly failure of the website, the waves of policy cancellations, and the grim realization that the ‘wonks and experts’ knew all along that the “you can keep your policy” mantra […]

Pundits across the spectrum were enraged this week by a consulting firm that teaches nannies to cook quinoa. The NYT published a piece Wednesday profiling Stephanie Johnson and Dan Yashiv, a couple who hired a “nanny consulting firm” to teach their nanny to cook more “refined” meals for their daughter. Matt Yglesias has a good roundup of […]

The details of the proposal made by the US and other leading powers negotiating with Iran (the P5+1) at the recent Geneva talks are still unclear, but were designed to freeze the nuclear program so that Iran would not be able to continue development during the negotiations for a final agreement, expected to take six […]

 Some six weeks have passed since I wrote in this space on Middle Eastern matters. Forgive me, for I have not sinned. I have instead occupied myself with writing elsewhere, traveling both domestically and abroad, editing the January/February issue of The American Interest (which you will not want to miss), collecting native American persimmons and […]

As reported in The New York Times on November 1, 2013, a rather dramatic scene occurred in the Turkish parliament in Ankara on the day before. Four female members of the parliament took their seats wearing Muslim head scarfs. Mind you, this is the most moderate form of this type of religiously mandated garb; it […]

The demographic problem facing the industrialized world isn’t just about empty cribs and the empty treasuries when there aren’t enough young workers to pay the retirement and health benefits their parents and grandparents expect. It’s also about quality of life. The consumer society is eating its young; people who live in the most affluent societies […]