As we all watch the events in Cairo unfold today—including reports that several protesters having been shot and killed by the army, and that several top Muslim Brotherhood politicians have been ordered released—it’s worth checking in again with our colleague Adam Garfinkle for some much needed perspective: The Muslim Brotherhood is at the same time […]

In the above clip, Mark Dice* tests ordinary California beachgoers’ knowledge about the Fourth of July, asking them when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and which country we broke away from in the American Revolution. (One apparently popular answer to the second question was China.) A few times Dice fed the interviewees […]

Ask a green what he or she thinks about fracking, and you’re likely to get an earful of criticism about methane leaks, poisoned groundwater, and climate change disaster. But a new report from the ecologically minded Breakthrough Institute (BI) makes the case that shale gas actually has a net environmental benefit. Nevermind the boosts to our energy security, […]

Things haven’t been going very well for Hamas lately.Its attack last fall on the “Zionist Entity” accomplished little more than making Israel’s air defense system a global celebrity. Over the course of the Arab Spring, Hamas lost two financial and military backers in Syria and Iran. The Muslim Brotherhood’s rise in Egypt was at best […]

The number of households in America headed by single fathers has increased nine-fold since 1960. According to a new Pew report, these households now account for nearly one quarter of all single-parent families, up from only 14 percent in 1960.While we’re pleased to see more fathers who are deeply involved in their children’s lives, this […]

North Korea has reportedly accepted a revised offer from South Korea to come to the negotiating table. Last month similar plans were derailed over questions of protocol.If we had to guess, we would say that this tiny step towards stability on the Korean peninsula represents a North Korean effort to appease China. Beijing is less […]

Two days since Mohammed Morsi was removed from power, the outlines of the power dynamic in Egypt are becoming clear: The military wants this to be a soft coup with a swift return to normalcy. And members of the Muslim Brotherhood may find it in their interests to try to prevent that.The NYT: In his swearing-in […]

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy has just been booted from the Constitutional Council of France—the most important constitutional body in the country—for campaign finance violations. After some deliberation, the Council upheld a ruling that Sarkozy overspent allowed limits in the 2012 elections, and that his UMP party therefore owes more than €500,000 to the government. Sarkozy […]

150 years ago on the Fourth of July, the Siege of Vicksburg ended in a glorious American victory, and the secessionists lost their last bastion on the Mississippi River. With the Army of Northern Virginia also being beaten back from the ridges and hilltops of Gettysburg, July 4, 1863, was the day when Dixie started […]

As everyone enjoys their 4th of July BBQs and fireworks, take a few minutes to check out this excellent Time magazine photo essay of figures from the Revolutionary War who lived into the age of photography. Some of them lived longer than 100 years.Journalist Joe Bauman gathered these amazing photographs and daguerreotypes: His collection, which […]