The idea of delaying the penalty associated with the ACA’s individual mandate is becoming more and more popular among Democrats every day. WSJ: Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.), who is up for re-election in 2014, said in a Thursday statement that the $95 penalty on individuals who fail to enroll in a health insurance plan should be […]

On Friday, a provincial court in Shandong upheld a life sentence for Bo Xilai, the once-rising star of Chinese politics whose sudden fall marked the biggest  crisis at the top levels of China’s political leadership in decades. Bo is now on his way to jail—that is, a jail reserved for elite political prisoners, north of […]

Is the University of Wisconsin going to do away with the credit-hour model? Perhaps not, but it’s taking a big step in that direction. This fall, the university system is beginning to accept applications for a new program called the “Flex Option,” which dispenses with credit-hours entirely. Essentially, rather than paying to take individual courses, […]

Algerian troops discovered a war chest of weapons stashed along Libya’s border, on Thursday—presumably a rainy day fund for the Islamic militants who wreak havoc in the region. Reuters reports: Algeria and Libya’s other neighbors are worried about a dangerous spillover from growing turmoil in that country as Tripoli’s fragile central government struggles to contain militias and Islamist […]

Canadian ambassador to the US Gary Doer reiterated his country’s support—and its need—for the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday. Doer appealed to North America’s desire for greater energy security, saying “it makes good sense to proceed with energy independence and go with Canada, go with your friend, your neighbor and your ally since the war of […]

Seriously. Everywhere. Except India.India’s central government finally took action to ease a worsening onion crisis by providing roughly $154 million in assistance for farmers and distributors in Maharashtra, one of the states experiencing the worst damage to this year’s onion crop. Although India has the largest area under onion cultivation in the world, onion prices have […]

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four goals, including a rocket volley that clocked in at 93mph, yesterday as his team, Paris St. Germain, triumphed over Anderlecht and put one foot in the next round of the Champion’s League. But “the Zlatan,” as he is sometimes called, and his team have a serious problem: François Hollande.“Clubs in France’s top […]

Yesterday’s Amnesty International report on the high civilian death toll of CIA’s secret drone program, and today’s report in the Washington Post on the Pakistani government’s complicity in that drone program, must be making Imran Khan a very happy man.The cricketer-turned-politician and leader of opposition party PTI has been the most vocal critic of the […]

The Energy Information Administration just released some excellent new data about America’s six biggest oil and gas regions. On Monday, it published the first edition of a new monthly Drilling Productivity Report. Contained within were some very encouraging signs for the shale revolution.The new report covers six regions, but we’ll focus our attention on the two […]

The Affordable Care Act’s benefits, such as they are, may come at the expense of the rural working class. The New York Times reports that the lack of competition in rural exchanges will dramatically drive up prices for many Americans: While competition is intense in many populous regions, rural areas and small towns have far fewer […]