In light of Obama’s Israel trip this week, we thought it would be a good time to take a look at the roots of the U.S.-Israel relationship and why Americans consistently support Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians. Despite the beliefs of much of the world, it has little to do with the so-called […]

Replying to yesterday’s query, a Via Meadia reader, who grew up in Saudi Arabia in the 50s and 60s and worked there in the 1970s, wrote in with some thoughts as to why Internet censorship is different there than in China or Iran: Saudi Arabia is not a theocracy in the sense that Iran is nor a totalitarian […]

The world’s summer monsoon rainfall is up sharply this year. Surely, climate change must be to blame?Well, no. Climate models have predicted that for every degree of global warming, summer monsoon rainfall would increase 2.6 percent, yet rainfall is increasing nearly four times that projected amount. Natural swings in ocean temperature, not climate change, are […]

Californians learned earlier this month that their insurance premiums would be shooting up as a result of Obamacare. But those of us outside California shouldn’t gloat, as it looks like California was just early to the party: Insurance companies are now notifying brokers around the country that premiums are likely to go up in the coming […]

Detroit’s new emergency manager is set to take over the city tomorrow, and Detroiters are bracing themselves for regime change. Thus far, nobody knows quite what to expect, and an air of apprehension has set in as a number of groups prepare to oppose him, including everyone from unions concerned about their contracts to elected […]

Got a bad heart? Just have a scientist build you a new one. According to a story in the WSJ, scientists are making major breakthroughs in artificially growing replacement organs out of human cells. In 2011, for example, a London based researcher made a replacement windpipe for a cancer patient, and was able to save the patient’s life […]

Francois Hollande really can’t catch a break. One of the most memorable election promises he made was to raise marginal tax rates on the very rich—those making €1 million or more—to an eye-popping 75%. His government has, alas, finally decided to scrap that particular pledge. The Wall Street Journal has details: The notion of slapping a […]

Xi Jinping accomplished what he set out to do when he made Moscow his first destination abroad as China’s president: He got the press corps to run stories about how the two outsider powers are set to more explicitly cooperate in limiting Western influence in world affairs from here on out. PR success? Perhaps. But […]

Fresh ideas may be coming to the Democratic Party from the unlikeliest of places: Newark, New Jersey. The NYT profiles Newark’s Democratic mayor Cory Booker, whom the piece calls a “politician of the future.” Booker is running for the Senate, and his campaign has already started to make waves for its futuristic tenor. Much of this seems like style rather […]

The Nanny Staters are at it again, and this time they want to stop honest Americans who only want to enjoy some good roadkill. The Christian Science Monitor has a fun little article on the subject occasioned by Montana’s move to make roadkill salvage legal as of next Tuesday.Though the article assures us that “roadkill salvage and […]