Weak strategy on Syria
Bashar al-Assad is feeling confident enough to schedule an election six weeks from now that will extend his term as president by another seven years. And why not? Three years into the country’s civil...
View ArticleKeystone XL's absurd delay
If foot-dragging were a competitive sport, President Obama and his administration would be world champions for their performance in delaying the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.read more
View ArticleFDA asserts its authority to oversee cigarette altenatives
In 2009, Congress gave the Food and Drug Administration wide authority to oversee tobacco products. The agency has moved cautiously in flexing that power. On Thursday, for the first time, the FDA...
View ArticleThe Aereo argument
At the Supreme Court on Tuesday, some observers have noted, the justices seemed flummoxed by the case of Aereo, a company that pulls network TV broadcasts off the airwaves and streams it to online...
View ArticleBlocking the college door
Rising student debt poses a serious problem, as do colleges that mislead students, take advantage of taxpayer-funded student aid or do a poor job of preparing students for work. But as much as we would...
View ArticleSecure in their phones
Just how much does the Constitution protect your digital data? The Supreme Court is only just coming to grips with that question. On Tuesday, it will consider whether police can search the contents of...
View ArticleReining in pensions
The economics of public-sector pension reform are straightforward enough. Funds that states and municipalities must devote to employees’ retirement benefits are funds that they cannot spend on parks,...
View ArticleGood neighbors
The Supreme Court considered two cases this term in which somewhat unclear wording in the federal Clean Air Act left sensible environmental rules open to challenge. On Tuesday, in the first case, the...
View ArticleAn inhumane death
The technology of execution has evolved over the centuries, with each innovation — the guillotine, the electric chair, lethal injection — arriving with promises that it will finally make the process of...
View ArticleA WIN for the Warthog
The House Armed Services Committee has completed action on the fiscal 2015 defense budget, and what it has produced is a triumph for the status quo. Contrary to President Obama’s requests, the...
View ArticleVenezuela in free fall
As Venezuela plummets toward economic and social chaos, the successors to Hugo Chavez are flailing in all directions. Some of their actions have the ring of pragmatism: With inflation nearing 60...
View ArticleSidling up to denialism
Sen. Marco Rubio, Fla., whom many presume to be a contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, said two things Sunday about climate change. Only one could fit into a presidential campaign...
View ArticleDayton on wrong side on sprinklers
Would Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton really scrap nearly $1 billion of infrastructure and other projects of public benefit to Minnesotans across the state? It seems doubtful the governor would really go as...
View ArticleForced to forget
Many people have a link or two they wish wouldn’t pop up when they Google their own names. They will appreciate the motivation of an audacious ruling the European Court of Justice handed down Monday....
View ArticleA taxing situation
Someday, the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and, shortly thereafter, perhaps, Republicans and Democrats will pass tax reform. It shouldn’t be that hard, actually, given the broad recognition...
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