It’s not just Colorado and Washington: The world is abandoning the U.S.-backed drug war in favor of a more liberal approach to cannabis. Four decades after President Nixon declared war on drugs, nearly everyone agrees it’s time for a truce.... Read more»
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Both sides in the gun debate are misusing academic reports on the impact of the 1994 assault weapons ban, cherry-picking portions out of context to suit their arguments.... Read more»
The 266th pope, and the first ever from Latin America, has one lung, rides the subway, reads Dostoevsky and has been described as both a moral compass and a sellout to Argentina’s former Dirty War leaders.... Read more»
Rep. Paul Ryan exaggerates future growth of the federal debt in a chart contained in his newly released budget plan. The chart relies on Congressional Budget Office projections from last year that do not account for actions taken since then to reduce federal deficits by nearly $2 trillion over 10 years.... Read more»
The reality of the global church is much larger than concerns bearing down on Princes of the Church, or social forces driving polarization of the church in Western countries, such as the priest shortage, celibacy, women’s ordination and gay rights.... Read more»
An interview with an expert on gun violence, who’s backing the push for universal background checks.... Read more»
Analysis: As Karzai insinuates Washington-Taliban collusion, fault lines deepen in an already troubled relationship.... Read more»
It is true that knowledge is power. But getting American politicians to act upon that knowledge—or even convincing top pundits and reporters to pay attention to it—well, that’s another matter entirely. Just ask the millions of families of those killed, wounded, or displaced by the pointless and counterproductive American invasion of Iraq on its 10th birthday.... Read more»1
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services haven’t had a Senate-confirmed administrator since 2006. The Federal Labor Relations Authority has had only a single member since January and can’t issue decisions. And the Election Assistance Commission hasn’t had any commissioners at all since 2011.... Read more»
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner emerged from their White House meeting on sequestration blaming each other for the automatic spending cuts and misrepresenting the other side’s position:... Read more»
Analysis: Chuck Hagel is now secretary of defense, but with a world of trouble awaiting him, he may wonder whether he really wants the job.... Read more»
House Speaker John Boehner tweets that the Obama administration is spending $1.2 million “paying people to play video games.” That’s misleading. The government did pay $1.2 million for university research that includes the study of how video games can stimulate the cognitive abilities of seniors.... Read more»
On Feb. 27 the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case Shelby County v. Holder, a challenge to the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This landmark law outlawed discriminatory voting practices by ending the disfranchisement of minority voters and preventing vote dilution through racial gerrymandering.... Read more»1
Vehicle crashes have long been the leading cause of violent death in America, but that dubious distinction may soon belong to gunshot deaths.... Read more»
The sad truth is that this nonsense is introduced into the media ecosystem by right-wing reality-denying sources, and it almost always makes its way into the mainstream media—often going unchallenged.... Read more»1
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