It has been clear to many observers that Chris Christie’s bullying tendencies were going to be a political problem. This reporter discovered first-hand that Christie does not handle opposition well, even when he is clearly in the wrong. I concluded
Brooke Baldwin, host of CNN Newsroom, seemed unimpressed Wednesday with the revelations (or lack thereof) in Gabriel Sherman’s unauthorized biography of Fox News chief Roger Ailes, The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News–and
Gov. Jerry Brown’s most formidable opponent as he heads into his 2014 re-election campaign may be the high-speed rail project that he has enthusiastically supported. Republicans have warned for years that the cost of the train, which aims to reduce
The Chinese Xinhua news agency reports that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that Israel accept 80,000 “refugees” from the 1948 war as part of a final peace settlement. Kerry recently completed his tenth
The New Republic’s Isaac Chotiner leapt to defend President Barack Obama yesterday over reports that the new book by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, paints the president as aloof from his commanders
The Israeli government has repeatedly raised the issue of Palestinian incitement against Israel and Jews with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The Palestinian Authority not only tolerates private, unofficial expressions of hatred, but actively endorses the same sentiments through
The Obama administration is very sensitive about its record on fighting terror. President Barack Obama ran for re-election in 2012 on the strength of the Osama bin Laden raid, and the fight against terrorism is one of the few areas
Even as President Barack Obama attempts to argue for extended unemployment benefits (in defiance of the evidence that longer benefits produce higher unemployment), there are signs that the U.S. economy is finally poised to begin a real recovery. The dollar
As Secretary of State John Kerry continues to press Israel to make additional concessions for the sake of peace, a senior Palestinian official has reiterated what clear-eyed observers have known for years: that the Palestinian Authority has no intention of
Journalist Wendy Lee of local public radio station KPCC reported Monday that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who represents Hollywood and much of west Los Angeles, has written to the Tribune Company, demanding that it provide him with documents about the
A short film dramatizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is drawing traffic at Upworthy. In the film, “No Way Through,” by the left-wing outfit Ctrl.Alt.Shift, a man hits a woman with his car, calls for an ambulance, then is forced to drive
Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon reports that three Democrats–Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)–had invited a “representative of a human rights group headed by a designated al Qaeda terrorist” to brief
In a development possibly related to the “polar vortex” that is currently bringing record low temperatures to the Midwest and the Northeast United States, and which in turn is possibly related to global climate change, surfing conditions in the area
Amidst the general frenzy about this week’s deep freeze in the Midwest and Northeast, it is worth remembering that this is not the first time the region has been this cold. It happens from time to time. It’s called winter.
It might seem odd, in the midst of the deep freeze and the snowstorms that have gripped the Midwest and the Northeast, but New Jersey and Illinois also charge their residents the highest and second-highest property taxes in the nation,
President Barack Obama has made extending unemployment benefits his #1 policy priority for 2014, in service of his attack on inequality. It is a theme that served him well in his 2012 re-election campaign. Republicans are responding by demanding budget
Secretary of State John Kerry, on his tenth visit to the Middle East in a quixotic attempt to urge a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, cited the Vietnam War as an example of how old foes can reconcile.
News broke late last week that Islamists had seized control of two western Iraqi cities, Fallujah and Ramadi. U.S. forces suffered hundreds of dead and wounded in battles against Al Qaeda for control of these cities during the Iraq War.
President Barack Obama’s “birthday present” to his wife–an extended vacation in Hawaii while he returns to Washington–violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. It is, in part, a “gift” from taxpayers to the First Lady, since the
President Barack Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha left their vacation in Hawaii on Saturday, but left First Lady Michelle Obama behind on the islands, according to news agency reports. The president reportedly let his wife stay on in Hawaii
The American left, we are told by the sympathetic New York Times, is watching the mayoralty of Bill de Blasio with great interest and excitement. The Times says that New York’s new mayor will create a “closely watched laboratory for
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist group that plays a large role in Lebanese politics and is propping up Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, has been moving advanced missiles from Syria into Lebanon, according to U.S. officials interviewed by the Wall Street
While the rest of the country struggles with record cold, large snowfalls and more winter misery to come, California is facing a severe drought that may lead to the renewal of water rationing in the rich agricultural region of the
After toasting the New Year at a farm in the starkly beautiful wine country near Cape Town, we arrived back in the city to see Table Mountain illuminated (finally!) from below–and a ring of fire on neighboring Devil’s Peak. The
The past two weeks in South Africa have provided an opportunity for me to catch up with local politics. From afar, it has often looked quite petty, as personality conflicts and the peculiar Kremlinology of the ANC capture national attention.
