It is conventional wisdom in Washington that the United States is losing the “war of ideas” to the Islamic State, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, al Qaeda, and even the Taliban. All those forces of entropy and intolerance that practice and support terrorism are somehow proving superior at messaging to the country with Madison Avenue advertising, Silicon Valley innovation, Hollywood image-making, the 24-hour news cycle, and permanent political campaigning.
In its 2016 budget, the Obama administration has proposed a new billion-dollar federal program, Teaching for Tomorrow, which requests an additional $1 billion in federal funding for services to children from low-income families. It also calls for more money for English language acquisition programs, civil rights enforcement, and special education services.
This November marks a quarter of a century since voters approved Proposition 140, ushering California into a brave new world of term limits for state lawmakers – a world reshaped by 2012’s Proposition 28, which offered the stick of reducing legislators’ stay in Sacramento from 14 years to 12, with the carrot that they could spend the entire time in one chamber.
Larry Summers has a fascinating editorial in the Financial Times titled "Corporate long-termism is no panacea — but it is a start" You really should read the whole thing and come back for commentary.
Three recent news items and blog posts make a provocative contrast: Paul Krugman, New York Times, "The MIT Gang". It’s actually surprising how little media attention has been given to the dominance of M.I.T.-trained economists in policy positions and policy discourse.
I'm delighted to announce a new experiment we are undertaking, along with our friends at Academic Exchange: We want to sponsor some Middle East journalism.
According to US Federal Election Commission data, 96 percent of Ivy League faculty and administrators that gave money to a presidential candidate in 2012 donated to President Obama.
When he was 20, Enrico Cinquini and his 1st Marine Regiment began the long, grueling takeover of Japanese occupied strongholds from New Guinea to Okinawa in some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II.
New York State released the results from the latest round of Common Core-aligned tests on Wednesday. Three years into the transition to harder tests, scores across the board have remained low and largely stagnant.
Uber is completely revolutionizing the market for urban transportation. Could a similar revolution occur in other fields, including medical care? That’s what University of Chicago economist John Cochrane wondered in June.
When you’re closing in on 91, contemporaries can be scarce. Jimmy Carter’s inner circle is mostly gone now. Jody Powell died in 2009. Hamilton Jordan passed the year before. Bert Lance died in 2013.
