Then he relented. David Rose has a scoop: The Sunni Awakening, when it did finally come, provided welcome relief, says Jerry Jones.
Ryan Sager on the impact of graphic evidence of crimes: Social science research has made it clear that confronting the true gruesomeness of a crime makes us much more likely to want to punish it — and more likely to.
Ryan Avent defines "green shoots": For some people, only a return to previous output levels will count as green shoots.
Readers know I favor strong legal language to ensure that no one's religious freedom can in any way be curtailed by civil equality for gay couples.
There seems to be a growing bipartisan chorus for a Truth Commission: Pelosi renewed her call for a "truth commission'' to investigate the Bush administration's use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques and the legal arguments devised to support.
Tyler Cowen tackles Robert Reich and the rising health care costs fallacy once again: ...if Medicare were less generous, much less would be spent on health care.
Nate Silver doesn't think New York is likely to pass its marriage equality bill: Democrats may take some solace in the fact that, when gay marriage bills were approved by legislatures in states like Maine and Vermont, they tended to.
Ryan Sager isn't a fan of teachers unions: When you look at any reform (other than, say, doubling teacher pay with no strings attached) the obstacle isn’t Republicans, it isn’t lack of funding, it isn’t Joel Klein.
A mini-round up of those disappointed with Obama. Ackerman doesn't understand why Obama said the photos are not sensational: If the photos are “not particularly sensational,” then they wouldn’t, as Obama went on to say, “further inflame anti-American opinion and.
You think the torture program was only to uncover Jihadist threats to American lives? Then you do not know and have not pondered what the power to torture can do to the torturers.
The blogosphere is still digesting what the change in Afghanistan means. A round up of what has been dug up so far - and a road-map to some of the questions the press and Congress need to ask.
We appear to be nearing a happy ending in the case of Roxana Saberi, the American journalist detained by Iran and accused of being a spy.
The Atlantic's June cover story by Joshua Wolf Shenk tells the tale of an amazing 72-year study. It was touted by Brooks Tuesday and well worth your time.
Peter Feaver on Obama's military race against time: Some of the same groups that wanted to end rather than win the war in Iraq are now starting to lobby to end rather than win the war in Afghanistan.
My immediate shock that Obama would be willing to suppress evidence of prisoner abuse, torture and even murder - stunningly widespread in the Bush-led military - somewhat distracted me from the politics of this.
Why does one find the resilience of male horniness, and near-comic sexual objectification of the female form oddly comforting? This may be the first work of sculpture made by modern humans still extant.
Nat Hentoff takes a stand. Its futile at this point, I fear. The identity-industrial complex demands these laws and any opposition to them is portrayed as anti-minority (or in the case of those applying to gender, anti-everyone).
Matt Steinglass wants both cap and trade and a carbon tax. He makes his case for C&T: The carbon tax reduces carbon emissions by making it more expensive to burn fossil fuels.
Max Borders has a new agenda for the GOP. It's a marked improvement from the current GOP boilerplate.
Nate Silver wonders about the party intelligence gap: Republicans have gradually been losing the egghead vote.