The U.S. Has Much, Much More Gas and Oil Than We Thought … The United States has double the amount of oil and three times the amount of natural gas than previously thought, stored deep under the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, according to new data the Obama administration released Tuesday. – National ReviewDominant Social Theme: There is no oil. It's all been us...Read More

The Real Reason for Swedish 'Equality' … Super-Economy: The Upper Class and Wealth Inequality in Sweden … Sweden is viewed as an egalitarian utopia by outsiders, but reality is complex. In some ways Sweden has less social equality than the United States. While the American upper class is largely meritocratic, the upper class in Sweden are still mostly defined by birth. –...Read More

'The civil war in Iraq has already begun': Politician claims conflict… will be 'worse than Syria' … The Sunni rise again: Uprising in Syria emboldens Iraq's minority community Iraqi army losing hold on north to Sunni and Kurdish rebels as troops desert Iraq's Prime Minister fights off attempt to push him out of office … Iraqi leaders fear that the country...Read More

News … In his new book, The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on = Terrorism, investigative journalist Trevor Aaronson analyzes 10 years of terrorism cases that were prosecuted in the United States after Sept. 11. By assembling a database of the cases and going through court records, he concluded that the FBI, which receives $3 billion per year for counterterrorism, is &q...Read More

Fed Open to Expanding QE as It Counters Talk of Tapering … Facing the risk of a fourth straight summertime slowdown, Federal Reserve officials raised the prospect of increasing the monthly pace of bond buying above $85 billion to guard= against any slump in growth or employment. The Fed's statement yesterday that it's "prepared to increase or reduce the pace of its purchases&quo...Read More

If People Could Immigrate Anywhere, Would Poverty Be Eliminated? … What if there was a program that would cost nothing, improve the lives of millions of people from poorer nations, and double world GDP? At least one economist says that increased mobility of people is by far the biggest missed opportunity in development. And an informally aligned group of advocates is doing its best to make t...Read More

The U.S. Has Much, Much More Gas and Oil Than We Thought … The United States has double the amount of oil and three times the amount of natural gas than previously thought, stored deep under the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, according to new data the Obama administration released Tuesday. – National ReviewDominant Social Theme: There is no oil. It's all been us...Read More

The Real Reason for Swedish 'Equality' … Super-Economy: The Upper Class and Wealth Inequality in Sweden … Sweden is viewed as an egalitarian utopia by outsiders, but reality is complex. In some ways Sweden has less social equality than the United States. While the American upper class is largely meritocratic, the upper class in Sweden are still mostly defined by birth. –...Read More

'The civil war in Iraq has already begun': Politician claims conflict… will be 'worse than Syria' … The Sunni rise again: Uprising in Syria emboldens Iraq's minority community Iraqi army losing hold on north to Sunni and Kurdish rebels as troops desert Iraq's Prime Minister fights off attempt to push him out of office … Iraqi leaders fear that the country...Read More

News … In his new book, The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on = Terrorism, investigative journalist Trevor Aaronson analyzes 10 years of terrorism cases that were prosecuted in the United States after Sept. 11. By assembling a database of the cases and going through court records, he concluded that the FBI, which receives $3 billion per year for counterterrorism, is &q...Read More

Train Wreck Ahead … Most Americans — even those who are legislators — know very little about the details of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, so-called Obamacare. Next year, when it goes into effect, we will learn the hard way. Many people lazily assume that the law will do roughly what it promises: give insurance to the uninsured and lower the cost of health care by lim...Read More

Which Mexico for Obama? … When President Barack Obama meets this week with President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico, he will be visiting a country that was much maligned throughout his first term …Today, it is talked about as a promising economic partner. The partnership will be far stronger if — as now appears likely — Congress passes sensible and humane immigration r...Read More

Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession …Given the dynamics of the housing recovery and the rebound in the stock market, the wealth gap might still be growing, experts said, further dimming the prospects for economic advancement for current and future generations of Americans from minority groups. – New York TimesDominant Social Theme: Government regs need to be rejiggered i...Read More

Chinese Way of Doing Business – In Cash We Trust … Lugging nearly $130,000 in cash into a dealership might sound bizarre, but it's not exactly uncommon in China, where hotel bills, jewelry purchases and even the lecture fees for visiting scholars are routinely settled with thick wads of renminbi, China's currency … For all China's modern trappings — the new supe...Read More

Train Wreck Ahead … Most Americans — even those who are legislators — know very little about the details of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, so-called Obamacare. Next year, when it goes into effect, we will learn the hard way. Many people lazily assume that the law will do roughly what it promises: give insurance to the uninsured and lower the cost of health care by lim...Read More

Which Mexico for Obama? … When President Barack Obama meets this week with President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico, he will be visiting a country that was much maligned throughout his first term …Today, it is talked about as a promising economic partner. The partnership will be far stronger if — as now appears likely — Congress passes sensible and humane immigration r...Read More

Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession …Given the dynamics of the housing recovery and the rebound in the stock market, the wealth gap might still be growing, experts said, further dimming the prospects for economic advancement for current and future generations of Americans from minority groups. – New York TimesDominant Social Theme: Government regs need to be rejiggered i...Read More

Chinese Way of Doing Business – In Cash We Trust … Lugging nearly $130,000 in cash into a dealership might sound bizarre, but it's not exactly uncommon in China, where hotel bills, jewelry purchases and even the lecture fees for visiting scholars are routinely settled with thick wads of renminbi, China's currency … For all China's modern trappings — the new supe...Read More

In which John Green teaches you about America's "peculiar institution," slavery. I wouldn't really call it peculiar. I'd lean more toward horrifying and depressing institution, but nobody asked me. John will talk about what life was like for a slave in the 19th century United States, and how slaves resisted oppression, to the degree that was possible. We'll hear about cotton plantations, violent p...Read More

Expect big, big laughs when funnyman Danny DeVito (Twins, Junior) joins forces with talented director Penny Marshall (A League Of Their Own, Big) to deliver a lively five-star comedy you're going to love! DeVito plays a down-on-his-luck businessman who desperately takes the only job offered -- a teacher in the U.S. Army. His mission: keep a ragtag bunch of underachieving misfits from flunking out...Read More