The US government has killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, the elite wing of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards, in an air strike that took place in the early hours of January 3. This is the latest and most dramatic development in the ongoing proxy conflict between the US and Iran. […] More
The year 2019 has ended. Traditions abound to celebrate the coming of a new year, and this time around a new decade. There seems to be some notion that celebrating the coming year will wash away all of the detritus of the year just ended and provide a clean slate for the new year. Nothing could be further […] More
Have you ever tried walking on a travellator? You know, those moving platforms at airports that help you get to your destination when you are in a hurry or tired, or have a lot of baggage to carry. Have you also tried to walk in the wrong direction on it? Depending on your own pace […] More
An “ultra-millionaire tax” — or wealth tax — proposed by Democratic presidential primaries candidate Elizabeth Warren is likely to raise between $2.3 trillion and $2.7 trillion in additional revenue in 10 years from 2021 to 2030, according to a study by the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM), a nonpartisan research initiative that analyzes the fiscal impact of public […] More
The US House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump, making him the third president in the history of the United States to be impeached. Last week, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump. The first stated that Trump committed an impeachable offence by withholding $391 million in […] More
Impeachment hearings have thrust a handful of public servants into the spotlight, where competing ideas about government professionals – variously called the establishment, the “deep state,” technocrats, bureaucrats, experts and elites – shape public reaction to their testimony. A recent New York Times column by Frank Bruni captures the divide. Bruni salutes professionalism as “a […] More
In 1976, conservative Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois introduced a bill that would ban the use of federal funding for abortion expenses except in instances of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother. Today, the Hyde Amendment, which has been added as a rider to federal budget appropriation bills since 1977, prohibits […] More
U.S. Representative Katie Hill was the latest victim of a form of sexual abuse that’s become increasingly common: revenge porn. Intimate photos of her were leaked to the media and published, without her consent, for the world to see – a transgression Hill suspects her estranged husband was behind. The photos implicated Hill in a […] More
