California is an earthly paradise. Yet there is something badly broken about the Golden State. At its best, California is America’s America, where the young and adventurous go for a fresh start. The trouble is that housing in much of California has become so expensive that the young and adventurous have been priced…
WASHINGTON — Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or…
Arthur Brooks’ pursuit of the formula for happiness has some unlikely speakers talking to the American Enterprise Institute. Is the 1 percent really listening to his spiritual gurus? There were more turbans and saris among the suits and ties than usual at the American Enterprise Institute this week when AEI President Arthur Brooks welcomed Hindu…
Reuters/Pilar Olivares Be dirty. Never mind the nasty habit of throwing garbage out of car windows — Brazilians are tidy people, who sometimes shower twice a day. Everyone is expected to change clothes daily, wash hands when coming in from the streets, and brush teeth after every meal (have you noticed Brazilian teeth?). So…
Private Prisons Rule With Little Oversight on America’s Border To handle the massive number of immigrants sentenced to prison for re-entering the country, private prisons have sprung up from Arizona to Texas, with little oversight in terms of sanitation and detainee treatment. TUCSON — The smell in the courtroom is overpowering. About 40 men and…
This Is Raury: The 18-Year-Old Prince Of The Post-Genre Generation Get to know the Atlanta fire-starter whose fans include Lorde and Andre 3000. “I graduated from high school three weeks ago and it’s the best shit ever to be free.” June 18, 2014 Reggie Ugwu BuzzFeed Staff Raury is a new kind of artist…
Iraq crisis: Baiji oil refinery contested Iraqi government forces are battling Sunni Muslim militants for control of the country’s biggest oil refinery. Officials insisted security forces were “in full control” of the Baiji refinery, about 200km (130 miles) north of the capital Baghdad. However, trapped workers said militants were still inside the facility and…
JUNE 18, 2014 A THIRD IRAQ WAR? POSTED BY ROBIN WRIGHT The United States now faces the possibility of its third intervention in Iraq. On paper, the two earlier wars quickly achieved their military goals. In 1991, a muscular alliance of thirty-four nations, led by the United States, forced Iraq to withdraw from…
Most people go on holiday to escape. They pick a far away destination in the assumption that the further away they are from home, the more rewarding and freeing the trip will be.” ~ Matthew Dawn Sticker shock. Expect to pay a lot. Hellishly hot in the summer and shockingly less sexy than advertised. But…