SLATE COUMN: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has played a weak hand so well for so long that it seems foolhardy to bet against him. Even as he’s lost control over a significant portion of his territory and presided over the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century, he’s kept his core supporters in line and […]
Tsukerman: Crimea Today
“Ukrainian sources report that Moscow, through business channels that include the CEO of one state-owned oil major, is quietly sounding out Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on a grand bargain that would include Russia’s final withdrawal from the Donbass with Ukraine’s recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea in exchange for about $100 billion in debt forgiveness, gas price rebates and other financial incentives.”
The complexities of traffic stops, from a police officer’s perspective
WASHINGTON POST COLUMN: Early one December morning in East Baltimore in 2000, I saw a car drive by with its headlights off. For minor traffic violations, for honest mistakes — if the driver was sober, polite and carrying a valid license and registration — I would usually just issue a warning… Legally, morally and tactically, […]
Congress faces fall from hell
POLITICO: Speaker John Boehner, addressing a roomful of fellow House Republicans on Tuesday morning, described a major, six-year highway bill crafted by the Senate as a “piece of s—-,” according to sources in the room. Senate Republicans have been only slightly more charitable about the House’s three-month measure, calling it another lame procrastination on an […]
Lew warns of Puerto Rico debt risks to US
FINANCIAL TIMES: …A disorderly resolution to Puerto Rico’s debt problems would be costly not only for the territory but for the United States as a whole, the US Treasury Secretary has said as he urged Congress to take action to tackle the crisis. In a letter to Orrin Hatch, a top Republican senator, Jack Lew […]
Amnesty International faces backlash from Hollywood celebrities for proposing new policy on sex work
STRAIGHT.COM: …One of the world’s leading human-rights organizations has come under fire for its Amnesty International says its proposed policy “is based on the human rights principle that consensual sexual conduct between adults—which excludes acts that involve coercion, deception, threats, or violence—is entitled to protection from state interference”. It cites many examples in which criminalization […]
Capitolwire: Medical cannabis compromise continues to elude House leadership.
Marsico’s bill gives the Drug and Alcohol Department power to authorize up to five “medical marijuana organizations” who will handle every aspect of growing, processing and selling. Each of the organizations can operate four dispensaries.
KEISLING: Harrisburg bond debt criminal probe serves as wake-up call to Lancaster and other municipal officials
In Lancaster, for example, a string of failed financings and re-financings related to the city’s Convention Center raises similar disturbing questions.
LETTER: VA should be taking care of combat wounded, service related injured and then retired military
One of the GOP’s greatest wins would have to be in fooling much of the public into thinking that the Obama administration is responsible for the fiasco the VA is when in fact it was the Republican Congresses and Republican Presidents going back to Reagan that have underfunded the VA.
MILLER: Does history repeat?
In 1992, Bill Clinton defeated George H. W. Bush without winning a majority of the popular vote in the presidential campaign. Candidates with the same last name could repeat this happening in 2016.
Amtrak delays: It didn’t have to be this way
“We’re seeing two trends converging in an extraordinary way,” said Thomas Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association, a research and advocacy group. “Ridership is hitting all-time highs on the Northeast Corridor at the same time that the system is just too brittle and does not have the ability to withstand heat waves, storms and other incidents.”
Ohio Marijuana Monopoly Madness: ResponsibleOhio and Its Foes
by Phil Smith DRUG WAR CHRONICLE: Ohio may about to legalize marijuana, but not the way other states have done it. A constitutional amendment that would go before voters in November would create a virtual monopoly on commercial marijuana grows for the entire state. That’s not sitting well with a number of Ohioans, including the […]
Gas severance tax faces stalemate for fifth year
In addition to millions of dollars in campaign contributions, the companies have deployed battalions of lobbyists…
Ironically Trump may yet be the savior of the Republican Party
His investors and creditors have been burnt again and again. His ‘daddy’ put him in business and bailed him out time and again. (Famously by purchasing $20 million in gambling chips at one of Trump’s hotels. Chips have first claim on assets, before all other debt.)