- Intellectual property: Fighting China’s hackers
IT SOUNDS like an airport thriller: a near-future in which American firms wage private cyber-combat against Chinese rivals. But precisely that scenario is being considered by former senior American officials, who report that intellectual property (IP…
- 21 hours ago, 23 May 13, 3:05pm - - Los Angeles’s mayoral election: Who?
Now do something about the congestionLOS ANGELES has a new mayor-elect. The question is whether anyone noticed. In a run-off on May 21st Eric Garcetti (pictured), a longtime city councilman, defeated his opponent, Wendy Greuel, by 54%-46%. The ele…
- 21 hours ago, 23 May 13, 3:05pm - - New York state politics: Riotous assembly
CALLED “Gropez” by a tabloid, Vito Lopez, a Brooklyn assemblyman, groped or harassed at least eight young female staffers, according to a new report by New York state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE). It paints an unflattering pictur…
- 21 hours ago, 23 May 13, 3:05pm - - Crime and punishment: Cell phones
Hurry up, mum; this call has already cost me my shirtMOST of the roughly 2.2m incarcerated Americans will eventually be freed. Those who remain in contact with loved ones on the outside are less likely, studies show, to return to a life of crime a…
- 21 hours ago, 23 May 13, 3:05pm - - A tornado in Oklahoma: A mile wide and howling
The pity of MooreKIRA BORDWINE saw the tornado charging in from the day-care centre where she minded seven one-year-olds, including her daughter. “It was the most unreal thing ever,” she says. “As soon as I saw the debris flying like you do…
- 21 hours ago, 23 May 13, 3:05pm - - The IRS scandal: Who will tame the taxman?
WHEN Barack Obama fired the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) earlier this month, he doubtless hoped to quell the hullabaloo about its seemingly partial treatment of applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups. He f…
- 21 hours ago, 23 May 13, 3:05pm - - Lexington: Rand Paul’s dream
WHEN pondering a run for national office, it must be bittersweet to hear fans gush that your strong suit is being less of a crank than your dad. But that is the view of many Republicans who admire Rand Paul, a senator from Kentucky and star of the…
- 21 hours ago, 23 May 13, 3:05pm - - Democrats in Texas: The waiting is the hardest part
And a brave stand in favour of baseballOFFICIALLY, the mayoralty of San Antonio—like many other municipal offices in Texas—is nonpartisan. But last year San Antonio’s mayor, Julián Castro, displayed his colours on the nation’s big politic…
- 8 days ago, 16 May 13, 2:59pm - - Lexington: Notes on three scandals
JUST a few days ago Barack Obama’s administration was being followed around by one substantial scandal, involving the September 2012 terrorist attacks in the Libyan town of Benghazi, which left America’s ambassador and three aides dead. The al…
- 8 days ago, 16 May 13, 2:59pm - - Nevada’s economy: Silver dollars
TIM DYHR scrambles atop a mound of land in the lonely Nevada desert. “That’s where the pit mine will be,” he says, pointing towards a bland expanse of scrub. Turning his gaze to an area of desert indistinguishable from the first, he identifi…
- 8 days ago, 16 May 13, 2:59pm - - Cage-fighting in New York: No holds, barred
FIGHTING out of the octagon’s red corner: the reigning light-heavyweight champion. In the blue corner: a cunning veteran with a penchant for wrestling. After a whirl of limbs, the challenger is pinned to the floor, elbowed and punched. With 27 seco…
- 8 days ago, 16 May 13, 2:59pm - - Debt and the deficit: Priority report
AUSTERITY may be weighing on America’s economy, but it has its consolations. On May 14th, the Congressional Budget Office sharply revised down its estimate of the budget deficit this fiscal year, to $642 billion or just 4% of GDP, from 5.3% in Febr…
- 8 days ago, 16 May 13, 2:59pm - - Barack Obama and the presidency: W’s apprentice
“WHEN Congress refuses to act…I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them,” Barack Obama said last year. It is a duty he has discharged with vigour and creativity. Since the Republicans won control of the House of Represe…
- 8 days ago, 16 May 13, 2:59pm - - The Justice Department and the Associated Press: Look who’s talking
WHEN the authorities want to obtain journalists’ phone records as part of an investigation into a crime, the Department of Justice’s guidelines state that their request should be “as narrowly drawn as possible”. What is more, they should try…
- 8 days ago, 16 May 13, 2:59pm - - Lexington: Brigadoon politics
IN THE 1947 Broadway hit “Brigadoon”, an American traveller is haunted by a brief encounter with a Scottish village that comes to life for a day every 100 years, before vanishing once more into the mists. It is a hokey Highlands tale, crammed…
- 15 days ago, 9 May 13, 3:00pm - - South Carolina’s special election: He’s back!
Sanford, surprisedON ELECTION day Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the Democratic candidate vying to succeed Tim Scott in South Carolina’s first congressional district, appeared at her local precinct to vote at 11am, threw a few platitudes to reporters…
- 15 days ago, 9 May 13, 3:00pm - - Economic growth: The health paradox
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky is known for bourbon and horse races. Its economy increasingly relies on a less glamorous industry: “lifelong wellness and ageing care”, the term used by local business leaders, or what everyone else calls health care for…
- 15 days ago, 9 May 13, 3:00pm - - Measuring inflation: Counting the cost of living
IN RECENT years inflation has been one of the few economic indices that has not caused much trouble to Americans. Contrary to repeated warnings, it has neither rocketed higher nor turned into deflation. But policymakers now face a different sort of i…
- 15 days ago, 9 May 13, 3:00pm - - Immigration reform: Not so fast
THE immigration bill taken up this week by the Senate judiciary committee, says Jeff Sessions, one of its members, is like a “mackerel in the sunshine—the longer it’s out there, the worse it smells”. To lengthen its spell in the sun, he an…
- 15 days ago, 9 May 13, 3:00pm - - Policing: Starting from scratch
BRYAN MORTON runs a Little League for about 400 baseball-mad children in Camden, New Jersey. When he asked someone driving an all-terrain vehicle on the baseball field to leave, the driver threatened him with a gun. Like so many of Camden’s 77,000…
- 15 days ago, 9 May 13, 3:00pm -
