Category: Social and Political Pieces

He hits hard: Ms Yellen last Wednesday dismissed as emphatically wrong Donald Trump’s claims that she and her institution were keeping short-term interest rates low at the behest of the Obama administration. “Partisan politics play no role in our decisions,” she declared. Mr Trump is throwing punches at a time when the US central bank …

Continue reading "The Fed Takes Its Lumps from Donald Trump"

What were looking at here: Iran's supreme leader has told former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to stand again in next year's elections, state media reported on Monday, effectively eliminating a major challenger to pragmatist incumbent Hassan Rouhani. Ahmadinejad had not announced any plans to run in the vote scheduled for May, but has made …

Continue reading "The Iranian Version of the Vaudeville Cane Yank"

Jeffrey Overstreet is making the "big moral statement" here: Christians can choose to dwell on — and invest in — movies that show us what we already like, tell us what we already know, assure us of our own salvation, and make us feel happily entertained. That isn’t wrong. But might we make better use …

Continue reading "What Really Happens When a Christian Watches a Muslim Movie?"

We have a new "red scare" in Hollywood: The latest salvo came in a letter from 16 members of Congress last week, which called for closer scrutiny of Chinese investment in the U.S. entertainment and media sectors. The letter cited the Dalian Wanda Group’s acquisitions of Legendary Entertainment, AMC and Carmike Cinemas, and warned of …

Continue reading "Worried About the Chinese Taking Over Hollywood? It's all Propaganda Now!"

And a fast escape is needed too: The Intellectual Yet Idiot is a production of modernity hence has been accelerating since the mid twentieth century, to reach its local supremum today, along with the broad category of people without skin-in-the-game who have been invading many walks of life. There are many ways I don't meet …

Continue reading "The Fast Way to Escape "Intellectual Yet Idiot""

Now it's not just the "nutcases:" A health condition initially described by Clinton’s campaign as a brief episode of overheating during the outdoor event – a situation downplayed by a stronger-looking candidate in the afternoon – was identified later as pneumonia when the campaign released a four-sentence statement from Clinton’s physician. The campaign did not …

Continue reading "Hillary's Health Problems? Should Have Done Some Due Diligence First"

She's made quite a statement in the wake of the multi-billion euro judgment: The Apple ruling is big, but it is only the latest international effort to end the deals that American multinationals have used to pay near-zero tax rates. The European Commission is investigating Luxembourg’s tax arrangements for Amazon and McDonald’s, and last year …

Continue reading "The Thing Elizabeth Warren Missed About the Apple-Ireland Decision"

Things in China got off to a rough start: President Barack Obama downplayed dust-ups involving the U.S. delegation and Chinese security officials during the opening hours of his trip to Hangzhou for the G-20 summit, but said Sunday the U.S. would not apologize for its efforts to expand media access in the country. "We don’t …

Continue reading "If You Want to Support Press Freedom, Start At Home"

Megan McCardle has a great revelation, now that Obamacare is in serious trouble: Here’s my radical plan: If the Obamacare exchanges are going to result in, at best, people being able to buy Medicaid-style plans with limited choices and benefits, then why not just eliminate the middleman and give them … Medicaid? Where was she …

Continue reading "Waking Up Too Late on Medicaid Expansion and "Fixing" Obamacare"