For years, the sheer extremity of Republican obstructionism in the House of Representatives has been major news. President Obama has been forced to deal with opponents in the House since the midterms in 2010. However, he has had the comfort of a Democratic Senate throughout his presidency. Unfortunately for the president, this is no longer … Read more
With Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, President Obama might have a hard time stopping a new composite energy bill. The last comprehensive energy bill passed by the Senate was the Energy Policy Act of 2005; new legislation is long overdue. Moreover, the piecemeal approach taken by the Republican-led House in the 113th … Read more
All over Harvard’s campus, students are taking part in a well-worn ritual that brings representatives of the most influential firms in finance and consulting up to Cambridge. That’s right, it’s recruiting season. Here on campus, it’s marked by intense case interviews that require hours of preparation, so-called “coffee chats” with potential employers like JP Morgan … Read more
California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Election may change the way the nation focuses on reforming education What should have been a clear re-election victory for Democratic incumbent Tom Torlakson ended up turning into one of the most heated contests for Superintendent of Public Instruction California has ever seen. Most predicted that Torlakson would win … Read more
Where to vote and a summary of the candidates and issues on the ballot.
While working in Hong Kong over the past summer, I took the same route back from my office everyday except one. On July 1, I reached Hennessy Road and was met with the sight of thousands marching for democracy. As the anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from the British to the Chinese, July … Read more
Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley both endorse mental health background checks for gun purchasers. But their mental health policies differ from there, perhaps showing the partisan divide between what is a public, governmental concern and what is private. While Democrats seem to describe mental health as a personal health issue, Republicans tend … Read more
On Halloween morning, the Virgin Galactic Spaceplane VSS Enterprise experienced a catastrophic failure during testing by manufacturer Scaled Composites, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury and leaving pilot Peter Siebold with serious injuries. Within hours, the smart-takes criticizing the private spaceflight efforts by Virgin and Scaled as “Amateur-Hour Spaceflight” and “the aerospace version of beluga caviar” rolled … Read more
Walking through the dining hall, I spot a lacrosse player in a tank top. It reads, “Two-Time World War Champs,” and sports a huge American flag. I sigh. In many ways, this pretty much sums up the American ethos on which our parent’s generation—and now our own—has been raised. We see ourselves as a global … Read more
When we hear reports of the imposition of sharia law or see videos of summary executions, it can be easy to feel that the United States should do everything in its power to immediately stop the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, from continuing to commit atrocities. Many want to see the … Read more