The Week: Most Recent News+Opinion Posts

How immigration reform could save taxpayers nearly $1 trillion

By Jon Terbush — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:55:00 -0400

The Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday that the sweeping immigration bill before the Senate could dramatically pare down the national deficit, giving proponents of the legislation a powerful new selling point as Congress moves closer to a final vote.

Should the bill as currently written become law, it would boost the U.S. population by 10.4 million over the next decade while lowering the deficit by $197 billion over the same period, the CBO said in a report. While the CBO said the federal government would need to increase spending by $262 billion as a result of the bill, those outlays...

Is the debate over sexual abuse in the military really a 'war on men'?

By Jon Terbush — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:42:00 -0400

The military's glaring sexual assault epidemic has proved so troubling that Congress has stepped in with its own suggestions for how to solve the problem. And Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto is standing athwart history, yelling, "Stop!"

Taranto argued this week that those efforts were really a veiled "war on men," and that Congress had embarked on a "political campaign against sexual assault in the military that shows signs of becoming an effort to criminalize male sexuality."

Taranto's argument focused on Sen. Claire McCaskill's (D-Mo.) decision to place a permanent hold on an Obama...

23 times the immigration reform bill has been at death's door

By Jon Terbush — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:47:00 -0400

On Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed to not bring an immigration bill up for a vote unless he was certain that a majority of his party's members supported the legislation. The threat placed another roadblock in the path of immigration reform, and led some pundits to proclaim that the legislation is as good as dead.

But the immigration bill has been declared dead many times since it was first discussed at the start of the year. And like a zombie with a single-minded hunger for legislative gamesmanship, the bill has pushed the obituaries aside and staggered onward.

Here, 23 instances...

Why Claire McCaskill is endorsing Hillary Clinton so early

By Harold Maass — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:44:00 -0400

Sen. Claire McCaskill has become the first lawmaker on Capitol Hill to publicly endorse Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. "It is important we start early," said McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, in a statement posted at ReadyforHillary.com. "As I look at 2016 and think about who is best to lead this country forward, I’m proud to announce that I am Ready for Hillary."

McCaskill's support has come so early that she beat Clinton herself to the punch — the former secretary of State has yet to declare her intention to run. Indeed, even if Clinton jumps in the race, McCaskill's announcement...

Taliban peace talks: Finally, a breakthrough?

By Harold Maass — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:35:00 -0400

After twelve years of war, is Afghanistan finally on the road to peace?

Hope sprung anew on Tuesday, with Taliban leaders announcing that they are willing to enter direct peace negotiations with the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai. If the talks take place, they'll be the first tete-a-tete discussions between the two sides since a U.S.-led force ousted the Taliban from power in 2001.

The news came just as NATO formally handed over the lead on security to Afghan forces, a critical step ahead of a withdrawal of all foreign combat troops by the end of next year.

The first step &mdash...

The 10-cent revolution: Everything you need to know about Brazil's massive protests

By Keith Wagstaff — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:27:00 -0400

It would be reductive to say that the massive protests happening in Brazil — the largest since pro-democracy demonstrations in the 1980s — are just over a bus fare increase of 20 reais (10 cents), just like Turkey's protests weren't simply about a park. Public transportation policy alone probably wouldn't prompt tens of thousands of people to march through the streets.

Instead, the demonstrations represent a broader frustration with the government because of corruption, inflation, and a lack of services, as the country diverts millions upon millions of dollars to preparations for the...

Why the Philippines is destroying $6.5 million worth of illegal ivory

By Chris Gayomali — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:16:00 -0400

As a symbolic gesture denouncing worldwide ivory trafficking, the Philippines plans on destroying five tons of seized ivory on Friday. With the slaughter of elephants approaching its worst level in a decade, the predominantly Roman Catholic nation will be the first ivory-consuming country to destroy its stock of harvested "blood ivories."

"This action is meant to send a message that the Philippines is against the illegal trade of ivory and the merciless massacre of elephants," Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau head Theresa Mundita Lim told AFP.

On Friday morning, five tons (worth $6.5 million...

The last telegram ever is about to be sent

By Harold Maass — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:58:00 -0400

On July 14, someone somewhere in India will tap out what is being called the world's last telegram. India's state-owned telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, has been holding out as other countries around the world retire their antiquated telegraph services. Now, after delaying the move for two years, the business operating what is considered to be the world's last telegraph service is finally ready to pull the plug, saying telegrams are no longer commercially viable in the age of digital communications.

India's telegram service had been upgraded in recent years — clerks now type...

5 takeaways from Obama's sit-down with Charlie Rose

By Peter Weber — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:30:00 -0400

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden spent an hour online on Monday morning explaining his rationale for unveiling government secrets and elaborating on his understanding of how NSA eavesdropping works. On Monday night, it was President Obama's turn, as PBS aired a 45-minute interview conducted by Charlie Rose on Sunday.

Obama and Rose covered a handful of topics, from the war in Syria to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's future (Obama hinted that Bernanke doesn't want another term). But the most-anticipated (and most-discussed) part of the interview was Obama's defense of the...

10 things you need to know today: June 18, 2013

By Harold Maass — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:20:00 -0400

1. AFGHAN FORCES TAKE OVER SECURITY LEAD FROM NATO
Afghan forces formally took over the lead security role in their country from NATO on Tuesday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the handover during a ceremony in Kabul. "You are the sons and guardians of this country," he told his troops, "and it is your responsibility to protect it." NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said foreign soldiers would now shift from spearheading combat to supporting Afghan units. "By the end of 2014," he said, "our combat mission will be completed." [CNN]
……………&hellip...

Today in history: June 18

By West Wing Reports — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:30:00 -0400

June 18

On this day. 1798: President John Adams signed the Naturalization Act, part of the Alien and Sedition Acts aimed at foreign nationals in the United States. The Naturalization Act said aliens had to live in the U.S. for 14 years before applying for citizenship; an earlier law required only five years.

The Alien and Sedition Acts give more authority to deal with "suspicious persons," especially foreign nationals who immigrated to the U.S. Political opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts undermined the Adams administration, helping Thomas Jefferson win the presidency in 1800.

On this...

Is the momentum for gay marriage real, or just media hype?

By Peter Weber — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:00:00 -0400

Some time in the next week, either on Thursday or Monday, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down two big rulings on same-sex marriage. Around the time the high-court justices were hearing the high-profile cases in March, the media was dedicating a lot of ink and pixels to the subject — and the coverage wasn't evenly divided between supporters and opponents of gay marriage, according to a new study from Pew.

In fact, it wasn't even close, say Paul Hitlin, Amy Mitchell, and Mark Jurkowitz at Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism. In nearly 500 articles and TV segments from March 18...

WATCH: John Oliver sizes up Iran's new president-elect

By Peter Weber — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:36:00 -0400

Week Two of John Oliver's tenure as stand-in Daily Show host starts with an intentionally mixed message on Sarah Palin's return to Fox News. Oliver begins by half-lamenting Palin's return to Fox, only five months after her contract wasn't renewed, followed by a bit of Palin-poking and, ultimately, a slightly disingenuous-sounding plea to just ignore Palin. "Oh, Sarah," Oliver concludes. "If only it were as easy for us to quit you as it is for you to quit... everything."

The meat of the show is Iran's election of moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani. The vote was a half-win for what passes for democracy...

Should Mayor Michael Bloomberg force New Yorkers to compost?

By Keith Wagstaff — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:17:00 -0400

In a few years, New Yorkers could be fined if they don't separate their food scraps from the rest of their trash, thanks to a new food-composting program being introduced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The goal: Divert 100,000 tons of food waste that would normally go into landfills every year and use it to generate electricity, reports The New York Times. Bloomberg touted the benefits of the program during his State of the City address in February:

We bury 1.2 million tons of food waste in landfills every year at a cost of nearly $80 per ton. That waste can be used as fertilizer or converted to...

How the Supreme Court struck a huge blow to voter registration laws

By Jon Terbush — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:33:00 -0400

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down an Arizona law requiring residents to prove their citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, thus handing a significant victory to opponents of a slew of state-level voting restrictions that have cropped up in recent years.

The ruling effectively prohibits states from unilaterally throwing up roadblocks to voter registration. Republicans have championed such efforts in the last few election cycles as being necessary to thwart voter fraud, though Democrats have blasted them as transparent attempts to keep poor and minority citizens from voting...

How Muslims in the Middle East see Syria's civil war

By Jacob Lippincott — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:34:00 -0400

CAIRO, EGYPT — The Syrian regime's reputation, along with that of Shia allies Hezbollah and Iran, is being tarnished here in the Middle East. Sure, Westerners have long seen these groups as villainous. But their militant opposition to Israel over the past few decades has made them heroes in the eyes of many Muslims. But now, as Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown on his own Sunni Arab citizens reaches nightmarish proportions, the Shia coalition has found itself on the wrong side of public opinion in the Middle East.

Across the region, walls have long been scrawled with messages in support...