The Week: Most Recent News+Opinion Posts

Handicapped poseurs

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:45:00 -0400

Wealthy Manhattanites are paying handicapped tour guides to help their kids circumvent long lines at Disney World. The guides charge $130 an hour to pose as family members and use their handicapped privileges to get on rides without waiting. "You can't go to Disney without a tour concierge," one parent told the New York Post. "This is how the 1 percent does Disney."

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

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:14:00 -0400

1. CONGRESS GRILLS IRS OFFICIAL
Congress heard testimony from Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner who was forced to resign by President Obama after it was revealed that the agency flagged Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny. Miller told the House Ways and Means Committee that while the agency's actions were "obnoxious," they weren't motivated by partisanship. [New York Times]
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Should the U.K. leave the European Union?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:25:00 -0400

British lawmakers are considering a bill that would authorize a popular vote by 2017 on whether the U.K. should leave the European Union.

If put up for a vote, there is a decent chance the measure could pass, considering that only 43 percent of Britons have a favorable view of the E.U.

What's at stake? Pro-exit politicians say that leaving the union would eliminate high membership fees, limit immigration, and free the U.K. from E.U. legislation. Many skeptics of a possible exit focus on what it would mean for trade.

"Let's be clear. Being a member of a reformed E.U. is the best way to preserve...

5 highlights from the House's first hearing into the IRS scandal

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:24:00 -0400

In a nearly four-hour-long hearing on Friday, the House Ways and Means Committee grilled outgoing Internal Revenue Service chief Steven Miller over the agency's targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups that had applied for tax-exempt status.

The IRS has admitted to singling out such groups for extra scrutiny, leading Republicans to accuse the agency of a partisan bias.

While Miller deflected many of the questions posed by members of the committee, saying he either did not know or was unprepared to provide detailed answers, the hearing still shed some new light on the scandal.

Here, five...

Will Russia's advanced missiles prevent U.S. intervention in Syria?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:35:00 -0400

Russia has sent advanced antiship missiles to Syria in what U.S. officials called a "show of force." Moscow is one of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's last allies — and his most powerful. Moscow long ago admitted that it had supplied arms to Syria — including missiles — but insisted it only sent defensive systems. The sophisticated, radar-targeting these Yahkont antiship missiles have, however, would give Assad the ability to go on offense if the U.S. and other foreign countries try to intervene on behalf of the rebels in Syria's civil war.

The immediate fear is that...

Why the GOP dropped its boycott of Obama's Labor and EPA picks

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:14:00 -0400

Senate Republicans last week blocked committee votes on President Obama's picks to lead the Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency, infuriating Democrats who have long complained about the GOP's obstructionism.

Yet this week, Republicans suddenly dropped their opposition, finally allowing Democrats to send both nominees on to the the full Senate.

On Thursday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head the EPA on a party-line vote, 10-8. On the same day, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee voted...

Will the GOP's attempt to tie the IRS scandal to ObamaCare backfire?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:45:00 -0400

House Republicans voted Thursday to repeal ObamaCare — for the 37th time. But this vote was slightly different, with the GOP framing the legislation as a means to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from interfering in private health decisions.

It's part of a concerted effort by Republicans to tie ObamaCare to the ongoing IRS scandal, in which low-level employees have been accused of flagging Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status. The connection? The IRS is responsible for implementing and enforcing aspects of President Obama's health-care reform law...

Can Nawaz Sharif improve media freedom in Pakistan?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:35:00 -0400

Less than 48 hours before Pakistan's historic democratic elections on May 11 — which saw former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif re-elected — Pakistani police gathered at the Islamabad home of New York Times correspondent Declan Walsh. They had Walsh sign for a letter from the Minister of Interior, which informed him that his visa had been canceled due to his "undesirable activities." Walsh, an Irish national who had reported from Pakistan for nearly a decade — and is one of the most respected foreign correspondents — had three days to leave the country.

The irony was lost on...

The week's best photojournalism

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:58:00 -0400

A Rohingya Muslim woman living in a displacement camp in Myanmar wears traditional thanaka paste made from ground bark. The country's ongoing violence has forced authorities to segregate Muslims from the country's Buddhist majority. Click through for a look at more of the week's most eye-catching images from around the globe.

Do Americans care about the IRS and Benghazi scandals?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:10:00 -0400

Last week, Saturday Night Live aired a skit in which Republicans trotted out convicted murderer Jodi Arias in an attempt to boost the public's interest in the Benghazi hearings (watch below).

Turns out SNL's writers were on to something: The Benghazi scandal has not exactly captivated America. According to a new Gallup poll, 53 percent of Americans are following the Benghazi situation very or somewhat closely, with 54 percent saying the same about the IRS scandal.

"The amount of attention Americans are paying to the IRS and the Benghazi situations is well below the average for news stories Gallup...

The IRS scandal: Is Sarah Hall Ingram the next head to roll?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:18:00 -0400

A new Gallup poll found that "slim majorities" of Americans are very or somewhat closely following two controversies embroiling the Obama administration: 53 percent are keeping up with the Benghazi congressional hearings, and 54 percent are following the IRS' targeting of Tea Party tax-exempt applicants. Those numbers are "comparatively low based on historical measures of other news stories over the last two decades."

Well, scandal needs fuel — here's today's, courtesy of ABC News: Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS commissioner who once oversaw the division that processes tax-exempt organizations...

John Edwards hits the speaking circuit: Can he repair his image?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:10:00 -0400

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) is hitting the speaking circuit in June, just a year after his campaign corruption trial. Edwards was acquitted on one count of campaign finance fraud, but the jury deadlocked on several other charges related to his alleged use of campaign money to hide an extramarital affair — and his mistress' pregnancy — during his run for the presidency in 2008. Edwards has kept a low profile since the trial. Is this the beginning of his public comeback?

It's just one speaking gig — he is scheduled to appear June 6 at a private retreat in Orlando, Fla., for...

The right to police indifference

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:30:00 -0400

When you call 911 in an emergency, the police don't have to respond to your call.

If someone breaks into your house or your partner threatens to hurt you, the police don't have to respond. If you report a neighbor's continual slashing of your tires, the cops can ignore your calls. If a cross burns in your front yard, no one from the precinct must investigate. Despite all talk of "taxpayer dollars," your crisis is completely optional to law enforcement, even in the worst of circumstances. The public can protest and bewail this seeming governmental indifference, but no citizen is legally entitled...

Put down the pencil!

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:15:00 -0400

A Virginia second-grader was suspended from school for pretending to be a Marine and making "gun noises" while pointing his pencil at another student. The father of 7-year-old Christopher Marshall thinks the school's zero-tolerance policy for weapons goes too far, but a school spokesman disagreed, calling a pencil "a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made."

10 things you need to know today: May 17, 2013

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:20:00 -0400

1. OBAMA PICKS NEW IRS COMMISSIONER
The shake-up at the Internal Revenue Service continued on Thursday, as President Obama picked Daniel I. Werfel, the controller of the Office of Management and Budget, to be the tax agency's new leader. The appointment came a day after Werfel's predecessor, Steven Miller, was pushed out over the IRS' targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups. A second top official — Joseph H. Grant, who was in charge of the division involved in the scandal — also said he was leaving the agency. [New York Times]
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Today in history: May 17

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:05:00 -0400

May 17

On this day. 1954: Arguably the 20th century's most important Supreme Court ruling: Brown v. Board of Education, which ended school segregation. But Brown v. Board of Education was not endorsed by President Eisenhower; he also did not condemn segregation as morally wrong. Eisenhower feared the ruling would spark racial unrest. But he enforced it with vigor, sending federal troops to Arkansas in 1957 to ensure the enrollment of the "Little Rock Nine."

Quote of the day

"Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength...