Charles Lane
The Washington Post
The Week
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In 2008, California voters approved a high-speed rail system stretching from San Diego to Sacramento on the premise that it would cost $33 billion. But the projected cost has since soared to $98 billion. The market for high-speed rail, meanwhile, seems more dubious than ever. Flying between Los Angeles and San Francisco takes but an hour and is relatively cheap, and good luck getting Californians out of their cars. High-speed rail is nothing but a gold-plated fantasy, and “it’s still not too late to hit the brakes.”
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Can the UK take any more rain?Today’s Big Question An Atlantic jet stream is ‘stuck’ over British skies, leading to ‘biblical’ downpours and more than 40 consecutive days of rain in some areas
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The UK expands its Hong Kong visa schemeThe Explainer Around 26,000 additional arrivals expected in the UK as government widens eligibility in response to crackdown on rights in former colony
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One great cookbook: Joshua McFadden’s ‘Six Seasons of Pasta’the week recommends The pasta you know and love. But ever so much better.
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Viewpoint: Michael S. Teitelbaum and Jay M. Winterfeature From The New York Times: “Nearly half of all people now live in countries where women, on average, give birth to fewer than 2.1 babies...
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Snowden’s silence on Putin
feature If Edward Snowden truly is a moral paragon, then he should announce that he can no longer stomach Vladimir Putin’s oppressive behavior.
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The irrelevance of the United Nations
feature Once again, the United Nations has been “rendered impotent by a small group of thugs.”
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Millions of closeted gay men
feature “What percent of American men are gay?”
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The smug confidence of libertarians
feature Why are most libertarians white dudes?
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Seeing racism for what it is
feature Riley Cooper’s case shows just how poorly he and most other Americans understand “what a racist is.”
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Searching for a libertarian paradise
feature Not one of the world’s 193 sovereign states—not even a tiny one—has adopted a full-on libertarian system.
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Viewpoint: Juliette Kayyem
feature From The Boston Globe: “It is now clear that the Tsarnaev brothers had no strategic plan but to kill in a very public fashion....