Новости за 27.06.2017

When lawmakers and pundits debate policy, they are invariably talking about people’s lives. Every policy enacted by the federal government has an impact, large and small, for better or worse, on citizens and their quality of life, and entails some cost. These decisions are far from easy, and in certain areas of policy—war or health care or the environment—they can be life-and-death decisions. The duty of the lawmaker in these instances is to wrestle with the ultimate cost, and judge whether it... Читать дальше...

James McGill Buchanan, the political economist who died in 2013, had a hand in some of the most important ideological developments in the American right in the 20th century. From the 1950s to the late 1990s, when a spat with the influential billionaire Charles Koch led to his retirement, he was seemingly everywhere. Starting with Brown v. Board of Education, which he abhorred, Buchanan helped jumpstart the resistance to integration and the right’s embrace of school vouchers; worked to reduce the... Читать дальше...

An airplane is the perfect, and perhaps the only, place to actually read Monocle, the globe-trotting lifestyle magazine founded in 2007 by Tyler Brûlé, a Canadian editor and erstwhile war correspondent. Its logo, an “M” with a twisted loop inscribed in a circle, lurks at airport terminal bookstores all over the world, the magazine’s glossy black cover—which the late David Carr likened to “a slab of printed dark Belgian chocolate”—conveying a placeless, easily translated sort of luxury. Inside... Читать дальше...

Lately, the novelist Arundhati Roy has been receiving death threats. Last month, the popular Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal took to Twitter to condemn her support of Kashmir’s bid for azadi (autonomy) from the Indian state. In his tweets, Rawal, who is also a Member of Parliament, said that Roy should be tied to the bonnet of an Army jeep as a human shield to protect the armed forces in Kashmir. The actor’s comments about Roy were reinforced by droves of nationalist supporters on social media, who echoed the threats. Читать дальше...

Lisa Durden, an adjunct professor at New Jersey’s Essex County College, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s primetime Fox News show earlier this month to debate the merits of a blacks-only Memorial Day party held by a New York City chapter of Black Lives Matter​. Carlson, as he does, provoked Durden. “You’re demented, actually,” he said. “You’re sick, and what you’re saying is disgusting.” Durden, a media personality herself, did not respond in kind. “Boo-hoo,” she said, “you white people are angry because... Читать дальше...

When it comes to accommodating religious individuals or groups, the government has always been given a significant amount of discretion. For example, churches don’t pay many taxes, and they’re exempt from certain anti-discrimination laws when it comes to things like hiring clergy members. But the benefits that accrue from the First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom have historically included limitations on the government’s ability—and obligations—to fund church activity. Thanks to the Supreme Court, that symmetry is disappearing. Читать дальше...

The Republican health care effort is, like the Democratic effort before it, largely about making significant changes to Medicaid, the nation’s largest insurer. Some 20 million Americans got coverage under the Affordable Care Act, three-quarters of them thanks to the law’s expansion and promotion of Medicaid. Under Trumpcare—that is, the respective GOP plans in the House and Senate—20 million Americans or more would become uninsured largely due to massive cuts to Medicaid. This is a fact, just... Читать дальше...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is just a few votes away from passing legislation that would reduce health insurance coverage by 22 million people.