Hunger Games
The conservative plan to starve government has paid off with the IRS scandal
The more we learn about the IRS vetting of conservative groups, the less it looks like an abuse of power than something much more mundane—a beleaguered agency with too few resources to handle its work-load. READ MORE >>
Democrats can’t say it; Barack Obama can’t say it; and the IRS certainly can’t say it, so here goes: The only real sin the IRS committed in its ostensible targeting of conservatives is the sin of political incorrectness—that is, of not pretending it needed to vet all the new groups that wanted tax-exempt status, even though it mostly just needed to vet right-wing groups. READ MORE >>
Meet the Most Important Ted Cruz Birther: Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz is eligible to be president under almost any reading of the Constitution—except his own
If it wasn’t obvious beforehand, it became clear last week that Ted Cruz is likely to run for president. READ MORE >>
For years, Grover Norquist has been one of the right’s strictest disciplinarians on matters of taxes and spending. So naturally, with Congress on the verge of forcing Internet retailers to collect billions in state sales taxes, Norquist is denouncing the move as an assault on freedom. “Do you really believe there is a limit to the amount of abuse an Alabama tax collector can hurl on a New York or California or Maine business?” he recently said on Fox Business. READ MORE >>
Try to do something about senseless gun violence and you’ll see tumbleweeds blowing across the Senate floor. Try to make life a bit less stressful for the average business traveler and you’ll have no trouble finding backup. READ MORE >>
Now that the search for the Tsarnaevs themselves is over, the search is on for where they picked up the grotesque idea of bombing civilians. The earliest indications are that Tamerlan, the brother who died early Friday morning, practiced a radical form of Islam that made him sympathetic to terrorism. Many of these hints come from a YouTube account that appears to have belonged to him (although this has yet to be confirmed). READ MORE >>
Gun Control Failed, Not Liberalism
The real lesson Obama should learn from this week's setback
For the record, I’m someone who thought gun control, while noble and important, was doomed to fail and therefore a dubious investment of presidential time. READ MORE >>
One of the stars of Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address was Jackie Bray, a single mother who was laid off in 2011 and struggled for months to find a good-paying job. READ MORE >>
House of Pain
Gerrymandering has been great for GOP congressmen, but poison for the party nationally
Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on the two big gay marriage cases it heard last week, it’s only a matter of time before the institution is legalized. Public acceptance is accelerating and will soon be overwhelming. READ MORE >>
What Tim Geithner Could Have Learned From Cyprus
At least one country said no to making the little guys bail out the big guys
Oy, Cyprus. Here’s a brief history of the Mediterranean island that’s trying its best to tank the markets: In the 1980s, Cyprus largely got out of the export business that had sustained it and retooled around services, especially the financial variety. READ MORE >>
