Pope Francis recently apologized to the Waldensians. They had their beginnings in the 12th century, anticipating many of the teachings of the Reformation four hundred years later, which the group then joined. The Waldensians suffered centuries of persecution from the Roman Catholic Church, culminating in
Lost in the tumultuous week of Supreme Court rulings over Obamacare and gay marriage was another odd ruling. To combat gerrymandering, the people of Arizona passed a referendum that would take away the state legislature’s power to draw electoral boundaries and give it instead to
Despite all of the outrage he is provoking, to the point of losing his TV shows, Donald Trump as a presidential candidate is soaring in the polls. One poll has him leading the crowd. Polls in the early primary states New Hampshire and Iowa have
Greece has racked up a huge national debt and has such low economic growth that it is impossible to service that debt. Economics columnist Robert J. Samuelson points out that the situation in Greece is just an extreme case of what the American economy is
To find a right to abortion in the Constitution, the Supreme Court justices in Roe v. Wade construed from the text a “right to privacy.” To find a right to gay marriage in the Constitution, Justice Kennedy, with the concurrence of the majority, has construed
Legal scholar Randy Barnett offer a fascinating section by section reading of the Declaration of Independence, which he says succinctly states the political theory of the American founding. He summarizes it this way: The rights of individuals do not originate with any government, but pre-exist
Greeks voted “no” on a referendum on whether they should let their economy get bailed out at the price of austerity measures. Now we’ll see what this will do to the Greek economy, to the Euro, and to the European Union. (Not to mention the
People on the left often have problems being patriotic on the 4th of July, since they consider the nation whose birthday is celebrated to have been built on slavery, imperialism, and a predatory capitalism. But now conservatives, usually the big flag wavers on Independence Day,
As the nation’s media openly joined in the celebrations of the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage, some are saying, as we blogged about, that they will not cover opposition to the issue anymore. Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed, said this: “We firmly believe that
The people of Greece will vote Sunday on a referendum on whether or not to accept the austerity measures that would accompany a bailout from the rest of the Eurozone. The Greek government is recommending voting “no” and just letting the economy collapse. Catherine Rampell
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