Government policies promoted a systematic loosening of underwriting standards in an effort to promote affordable housing, which then contributed mightily to the housing bubble, mortgage meltdown and resulting financial crisis.  

We rarely think about the sheer magnitude of power in the hands of government attorneys.

Saturday’s NYT had a piece bylined by James Risen about the Ghosts of Iraq Haunting CIA in Tackling Iran. It’s a Captain Obvious story in conception.

John M. McConnell must change the National Intelligence Estimate process to protect against distortions, leaks, and policy biases.

A brewing ethical brouhaha at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel illustrates the hazards of politicized science reporting.

Just in time for your post-Monday morning coffee jitters comes a calming article from Paul Pillar, former CIA Near East hand: We Can Live with a Nuclear Iran.

"They do that because they were born that way."

If you say that about homosexuals, you are tolerant and realistic. If you say it about blacks, you are racist (unless you're black yourself). If you say it about women, you may or may not be sexist, depending on who is manning...

The shenanigans cited by a California judge are typical of cases where U.S. "multinationals" are shaken down by trial lawyers supported by populist, politicized foreign courts.