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The South keeps America interesting

For all the regional tensions in American politics, have you ever stopped to think what a boring country this would be without the South? Also without black people, of course, which may be another way of saying the same thing. Would there be any music …

The pope’s self-defeating anti-capitalistic rant

Pope Francis doesn’t have to thank capitalism, a system that has done far more to alleviate poverty, his pet crusade, than the institution he leads. But he should at least stop demonizing it — not least because it enables the very activity that he cherishes …

Obamacare’s lesson: Government does stuff badly

We conservatives are always on about the “unintended consequences” of government programs, but we didn’t expect the Obama administration and congressional Democrats to provide such a vivid object lesson. If the tipsy, teetering debut of Obamacare invites a new skepticism about the capacity of government …

The politics of Rihanna’s hair

Watching TV last week, my mouth fell open when I looked up to see Rihanna rocking a doobie at the American Music Awards. What’s a doobie? In the South, we just call it a wrap. It is a particular way that black women with straightened …

Even proud veterans lining up for a meal

On Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, the first snowfall of the season swept across Chicagoland. Inside a warm corridor of the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, more than 130 veterans lined up for the first distribution of a new food pantry — many wearing military attire …

Americans root for Obama’s success

For a guy whose presidency was supposed to be on life support, Barack Obama has certainly had a productive couple of weeks. With his poll numbers sinking toward George W. Bush territory — 53 percent in a recent CNN survey said he’s not a strong …

‘Fit mom’ should give  ‘regular moms’ a break

Maria Kang says she’s “sorry/not sorry.” Well, in that case, let me be among the first to accept/not accept your apology. You may remember “fit mom” Kang from earlier this fall, when a photo of her in midriff-baring workout clothes, surrounded by her three children …

Online gambling could kill Vegas

By now, you’ve probably seen the TV commercials. In one, a poker player breaks into a casino version of a touchdown dance after winning a hand, a sure-fire way to raise the anger of fellow players. But playing on the Internet from the privacy of …

Kids are born fair-minded

The comedian Louis C.K. has a routine in which he talks about his daughter’s understanding of fairness. He begins, “My five-year-old, the other day, one of her toys broke, and she demanded that I break her sister’s toy to make it fair.” This would make …

Call Karzai’s bluff

If Afghan President Hamid Karzai is bluffing with his 11th hour set of new conditions for the U.S. and NATO to remain in Afghanistan, we should call his bluff. If he’s not bluffing, we should start packing up to depart our longest war by the …

Obama’s college-rating plan a bust

President Obama has proposed tying financial aid to American colleges and universities to a “rating system” of higher education. The administration has conducted a number of public forums at college campuses over the last few weeks to purportedly collect input on the proposal. We can …

Watched cops are polite cops

BY RONALD BAILEY. This summer, after a civil suit challenged the New York City Police Department’s notorious program of patting down “suspicious” residents, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin imposed an experiment in which cops in precincts with the highest reported rates of stop-and-frisk activity would be required to wear video cameras for a year. This is a really good idea.

Don’t fall for false progress on Iran

BY MONA CHAREN. It has been obvious for more than two decades that Iran is determined to join the nuclear club — a goal American allies in the region and right-thinking people the world over view with horror and dread.

DCFS’s real crime? Breaking up families

The recent news that DCFS investigations are missing the mark isn’t news to me. I have sued DCFS more than a dozen times and have established, through federal court findings, that the state’s child-welfare system has a staggering rate of error in its investigations. But …

Truth a casualty of Obamacare

Remember President Barack Obama’s mother? Though the airwaves currently echo with his vow “If you like your plan . . .” I keep remembering Obama’s account of his mother being denied coverage by her insurance company as she lay dying of cancer. The moving and …

Why Canada and the United States should merge

ANN MCFEATTERS. In the 1995 movie “Canadian Bacon,” the U.S. president starts a war with Canada on the theory that the public rallies around war-time presidents. The movie was funny because the idea that America would care enough about Canada to go to war seemed ludicrous. But now there’s a new idea that President Barack Obama might consider: a new country containing the U.S. and Canada. It would relegate Obamacare to yesterday’s news!

Obamacare Rollout: Greatest scandal ever?

DENNIS O’TOOLE: The Obamacare Rollout is not President Obama’s Hurricane Katrina. It’s worse. It’s his Iraq War combined with an Iran-Contra Affair and an Iranian Embassy Crisis, all wrapped up in a big ol’ Vietnam.