Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
Tim James’ ad promising that, if he’s elected governor, he’ll save the citizens of Alabama some money by cutting out foreign language drivers’ license exams under the theory, “This is Alabama. We speak English. If you want to live here, learn it” is making the rounds. Like my fellow Alabama expat, Stacy McCain, I get [...]
A huge chunk of downtown DC will be closed for three days to accommodate next week’s Nuclear Security Summit. A memo went out sometime yesterday and a colleague passed it on late in the afternoon. As Josh Rogin notes, this will be incredibly inconvenient in a city whose infrastructure is already stretched to capacity: If [...]
Matt Yglesias points to David Brooks’ assertion that “The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting” in order to tout a congestion pricing tax. Brooks doesn’t pivot from this into any real policy specifics. But the upshot of the commuting point is very clear—we should charge people a fee to drive on crowded roads [...]
Remember Jim Bunning blocking unemployment extension and playing chicken with dozens of projects? Well, they’re now coming home to roost: The Department of Transportation said Monday that Republican Sen. Jim Bunning’s blockage of legislation designed to keep a host of federal programs operating forced the agency to furlough nearly 2,000 employees without pay, temporarily shut [...]
Shocking no one who lives in the area, OPM Director John Berry announced late yesterday afternoon that the Federal government would close its offices in the National Capitol Region today because the fallout from the weekend blizzard would make travel unsafe. Given that this is the area’s worst snowfall in recorded history and that a [...]
WSJ’s Scott McCartney explains “Why a Six-Hour Flight Now Takes Seven.” our airline seat may not have much padding, but the airline’s schedule sure does. Delta Air Lines Flight 715 from New York to Los Angeles now takes more than seven hours to fly across the country, according to the airline’s March schedule. That’s an [...]
Yet another incident aboard Flight 243 from Amsterdam to Detroit. Sources tell Fox 2 that a flight from Amsterdam into Detroit Metropolitan Airport was held on the tarmac after landing because of unruly behavior by some of the passengers.The source says four men from Saudi Arabia were saying something in Arabic that alarmed four on-board [...]
One refrain we’ve heard lots of since the 9/11 attacks, with an uptick every time there’s a new incidents, is that the United States should get serious about airport security and be more like the Israelis. FP’s Annie Lowrey recounts a personal trip through the security at Ben Gurion. Once inside, a team of pleasant [...]
There’s quite a bit of chatter this morning about the fact that two travel bloggers of whom I’d never previously heard have had their computers confiscated pursuant to subpoenas after publishing unclassified but sensitive TSA screening procedures. AP’s Eileen Sullivan has the rundown: As the government reviews how an alleged terrorist was able to bring [...]
The botched attempt by one Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly somehow connected to al Qaeda, attempting to blow up a passenger jet as it made its descent into Detroit quite naturally has the blogosphere buzzing. Richard Fernandez and Josh Marshall have good roundups of the news as it was developing throughout the evening, along with the [...]
The federal government is placing limits on the ability of airlines to mistreat customers. They don’t go nearly far enough. U.S. airlines could face stiff fines for stranding passengers aboard grounded planes for more than three hours, according to a regulation that officials said on Monday was aimed at upholding passenger rights. The Transportation Department [...]
Are you a terrorist who would like to blow up an airliner but confused about how best to elude screening? Well, luckily for you, the Transportation Security Administration has published a How To manual to answer all your questions. In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted online its airport screening [...]
Virginia Congressman Jim Moran argues that the Defense Department ought to step up and pay for the increased traffic BRAC is about to bring to his district: The latest round of BRAC (Base Realignment and Closing) moves is poised to create a daytime nightmare of traffic congestion for Northern Virginia. Over the next two years, [...]
I agree with Matt Yglesias that “it’s a bit ugly to talk politics in the wake of a tragedy” but, like him, I will nonetheless point to a couple of interesting, related debates that have been sparked by yesterday’s crash on DC’s Metrorail system Red Line. This report, naturally, is causing some finger pointing: The [...]
At least nine people have died and dozens injured in a crash of two Red Line trains on Washington, DC’s Metro subway, by far the deadliest in the system’s history. The investigation is still ongoing but operator error is suspected. WTOP: “This is a tragedy beyond belief,” Metro General Manager John Catoe said on WTOP. [...]
The Clear Card program whereby pre-screened passengers are expedited through airport security is no more. I received this email overnight: Ensuring that this wasn’t some sort of odd email fraud scheme, I did a quick news search and, sure enough, it’s true: Clear began in 2005 with the potential to make airport security quicker and [...]
Rebecca Frankel collects Joe Biden’s Top Five Political Gaffes, which make for an amusing list. She rightly gives top honors to Biden’s comments on swine flu. In case you missed it (I’m catching up a bit myself), Biden said this Thursday morning: Appearing on NBC’s “Today Show,” Biden said he has already advised his family [...]
Matt Yglesias explains why public transit should be free through an analogy: Say there’s no road between Washington, DC and Frederick, Maryland. You can go from the one place to the other, but it involves going way out of your way even though it could be a pretty quick trip on a direct road. What [...]
One of the side discussions over the Blair House brouhaha has been that having the Obamas stay at the Hay-Adams Hotel would pose a major inconvenience for those who drive through that part of the District of Columbia, as roads around the hotel would be closed for security reasons. With the hotel only three blocks [...]
Since this is my last entry in the debate, I’d like to thank Bernard Finel for what I think has been an excellent, interesting, and informative debate. I’ve accomplished what I set out to do when I was moved to propose this debate: I’ve established that complete disengagement with the Middle East (the resolution of [...]
Question 1 (Finel): You write: “I believe the evidence speaks clearly: the increased U. S. engagement in the region has overall been a stabilizing force.” What is the precise benefit to the United States of this increased stability? Are American interests in the region more or less secure today as a result? Or is this [...]
Question 1: What evidence do you have that reducing our “footprint” and “fingerprint” will result in a reduction of radicalism in the Middle East? BERNARD FINEL: Obviously, it is impossible to prove a hypothetical, so there is no direct evidence to support my contention that reducing our visibility will reduce radicalism. Indeed, I don’t think [...]
Alex Tabarrok argues that the calls to build our way out of the economic crisis by massive investment in roads and bridges is misguided. Even more valuable than transportation infrastructure would be greater investment in electricity infrastructure, a smart grid. Consider that in 2003 a massive, widespread, power outage threw 50 million people in the [...]
A colloquium on the Freakonomics blog asking, “What Is the Future of Suburbia?” generated insights from a wide range of experts, a few of whom have apparently been reading too much science fiction or over-indulging in recreational drugs. James Kunstler, for example, opines that, There are many ways of describing the fiasco of suburbia, but [...]
A debate about the relative desirability of city and suburban living is spreading through the blogosphere at a surprising clip, given the timelessness of the topic. It began, as best I can determine, by Duncan “Atrios” Black (a PhD economist) explaining that there are tradeoffs to having a big yard. [I]f everyone has a big [...]