The Two Sentences That Should Be Part of All Discussion of the Debt Ceiling  —  Here they are:  —  1) Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize one single penny in additional public spending.  —  2) For Congress to “decide whether” to raise the debt ceiling, for programs and tax rates …

Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz  —  Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment.  We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing.  —  Aaron's insatiable curiosity, creativity …

Beijing Air Pollution Off the Charts  —  BEIJING — One Friday more than two years ago, an air-quality monitoring device atop the United States Embassy in Beijing recorded data so horrifying that someone in the embassy called the level of pollution “Crazy Bad” in an infamous Twitter post.

The Obama Synthesis  —  AS both his critics and admirers argue, the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense last week tells us something important about Barack Obama's approach to foreign policy.  But so does the man who was nominated alongside Hagel, to far less controversy and attention …

Mass Paris rally against gay marriage in France  —  The BBC's Hugh Schofield said the organisers did not want to be seen as homophobic  —  Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Paris over plans to give gay couples in France the right to marry and adopt children.

History suggests that era of entitlements is nearly over … It's often good fun and sometimes revealing to divide American history into distinct periods of uniform length.  In working on my forthcoming book on American migrations, internal and immigrant, it occurred to me that you could do this using …

Powell: GOP has ‘a dark vein of intolerance’  —  While continuing to identify as a Republican, former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday criticized the GOP for a series of racist attacks against President Barack Obama.  —  “There's also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party …

NRA president predicts assault weapons ban won't pass Congress  —  The head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) on Sunday predicted that efforts to pass a ban on assault weapons would fail.  —  In an interview on CNN's “State of the Union with Candy Crowley,” NRA President David Keene …

Top Dems urging Obama to raise debt ceiling all voted against increase in '06 … On Friday the Democratic leadership of the Senate — Majority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin, Conference Chair Charles Schumer, and Conference Secretary Patty Murray …

Egyptian Court Overturns Mubarak's Conviction  —  CAIRO — An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday overturned the life sentence of former President Hosni Mubarak for directing the killing of protesters, a ruling that could prolong a politically fraught legal battle over the fate of Egypt's deposed autocrat two years after he was ousted.