The Pentagon’s Pricey Culture of Mediocrity

The Pentagon’s Pricey Culture of Mediocrity

When the tank crew under my command ran into trouble on the battlefield, I never doubted the ultimate success of the mission because the Marines I served with were among the finest people I knew. But if we want to keep it that way, the Pentagon must stop mismanaging...
Manna from Hell

Manna from Hell

War is hell. Unless, of course, you happen to be a global corporate peddler of rockets, drones, bombs, and all the other hellish weaponry of military conflict. In that case, war is manna from hell. So bring it on. Indeed, it seems as if Beelzebub himself is in charge...
Your Fear of Terrorism Could Get You Killed

Your Fear of Terrorism Could Get You Killed

One in 3.5 million: That’s the risk you’ll die from a terrorist attack in the United States, Ohio State professor John Mueller estimates. Rounded generously, that chance comes to 3 one-hundred thousandths of a percent. That’s not how most Americans see it, though. In...
A Formula for More Murder

A Formula for More Murder

Picture a world in which most of the people you encounter — on the street or at work, in stores or classrooms, at the movies or in church — are openly carrying guns. That’s the world Second Amendment absolutists are promoting when they repeat their mantra, “The...
We Shouldn’t Take Their Oil

We Shouldn’t Take Their Oil

Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign ad pledges to “take their oil.” That’s what President (gasp) Trump would do after having “quickly cut the head off the Islamic State,” says the deep-voiced narrator. Along with political decapitation, there are many...
Outrage in Oregon

Outrage in Oregon

The armed men occupying an isolated federal building in a remote Oregon bird sanctuary say they won’t leave until the federal government stops its “tyranny.” Yet it’s not clear what that tyranny is, exactly. One of the group’s leaders is Ammon...