After Aurora, Lessons from Columbine
Thirteen years ago, I was part of the team of Dateline NBC reporters who covered the 1999 Columbine shootings not far from Aurora, Colorado, where today’s horrific shooting occurred.
Articles from Contributor
Why God Invented C-SPAN: McCain on Huma Abedin
2008 GOP presidential nominee Senator John McCain took to the Senate floor Wednesday to lambast five of his House colleagues and defend Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin. The House members have questioned if Abedin, who comes from a Muslim family and is married to former Rep. Anthony Weiner, has inappropriate ties …
Inside America’s Secret Training of Syria’s Digital Army
Updated: 5:37 p.m.
I have a story in this week’s magazine, available online now and hitting stands this Friday, about U.S. efforts to help Syrian dissidents. The U.S. isn’t arming anybody – as Hillary Clinton on Tuesday accused Russia of doing for Syrian President Bashar Assad – but the State Department is training protesters …
Syria Presents Another Predicament for Kofi Annan and His U.N. Legacy
Kofi Annan has seen a lot of genocide. He hasn’t been the monster pulling the trigger, or ordering the deaths. But to hear his critics tell it, as head of the United Nations Peacekeepers in 1994 and 1995 he failed to prevent the Rwandan genocide and the massacre at Srebrenica in former Yugoslavia. The 2003 Darfur genocide began during …
Obama’s European Stimulus Challenge
Barack Obama’s reelection may well depend on stimulus. Not the stimulus bill that passed Congress in 2009. Or the monetary injections administered by the Federal Reserve. This stimulus won’t even be debated in Washington. …
Hillary Clinton’s Legacy at the State Department
Richard Wolf over at USA Today has a lengthy and comprehensive summary of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s legacy-to-date. I say to-date because Wolf leaves ample hints that her biggest role might yet be in the making. For example, he notes the numerous times Clinton is asked about a 2016 run — and her pat denials. His kicker from a …
Obama Unveils Private-Public Partnership on Food Aid
Any one remember sending their left overs to Africa? Not so long ago, that food aid consisted of massive amounts of random extra food that developed countries would send to the developing world in response to crises – mostly to …
Yes, Washington D.C. Really Is a Bubble
In this week’s issue of the magazine, Andrew Ferguson has a look at how out of touch us Beltway denizens really are. Ferguson doesn’t go into all the reasons why DC is so wealthy — like the BRAC base closings that relocated thousands of troops to local bases, the supplanting of half of Wall Street in the wake of TARP and the explosion …
The G8 Summit at Camp David: This Time, It’s Important
Not since the oil shocks that first brought the world’s superpowers together in 1974–back then they called themselves the “Library Group” because they met in the White House library–has the G8 had so much substantive …
The Chen Guangcheng Affair: U.S. Denies China Dissident’s Account of Coercion
U.S.officials and friends of Chen Guangcheng were stunned by reports Wednesday morning that the blind Chinese human rights activist said he was coerced into leaving the protection of the U.S. embassy in Beijing and is seeking …
On Unannounced Visit, Obama Outlines ‘New Chapter’ for U.S. Role in Afghanistan
President Barack Obama on Tuesday made his third unannounced trip to Afghanistan – the first in more than two years — this time to sign a strategic pact that will guide U.S. relations with the country for the next decade. The …
Jay Leno’s John Edwards Joke
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A couple of weeks ago I had a story in the newsstand edition of TIME (available to subscribers here) on how the U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of human sperm. The topic was a little outside of Swampland’s purview, but last night Jay Leno helped bring it squarely in our sights. I’d …
Hillary Clinton Makes Light of 2016 Speculation
In her keynote address at the TIME 100 gala Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton gave a sliver of hope to the folks who hope to see her run for President again. In introducing the Secretary of State, TIME managing editor Rick Stengel joked that she’s now so popular that she could be elected president in any country she visits.
“Thank …