- Articles - RealClearPolitics

What Happens When We All Live to 100?

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 00:00:00 -0500

For millennia, if not for eons—anthropology continuously pushes backward the time of human origin—life expectancy was short. The few people who grew old were assumed, because of their years, to have won the favor of the gods. The typical person was fortunate to reach 40.

Why Can Pilots Still Shut Off Transponders?

Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:00:00 -0500

WASHINGTON — WHEN mass murderers took over the cockpits of four American airliners on Sept. 11, 2001, one of the first things they did was turn off the transponders, so the planes would not register properly on civilian radar.

A few months later, the Council on Foreign Relations published a book, “How Did This Happen?” about the mistakes leading to that awful day. I wrote the aviation security chapter, which highlighted vulnerabilities in the way airliner transponders operate.

Tackling, at the Turn of the Century

Sun, 13 Oct 2013 00:00:00 -0500

THE public was increasingly upset over the physical toll wrought by football. University faculties were in an uproar over funds diverted from education to the sport. The president called the leaders of the football establishment to the White House to demand change — and they responded.

How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers

Sun, 22 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Last year was a busy one for public giveaways to the National Football League. In Virginia, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, who styles himself as a budget-slashing conservative crusader, took $4 million from taxpayers’ pockets and handed the money to the Washington Redskins, for the team to upgrade a workout facility. Hoping to avoid scrutiny, McDonnell approved the gift while the state legislature was out of session. The Redskins’ owner, Dan Snyder, has a net worth estimated by Forbes at $1 billion. But even billionaires like to receive expensive gifts.

Life's Really Not So Bad in the US

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500