America

(CNN)Broken glass and bricks littered streets in Santiago after more violent protests Monday, prompting Chile's government to extend a curfew in the capital for a third straight day. Shops and business have been looted and set on fire, and metro stations vandalized and closed to the public in widespread demonstrations over economic inequalities, living costs and rising debt in the usually stable country. Thousands of demonstrators took part in a massive protest in Santiago's Plaza Italia Monday, banging drums and pans and calling for the ouster of conservative President Sebastian Pinera, in protests that have paralyzed one of Latin America's biggest cities. Clashes between protesters and security forces have led to the deaths of 11 people, with eight killed on Sunday in the most deadly day of demonstrations. Many of the deaths occurred during looting when supermarkets were set on fire. Protests began eight days ago over a proposed price hike for subway tickets in the capital city … [Read more...] about Chile extends curfew again as violent unrest paralyzes one of Latin America’s biggest cities

It was five years ago that I first met Rick Richman, who had become interested in the Zionist prophet Vladimir Jabotinsky. Mr. Richman was taken aback by the fact that though he had been educated at Harvard College and New York University Law School, he had never been taught the story of the firebrand who had tried and failed in his efforts to raise a Jewish army to fight the Nazis. In “Racing Against History, The 1940 Campaign for a Jewish Army to Fight Hitler,” just out from Encounter, Mr. Richman provides that much-needed narrative of Jabotinsky’s campaign to save the Jews of Europe. And also relates how the two other major Zionist leaders of the time, the General Zionist Chaim Weizmann and the labor leader, David Ben Gurion, themselves came to America that year, also campaigning for a Jewish army. This story couldn’t be more important for our time, when the fate of the Jews is again in the balance and when the leadership of the Jewish state comes from a party … [Read more...] about How Legendary Zionists Raced Through America In Bid To Outflank Hitler

The war isn’t over. That’s the big takeaway from the Boston Marathon bombing, like it or not. A lot of Americans thought the war — which Congress had never formally declared to begin with — was already over. President Obama announced the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. The attacks on New York and on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 are more than a decade past, and the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya was geographically distant. Osama Bin Laden was dead. But this war — the one the Islamist extremists are waging against us, the one that Norman Podhoretz calls World War IV (World War III having been the Cold War) — can’t be ended unilaterally by American fiat. Even if we wish it could. Within this basic framework, there are still plenty of things for Americans to debate. We can debate whether the amounts we are spending on national defense — $660 billion, or 4.1% of GDP in 2013, according to the White … [Read more...] about Cold War Looms as Precedent For America Rousing Itself When It Hoped the Fight Was Ended

New Yorkers are getting fatter — again. According to a new report, New York is the 37th most obese state, and the state's adult obesity rate last year grew to 23.5% from 22.4% the year before. In a comparison of state obesity rates, Mississippi ranked first on the list, with a 37.5% rate. Colorado was last, at 18.4%. The obesity rate did not decline in any state, according to the report, "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America," published by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report is based on a Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rankings are based on data from between 2005 and the end of 2007. "Despite widespread acknowledgement that obesity is endangering the health of millions of Americans, the country is still failing to respond clearly or comprehensively," the president and chief executive officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. … [Read more...] about America’s Obesity Problem Takes Another Helping

On January 16, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will open a reinstallation of its collection of American art in "expanded, reconceived, and dramatic new galleries." "This final phase of the American Wing renovation project is comprised of twenty-six renovated and enlarged galleries on the second floor," according to the museum. "The new architectural design is a contemporary interpretation of nineteenth-century Beaux-Arts galleries, including coved ceilings and natural light flowing through new skylights. The redesign, which has added 3,300 square feet of gallery space, also allows for a chronological installation of the American paintings and sculpture, and improved pathways connecting to adjacent areas of the Museum. "The Museum's encyclopedic collection will offer visitors the broad sweep of American history as told through great works of art. The aforementioned central gallery focuses on the themes of freedom, exploration, and expansion that pervaded America during the mid-nineteenth … [Read more...] about America the Beautiful