Robert Montenegro

John B. Judis of New Republic argues that the United States is powerless to combat the breaking down of nonsensical Middle East borders drawn nearly a hundred years ago by colonial powers.

Timothy J. Burger has penned a fascinating article for Politico highlighting several gay men who worked in George W. Bush’s administration, most of them in the closet the entire time. The piece provides a glimpse into their lives and their allegiance to a president they couldn’t help but support.

The president’s requested war budget is America’s lowest in a decade. The request includes over $2 billion in funds to support American interests in Syria and neighboring countries.

More non-Hispanic whites in the United States are dying than are being born. The Great Recession appears to be the main culprit as birthrates have declined 13% in two years. How will the Baby Bust affect the country in the future?

Researchers believe women who have their last child after 33 are more likely to live into their late nineties. The findings are a matter of genes, meaning the relationship between late motherhood and long life is correlative, not causative.

Every bad habit can be broken. All it takes is perseverance and a smart strategy.

A San Francisco City Attorney has told the creators of a new app to cease its use in his city. The app, Monkey Parking, creates a market for people to buy and sell public parking spots.

PETA ruffled feathers last month with a misleading ad campaign that suggested consumption of dairy products led to autism. The organization, already widely derided for its sensationalism, has an uphill road to climb if it ever wants to be taken seriously again.

Newly designated World Heritage sites in France, Botswana, and the United States push UNESCO’s list into the quadruple digits.

A popular football chant by Mexico supporters has drawn the ire of FIFA’s governing board. The incident is one of many recent instances where one group’s “tradition” is another group’s slur.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy hopes her new animated film Three Braves will inspire Pakistani children by providing them with relevant, local heroes.

Pollinators such as the common honey bee contribute as much as $15 billion to the United States agricultural market. With bee populations experiencing a staggering decline, the U.S. government is taking steps to try and save them.

A new Gallup poll shows that Americans’ confidence in print and television news is at an all-time low. Losing the hearts and minds of the American people also means losing influence over the collective societal zeitgeist.

As Disney’s Frozen continues to climb the ranks of highest grossing films, its popularity is beginning to pay dividends for the Norwegian tourism industry. The nation’s beautiful locales served as inspiration for Frozen’s fantasy Kingdom of Arendelle.

The American film and television industries take advantage of billions of dollars in tax incentives doled out by local governments. Where producers and politicians see investment, Allysia Finley of The Wall Street Journal sees shameless corporate welfare.

Taco Bell’s hugely successful Doritos Locos Tacos helped reinvent the company and fend off external disruptors in the marketplace. Alexis C. Madrigal of The Atlantic has penned an article that offers a fascinating glimpse into how Taco Bell adopted innovative business strategies originally started in Silicon Valley.

The revamped Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York features a new take on museum-going: an open-ended interactive layout that lets visitors create their own experience. Is the pro-active museum experience a sign of the future or merely a passing trend?

Over a decade of violence and war across the globe has resulted in over 50 million displaced people. With few of them able to return home, the international community must make strides to tackle the crisis before it gets worse.

Critics debate whether Pope Francis has any standing to comment on matters of world economics. Andrew Napolitano at Fox News questions whether Francis possesses the competency to discuss youth unemployment. Elizabeth Stoker of The Week argues that the pope has the duty to hold world economics to a moral standard.

Ben Casselman of FiveThirtyEight analyzes the results of the latest American Time Use Survey and draws conclusions about the ways unemployment sap Americans. Not only do the unemployed possess a higher risk for depression, obesity, and suicide, they also tend to lead more inert lives than their employed counterparts.

Yusuf Omar of eNews Channel Africa reports that there are over 1 million more televisions in South Africa than refrigerators. But now, more South Africans rely on newer means of accessing media.

New technology in the dental field will give patients an all new reason to smile. Scientists in London have unveiled new pain-free, self-repairing fillings to treat tooth decay.

Despite a media-driven narrative that the World Cup and similar events promote international unity, passion-driven sports events have a tendency to bring out the worst in people.

Despite the ivory trade having been prohibited for 25 years, tens-of-thousands of elephants are illegally killed in Africa every year. The West African nation of Togo has turned to technology to help it combat ivory smuggling.

A new Cornell/UCSF joint-study reveals that seeing positive posts in your Facebook feed leads to using positive words in status updates.

Several dozen Canadian academics have utilized a job vacancy at the University of Alberta to protest high administrator salaries. Slate’s Rebecca Schuman examines administrative bloat and the “corporatization of the University.”

Playwrights and theatre professionals across the country are fed up with the lack of diversity among writers produced on the American Stage. These activists are armed with years of pent up frustration… and lots and lots of data. But what strategies should they take to accomplish their goal?

Starbucks has partnered with Arizona State University to provide thousands of its employees free college educations through the latter’s online program. The unusual perk is expected to improve the quality of Starbucks’ workforce. Other companies would be wise to emulate the coffee giant.

A new partnership between Twitter and the Weather Channel will customize target ads based on users’ locations and the current weather.

An Idaho School Board is considering a new social media policy that forbids teachers from friending, following, or posting about students and their parents. The policy change stems from an incident involving a high school basketball teacher who was fired over a controversial photo.