Just over a year ago, a writer named Kristen Roupenian published a short story in the New Yorker called “Cat Person.” It chronicled a brief, mediocre romance. At first, it was hard to say what made the story newsworthy.　Still, just as #MeToo was taking off, “Cat Person” became history’s first viral short story. Something in Roupenian’s tale of Robert and Margot’s relationship -- testy, opportunistic -- felt familiar. And then there was the word mild Robert uses at their breakup, when he finally

One of the most common arguments against President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from Syria is that it will strengthen Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was to leave Tuesday for a weeklong tour of the Middle East, makes an interesting case for why that isn’t so.　Trump himself gave his critics ammunition at a cabinet meeting last week, when he observed that Iran already “can do what they want” in Syria. But his comment was merely descriptive, not a prediction of what will

The damage caused by US President Donald Trump’s trade fight with China has spread farther and faster than many expected. Factories in China and the US have seen orders slump. American farmers are hurting. A collapse in Chinese demand for iPhones knocked nearly $75 billion off Apple’s market cap in a single day. Slower growth just prompted China’s central bank to ease monetary policy, and, despite last week’s encouraging news on US jobs, the Fed is having second thoughts about its plan to normal

US President Donald Trump in a meeting with congressional Democrats on Friday said he was prepared for the partial government shutdown to continue for months -- or even years -- if he doesn’t get the money he wants for a wall along the Mexican border. It’s not hard to see how that prediction comes true. Both sides have framed the issue such that a victory for one side on funding a border wall entails defeat for the other. Neither side has much incentive to compromise.　Suppose Trump is right. The

It’s old news that large segments of society have become deeply unhappy with what they see as “the establishment,” especially the political class. The “yellow vest” protests in France, triggered by President Emmanuel Macron’s move to hike fuel taxes in the name of combating climate change, are but the latest example of the scale of this alienation.There are good reasons for today’s disgruntlement: four decades of promises by political leaders of both the center left and center right -- espousing

In light of US President Donald Trump’s current trade policy, it is perhaps worthwhile to review some common-sense principles about international trade.　The most basic and important principle is that countries do not trade, only individuals trade. The US does not trade with China. Rather, some individuals residing in America buy valuable goods and services from individuals residing in China. These are imports from China. At the same time other individuals residing in America sell valuable goods

The optimistic narrative about Apple’s iPhone business is falling apart in front of our eyes.　The company on Wednesday stunningly slashed its own revenue forecast for its first fiscal quarter that ended in December. Apple led by blaming a slowing economy in China and the trade skirmish with the US for worse-than-expected consumer transactions in the region that includes China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Apple said its first quarter revenue is now expected to fall about 5 percent from a year earlier.

It’s both necessary and healthy for the 116th Congress to have a full debate on defense funding. Unfortunately, it’s a near certainty that some members of Congress will muddle that debate by trotting out the following timeworn arguments in an attempt to slash the Pentagon’s budget. Let’s hope our leaders see these assertions for what they truly are: myths.　Myth 1: The US spends more on defense than the next seven countries combined.　Sure, it’s an irrelevant argument. After all, what a nation spe

It’s that time of the year when a middle-aged person’s fancy turns to treadmills and diets. Scientific literature on excess weight and health is expanding along with global waistlines, and yet, it is hard to find a solid, coherent scientific explanation for why some people get fat and others do not, and why some overweight people get Type 2 diabetes and heart disease and others do not.　In the US, beliefs about fat follow a science-y sounding quasi-religious narrative: Our prehistoric ancestors h

Human trafficking in the form of sexual slavery is a real problem in our country, one that the federal government is fighting hard to dismantle. The ability of traffickers to sell their victims for sex on the internet has caused this problem to proliferate. In response, federal investigative and prosecutorial efforts have increased dramatically in recent years. For example, in 2009, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania initiated a sex-trafficking working group with t