The Editors

The whole Notre Dame commencement controversy is backward. Anti-abortion activists shouldn’t be protesting Obama‘s speech — Obama himself should stay home. Richard D. Kahlenberg and Steve Shadowen argue that the president should not give a graduation address at a school with blatantly anti-egalitarian admissions practices. Meanwhile, Dana Goldstein checks in with the porn industry to […]

So, it looks like America isn’t just a nation of Christian sinners in the hands of an angry God. According to a recent Pew poll, religious affiliation is actually rather fluid in the United States. Courtney Martin examines the results as well as the incredibly complex feelings Americans have about God and country. Meanwhile, Mark […]

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is building up — literally. Gershom Gorenberg reports that the pattern of Israeli construction in East Jerusalem may erase the Clinton parameters for peace. Could real estate development prevent a two-state solution? And over at The New York Review of Books, Gershom considers Benny Morris‘ revisionist history of the origins of the […]

Foreclosure prevention! Mortgage refinancing! Risk analysis (of a sort)! It’s pretty much an all-finance day here at the Prospect. Tim Fernholz examines the failure of “cramdown” legislation — and why its defeat is bad for both homeowners and the Obama administration. And our “Five Ways of Looking at Risk” series comes to a close today. […]

Last week, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund defended the Voting Rights Act before the Supreme Court. Why should they win? Adam Serwer considers what repeal of the act would mean for minorities and — more broadly — democracy. Meanwhile, our “Five Ways of Looking at Risk” series continues. Nomi Prins argues that we need regulations […]

In the wake of the economy’s collapse, “risk” is now (and we suppose has always been) a four-letter word. Today, the Prospect begins its series “Five Ways of Looking at Risk.” Mark Schmitt introduces the feature by saying that everything we thought we knew about risk is wrong, and David Moss discusses the government’s long […]

Still needing your Obama analysis fix even after last week’s 100-days coverage? Well, head over to NDN to hear our own Mark Schmitt chat with Franklin Foer of The New Republic and Michael Tomasky of Democracy about the administration’s beginnings and its future. The webcast will start at 12:15 p.m. EST, and questions can be […]

The Supreme Court will lose a talented and insightful jurist when David Souter finally retires: Few justices have understood the politics of race as well as he, reflects Heather Gerken. In the meantime, Ezra Klein wonders what the “best qualified” judicial nominee would look like — and if such a person even exists. Amid the […]

What shapes intelligence? Is IQ hereditary? Does schooling determine it? Or is it more than that? David Kirp tackles that nebulous quotient and discovers that IQ is influenced by some surprising factors. Meanwhile, Terence Samuel considers the Arlen Specter switch-up within the context of the Republican Party’s decline. As always, subscribe to our RSS feed […]

Magazines are folding; newspapers are substantially cutting their staffs; and television news networks are increasingly competing with Web sources for an audience. In short, commercial media is experiencing a bit of a crisis. But what does this mean for public media? Can public media seize this moment as an opportunity to reinvent itself? Jessica Clark […]