Jeff Spross

Forty-one years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on the moon. Less inspiring is today’s Atlantic piece by D.B. Grady, lamenting the aimlessness and drift that have overcome the American space program: NASA is expensive and produces few results because we start and cancel our most […]

The future of energy and climate legislation is once again uncertain in the Senate — inertia seems to be the legislation’s perpetual state of being at this point — and the possibility of a compromise that would pass energy-standard regulations but not cap-and-trade is looming. One such compromise is the less-than-thrilling package Sen. Dick Lugar […]

A customer tries out an e-Book reader at the 2010 Samsung Forum. According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com has just announced that, for the first time, sales of e-books have outpaced those of hardbacks. Megan McArdle thinks this spells the end of the hardback-then-paperback publication model. (Flickr/manoelnetto)

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr., president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is part of a growing group of evangelical leaders who have bucked conservatives on immigration and thrown their weight behind President Obama’s push for comprehensive immigration reform. (Flickr/SEIU International)

The five TAP pieces that have made a stir around the Web this week. “Bill Clinton’s Still Got It“ “The Reverse Commute“ “Financial Reform Passes Senate, Caps Obama’s Progressive Agenda“ “When Nation Building Becomes Cowardly Escape“ “The Impossibility of a “Grand Bargain” on Abortion and Contraception“

Col. Doug Tamilio demonstrates a .50-caliber machine gun. Setting a new bar for the definition of “deranged overkill,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona broke out one of these for his latest crime and immigration sweep through Arizona’s Vekol Valley. The sweep coincided with the first federal hearing on Arizona’s SB 1070, and […]

Today, the House Education and Labor Committee passed its version of a bill reauthorizing funding for school meal programs. The Senate has already moved equivalent legislation out of committee. In response, Michelle Obama — who has taken on the issue of childhood nutrition and health with her “Let’s Move” campaign — called on both houses […]

In defiance of a growing narrative of anti-incumbent sentiment, and recent poll data that bodes poorly for Democrats’ prospects in November, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California is apparently maintaining a lead over Carly Fiorina, her Republican opponent. The latest numbers from Rasmussen place her at 49 percent over Fiorina’s 42 percent (with a 4.5 percent […]

Jacob Lew, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, at a forum held by the OECD in 2009. Today, President Obama announced he would nominate Lew to succeed Peter Orszag as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. It will be the second time Lew has held the post, after a […]

A speaker at the San Francisco Progressive Convention, though who attended may be a more complex question than it would appear: A new poll suggests that a majority of Americans are not sure what the word “progressive” means or if it applies to their political outlook. Even self-identified progressives are split, with 45 percent calling […]