UDDATE: AP and Memeorandum have finally noticed. Jerusalem Post: A gunman opened fire at a crowd of parents and children outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, France on Monday morning, killing four people. Eyewitnesses said the unknown assailant drove up to the Ozar Hatorah school’s entrance on a black scooter around 8:00 a.m. and fired at the gatherers with a heavy-calibre firearm and a pistol. Yonathan...

WASHINGTON — A crisis of capitalism is supposed to create an opening for the political left. But in Europe, the place where the concept of left and right was born, political conservatives have won the bulk of the elections held since economic catastrophe struck in 2008. Is this about to change? The conservative victory most noted in the U.S. was the rise to power of David Cameron, the British prime...

The former Army Ranger is pretty good at cutting green beans to a precise length. He can whip up everything from fish tacos to southwestern coleslaw to pork tenderloins glazed with molasses and sherry — and he makes sure the presentation is just right. Big deal, you may say. And, yes, it is a big deal for Jeremy Feldbusch. You see, Feldbusch — a former sergeant — is blind. He was hit by a 155...

Vice President Joe Biden recently traveled to Mexico, which is another country in the midst of a heated presidential campaign. In an effort not to show favoritism toward the ruling party candidate, Mr. Biden met briefly with each of the candidates. In the event, political analyst Víctor Beltri, in this article from Mexico’s Excelsior, which amounts to a direct appeal to the vice president, pleads with...

A little less than a year ago, I explained why I did not shed a tear, why I did not feel any pity and why I experienced some closure when I heard that Ukraine-born John Demjanjuk, a guard at Sobibor, was found guilty by a German court of taking part in the murder of more than 28,000 Jews, including my relatives, at a death camp in World War II and was sentenced to five years in prison. Many felt that a five-year...

We have read accounts of the incident that occurred on Wednesday at Camp Bastion Airfield in Helmand province, Afghanistan, as the aircraft carrying Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta taxied towards a gathering of dignitaries, including the newly-installed commander of Regional Command-Southwest. Chris Carroll over at the Stars and Stripes reports today from “aboard a military aircraft” that the “Panetta...

Martin Sutovec, Slovakia This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

UPDATE II: Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez, who represents Illinois’ 4th District in Chicago, was born in Chicago and later moved to Puerto Rico, his parent’s birthplace, before returning to Chicago to attend college. He has led the fight to expand citizenship education and English language proficiency programs for newly-arrived immigrants. Gutierrez should thus know a little bit about Puerto Rico,...

One year after one of the most devastating catastrophes in living memory, there seems to be no end to Japan’s inner turmoil. According to this editorial from Japan’s Too Nippo Shimbun, recently released transcripts from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission not only demonstrate America’s proactive attitude in a crisis, they expose a deep-seated tendency among Japanese decision-makers to underestimate...

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Like Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum continues his nearly perfect record of derision from the international press. In this latest example from Switzerland’s News, columnist Patrik Etschmayer compares the elections in Iran to the Republican primary race and concludes that Rick Santorum is running for office in the wrong country. For Switzerland’s News, Patrik Etschmayer writes in small part: “Rick...

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Because of my links to both the Netherlands and Belgium and, in particular, because of the ages of most of the children involved, the horrific bus crash inside a tunnel is Switzerland has hit me very hard. Please read the details here and please keep the victims and their loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.

China has launched an unexpected initiative for a political solution in Syria and lobbied a 22-nation Arab bloc for support on Tuesday. This is unusual for China, which usually remains non-committal on Middle East matters and lets the US and Europe take the lead. If it disagrees, it simply abstains in votes in the United Nations Security Council. The current initiative is not just a ploy to deflect flak from...

As Afghans boil over with rage after a U.S. soldier reportedly left his base in the middle of the night to murder 16 Afghan civilians in their homes, according to this news account from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, the Taliban are claiming that the operation was the work of a group of soldiers, and that far more people were killed. Propaganda it may me. But in the fog of war, will the average Afghan be...

I know. You say, not another story about Limbaugh and his faux pas; not another example of selective outrage; not another piling on Rush. Perhaps, perhaps not. Because Limbaugh is — I believe — quite popular with our military; because his show is broadcast to our troops overseas via the Armed Forces Network (AFN) radio and, last but not least, because his unfortunate remarks were directed against...

UPDATE: As promised yesterday, Invisible Children has released a new 8-minute video to answer some of the criticism the organization has received. Video courtesy Fox News: UPDATE: CNN’s Don Lemon interviewed ‘Kony 2012′ directors Jason Russell and Ben Keesey this afternoon about allegations by critics. Russell and Keesey revealed that they are preparing a 10-minute video addressing...

UPDATE: Here’s a different take on this story. UPDATE III: Santorum’s press secretary Alice Stewart repeatedly refused to answer questions by Dutch television station RTL4 about Santorum’s outrageous and false claims about euthanasia in the Netherlands. Asked at least three times by the RTL4 reporter to clarify Santorum’s incorrect figures and totally distorted statements about Dutch euthanasia...

It sounds like a new cycle of violence is about to begin in Afghanistan, making efforts of the U.S. and Afghanistan government to do an orderly pullout and work out future ties much more difficult: NATO troops in Afghanistan are on high alert after the Taliban vowed to avenge the deaths of 16 innocent civilians – including nine children and three women – who were shot and killed by a rogue U.S. soldier...

China Versus the United States: Economic and Fair Play by Robert Coutinho Recently, I tried to comment on an article concerning the capacity of the U. S. worker to compete with foreign counterparts. The comment was too long. When I mentioned this to Joe Gandelman he suggested I write a Guest Voice column. I will post what I had been trying to say: You are under the delusion that the playing field is even....