Why is America shielding foreign terrorists from the death penalty?

Bill Barr is killing Americans but sparing terrorists.

In July, the U.S. attorney general directed his Department of Justice to resume the death penalty. Since his directive this summer, he’s used lethal injection to kill five federal Death Row inmates.

Barr executed five murderers, rapists and torturers of children and the elderly. Men who inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering on their victims and surviving families. Barr unapologetically resumed capital punishment after a two-decade hiatus, “bringing justice to the most horrific crimes.” Barr’s tough on crime.

Unless, of course, he’s not… READ MORE

Putin is counting on your vote in November. Are you in with ‘Vova?’

Vladimir Putin is on the ballot this November.

You won’t see his name or watch his ads. But make no mistake, Putin has a lot riding on this election and he’s counting on your vote.

What will a vote for Putin mean?

First, Putin is looking to reshape the world order in a way that benefits Moscow, builds his personal power and establishes him as the world’s toughest leader capable of outrageous cunning, manipulation and disruption.

A successful outcome — meaning President Trump is re-elected — means his Russia will be able to wantonly throw its weight around globally. He will assertively create unseen but ever-present fear and dependence in neighboring nations including Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic states and Georgia. Russia’s renewed and enhanced influence also will be felt in countries farther away and immediately affected by America’s acquiescence to Putin’s newfound power. Countries such as Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. READ MORE

A tough leader enacted tough policies, and wiped out COVID-19 in New Zealand

Florida is a red-hot COVID zone, Texas is on a one-way ride up the infection escalator and California is reversing course after early lockdown success. Together, these three states make up 20 percent of all new global coronavirus cases. The United States is a pandemic-policy mess, and the whole world is watching the meltdown.

Not every nation, however, is experiencing Washington’s infighting, chaotic approach and inability to implement a nationally coordinated pandemic response. New Zealand is an odd exception in a coronavirus world in turmoil.

How did such a small place take on such a big role on the world stage to lead the fight against infection’s spread throughout its country? READ MORE

China’s prying eyes may shut down U.S. universities’ academic freedoms

During the height of the 1950s Red Scare, when there were Communists under every bed and spies in every closet, America saw threats to its national security everywhere. Justifiably, there were purges of those who really sought to sneak state secrets to the Soviets. War plans and bomb-making schematics were the most important of those confidential documents. Accusations abounded; not everyone was guilty.

Fast forward to 2020, and the new Red Scare is Beijing, not Moscow. The fear is that China’s long reach is not only touching but grabbing some of America’s dominant industries, institutions, plans and, of course, people. Scientists and researchers are in the crosshairs. Dr. Charles M. Lieber, the Harvard professor who recently was arrested by U.S. officials for allegedly sending research to China — and lying about it to American authorities — pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. READ MORE

Reimagining Capitalism In A World on Fire

Free market capitalism is one of humanity's greatest inventions and the greatest source of prosperity the world has ever seen. This success, however, has resulted in the destruction of our environment and a concentration of wealth at the top. Right now, it's hard to picture a world where capitalism, environmentalism and equity can work together—but what if it could? Join Rebecca Henderson of Harvard Business School for a discussion about how we can reimagine capitalism in a way that aligns with our moral and ethical values. Henderson will discuss how it is both possible and profitable to move beyond an obsessive focus on shareholder value to solve global problems like income inequality, climate change, and the COVID pandemic. How can capitalism drive systemic change worldwide?

America needs modern, toothless monarchs who cut ribbons and not much else

Three co-equal branches of government was a fine idea when America was in its post-revolutionary fervor, having just rejected the vilified royal sovereign King George III of mighty England. 

If the Broadway musical “Hamilton” did not make you laugh at the diminished and divorced-from-reality kingly figure, then any number of modern-day royals will remind you of the insulated nature of a dying and dated institution hanging by a fragile golden thread. In most countries where a monarchy endures, however, the royals’ level of engagement, authority and power are threadbare.

That’s why in the age of Donald Trump, the United States needs to welcome back a king. An updated, modern-day American monarchy with all the royal trappings and none of the real juice. Someone like militarily-bedecked King Philippe of Belgium, for example. This respectable modern royal is a powerless pussycat compared to 19th century despotic King Leopold II of the Belgians. READ MORE

A COVID-19 pause on mass protests won’t shield inept or authoritarian leaders forever

Teenagers around the country have a very specific plan for what they will do when they are released from COVID confinement: party!

Around the world, however, the decriminalization and return of mass gatherings likely will lead to something else: demonstrations!

Governments and regimes everywhere are going to face a greater test of their resilience and staying power once masses of people are freed from public-health fears and able to express their dissent. Demonstrators who were a prominent feature in the streets of Hong Kong or on France’s highways have all been forced to curtail their collective protest activities. Instead of gathering in person, they are cowering from pestilence. READ MORE

‘Thank you, America, for fueling the Chinese Dream’

It’s nearly graduation time around the country, which can only mean one thing: Boring commencement speeches to indifferent students.

The “Coronavirus Commencements” will be different, however, because graduates will not go through a public processional of pomp and circumstance. They also won’t dine with grandparents who traveled great distances to get to the ceremony. Travel curtailed, campuses closed, bookstores stuck with unsold “Class of 2020” swag. Graduation speakers will stay home to deliver their laugh lines and sage advice as webcammed words of wisdom.

Into this breach, let’s invite an atypical commencement speaker to give a universal graduation speech that can be simulcast to every U.S. institution of higher learning. Who should that person be? The guy who paid for more undergraduates’ educations in America than any other single individual: China’s “Core” leader and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. READ MORE

Coronavirus already has changed us for good — and, perhaps, for the better

Is human activity mainly responsible for global climate change? If so, we have just launched an unintentional worldwide experiment to see what happens when productive human activity comes to a screeching halt.

Given the downturn of economic productivity and a shelter-in-place reality for much of the world’s population, the negative effects are likely to outweigh anything positive. As we struggle to find any silver lining in the crisis, we might look to the dramatic reduction of belching factory smokestacks and fuming exhaust pipes. Mother Earth might suddenly and unexpectedly get a much needed and well-deserved rest.

All kinds of bad are happening as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The volatile stock market eats up 401k account balances. Jobs are lost. Social inequality is broadly exposed. Hospital beds are filled. People are dying.

What’s worse is that we are only beginning to feel the painful and lethal effects of this pandemic. There is no way to sugarcoat this. READ MORE

In Hungary, coronavirus crisis is the perfect time to throw democracy under the bus

In the 1949 film “The Third Man,” set in post-war Vienna, the Austrian capital is a bombed-out city where Orson Welles’ character, Harry Lime, makes a killing on the black market for medical supplies. Lime steals military stocks of penicillin, dilutes the antibiotic and sells it to unsuspecting patients who die from the watered-down drug. 

Profiting in desperate times is immoral and unjustifiable. 

It is also common.

While most people are conscientious, showing strangers compassion, love and selflessness, craven examples abound of certain individuals profiting from the COVID-19 crisis, and others, by hoarding, price gouging or simply leveraging market forces. The $138 bottle of hand sanitizer is the poster child product of this lockdown moment.

Money motivates the unscrupulous and greedy. Power is the other potent aphrodisiac. In its pursuit, power hungry leaders fan the flames of popular fears and exploit nativist anger.

Money and power are a killer combo.

Across the world, from Ankara to Beijing, Caracas to Moscow, powerful (and newly rich) leaders see the current crisis as a way to build themselves an unassailable permanent political role. Case in point? Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán now rules by decree. READ MORE

Honor the heroes of the war against coronavirus with a national monument

Vegas is surreal on any given day. A place of fake pharaonic pyramids, Imperial Roman palaces, Venetian canals, an Eiffel Tower. 

Surreal. 

In the middle of the Las Vegas Strip is the New York-New York hotel-casino complex, with a faux cityscape — a scaled-down skyline. In front of the Statue of Liberty, a faux harbor floats a replica of the New York Fire Department’s fire boat #2 that was spontaneously turned into a living monument to New York 9/11 firefighters.

First responders and citizens garlanded this model city with flowers, firefighter T-shirts, images of the fallen, loving notes. This makeshift 9/11 firefighter memorial told the world that we will never forget the bravery and sacrifice of the first responders who rushed through ash choked streets and into burning buildings to save our souls.

At this moment, we have a new set of heroes putting down their lives to save us from an invisible viral scourge: doctors and nurses. They are on the front lines fighting the coronavirus, intubating patients and working against all odds without sufficient protective gear and medical equipment. 

Naturally, we voluntarily need to stave off the illness and protect our potential saviors — wash your hands!

We also need a way to honor these individuals for their bravery and sacrifice. It’s time to design and fund a meaningful monument to the nation’s medical practitioners. READ MORE

Trump is to Obama the way FDR was to Hoover, a sad waste of ‘president power’

Presidential elections are on everyone’s minds and TV sets these days because presidents matter. In America’s democracy, presidents are its singular most important leaders. Heightened attention to their selection and performance reflects how critical they are to the nation’s strength and survival.

In February, five living presidents were celebrated — Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. It is a remarkable democratic achievement and a testament to America’s confidence that the country transitions power peacefully from administration to administration regardless of political party. Republicans yield to Democrats who yield to Republicans. 

Unlike other countries, America’s previous presidents are neither hounded nor capriciously thrown in jail. Instead, our former commanders-in-chief live and travel freely. READ MORE

North Korea threatens to cut-off next month's summit

I joined @ReenaNinan at CBS News to talk about the twists and turns of the Trump-Kim May 12th Summit. Will it happen? What is China's role? View it here