Oscar Nominations Announced
Obama likes to surround himself with failures. Geithner set the pattern. He was supposed to be the principal regulator of most of the largest U.S. bank holding companies. He was an abject failure. Lew has gone from failure to failure. He was one of the architects of both of the Clinton administration's disastrous statutory deregulatory actions that helped produce the epidemic of accounting control fraud that drove the Great Recession. Emanuel and Daley were failures as directors of Fannie and Freddie. Obama has put failed anti-regulators in positions where they can best undermine the regulatory effort that is essential to reduce the risk and harm of future crises.
Anyone who thinks congressional Republicans will roll over on the debt ceiling or gun control or other pending hot-button issues hasn't been paying attention. But the president can use certain tools that come with his office to achieve some of his objectives.
A new year has arrived, and a lot of you have written in and told us that you want to start it off with a jump start on your career. So, in this rough economy, we thought it would be a good idea to get some expert advice and tips to keep in mind when you're searching for jobs, securing an interview, and ultimately landing the position you really want.
The Hagel story, in which Obama made an effort to change the tone in Washington, D.C. by including a Republican in his Cabinet, only to have the goodwill gesture trampled by Republicans, perfectly captures the skewed way the news media depict modern-day politics.
"These people need to chill", I thought, followed quickly by "they will never find anyone willing to work for them." To my surprise, though, the one that lingered was "Lord, I didn't ask any of the right questions when I was hiring, did I?"
When we're screened at the airport, we're separate, but we're not equal.
In our initial likelihoods of victory for the big six categories, Lincoln is our most likely winner in three: best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) at near certainty, best picture at 94 percent, and best director (Steven Spielberg) at 70 percent.
While I would certainly have opposed any governmental attempt to prohibit its release, it is shameful that Zero Dark Thirty was even considered for an Oscar -- an award, an honor, a celebration.
We hear a lot about how Medicare spending is out of control and will bankrupt the federal government if left unchecked. Against that backdrop, a report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services today includes findings that might surprise some people.
11 years to the day after the Bush administration opened its notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay, Zero Dark Thirty opens nationwide. The filmmakers and distributors are evidently ignorant of the significance of the date -- a perfect indication of the carelessness and thoughtlessness of the film.
While it's easy to appreciate the trillion-dollar-coin idea as an intellectual exercise and a highly successful troll of the Washington establishment, and maybe even as a teaching moment in policy making, at the end of the day it doesn't stand a chance of happening.
A few weeks ago I turned 56. To commemorate and celebrate, I ran 5.6 miles around Central Park. It felt good knowing I could run that distance and still be fit enough to join my husband and daughters at a birthday dinner downtown a few hours later. That's a sea change from when I turned 50.
The Gangster Squad is not a good movie. But it is that rarity in today's ultra-aware and uber-cynical age; a film so gleefully absurd and ridiculously cliched that it achieves a kind of skewed entertainment value.
Thanks to the same fossil fuel industry that's ripping apart Aboriginal lands, we're at the very end of our rope as a species; it's time, finally, to listen to the people we've spent the last five centuries shunting to one side.
Opponents of laws regulating the sale, manufacture and use of guns fervently invoke the Second Amendment. In their view, the Second Amendment forbids the government to regulate guns. Period. End of discussion. But it is more complicated than that.
Somehow, after 236 years under spacious skies, we've reached a place where having it all only accents what we lack. The shortfalls of our lives glint in the corner of our eyes and rather than look away, we sit and discount our blessings.
We would like to persuade you that 2012 held a less-noticed Court decision that deserves your attention. It has to do with our collective culture. Because in 2012 the Supreme Court decided that Congress could take it away from us. No, really. That is what they decided.
I combed through this dangerous catalogue, and picked out what I think will be the best adventures for 2013 -- and I have personally tested them all, and reported about each on Huffington Post.
Kids these days. Just what are they up to online? Intrigued by one tenth-grader's musings (via her brother) on trends in the tech world, investor Garry Tan conducted an informal survey of how 1,000 teens and twenty-somethings are using social media.
Do yourself a favor, and don't go see Zero Dark Thirty. Don't encourage film-making that at best offers ambiguity about torture, and at worst endorses it. Spend the two and a half hours and the $10 on something more valuable, and moral.
The job of treasury secretary is arguably the most important one the president will fill in his second term. It's certainly the choice that will most affect the American people's daily lives, future hopes, and aspirations.
It took awhile, but more than five years after a wave of failing subprime loans wrecked the American economy, regulators have instituted new rules that prevent lenders from offering prospective buyers the worst types of mortgages.
Yes, Chris Christie is a moderate on marriage equality. In a hardlined Republican crowd, that's rare. He's also acknowledged the man-made causes of the climate crisis. Good for him, but how screwy is it that we have to give credit to people who simply acknowledge scientific facts?
You don't have to sell everything you own, say goodbye to everyone you've ever known, and take off for a new life in some distant and exotic place, never to be heard from again. That's not the only way to realize the benefits of retiring overseas.
To anyone who is already reconsidering commitments related to diet, exercise, work, family time or "me" time, don't give up and certainly don't stress over them; you simply have to find that sweet spot somewhere between ambition and the impossible.
As an openly gay man, his words were then and remain regrettable, and all Americans deserve the explanation and apology that Chuck has succinctly and generously offered. I accept his apology, as a gay American and as his friend.
On the day when the National Cathedral has announced that gay people can be married in its sanctuary, it seems discordant to invite someone to pray who is on the record as condemning gay people to hell.
Despite such terminology as "fiscal cliff" and "debt ceiling," the great debate taking place in Washington now has relatively little to do with financial issues. It is all about ideology. It is all about economic winners and losers in American society.
Most Americans realize that instead of spending billions of dollars extending our military presence in Afghanistan, we need to commit to a political settlement, bring all of our troops safely home and invest in jobs as well as nation-building here at home.
