By Conrad Black

It has been a learned joke for 40 years that long-serving Chinese premier Chou En-lai, when asked the principal consequence of the French Revolution, replied: “It is too early to say.” As events unfold in this rather dismal election year in the United States, that does not now seem such a jokey comment. The Revolution in France was carried out in successively more radical stages in the name of Reason, culminating in the bloodbath of the Terror of Prairial in 1794 under the Committee of Public Safety headed by Maximilien de Robespierre. Robespierre menaced the National Convention; he was deposed, declared outside the law, and executed without trial. The calm of Thermidor ensued and there followed pell-mell in the next 165 years a cavalcade of directory, consulate, empires, restorations, republics, and occupations.

The central struggle, in France and in most of the West, was over the role of the state, and more generally, over the cohabitation in Western civilization of the forces of Faith and the forces of, broadly speaking, Reason. (Between 1793 and 1871, one archbishop of Paris fled, one was publicly guillotined, one executed by firing squad, and two were assassinated — pretty rough treatment for normally serenely eminent pillars of society; yet, at intervals, the Church was exalted.) This naturally unstable balance, as the sage Chinese statesman realized, is unresolved, even in America. Most of the leaders of the American Revolution were not religious men; of the six principal founders of the United States, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Adams, only Adams was a practicing Christian. Washington managed the vocabulary and rites occasionally, as when he prayed at Fort Necessity in 1754 (as well he might, after effectively starting the Seven Years’ War with France and being in a desperate military siege), or when he recommended, for war profiteers in the Continental Congress, a higher gallows than Haman’s in the Old Testament (reckoned to have been 50 feet tall). Jefferson was a deist but managed to refer to “Nature’s God” and Man’s “Creator” in the Declaration of Independence.

By W. Michael Cox & Richard Alm

Economic change unleashes powerful forces. We can stubbornly resist them and cling to the status quo, but at best, that ushers in a slow but inevitable decline. A better approach lies in understanding the forces that periodically remake the economy, so we can seize the emerging opportunities they bring. This strategy has worked in the past, and it will work today.

A significant force in recent decades has been globalization. It has brought with it a surge in outsourcing, the shorthand term for businesses’ cutting jobs in the United States and moving production overseas to gain access to lower-cost labor. Many Americans view this development as a scourge, meaning the business practices of Mitt Romney’s private-equity firm, Bain Capital, have become fodder for the presidential campaign’s mudslinging.

Outsourcing makes for perfect political posturing — a quick-jab sound bite, serving up big business and foreign workers as villains and unemployed Americans as victims. But the economic reality of outsourcing isn’t so black and white. The issue goes far beyond the simple fact of job losses and touches on the broader realities of trade, basic human rights, and economic progress.

In economic terms, outsourcing jobs differs little from importing goods. Both involve using labor abroad rather than at home — so there’s no logical consistency in cursing one while tolerating the other. In 2011, America imported $2.6 trillion in goods and services, suggesting that outsourcing has just a tiny share of the effect foreign trade overall has on American jobs.

By Shea Bennett on August 1, 2012 8:00 AM

Did you know that, when challenged, social media as evidence for search warrants holds up in court 87 percent of the time?

Social media has rapidly changed the world, and law enforcement is no exception to its charms. Authorities use platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to identify associates with persons of interest, track the location of criminal activity, gather photos or statements to corroborate evidence, solicit tips on crimes and better understand criminal networks.

It’s very much a work in progress, as 80 percent of law enforcement professionals are self-taught when it comes to using social media for investigations. Still, two thirds believe these tools help them solve crimes more quickly.

This infographic from PoliceOne.com takes a closer look at social media use by law enforcement.

  By Shea Bennett   If you hang around or come into contact with a lot of sick people, you’re very likely to fall ill yourself. Common sense, perhaps, but what if we could use social media to predict the likelihood of that happening in advance? Researchers at the University Of Rochester in New York […]