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Chivers travels with a unit of the Free Syrian Army, the Tawhid Brigade, during the battles in Aleppo against the Assad regime. The unit's soldiers come from all parts of Syrian society, an accountant, a nurse, a real estate agent, farmers, construction workers and army defectors.

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This WSJ editorial says the recent agreement at the Caterpillar Joliet plant in llinois is not about leverage but about increasing U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. As U.S. competitivness improves and the economy grows wages will increase. It does little service to management, labor and the U.S. economy for above market wage rates to lead to loss of manufacturing competitiveness as happened in the U.S. automobile industry, resulting in closing of plants.

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People who worked with Romney in the Mormon church describe the experience of Romney who started as an "iron rodder" walking the straight path, and gradually learning of other people's experiences that led to learning and growth and showing a new openness. In contrast to his "47%" remark about people dependent on the government, here he is seen telling another church member Barlow, that what bothers him most and what he has thought a lot about is how to genuinely help the poor in his church. Over the years he learned to compromise with Mormon feminists who sought larger roles in the church and was able to make the progress from being less flexible to being open to other ideas and perceptions. In other situations he allowed unorthodox progressives in the Mormon church to play a part in the organization and teach. The outreach efforts Romney participated in actively included efforts in the inner city and working with immigrants from Haiti, some of whom were illegal immigrants. This is a detailed well researched account from talking to many people active in the church organization and in the church community by Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post. It is one of the rare glimpses of the life of Mitt Romney inside the church. Because of the public perception of Mormonism there is a distance kept with accounts of life in the church, and Romney has shown the same reticence to talk about the church. Seen as a church it is is like other churches, Catholic or Protestant, with the same challenges that face all churches- keeping up the size of the congregation, the poor, immigrants, church organization, raising contributions, getting people to donate hours of work to the church activity. It is one of the ironies of the 2012 presidential campaign that Romney as a member of a Mormon church in a predominantly Catholic and Protestant world has remained reticent about his experiences and how it shaped him. And also remained reticent -till the last months of the campaign with the demands for authenticity growing strident- about how the experiences as governor of the liberal state of Massachusetts had shaped him, this time as the number of Republican politicians in sharply liberal states were a distinct minority in the Republican party. To voters this meant not knowing who he was beyond Bain Capital, the perceptions of which doggedly pursued Romney till the reticence became unbearable in the final weeks of the campaign....

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Samuelson shows why the Ryan Plan needs serious consideration because it brings in competition from the private sector to control medical costs. The Obama plan does not reduce Medicare costs he says because it merely transfers the costs to mandated Affordable Care Act spending. And the Independent Advisory Board of 15 experts given the job of reducing Medicare spending if it exceeds a certain amount is ineffective- it cannot increase patient cost-sharing, restrict benefits or modify eligibility or cut spending by more than 1.5% in any particular year according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Important points to remember about health care are: 1) sustainable Medicare for current and future generations can only be on the basis of sound finances 2) sound finances mean first and foremost controlling health care costs 3) private sector competition is the better way to control health care costs in todays environment where cost reduction needs to be large enough to make Medicare sustainable especially when competition shifts health care delivery away from the cost increasing fee-for-service system 5) Obama Affordable Health Care Act does little to change the costly fee for service system and the basic mechanism of cost escalation in U.S. health care. The Ryan plan's voucher option injects this dose of competition into the system and only for those who choose this option, it was also drafted with the help of Democrat Ron Wyden, and is cautious because it does'nt start this till 2023- giving time for discussion and improvement, and therefore a constructive effort to look at serious ways to control uncontrolled fee-for-service spending....

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Applebaum describes how Obama as president took action on the stimulus after the 2008 financial crisis, but did not take the necessary action to stem foreclosures and aid a recovery in housing. This now appears to be one of the critical failures of his presidency.

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The Dieppe landings on the coast of occupied France in 1942 and Canadian losses.

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A new study by the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation shows partisan politics will affect the new president in the U.S. in 2013, to the point of making it difficult to govern.

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Amy Goldstein spends time in Janesville, Wisconsin, in U.S. vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's congressional district, and talks to local people to give a glimpse of life in Janesville after the closing of the GM plant and the 2008 financial crisis. She looks at the effects of long-term unemployment and cuts in services in communities such as Janesville as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, while on leave from the national staff of the Washington Post. Ryan was first elected to the U.S. Congress in 1998, about a decade before the closing of the GM plant, and has been reelected to Congress each time for 7 consecutive terms. Goldstein says Janesville is typical of the communities across America that have suffered job losses- the loss of more jobs in manufacturing than any other sector, a greater impact of job loss for men than women, and a large impact on people who had less education but well paid jobs. As shown by the recent settlement for a Caterpillar plant in Joliet, Illinois, and across the U.S. manufacturing landscape, older workers who enjoyed higher wages are retiring with newer workers coming in at a lower wage, which is improving U.S. manufacturing competitiveness but also increasing the importance of education for higher paying jobs....

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The non-partisan approach taken by Republican governor Snyder of Michigan contrasts sharply with the approach of Governor Walker in Wisconsin and Governor Brownback in Kansas.

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The long collaboration, discussions and exchange of ideas between Romney and Ryan, that preceded the selection of Ryan as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Romney worked hard to win Ryan's support from the conservative wing of the party and Ryan checked his ideas for Medicare reform with Romney's.