Walter Russell Mead thinks he’s seen the Occupy Wall Street movement before, in fact very recently: At first glance, OWS and the Tea Party seem to share many similarities: both are loud populist movements precipitated by the recession, and both share an intense anger at established politicians and Wall Street for leading us into this mess, albeit with some differences on the diagnosis. Yet in many other ways, these movements could not be more different. The Tea Party movement had its share of professional malcontents but on the whole it was a movement of people and kinds of people who [...] read more

Frank Bruni has a good column up about the progression of same sex marriages in countries like Portugal and wonders why the movement is so slow here in the States: With minimal international attention, Portugal — tiny, overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Portugal — legalized same-sex marriage last year. Although the country is hardly seen as a Scandinavian-style bastion of social progressivism, it’s one of just 10 countries where such marriages can be performed nationwide, and in this regard it finds itself ahead of a majority of wealthier, more populous European countries, like France, Germany, Italy and Britain. In the United States, [...] read more

Frank Bruni: In a column about Christie’s size in The Washington Post, Eugene Robinson noted that the governor “speaks often about the need for officials to display leadership.” “Well, Gov. Christie, lead thyself,” Robinson wrote, later adding: “Eat a salad and take a walk.” In a Bloomberg View column, Michael Kinsley was blunter and meaner, asserting that Christie “cannot be president: He is just too fat.” That evaluation pertained not to Christie’s ability to seduce voters but to his character, writ in love handles and chins. They symbolized insufficient discipline, in Kinsley’s estimation, and Christie shouldn’t be granted access to [...] read more

In all the hubbub surrounding the execution of Troy Davis, there was little mention of another execution taking place in Texas on the same day: As Texas prepares to execute one of his father’s killers, Ross Byrd hopes the state shows the man the mercy his father, James Byrd Jr., never got when he was dragged behind a truck to his death. “You can’t fight murder with murder,” Ross Byrd, 32, told Reuters late Tuesday, the night before Wednesday’s scheduled execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer for one of the most notorious hate crimes in modern times. “Life in prison would [...] read more