Newsweek July 24, 2015

Let’s start with an undeniable truth: In the United States, the people have the right to keep and bear arms. And let’s then acknowledge that the childish interpretation of that constitutional amendment—that Americans have the right to whatever accessory they can put on, in or over a gun for the sole purpose of making it more deadly—is a dangerous falsehood. Therein lies the chasm between those seeking constitutionally impossible forms of gun control and their political opponents, who view every proposal regulating weaponry as the first step toward dictatorship. Caught in the middle are the majority of Americans who think people should be allowed to keep guns but seesaw over tougher laws regarding those weapons. There is, however, a simple solution, a common-sense compromise that will infuriate both sets of extremists in…

A trial lawyer was having a glass of wine with two companions inside the Regency Hotel, on a stretch of Park Avenue that is one of the last preserves of old money in Manhattan. It was February 2006. The bar was called The Library. While sitting there, the lawyer was approached by a radiant blonde who appeared to recognize him. They started flirting. It would be years before they stopped. The lawyer was John Edwards, the North Carolina litigator turned U.S. senator; he was just beginning his second run for president. The woman was Rielle Hunter, who would become his campaign videographer. As his wife, Elizabeth Edwards fought and lost a battle against metastatic breast cancer, John Edwards and Hunter carried on an affair, eventually conceiving what the press would gleefully…

Owensboro, Kentucky, on the banks of the Ohio River, is a town best known for its barbecue, bourbon and bluegrass —not to mention native son Johnny Depp. Every year, the town hosts a variety of food and music festivals. But in May 2009, a different sort of attraction arrived in Owensboro: The Obama administration quietly brought in a group of Iranian musicians to learn about American folk music. It was a small diplomatic gesture, but one the White House hoped would help ease tensions between the U.S. and Iran, two longtime foes. It wasn’t without risk. Hard-liners on both sides often view any dialogue with suspicion, and in the lead-up to the Iranians’ visit to the town’s International Bluegrass Music Museum, American security officials swore the staff to secrecy. If word…

On July 10, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard legal arguments over President Barack Obama’s controversial November executive order to delay the deportation of undocumented immigrants. As with most high-profile cases, the spinning began as soon as the court adjourned. U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, was on the phone with reporters touting the benefits of keeping those immigrants in the country. He noted that many of the undocumented aliens brought to the U.S. as children thrived after Obama deferred their deportation and granted them work permits via a previous executive order, in 2012. It’s an economic rationale that strikes directly at the arguments laid out that day by the lawyers representing 26 Republican-led states, who sued the federal government late last year to block the second…

Earlier this month, the White House announced the launch of a series of measures intended to make solar power more accessible to low- and middle-income households. Brian Deese, senior adviser to President Barack Obama on climate, said the administration aims to “deploy low-cost solar energy in every community in the country." Ten or 15 years ago, that would have been unthinkable, because solar was too expensive. But the price in the U.S. has dropped precipitously in recent years. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, the cost of installing solar panels on the average home has plummeted 70 percent since 1998, from nearly $86,000 for a 5-kilowatt installation (the average residential solar array) to just $26,000 in 2014. That translates to a massive drop in per-month…

Fourteen-year-old Fawzi lies in a hospital bed in Amman’s Al Maqased hospital, pulling at the stuffing poking out of a plush toy basketball. Propped up by a Spider-Man pillow, he is surrounded by his mother, brother and medical workers. He is nervous. The teenager, who has big brown eyes and a mop of brown hair, was on the roof of his uncle’s house in March when a plane dropped a bomb nearby. The explosion resulted in a fracture to his left leg and hip. It also blew Fawzi’s intestines out of his body, where they remained until he received emergency surgery in Syria during which his abdomen was clipped together with staples. He was later moved to Jordan, and the staples were due to be removed the day Newsweek met him…