The media discussion of Proposition 19, the California ballot proposition that, if passed, would legalize marijuana for recreational use, offers something of a break from all that sober pre-election commentary about The State of the Nation (or at least of Congress).

For the first time in 80 years, this year’s Republican turnout in statewide midterm primaries held before September exceeded Democratic turnout – by 4 million votes. It’s numbers like these that have pundits talking about, and Democrats worrying about, an “enthusiasm gap” between the two major…

The 10 sleeper spies who came in from the not-so-cold were discovered not because of stellar investigative work by the CIA, but because someone sang like a canary. At least, that’s what Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after engaging in a very different kind of singing: a…