To the Point

The British parliament has voted to recognize a Palestinian state. In Europe and elsewhere, there’s outrage over Israel’s latest settlement in the West Bank. Are the Palestinians taking “diplomatic warfare” too far?

Combat veterans are coming home to a nation exhausted by 13 years of war, and plans call for reducing the size of the Army. Will arming and training the soldiers of other countries make the world safer or backfire as it has in Iraq? Will extended reliance on private contractors make military action immune to accountability?

Nobel Prize winner and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has been knocking Barack Obama since the campaign of 2008. Now, Krugman’s written at length to call him “one of the most consequential” and even “successful presidents in American history.”

Republicans say it’s often too easy to cast a ballot, and they’ve enacted requirements to control “voter fraud.” Democrats say voting’s not easy enough, and that GOP rules are designed to keep poor and minority citizens away from the polls. We’ll hear what’s at stake for tight races in several key states.

The first person to contract Ebola in the United States is a nurse who treated Thomas Duncan, the man who died of Ebola in Dallas after catching it in Liberia. Other healthcare workers who treated Duncan might be at risk.We'll hear about the risks in this country, and how Ebola spread in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

In San Francisco and Berkeley, California, Big Soda has been lumped with Big Tobacco as a target of health-conscious reformers. Next month, voters may tax sugary soft drinks by a few cents per can. To defeat them, Coke, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper will spend more than 15 dollars a vote.

Louisiana is losing chunks of its coast at a remarkable rate. The erosion threatens to destroy most of the US offshore oil and gas production, much of its seafood industry and millions of homes. Should the fossil fuel industry foot the bill for restoring the coast? Or should taxpayers pony up the full amount?

While Washington is obsessed with Democratic control of the Senate, Republican Governors are fighting for re-election in some crucial states. It’s all about budget deficits, education cuts and slow job growth. What are the possible consequences for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016?

The US Supreme Court began its latest session with a thunderous silence: not even explaining why it refused to consider same-sex marriage. The court may be off to a quiet start, but it’s famously divided, and legal thinkers aren’t ruling out the prospect of big noise before the term is all over.

As high-tech aerial weaponry rains down on Syria and Iraq, the medieval Islamic State, or ISIS, is not just holding on but threatening to take new territory. We’ll look at the early days of America’s latest offensive in the Middle East. Is there a coherent strategy? What would constitute “victory” or “defeat?”