Vox: Despite Trump’s new war on pot, Vermont just legalized marijuana

In this, the Crooked Media hosts have lots of allies — virtually the entirety of the Democrats allied activists and interest group organizations are demanding a hard line. This basic dynamic — outside media and activist groups driving members of Congress to use the continued functioning of the federal government as leverage — is exactly what Democrats condemned the Republican Party for in the Obama years. [...]

At the base of Grossmann and Hopkins’s book was reams of data showing that the Democratic Party was a more fractious coalition of interest groups that were primarily interested in policy concessions — as such, they took a more transactional approach to politics, prizing strategies that would get them a deal and accomplish their policy goals.

Republicans, by contrast, were a more homogenous coalition that cared deeply about conservative principles — as such, they took a more ideological approach to politics, prizing strategies that demonstrated philosophical purity and the performative pursuit of their side’s ideals. [...]

Today, Grossmann thinks the Democratic Party is changing. “There is a direct attempt to copy Republicans tactically, particularly in terms of activism and online media trying to hold leaders’ feet to the fire,” he says. But those changes are in service of the Democratic Party’s traditional constituencies and ends: There is a policy outcome of paramount importance to one of the party’s key interest groups, and they’re willing to compromise to get it done.

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Slate: Back to Square One

Following the ratification of the treaty, with the closure of the Macedonian border in northern Greece, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, an estimated 50,000 refugees and migrants from the MENA region became stranded in Greece. Because Macedonia, Albania and other Balkan countries are not part of the EU, they are not required to abide by the EU policy of open borders. They effectively serve as a buffer, blocking refugees progress from member state Greece to the rest of the EU.  [...]

With the Greek–Macedonian border to the north tightly sealed, however, the only way to leave the country was to go via illegal means—people smugglers—either by land or air. Refugees who could afford to spend upward of $3,600 per person, for a fake passport and visa, went by air. Those who couldn’t afford this expense, or who had large families, went by land along the Balkan route, the cost of which was usually half, though the risk usually doubled. [...]

For women traveling alone, oftentimes smugglers pose the greatest threats, asking for sexual favors in return for safe passage to another country. Many women are left with no choice as prices have become so high. [...]

Throughout 2016 and 2017, Oxfam interviewed hundreds of refugees and migrants who were attempting to traverse the Balkans on their way to central and northern Europe. What they found was that “rather than being places of safety, countries on the Western Balkan route have failed to offer protection or due process to many new arrivals.”

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IFLScience: China Is Now The World's Biggest Publisher Of Scientific Articles, Overtaking The United States

The latest news, therefore, might not come as that much of a surprise to many, but China’s rapid rise over the last two decades has been something to behold. The amount of money that China invests in R&D has increased by 18 percent annually, while the number of people graduating with a science bachelor’s degree has risen from 359,000 to 1.65 million between 2000 and 2014, compared to 483,000 to 742,000 in the US.

The latest news, therefore, might not come as that much of a surprise to many, but China’s rapid rise over the last two decades has been something to behold. The amount of money that China invests in R&D has increased by 18 percent annually, while the number of people graduating with a science bachelor’s degree has risen from 359,000 to 1.65 million between 2000 and 2014, compared to 483,000 to 742,000 in the US.  [...]

But it is important to note that this does not mean that the US has lost its importance or influence in scientific research. While China might now be producing more research overall, the US still wracks up more citations, behind only Sweden and Switzerland, and above the EU, which is followed by China. This could reflect that the work being carried out in the US involves more fundamental questions.

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Quartz: An alternative measure to GDP is proof that the global economy isn’t what it seems

Criticism of GDP has been mounting for years, with economists recommending that we demote it as a measure of progress or replace it with a dashboard of indicators that better represent living standards. Several ideas for better measures have been proposed, inspired by the work of a commission set up in 2008 by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, which asked economists including Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen to come up with alternatives to GDP.

The WEF proposes a measure of its own, dubbed the “inclusive development index.” While it takes into account growth, as measured using GDP per capita, employment, and productivity, it also incorporates several other metrics, including gauges of poverty, life expectancy, public debt, median income, wealth inequality and carbon intensity. The index also considers investments in human capital, the depletion of natural resources, and damage caused by pollution.

This broader index of economic progress and wellbeing shows how the traditional measure of growth often falls short. In the past five years, almost a third of the 103 countries covered by the WEF index experienced a decrease in their inclusive development scores even as GDP increased. Among the 29 advanced economies in the sample, all but three have experienced economic growth over that period, but most—16 out of 29—saw their measures of social inclusion deteriorate, according to the WEF. Income inequality has risen or remained stable in 20 of these advanced economies, and poverty has increased in 17.

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Quartz: Middle Eastern investors are only interested in three addresses in London

“We are seeing a significant surge in enquiries and sales from wealthy Middle East buyers, with a 30% rise over the last four months,” said Becky Fatemi, managing director of Rokstone, in a statement to Quartz. “What is interesting is that the Gulf investors are focusing all of their interest in buying property in the ‘platinum triangle’ of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair. Go outside of this trio of addresses and their interest in buying declines significantly.”

Rokstone, who notes that demand is at least in part driven “by the political and economic instability in the Gulf region,” says there has been a 20% rise in enquiries from Qatar, a 15% rise in enquiries from Bahrain, and a 5% rise in applicants from Yemen. It also said that over 70% of Middle East buyers only purchase property within 10-15 minutes walk of Harrods, the luxury department store in London’s Knightsbridge neighborhood. [...]

This includes the formerly sought-after area of Hampstead where Middle Eastern buyers had previously snapped up properties in droves in the 1980s and 1990s. Now, considered “too far out” from central London says Rokstone, the difference between the asking and final selling prices is down by over 36%—the biggest drop of any luxury address in the capital.

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