German Prime Minister Angela Merkel shocked many with her recent comment about her nation’s commitment to accept Middle Eastern refugees. “What we are experiencing now is something that will occupy and change our country in coming years,” she said, adding that “We want the change to be positive, and we believe we can accomplish that.” Is this simply the kind and generous act of a nation trying to make amends for its Nazi past? Is it an act of economic self-interest? Or might this influx of new residents bring with them an unintended consequence?

As the political landscape of Europe changes, “The euro’s founding father has warned that Europe’s latest plan for an EMU-wide finance ministry is a dangerous attempt to smuggle through political union, and breaches the basic tenets of modern democracy. Professor Otmar Issing… said it would be ‘dangerous’ to transfer control over tax and spending to the EU federal level before full political union has been established first on democratic foundations.

A sobering headline from a recent news article read “Extreme Weather Watch: August 2015—The Western US Burns Up” (San Diego Free Press, September 8, 2015). This year, over eight million acres have burned, primarily in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and California (National Interagency Fire Center, September 6, 2015). Firefighters have come from around the globe, and the U.S.

“In a letter released on Tuesday, the pontiff requested that women who have abortions—and the doctors who perform them—can be pardoned, during the church’s self-declared ‘Jubilee Year,’ which runs for most of next year. According to Catholic doctrine, abortion is such a grave sin that those who procure or perform it are automatically excommunicated… ‘I have decided...

From the Jetsons’ flying cars, to Marty McFly’s self-tying shoes, we all have desired to see a glimpse of what the future will be like. Yet, where are the flying cars? Where are my self-tying shoes? Will men soon set foot on Mars? Perhaps most importantly, what are the communities of tomorrow really going to look like?