PAKISTAN
Missile strikes from unmanned Predator drones have been on the rise in Pakistan since last summer. Colin Cookman evaluated the effectiveness of the strikes, which have killed high-value Al Qaeda targets, as well as hundreds of civilians. An interactive map provides more details on strike locations and consequences.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Rep. Ellen Tauscher introduced a bill to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the California Supreme Court heard arguments in a legal challenge to the states ban on same-sex marriages, and 15 Massachusetts residents filed suit against the commissioner of the Social Security Administration and other federal agencies, challenging the constitutionality of the government’s decision to not recognized their marriages. At CAP, Lawrence J. Korb assessed the staggering costs to the military of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; Ben Furnas and Josh Rosenthal added up the benefits denied to same-sex couples; and Sarah Dreier made the moral and faith-based case for equal rights.
ECONOMY
The labor market continues to plunge, observed Heather Boushey in an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data on job numbers for February. Employers shed 651,000 jobs in February—the largest one-month fall in employment since 1949—and total job losses have reached 4.4 million since the recession began in December 2007. CAP provided an updated Recovery and Reinvestment 102 on how the act will work, and a Saving American Homes 101 on new legislation in Congress to help homeowners, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009.
MEDIA AND CULTURE
Ruy Teixeira demonstrated the public’s backing of President Barack Obama’s approach to the economic crisis in a new opinion snapshot. And Eric Alterman and Danielle Ivory reviewed the recent conservative meltdown in this week’s “Think Again.”