Stalemate

Eve Duncan is a forensic sculptor goes to South America to help a drug lord in need of her services, after he offers to help her find her seven-year-old daughters body and killer.

Gridlock is not a modern legislative condition. Although the term is said to have entered the American political lexicon after the 1980 elections, Alexander Hamilton complained about it more than two hundred years ago. In many ways, stalemate seems endemic to American politics. Constitutional skeptics even suggest that the framers intentionally designed the Constitution to guarantee gridlock. In Stalemate, Sarah Binder examines the causes and consequences of gridlock, focusing on the ability of Congress to broach and secure policy compromise on significant national issues. Reviewing more than fifty years of legislative history, Binder measures the frequency of deadlock during that time and offers concrete advice for policymakers interested in improving the institutional capacity of Congress. Binder begins by revisiting the notion of "framers' intent," investigating whether gridlock was the preferred outcome of those who designed the American system of separated powers. Her research suggests that frequent policy gridlock might instead be an unintended consequence of constitutional design. Next, she explores the ways in which elections and institutions together shape the capacity of Congress and the president to make public law. She examines two facets of its institutional evolution: the emergence of the Senate as a coequal legislative partner of the House and the insertion of political parties into a legislative arena originally devoid of parties. Finally, she offers a new empirical approach for testing accounts of policy stalemate during the decades since World War II. These measurements reveal patterns in legislative performance during the second half of the twentieth century, showing the frequency of policy deadlock and the legislative stages at which it has most often emerged in the postwar period. Binder uses the new measure of stalemate to explain empirical patterns in the frequency of gridlock. The results weave together the effects of institu

Is a suspected child abductor laughing in the faces of the police and the victims’ families? For years, little girls have been disappearing from the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area. Their bodies have never been found. One man ties the cases together. He contacts the police. He helps search for the missing children. He offers support and love to the grieving families. Is he guilty? Or, is he the victim of his own eccentricities? Timothy James Bindner has appeared on talk shows, attended victims’ memorials, and offered meticulously detailed theories of the crimes themselves. Yet, in spite of years of intensive investigation, surveillance, and interrogation, Bindner has never been charged. Steadfastly maintaining his innocence, Bindner has infuriated the authorities with his public and outspoken challenges to make their case or leave him alone. This inside account—featuring the words of Bindner himself—takes us into the mind of a suspected child abductor as well as the complex realm of modern forensic investigation. A shocking indictment of our flawed legal system, Stalemate asks the even more disturbing question of whether Timothy James Bindner is playing a sinister game of cat and mouse—and getting away with it.

Since 9/11, the threat of terrorism has concerned Americans more than any other issue they face. Author Greg Reeson says this is not likely to change in the near future. In Stalemate, he argues that we are waging an unwinnable war against terrorism--that Muslim extremist ideology is a problem we can manage, but not soon solve. This conflict with terrorism will not end in victory or defeat, at least not in the traditional sense. The 9/11 attacks ushered in a new era in which the long-term aim of theUnited States will be the management and mitigation of Islamic extremist violence so that it interferes as little as possible with daily life. The book begins with a look at the transition from the Cold War to an era of globalization that facilitated the9/11 terrorist attacks, then explains how the al Qaeda organization founded by Osama bin Laden has transformed into a global network of like-minded terrorist groups collectively known as Al Qaeda and Associated Movements, or AQAM. The author then discusses the components of strategy before walking the reader through the elements of national power (Diplomatic, Information, Military, Economic, Intelligence, Law Enforcement) used by the United States in a comprehensive and coordinated effort to reduce the risk of terrorist violence against American citizens and interests worldwide. He concludes with a look at the global hotspots where the United States will likely be involved for the foreseeable future, a brief discussion of what constitutes victory in thisframework, and the role the United States will have to take on in the international system in the future.

Ending the Stalemate assesses housing and urban development programs of the past 60 years, examines current urban conditions and interventions, and recommends steps that should be taken to link housing assistance, neighborhood renewal and urban development/redevelopment with the forces reshaping urban life. Mary K. Nenno has found that past housing and urban development efforts have been characterized by starts and stops, with significant action coming only in times of national crises such as economic depression or city disturbances. Comprehensive national initiatives to revitalize cities and declining metropolitan areas have been dormant for over two decades despite growing evidence of physical, economic, and human distress. Nenno finds hope for future progress in the opportunities provided by mainstream forces now at work in urban areas: the emergence of the 'urban region' as the base for joining cities and their outlying metropolitan areas in a new relationship; and the prospect of comprehensive improvement strategies based on partnerships between public, private, and citizen-based entities.

This text provides an in-depth analysis of the politics and organization of Muslim autocracies, radical Islamist movements, and democracies, explaining their influence on the never-ending conflicts in the Middle East. In order to properly understand the nature of the conflicts that currently plague the Middle East—and have for so many decades—it is essential to grasp the fundamental differences between Muslim autocracies, radical Islamist movements, and democracies. Recognizing how the countries and governments involved differ in terms of their political, social, and military organization, and with regard to how their past histories influence the way they approach conflicts, is the first step towards achieving a more stable and peaceful environment for the groups involved. Instead of examining causes or consequences of specific conflicts like the Six Day War or Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, this text seeks to explain the dynamics of the Middle East by documenting how the dissimilar characteristics of democracies, Islamists, and Muslim autocrats affect how each approaches decision-making, sustainment, communication, and the use of force.

A classic of Holocaust literature from “one of the great masters of the short novel.” —The New Yorker In the Vilna Ghetto during World War II, Nazi Commandant Schoger demands that all children be sent to the death camp. When Abraham Lipman pleads with him to spare their lives, Schoger reconsiders, and tells Lipman there will be a chess match between himself and Lipman’s only surviving son, Isaac, a chess prodigy. If Isaac wins, the children will live, but Isaac will die. If Isaac loses, the children will die, but Isaac will live. Only a draw will save the ghetto from this terrible predicament. The chess game begins: a nightmarish contest played over the course of several evenings, witnessed by an audience impotent to act, staking the lives of their children on a stalemate. This is a moving story of a father and a son who shame their cruel perpetrator with their dignity, spirit, and extraordinary courage. Stalemate speaks to the power of humor even under the direst circumstances. As a parable that gives voice to the unspeakable, Stalemate is an antidote to despair. “Gripping . . . a truly memorable work.” —Booklist

Stalemate reveals the history and contemporary politics of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Asia's strongest insurgent army on Myanmar's border with China. This ethnographic tale recounts how a highland group, often dismissed as rebels or narcotraffickers, maintains a relational autonomy between two powerful lowland states. The Wa polity engages rather than evades these surrounding states, yet struggles to fit into their registers of sovereignty and statehood. Andrew Ong examines political culture among Wa elites and people, UWSA external relations, and capital flows with neighboring China, showing how Wa autonomy is enacted through careful navigation of complex borderland geopolitics and the shadow economy. He analyzes the seeming stalemate between the Myanmar state and the UWSA as one of tactical dissonance—adopting simultaneous postures of authority and subordination and creating disruptions and connections. Stalemate illuminates how seemingly ambiguous and disorderly practices of political signaling, economic regulation, and military governance produce relative stability, challenging our assumptions about state-like processes at the peripheries.