FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm not a vegetarian, though my wife and I are trying to eat less meat both for health reasons and because of the environmental impact. But vegetarians who eat fish for ethical reasons never made sense to me. Eating that way for health reasons makes sense, though we've toxified the ocean food chain … Continue reading Fish have feelings

If there is a line, Israel has crossed it. For the sixth time since fighting in Gaza began, the IDF has dropped ordinance on a UNRWA school where thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians had sought shelter. Today's attack killed at least 10 people, and Sunday's total of 71 Palestinians killed brought the Operation Protective Edge's … Continue reading The line between “appalling” and “crime against humanity”

The Islamic State and its allies have defeated the Kurdish peshmerga and taken control of the Mosul Dam, north of Mosul itself on the Tigris River, as well as Sinjar, a town to the west of Mosul that is home to many of Iraq's Yazidi people. They now also control the Batma and Ain Zalah … Continue reading Another IS offensive leads to another humanitarian crisis

Do you ever get mad that your furniture doesn't offer a lot of good places to stash your many firearms? Well, "concealment furniture" is what you need, and New Jersey Concealment Furniture will make it for you: The company is called New Jersey Concealment Furniture, and it sells an array of products, including coat racks, … Continue reading The ultimate marriage of form and function

Normally I'm down with Atrios's "Worst Person in the World" selection, but today I have to disagree. John Brennan lies a lot about a lot of important things, and he should probably lose his job for it, but the Worst Person in the World today is the (now former, thankfully) blogger for the Times of … Continue reading In which I disagree with Atrios

The big news yesterday evening was that Israel and Hamas had agreed on a 72 hour "humanitarian" ceasefire, which is better than nothing, but let's not kid ourselves; the only real "humanitarian" thing that can be done here is a full and indefinite stop to the violence. But 72 hours gives you time to get … Continue reading To be fair, getting through 1/36 of a ceasefire is progress