Militias like these Bundy folks in Oregon are always talking about how they want to take America back to whatever they imagine its founders intended. Their group calls itself "Citizens for Constitutional Freedom," for example, and Ammon Bundy apparently thinks he's the new George Washington. My question is, have any of these people ever read … Continue reading Whatever happened to “the consent of the governed”?

Aside from getting people to talk about Michael Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign is apparently about one thing: making sure that America's political and financial establishment don't lose control of the country to those damn primary voters after all. That's the only thing I can gather from reading things like this: If Republicans were to … Continue reading Rescuing democracy from the voters

The United Nations' special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, announced earlier today that this week's Syrian peace talks in Geneva--which were supposed to happen today--will instead be held on Friday. Presumably, this is because "Friday" is the last work day of the week, and he could not have announced that they were being held … Continue reading Talking just to hear themselves talk

Salon's Ben Norton reports that America's dear Saudi partners appear to be deliberately targeting medical aid workers in Yemen through the use of "double-tap" and even "triple-tap" airstrikes: A Saudi-led coalition airstrike struck the ambulance of the Doctors Without Borders-supported Al Gomhoury Hospital in Yemen’s Saada governorate on Friday, killing the driver, who was a … Continue reading Shared values on display in Yemen

Monday will mark the fifth anniversary of the first wave of protests in Egypt's version of the Arab Spring, the first of 18 days of protests that ended with the resignation of former president/dictator/jolly old hill troll Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011. This time of year is fraught with emotional resonance for current Egyptian … Continue reading Cairo’s uncomfortable weekend

Carly Fiorina, the Guinness record holder among US presidential candidates for quickest trip from "you know, she might have a chance at winning this thing" to "who?" in the television era, whose campaign now subsists largely on Ted Cruz's charity, has taken up a new vocation: accosting preschoolers. Carly Fiorina has been accused of “ambushing” … Continue reading She seems nice

North Korea announced today that it has arrested a University of Virginia student on charges of "we felt like it" and "he picked the wrong day to be in Pyongyang": Otto Frederick Warmbier, 21, was detained Jan. 2 at Pyongyang airport as he prepared to leave after a five-day trip over the New Year’s holiday, … Continue reading Somebody’s got some explaining to do

I wanted to write a post this week about how there are actually signs that moderates are gaining some traction in Iranian politics for the first time since Hassan Rouhani was elected president, but you know what? It would have been a bunch of feel-good bullshit. In the only way that actually matters, Iranian hardliners … Continue reading Pretend democracy

Big news out of Iowa, folks, where new polling shows that Bernie Sanders is opening up a huge lead on Hillary Clinton: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has opened a wide lead over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic contest in Iowa, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Thursday. The poll showed support … Continue reading Please, make it stop