Business first: my daughter got sent home from school yesterday with a nasty cough, and then was up half the night with it, so my wife and I decided to keep her home today. That's why blogging will probably be on the light/non-existent side for the rest of the day. I did want to say … Continue reading The state of the union is, you know, the usual

Granted this is a shot in the dark, but I'm going to guess that the worst job in the White House, and maybe in all of Washington, DC, on this fine day is Person in Charge of Writing the State of the Union Language on Yemen. It's virtually certain that Yemen will be included in … Continue reading The worst job in the White House today

Look, I'm not about to suggest that the state of America's policing is any better right now, but seriously, Kenya? Around 100 primary school children and a small group of activists pushed over a newly built wall that separated playing fields and the school buildings, close to the capital Nairobi's main domestic airport on Monday. … Continue reading Who’s tear-gassing schoolchildren this week?

Bobby Jindal doesn't have facts to back this up... but "no-go zones" are all over the place in Europe, and it's a nightmare. Neighborhoods where women can't go unveiled! Districts where police refuse to enforce the real law, where the only law is that dangerous sherbet law that the Mohammedans follow! Right in the heart … Continue reading Politically correct appeasers demand Bobby Jindal prove his insane claims because fascism, I guess

Last week a Syrian writer named Khaled Atallah (a pseudonym) wrote a piece for Al-Monitor's "Syria Pulse" blog speculating that Israel and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra have been coordinating strikes against the Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies in Quneitra, a region bordering the disputed (but mostly Israeli-controlled) Golan Heights: According to a UN … Continue reading Strange bedfellows, or maybe not so strange

As America waits with, uh, what's the opposition of anticipation? for Mitt "Mitt" Romney to finally decide whether to crank his perpetual campaign back into gear, there's a lot of talk that "Mitt" has recalibrated his AI reinvented his political persona yet again. Now, apparently, the guy who wrote off the poorest 47% of the … Continue reading What’s it going to take to get you in this Mitt Romney today?

The latest round of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 ended yesterday much as every other round has ended, with vague talk of "productive" and "good" talks and little to no apparent progress toward a deal. https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/556867749902049280 In fact, the comments that were coming out of the Iranian delegation on Saturday suggest that this round … Continue reading Iran talks approach wall at high speed

We're getting a real-time lesson in how to spin a wingnut conspiracy tale out of literally nothing. It all started in the aftermath of last week's Paris terrorist attacks, when dangerously unhinged weekend Fox News host Jeanine Pirro welcomed terrorism analyst Steven Emerson on her Sunday program to talk about The Brown Menace in Europe. … Continue reading There may not be any “no go zones” in Paris, but there is at least one “no brain zone” on cable TV

The September 6 ceasefire that supposedly halted the war in eastern Ukraine has never actually been implemented in practice, but the low-level violence that's been ongoing since then is now threatening to escalate back into full-scale war. The flashpoint is Donetsk's international airport, which has been contested by Kiev and the rebels since late May … Continue reading Ukraine is teetering on the brink of war again

I don't have a long tale to share today, but January 16 is the anniversary of a few important days in Middle East-related history that should be commemorated. On this date in 929, Abd al-Rahman III declared that his Emirate of Cordoba was no more, and in its place he created the Caliphate of Cordoba. … Continue reading This date in history: January 16