This is pretty freaking cool: "This is a big step for human civilisation," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, the director-general of the European Space Agency (Esa). Shortly after the touchdown was confirmed, Stephan Ulamec, the mission's lander chief, said: "Philae is talking to us... we are on the comet." The first pictures from the surface have already … Continue reading People managed to land a probe on a comet without destroying either the probe or the comet

Mexico is off the beat for this place, and I can't offer much beyond linking to a couple of worthwhile pieces, but what's happening in the south Mexican city of Iguala is so utterly shocking that it merits some attention anyway. In September, 43 students of a teachers college in the nearby village of Ayotzinapa … Continue reading Unspeakable horror fueling Mexico protests

I'm not officially back to this blogging business until tomorrow, but the news that America has agreed to allow Russia to annex Ukraine in return for Russian cooperation over the Iran nuclear talks is too big to ignore: It goes like this. Vladimir Putin’s Russia makes nice over an Iran nuclear deal. It is helpful … Continue reading Quid pro d’oh

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, and the U.A.E. (Jordan and Algeria too, if they want) are in talks to form a rapid reaction(ary) force that could be deployed anywhere in the region where an individual gets the crazy idea that he or she ought to be able to speak openly or even have a say in … Continue reading The Middle East’s answer to a question nobody asked

I'm inexplicably late on this (I just kept writing about other stuff instead), but the New York Times reported Monday that negotiators are putting together a compromise framework for the nuclear deal that would allow Iran to keep more of its centrifuges active while requiring it to ship all or nearly all of its stockpiled … Continue reading More positive news on the Iran nuclear talks?

Again, even despite the lopsided nature of last night's results, and despite the nagging fear that President Obama will be only too eager to gut the last vestiges of New Deal/Great Society-style economic populism from the Democratic Party under the guise of compromising with Congressional Republicans, I don't see last night having a major impact … Continue reading One place where last night’s GOP win really could matter

Hey, maybe the utter clubbing the Democrats suffered last night will actually wake the party up, you know? Maybe they'll figure out that you have to run toward, not away from, your own party's accomplishments, even when it's scary to do so. Maybe they'll figure out that you can't clam up about inequality and expect … Continue reading Infinity more years! Infinity more years!

Vox informs us that "American strategy in Syria is collapsing," and while they're right, I think they're overselling things by describing what we're doing in Syria as a "strategy." The Obama administration hasn't had a coherent strategy on Syria from the beginning of the civil war there, and really didn't have a coherent strategy for … Continue reading How can your strategy collapse when you don’t have a strategy to begin with?

I honestly can't remember an election that has interested me less or struck me as less consequential than this one we're concluding (well, sadly, probably not totally concluding) today. I've got a couple of weeks of TV shows to watch on my DVR, so I won't have to tune into Election Day media coverage, but … Continue reading A midterm Election Day bit of sanity

Shouldn't a high school world history course be allowed to actually cover, I don't know, world history, without parents threatening the school about it? Kevin Wood was issued a no-trespass order last week after a telephone call with La Plata High Vice Principal Shannon Morris on Thursday. Wood called to air complaints regarding his daughter’s … Continue reading Let’s just pretend it never happened