Thank you, Supreme Court, for giving totally not unhinged billionaires like Sheldon Adelson an even bigger role in American politics than they had before Citizen's United. If you hadn't done that, we might be denied such wise counsel as this: The biggest donor to Republican Party political groups said Tuesday that the United States should … Continue reading Newt Gingrich’s sugar daddy wants to nuke Iran

Still unpacking the past few days of erratic diplomacy coming out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). First came the refusal to accept their election to the UN Security Council after they had actively campaigned for the seat, then the announcement that the kingdom would "reassess" its strategic relationship with the United States. David … Continue reading Arabian frights

The thing about Americans not knowing their own history? It's true even for family history, apparently. From the pages of the New York Times comes John G. Taft, pretending that his grandfather Robert was a Reasonable Republican: As I write, a photograph of my grandfather, Senator Robert Alphonso Taft, looks across at me from the … Continue reading Lost to history

I've written before about America's narcissistic foreign policy, where every independent decision made by another country that doesn't correspond directly to American interests is perceived as some kind of affront or insult. Well, we're not the only ones who exhibit that particular tendency. Take our good friends, the Saudis, who last week turned down a … Continue reading Well, good luck with that, you crazy Saudis, you

So apparently our former vice president had the wireless capability in his implanted defibrilator turned off so that he wouldn't wind up being the plot of the second season of "Homeland." Sure, why not? Paul Waldman has a fair take on Cheney's paranoia, but I do have to quibble with a couple of parts. Did … Continue reading If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about

One of the "great" things about being a pundit in America is that, since most US Americans can't be bothered to learn (or aren't ever really taught, I'm flexible on this point) their own history, you can play with that history a lot. I mean, a lot. Peggy Noonan apparently knows this, which is why … Continue reading (Mis)Appropriating history

The UN General Assembly elected five new members to the UN Security Council yesterday: Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). They will replace Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan, and Togo, whose terms expire this year, and join permanent members China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States as well as … Continue reading Why are the Saudis trying to turn down a seat on the UNSC?

("Look! It's the Russian Tea Party!") Imbecilic bigotry crosses cultures and even great political divides (via): That's Stephen Fry embarrassing Russian politician Vitaly Milonov, one of the prime figures behind Russia's criminalization of homosexuality. The very-funny Fry, maybe best known as one-half of the comedy team of Fry and Dr. Greg House, produced a documentary … Continue reading Смотри! Это русский чае партия!