Chuck Hagel has, ah, "resigned" as Secretary of Defense, because somebody has to take the blame for, well, the election results I guess (full confession: I respect Hagel's stance on cutting the military budget and his skepticism for American military adventures abroad). If we're going by substance, it's not clear why Hagel had to go. … Continue reading Chucked out

As was almost universally expected by the weekend, today's deadline for resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear program failed to produce anything more than an extension of talks through the end of June, 2015. It seems that even with the Russian uranium compromise that was floated a couple of weeks ago (which for all we … Continue reading Iran talks extended, which is, um, not the absolute worst possible outcome?

Hey, did you hear? Saturday Night Live did a show, on Saturday! Saturday night, in fact! OK, that seems pretty predictable, but then did you know that they did a sketch on this sketch comedy show? About immigration? And in this sketch they made some jokes about Barack Obama's recent executive order by playing with … Continue reading Isn’t there any actual news? (SPOILER: yes, there is)

Anti-choice math. GLORIOUS. h/t @aminatou pic.twitter.com/7pMKKP53Uv — Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) November 21, 2014 Numbers don't lie, liberals (via Wonkette).

When I said the other day that Burkina Faso matters partly because it's smack in the middle of the West African Ebola outbreak, I was remiss in not mentioning that the outbreak actually may be subsiding overall: Statistics from World Health Organization have shown in the last few weeks a steady decline in the numbers … Continue reading Good news on Ebola?

Maybe, if we here in America are really concerned about undocumented immigrants coming into the country across our southern border, we could stop engaging in the predatory "free trade" practices that are collapsing economies and societies in their home countries and forcing them to migrate in the first place? In 2004 and 2005, hundreds of … Continue reading A crazy thought about immigration

Way back in 2000, the Burkinabé constitution was amended to limit presidents to two five year terms in office; previously they could be elected to unlimited seven year terms. This should have marked the end of President Blaise Compaoré's time in office, since he had seized power in a coup all the way back in … Continue reading Did Burkina Faso’s army just troll everybody?

I'm afraid that when it comes to Israel, Palestine, and a Third Intifada, we may be approaching it: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "respond harshly" after five people — three of them U.S.-born rabbis — were killed in a synagogue Tuesday by two Palestinians wielding meat cleavers, an ax and a gun. The … Continue reading The point of no return

If you're at all familiar with Arabic society, you know that it has some roots in the pastoral nomadic lifestyle of the Bedouin, who have herded sheep, goats, and camels around the Arabian peninsula and into the Syrian and Egyptian deserts for as long as people have been keeping written records in and about that … Continue reading Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy most anything else

So we're officially less than a week away from the November 24 deadline for the Iran-P5+1 nuclear talks to bear some fruit, and the final round of talks before that deadline has begun in Vienna, so I thought it might be worth summing up where things stand right now and looking at what to expect … Continue reading Iran talks approach crucial deadline to, ah, agree to keep talking, probably