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

Maybe Chickenshitgate (must credit "and that's the way it was") has left the Obama folks a little gun shy: The United States has described as "unfortunate" plans by the Israeli government to build 500 new illegal settler homes in East Jerusalem. The US response came after a panel of the Israeli Interior Ministry gave approval … Continue reading Um, that’s one word for it

Do you think the things that come out of Rick Santorum's mouth are this poorly conceived in his head, or is he just inarticulate? In an interview with the Christian Post, Santorum said that religious freedom in America is "under direct assault." "The government wants to tell you how to live your life," he said. … Continue reading Rick Santorum: America isn’t like Nazi Germany, but what if it WERE?

Sundown last night marked the beginning of the Islamic holiday of Ashura, the tenth day of the month of Muharram (ashr is "ten" in Arabic), when the Shiʿa Imam Husayn, son of Ali, was killed at the Battle of Karbala in 680 (it's also a holiday, albeit a less important one, for Sunnis, and anyway … Continue reading Holidays and anniversaries

My Alhurra appearance (I'll toss up the YouTube whenever it's online) went pretty well, I think, in no small part because I just felt a whole lot more comfortable (i.e., much less nervous) going in. About half of the show was focused on ISIS and the campaign in Syria, particularly the continuing lack of a … Continue reading Premature détente

I wouldn't blame you if you've missed this developing story in Israel/Palestine; after all, a lady and her boyfriend took a bicycle ride together yesterday, and we're about to elect some new people to Congress so they can get plenty more nothing done, and there's only so many (24) hours in a day to cover … Continue reading By the way, there’s an escalating crisis in Jerusalem right now