This is a pet peeve of mine, but in my opinion it's a justifiable one. Al-Monitor has a post today about the Iraqi Presidency; the current president is a Kurd, Jalal Talabani, but he's term-limited and there's a movement in Iraq's  Sunni Arab community to see the current Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, … Continue reading When the media obscures instead of clarifying

The story of the 276 girls who were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria three weeks ago by the Islamic fundamentalist/terrorist group Boko Haram is heartbreaking and infuriating. Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and is threatening, if he hasn't already done it, to sell the girls into slavery., though … Continue reading Recommending an excellent piece on Boko Haram by Peter Tinti

Hey everybody, Mitt "Mitt" Romney is going to France! Can you say “Ready for Mitt Romney?” There is a group of Republicans from across the country out to draft the two-time presidential candidate for a third crack at the White House in 2016. Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans told the Deseret News that the … Continue reading Feels a little drafty in here

Apparently the secret is to affiliate yourself with a church and then go into the international relief and development business: In 1998, an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ and his wife from the war-wrecked region of Bosnia-Herzegovina began a humble international humanitarian effort out of a modest office in downtown Washington. After … Continue reading How to get rich pretending to help other people

My newest piece at Lobe Log looks at the many elections that are scheduled to take place (some of which have already taken place) in the Middle East (specifically Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt) this year, and the concern that they will help entrench a reviving strain of authoritarianism that is taking hold in the … Continue reading Authoritarianism on the rebound, my latest at Lobe Log

We may not all be able to agree on whether or not RT is a propaganda network masquerading as a news channel or not (in my humble opinion it is, but if you can find me a news channel that doesn't, to one degree or another, deal in propaganda, I'm all ears), I hope we … Continue reading Something that ought to be obvious

There it was, just sitting there, on my web browser, which I had opened a short time earlier. I stared at the title for what seemed like hours, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes. "Paul Ryan's Inner City Education," it said. "Buzzfeed.com," it said. "McKay Coppins," it said. "I know I should … Continue reading My Buzzfeed Dot Com Education

Rick Santorum decided to take his talents to Hollywood to prepare for another losing presidential campaign make movies that religious conservatives could enjoy, but he's missing his true calling as a creator of high-quality science fiction: Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" to promote his new book "Blue Collar Conservatives," Santorum was asked whether he thought … Continue reading “And then they told me that they all secretly wished they could vote for me too”

My new piece at Lobe Log looks at the dismal state of affairs in Kiev, where effective, stable governance is needed probably more than any other place on Earth but where, based on recent history and on the stable of characters currently circling around the capital, there's almost no chance it will get any in … Continue reading Dysfuctional Eastern European nation ISO decent government for LTR, MBA

A few days ago, Talking Points Memo posted a story about Allyson Schwartz, one of the Democrats running to unseat incumbent Pennsylvania governor, and the man who slow-rolled the Jerry Sandusky investigation so it wouldn't cost him in the 2010 governor's race, Classy Freddie Blassie Tom Corbett. Whoever wins the Democratic primary has a good … Continue reading Pennsylvania is not really “a Democratic stronghold”