If your reaction to seeing the film 12 Years a Slave is, "Damn that Gone With the Wind for lying to me all this time about what chattel slavery was really like!" then, maybe, that's the kind of thing you should keep to yourself? I mean, I guess I applaud the "reexamining my beliefs" sentiment, … Continue reading Opening one’s mouth and removing all doubt

Regular readers may know that I'm somewhat bearish about the long-term prospects for America continuing to be the boss of everybody, or whatever it is we think we are. But I'm not nearly as pessimistic as the fine neo-conservative (they'd probably object to that characterization, but when your board includes Henry Kissinger, Marty Peretz, Richard … Continue reading The little superpower that could

...it's the Hugo Chavez apparition! Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said an image of his political idol and predecessor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, had appeared miraculously in the wall of an underground construction site. Since his death from cancer earlier this year, Chavez has taken on mythical proportions for supporters, and Mr Maduro has … Continue reading Coming soon to a tree stump or water stain near you…

Armies are a funny thing; any ruler or nation needs at least one, but they're simultaneously a nation's best defense and one of its greatest threats. After all, if a charismatic military commander decides he's had enough of his civilian leadership and he can get the army to go along with him, who's going to … Continue reading When your army is not helping

Remember how, in March, Bassem "The Jon Stewart of Egypt" Youssef was hauled in for questioning by the Egyptian government because he'd made fun of President Morsi? And remember how everybody rightly took that as a sign that the democratically-elected Muslim Brotherhood government was no longer operating in a democratic manner, and that this was … Continue reading A trip down memory lane

Uzbekistan is one of the former Soviet Central Asian republics but not the good one, which is obviously Turkmenistan (still waiting on that payment, you guys), although Uzbekistan is the birthplace of Timur-i Lang, one of my favorite historical figures. Uzbekistan is ruled by a fellow named Islam Karimov, a sprightly 75-year old who enjoys … Continue reading That sly come hither stare

We're very fortunate to have been asked to provide space to Senator Rand Paul so that he may respond to recent allegations that he has been plagiarizing his speeches from Wikipedia. Here is Senator Paul's statement in its entirety, unedited: Recently it has been alleged that, while speaking at a rally for Virginia gubernatorial candidate … Continue reading My situation is a lot like the plot of the 1999 film “Bicentennial Man” (guest post by Senator Rand Paul)

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