Republican nihilist House member, a couple of days ago: “We’re not going to be disrespected,” conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., [told the Washington Examiner]. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” Influential DC journalist/pundit, in February (via, well, me, if you must know): 2. Which side's approach … Continue reading Spot the difference between the Republican and the reporter

Apparently the Obama Administration and Secretary Clinton "botched" the chance for a peace agreement on Syria a year ago by taking too hard a line on Assad, or so says the National Journal: Former members of [former UN Syria envoy Kofi] Annan’s negotiating team say that after then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian … Continue reading Your “Syria Peace Deal” seems to be missing something…oh, right, it’s missing Syrians.

There are two organizations here in DC that don't get as much attention as they deserve and not nearly as much money as they need. They're called the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), and their mission is to work with local partners all over the world on behalf of the … Continue reading Good government begins at home, and we’re fresh out of it

Jim White at emptywheel wonders if Jabhat al-Nusrah is about to become "the next MEK." MEK, if you're unfamiliar, is a left-wing Iranian revolutionary/terrorist group that calls itself the "People's Mujahedin," or Mujahedin-e Khalq (hence MEK). It originated in the 1960s as part of the leftist opposition to the Shah, but in the aftermath of … Continue reading The enemy of my enemy is… (Syria and Iran)

A lot of attention is being paid to a joint statement made yesterday by thirteen Syrian rebel groups, who formally rejected the authority of the Syrian National Coalition, the (mostly self-proclaimed, although the US and Arab League, among others, recognize them as legitimate) "government-in-exile" awaiting Assad's overthrow from their headquarters in Istanbul (there's been talk … Continue reading On exiles and expats, and why nobody really likes the Syrian National Coalition

...we find Ari Fleischer: Question to @gov: how come @BarackObama 's last tweet was more than 140 characters? Does he play by different rules??? — Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 24, 2013 @gov I retract my tweet. When I copy and pasted, it included the @BarackObama. — Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 24, 2013 Can I make … Continue reading At the intersection of innumeracy and technological illiteracy…

Forbes magazine has long been on the front lines of the daily struggle for US American millionaires and billionaires to escape their near-constant brutalization at the hands of minimum wage workers, welfare recipients, and the poor in general. But recently they've scored two direct hits in the war for (billionaire) equality. Most recently they published … Continue reading Today in peons oppressing the wealthy

No wonder George W. Bush saw something in Vladimir Putin's eyes those many years ago... He went on to suggest, however, that discriminating against gay people is important for maintaining population growth: Putin says while some European nations have allowed gay marriages, "the Europeans are dying out … and gay marriages don't produce children." He … Continue reading Дурак меня, не можете ведитесь снова

When I expressed some skepticism yesterday about the likelihood that the Syrian chemical weapons deal would hold together, I didn't realize it was about to fail its first freaking deadline: The ambitious U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons, hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough just days ago, hit its first delay Wednesday with indications that … Continue reading Admittedly, I didn’t think it would happen this quickly

Sorry for the somewhat breathless title, but I can't come up with another explanation for this: After falsely claiming that comments made by investor Warren Buffett in 2010 were made recently as an attack on the Affordable Care Act, The Weekly Standard doubled down, correcting the date but still wrongly insisting that Buffett's comments were … Continue reading BREAKING: The Weekly Standard has cracked the space-time continuum