Iraq Body Count figures for July 28: 12 killed IBC total to-date for July, 2013: 831 civilians killed In what Al Jazeera, Reuters, and Foreign Policy each described as a "wave of car bombs," at least 17 separate attacks killed at least 60 Iraqis. Reuters: The 17 blasts, which appeared to be coordinated, were concentrated … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 29 July 2013

Egypt: The obvious top story this week was the horrific massacre of pro-Morsi protesters by Egyptian security forces early Saturday. At least 72, and probably many more, protesters were killed in the fighting, which seems to have begun when protesters attempted to block a major Cairene bridge, so naturally security forces did the reasonable thing … Continue reading This Week in Oppressive Government Violence: July 28, 2013

Iraq Body Count figures for July 27: 6 civilians killed July 26: 6 civilians killed July 25: 48 civilians killed IBC total to-date for July, 2013: 819 civilians killed At least 12 killed today in bombings in Tuz Khormato, where a suicide attack targeted Kurdish security forces, and in central Baghdad.

This should be an ongoing series. Our first entries are: 1. White comedian unclear why he shouldn't use the n-word: A: “I’ve had this argument on stage a million times. I do a movie with Martin Lawrence and pretty soon they’re referring to me, 'hey, my n-----’s up.' So I’m the n----- if I’m around … Continue reading What else is “confusing to the European mind”?

Iraq Body Count figures for July 24: 37 civilians killed IBC total to-date for July, 2013: 759 civilians killed The AP reports 42 dead today, which is likely low because somehow they're only counting 550 killed in Iraq this month when the number is probably much higher than that (I can't say that the IBC … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 25 July 2013

The little Google bio for John S. Dickerson tells us that he "is a Christian pastor, author and a nationally-awarded American journalist." He wrote a book called The Great Evangelical Recession, and I don't plan on reading it, but I'd like to find out if it contains any warning labels about John S. Dickerson's Christianity. … Continue reading First they let Muslims write books, and I did not speak out because I was not a Fox News hack

I wanted to link to this piece written by Juan Cole on Monday because he does a much better job of saying something I tried to say a couple of weeks ago. Last week a rocket attack by Syrian rebels struck on or near the grounds of the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque outside Damascus. Zaynab was … Continue reading More on sectarianism

Iraq Body Count figures for July 23: 38 civilians killed IBC total to-date for July, 2013: 722 civilians killed AP reporting 17 more killed today in multiple attacks. The biggest attack again came around Mosul, whose status as a "disputed" city (with a Sunni Arab majority but in a province claimed by the Kurds) seems … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 24 July 2013

Iraq Body Count figures for July 22: 28 civilians killed IBC total to-date for July, 2013: 684 civilians killed Agency France Presse reported another 28 killed on Tuesday in attacks on two Sunni mosques in Kirkuk and one in Baghdad, while a fourth bomb exploded outside the Imam Ali Mosque in Qut, which, despite AFP … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 23 July 2013

Last week, as it looked like Harry Reid was going to invoke the "Nuclear Option," if we've defined the term "nuclear" down to mean "allow the President to fill vacancies in his administration without repeated and unprecedented interference from the minority party in the Senate," which seems like a pretty lame definition of "nuclear," a … Continue reading John McCain: against the filibuster on nominees before he was for it, before he was against it, before…