Turkey: Turkish government police forces used tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets, the "we are TOO a free country" trifecta, to clear Istanbul's Taksim Square of peaceful protesters on Tuesday, and astonishingly that was the high point of Turkey's week. Protesters and police traded control of the square all week, culminating on Saturday with … Continue reading this week in oppressive government violence: june 16, 2013

I wanted to spend a little more time on the Fox News piece I poked fun at yesterday, because it reflects the kind of blinkered ahistorical view about Iran that gets a lot of play in the right-wing media, and virtually no pushback from the actual media or the left. The writers of the piece, … Continue reading No, really, the Shah was no prize

Why do I get the feeling that if Dick Cheney had been elected president in 1932, the quote from his inaugural address would have been something like "We've got a ton of things to fear, so let's get right to it"? Wallace pointed out that the president had indicated that the war on terror was … Continue reading Fear itself

BREAKING: IRAN ELECTS NEW HARD-LINE PRESIDENT WHO HAS TREMENDOUS AUTHORITY AND REPRESENTS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES AND HER ALLY ISRAEL BREAKING: IRAN ELECTS NEW MODERATE PRESIDENT, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT HAS NO REAL POWER, AND THE SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN IS STILL THE SAME GUY AS BEFORE, AND … Continue reading Plus ça change, plus c’est la même Iran

I swear this is the last time I'll gripe about Clinton's Syria comments today, mostly because I'm going to drink a fifth of NyQuil right after I finish writing this. But I couldn't let this one go (honestly, I tried!): “My view is that we shouldn’t over-learn the lessons of the past,” Clinton said. “I … Continue reading Obviously the model for Syria should be Afghanistan in the 1980s

Following on from my earlier post, let's talk about Bosnia and Kosovo, Clinton's shining examples of Intervention Done Right. I've written about Bosnia before, but it can't be repeated enough that NATO intervention had much less to do with the end of that conflict than the fact that the paramilitary groups who were fighting to … Continue reading Clinton and Syria, part 2: on Bosnia and Kosovo

Stumped? How about this one? Who's got two thumbs, used to be president, and has a thing for the ladies? Bill Clinton outed himself as part of the Do Something brigade this week, when, while at some event with President-for-blowing-up-brown-people John McCain, he opined that President Obama was making "a big mistake" if he continues … Continue reading What do Rwanda, the Congo, and Syria have in common?

Well, we've apparently determined that the Syrian government has gassed rebels and civilians, tripping over our president's red line. In response, America is going to directly involve itself in arming the rebels, presumably the "moderate" rebels because we'll pretend that there would still be a rebellion at all without its extremist jihadi elements, and we'll … Continue reading Biting off more than we can chew in Syria?

cross-posted, because my wife made me, from my wildly unpopular kinja blog A "sitting First Justice in the Pittsburg [sic] area" left this comment on a Gawker item earlier this morning, and while pointing out her error was a little petty on my part, since in all probability it was a typo just as she … Continue reading Pittsburgh and its “h”: a love story

"Privatization" is considered such an unalloyed blessing for society that we don't even have a good antonym for it. "Publicization," assuming that's really a word, would have to do with giving publicity to something, not with taking something that's been made private and bringing it back into the public sector. The word we use to … Continue reading Privatize Me (NSA and the Surveillance State)