Bashar al-Assad is getting the band back together for a ground offensive that will take advantage of his new Russian air support: Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria in the last 10 days and will soon join government forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies in a major ground offensive backed by Russian air … Continue reading Iran jumps into the fight too

Is Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) tenure as Speaker of the House over a full month before it could possibly have begun? He made the mistake of pulling back the curtain a little bit regarding the House Select Committee on Benghazi: "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a … Continue reading Shortest Speakership on record?

It had been at least a week or so since the last one, right? Preliminary information indicates 10 people were killed and more than 20 others injured in a shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College on Thursday, said Oregon State Police spokesman Bill Fugate. Douglas County Commissioner Chris Boice told CNN that the shooter is … Continue reading Another one of those non-politicized moments

Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is apparently deeply concerned that Planned Parenthood takes federal money while also engaging in political activities, since even though PP doesn't spend its federal funding on politics, money is fungible. This is a pretty bad argument, but it seems to be the one he's making. Here's the thing: Catholic Charities gets … Continue reading What’s the difference?

Yeah, that was a Bill Clinton joke, but after three years of blogging I think I'm entitled to one. Sometimes checking the news feed in the morning leads to a little unintentional humor, though not necessarily of the "laugh" variety. Like this morning, when I first read this Al Jazeera piece: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei … Continue reading It depends on the meaning of ISIS

Let's go for a Syria trifecta... One of the few things that's more popular among the DC establishment than sending US soldiers off to fight wars is sending US weaponry off to folks who will use them to fight wars on our behalf. There's just a small problem with shipping arms to friendly people all … Continue reading Arming rebels; what could go wrong?

Last week when I was considering all the motivations that Vladimir Putin might have to entangle himself in the Syrian quagmire, I considered that he might be doing it for domestic political reasons. Well, about that... The Levada poll said that 69 percent either firmly oppose or probably oppose deploying troops to help the Syrian … Continue reading Burning a little political capital

Russia moved very quickly today to begin carrying out airstrikes inside Syria. First, Vladimir Putin got authorization from his parliament for the use of force in Syria: Earlier on Wednesday, Russia's upper house of parliament granted President Vladimir Putin authorisation to deploy the country's air force to Syria, according to the head of presidential administration. … Continue reading Russia strikes Syria, maybe (?) reveals its plans

It turns out that Pope Francis had a personal audience with Kim Davis, better known as Mike Huckabee's campaign mascot the nutty county clerk lady in Kentucky what refuses to sign off on same sex marriages despite the Supreme Court making those marriages just as legal as opposite marriage. Davis said that "just knowing the … Continue reading How to get your liberal heart broken, Pope Francis edition

The important city of Kunduz, in Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban yesterday, the culmination of a lengthy Taliban offensive in Kunduz Province that stretches all the way back to the spring but that had seemed to be petering out over the summer in the face of a government counter-offensive (one that now appears to have … Continue reading Kunduz is your periodic reminder that Afghanistan is still A Thing