We're now officially one week away from yet another government shutdown. This time it will be over defunding Planned Parenthood, which is the big new Republican idea because shutting down Planned Parenthood would mean that they've succeeded in their long-time goal of depriving poor and working class women of access to basic healthcare uh, stopping … Continue reading Oh hey, by the way, the government is about to shut down

Bashar al-Assad just got himself a fairly important endorsement: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that President Bashar al-Assad should be involved in any Syrian peace talks amid pressure from the rising number of refugees from Syria. Merkel made the comment on Thursday after a European Union summit on the asylum seeker crisis. "We have … Continue reading Well, that will carry some weight

Marco Rubio is a practicing Catholic, but he doesn't take his economic advice from no freaking pope, OK? Appearing on “Special Report,” Sen. Rubio (R-FL) told host Bret Baier that Pope Francis is “infallible” — but only on questions of morality. “On moral issues, he speaks with incredible authority,” Rubio said. “He’s done so consistently … Continue reading Marco Rubio’s peculiar definition of “morality”

At least 717 people (and that may go higher) were killed, and 863 injured, today during the Mina portion of the Hajj, when confusion among the massive crowd of pilgrims (around 2 million according to official figures) caused a panic, and people fell to the ground and were trampled. A BBC Hausa reporter named Tchima … Continue reading Tragedy on the Hajj

With the full-court right wing press on to rehabilitate Ben Carson's statement that a Muslim shouldn't be elected president, it's worth noting that a lot of people (particularly in the media) seem to be so wrapped up in the "president" part of Carson's comments that they're missing what's really offensive about what he said. It's … Continue reading Please stop ignoring the real bigotry of Ben Carson’s comments

I mostly think PolitiFact is a bad thing. Even if it did its job perfectly, the notion that "fact-checking" is some minor subset of journalism and not, you know, kind of the main point, seems incredibly troubling to me. But the worst part is that PolitiFact doesn't do its job perfectly, and in fact it … Continue reading Heroic PolitiFact fact checker fails to check his own facts

The question at the heart of Russia's ramped up involvement in Syria is simple: why? What does Russian President Vladimir Putin have to gain from throwing more weight behind Syrian dictator Mayor of Damascus Bashar al-Assad at a time when Assad's position has never been more tenuous? Why not accept that Assad can't come out … Continue reading So what’s Putin’s deal, anyway?

President Bobby Jindal (please stop laughing) is planning a really big surprise when he takes office: he's going to fire Congress. Citing the fact that Republicans in Congress have not yet defunded Planned Parenthood and were unable to block the Iran nuclear deal, he said, “It’s ridiculous. I’m sure that there are 535 Americans in … Continue reading Today in Republicans who haven’t read the Constitution

You won't find any tears for Scott Walker's abandoned presidential campaign here. But if these most recent PPP poll's results are to be believed, maybe Walker wasn't the one who should have dropped out in the name of "winnowing the field" (i.e., consolidating the non-Trump vote): Trump is doing pretty poorly in head to head … Continue reading The wrong guy dropped out

This needs a preface. I try very hard to be culturally sensitive, something I hope is clear from reading this blog. Yes, I like to have some fun, and frequently get outraged, at the antics of societies and governments in other parts of the world and at different points in history, but certainly no more … Continue reading This is not how you win hearts and minds