People in Beirut have finally had enough with their government's inability to clear the trash from the streets of their city, and so last week and over the weekend thousands of them took to those same streets in protest. The protests, part of a new movement that's aptly called "You Stink," prompted a violent response … Continue reading Lebanon’s garbage crisis turns violent

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about a thousand points in the first five minutes of trading today. It's recovered substantially at this point (about 10:45 east coast time) and is down around 650 points for the day so far. The S&P 500 is down almost 50 points and the NASDAQ is down about 115 … Continue reading Gluttons for punishment

The White House is saying that an airstrike earlier this week in Mosul, Iraq, killed ISIS's "second-in-command," Hajji Mutazz (AKA Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali), along with one of the group's "media operatives" (seriously?), a guy named Abu Abdullah. This is the second third time Mutazz has been "killed" in an American airstrike, which is either an … Continue reading ISIS may be down to their third-string #2 guy

Media Matters is criticizing CNN's Wolf Blitzer for cherry-picking from his own network's poll on public support for the Iran deal in order to make the case that the deal is unpopular. CNN ran a poll that asked respondents about their support for the nuclear deal in two ways: half the sample had the key … Continue reading Maybe your poll would be better if people could understand the questions

Myanmar's parliament just passed two bills, whose details are unknown, that reportedly aim to criminalize extramarital affairs and make it harder for people to change religion. Freedom, how does it work, am I right? It doesn't take much in the way of psychic abilities to figure that these laws are aimed squarely at Myanmar's Muslim … Continue reading Is Myanmar criminalizing being a Muslim, or what?

North Korean dictator The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Kim Jong-un has put his country's military in a "wartime state" and has given South Korea until 5 PM local time tomorrow (4:30 AM on the US east coast) to stop broadcasting propaganda into North Korea or face military action. Wait, what???? Uh, yeah, it turns out … Continue reading Here is your primer on the pending resumption of the Korean War

A couple of days ago, AP reporter George Jahn informed his readers that he'd obtained a copy of a draft agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran over nuclear inspections at Iran's Parchin military site. Parchin is important because, if you believe the questionable evidence that says Iran did at one time have … Continue reading How badly did the AP get played on its Parchin story?

He may be History's Greatest Monster, and he may not have been the best president ever, but among other things, Jimmy Carter helped do this: In a touching and surprisingly funny moment during today’s press conference discussing his cancer diagnosis, former President Jimmy Carter said, when asked about his remaining priorities,  "I’d like to see … Continue reading A life well-lived

After dithering about it for a couple of days, yesterday South Sudan's President Salva Kiir reportedly told US Secretary of State John Kerry that he was prepared to sign an agreement to end that country's 20+ month long civil war. Salva Kiir told US Secretary of State John Kerry he had decided to sign after … Continue reading South Sudan’s Kiir finally appears to opt for peace

Fighting in Ukraine has been escalating again over the past ~10 days: Fighting between government forces and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine has escalated sharply in recent days, with each side blaming the other for the violence. At least nine people were killed in artillery strikes on Monday in villages and towns on both sides … Continue reading Renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine looks worrisome