Loyalist forces in Yemen, with the help of their Saudi-coalition backers, have reportedly taken the last Houthi-controlled town in Yemen's southern Abyan Governate. Added to the coalition's victories earlier this month in Aden and neighboring Lahij Governate and Al-Daliʿ Governate, and all of a sudden President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi's forces have control over most … Continue reading Most of south Yemen belongs to the government again

Yesterday amid all the Trump-Ailes-Kelly nonsense, I had a Deep Thought: https://twitter.com/dwdavison9318/status/630910477212733440 It's true, isn't it? If CNN or MSNBC, rather than Fox, had pioneered the idea that a news network should get to pick and choose which candidates would get to participate in a primary debate, Fox would never have stopped talking about it. … Continue reading Why is CNN picking Republican winners and losers too?

For a change, let's start today with a story that isn't about people killing other people or crazy people running for office, OK? The Turkish government has nominated the Stone Age site of Göbekli Tepe, located in Turkey's south-central Şanlıurfa Province, for a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Archeological work has been done … Continue reading Turkish archeological site shakes up prehistory

Something pretty fascinating is happening in Iraq, where in spite of the ongoing war with ISIS that must be consuming most people's thoughts, thousands of people in the Shiʿa south have been turning out for a couple of weeks now to protest the general awfulness of their government. A recent (and completely off the charts) … Continue reading Rebuilding Iraq’s government could be a risky proposition

Chuck Schumer has unsurprisingly become every right-winger's favorite Democrat since he declared last week that he's voting against the Iran deal. Nothing wrong with that, I guess, although it seems an odd place to find a guy who thinks he's going to be the next Democratic leader in the Senate. You gotta do what you … Continue reading Who are you going to believe, a bunch of experts or Chuck Schumer?

Turkey is dealing with the aftermath of a series of attacks in the southeastern part of the country and in Istanbul. Şırnak Province, in the southeast, saw two separate attacks by the Kurdish PKK that killed at least 5 Turkish security officers. In one attack, PKK fighters targeted a Turkish military helicopter with rockets, killing … Continue reading Busy day in Turkey

Ezra Klein: In a war with Fox, Trump will likely lose Now Trump and Fox News are at war. And as Nate Silver writes, this is a war Trump probably can't win. Until now, Trump has mostly been fighting with institutions that Republicans mistrust — like the media, and the Republican establishment in Washington, DC. … Continue reading Define “can’t win”

I assume most, if not all, of the people reading this have at least one cousin. Hell, technically we're all cousins at some remove. My cousins are great, but I never see them, mostly because I am generally awful about seeing people I should see more often. Maybe your cousins are also great, or you … Continue reading REMINDER: You can’t choose your family, even when you’re Bashar al-Assad

If you're wondering why a bunch of really terrible people seem all abuzz today, here's the short version. Yesterday, in a CNN interview, Donald Trump suggested (in a classy way, totally above board, all the bells and whistles) that Fox News personality Megyn Kelly asked him a question about his long personal history of misogyny … Continue reading When horrible human beings collide

Let's get this out of the way: unless he actively whips votes against the Iran deal among Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer's decision to vote against the Iran deal is probably not going to derail the deal. I realize this would come as a major blow to The New York Times, whose breathless "Shaking Democratic Firewall" … Continue reading Chuck Schumer tries to have it both ways