Or at least it isn't the one you should be looking for if you want something with waste approaching a rationally low level of waste. After all, no project undertaken by humans will be perfect. But using massive "defense" projects as job projects is more wasteful than usual. But there's wasteful and then there's two of the most disgraceful excuses for defense programs in … [Read more...] about This is Not the Jobs Program You’re Looking For
US Officials Rule That Monkey Selfies Cannot Be Copyrighted
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Bad news for the British photographer who allowed a curious monkey to take a selfie using his equipment – or, indeed, any of us looking to allow wild animals to borrow our smartphones or cameras to take self-portraits – US officials have issued new rules declaring that… US Officials Rule That Monkey Selfies Cannot Be … [Read more...] about US Officials Rule That Monkey Selfies Cannot Be Copyrighted
Frum on the GOP
Conservative gadfly David Frum analyzes his party in Foreign Affairs. Three big trends have decisively changed the Republican Party over the past decade, weakening its ability to win presidential elections and gravely inhibiting its ability to govern effectively if it nevertheless somehow were to win. [icopyright one button toolbar] First, Republicans have come to … [Read more...] about Frum on the GOP
Mike Peters Guest Cartoon: Ann Coulter and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Ann Coulter and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge by Mike Peters OF RELATED INTEREST: --7 Marketing Lessons From The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge -- Ice Bucket Challenge Raises Money ... and Criticism --A Message To Ann Coulter–Stop “Helping” Us --Ice Bucket Challenge ALS Donations Break $50 Million Mark Mike Peters is recognized as one of our nation’s most prominent … [Read more...] about Mike Peters Guest Cartoon: Ann Coulter and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Ferguson divides us less than we imagine
WASHINGTON -- African-Americans are not alone in being horrified by the killing of Michael Brown. They are not alone in their concern over the police's behavior. And there's evidence that a large number of white Americans have still not fully formed their views on this tragedy. This means that how we discuss and debate the events in Ferguson, Mo., in the coming weeks really … [Read more...] about Ferguson divides us less than we imagine
A Steep Hillary To Climb, or, Because She’s There …
Synchronicity: Peter Beinart / The Atlantic Online Clintonphobia: Why No Democrat Wants to Run Against Hillary — Strong frontrunners have drawn challengers before. But given the Clintons' reputation for retaliating for betrayals, it's just not worth it in 2016. — The mystery of the 2016 Democratic presidential race isn't why Hillary Clinton seems likely to run.... I had … [Read more...] about A Steep Hillary To Climb, or, Because She’s There …
It’s now personal between Obama and the ISIS
No more Mr. (relatively) Nice guy. It's now personal between President Barack Obama and the ISIS after the beheading of freelance journalist James Foley. That's the quite-plausible analyst of The Daily Beast's Eli Lake:[icopyright one button toolbar] When ISIS beheaded an American journalist, it meant to intimidate—and provoke—the United States. It should be careful what … [Read more...] about It’s now personal between Obama and the ISIS
Over-Covering Ferguson (Guest Voice)
Over-Covering Ferguson by Michael Reagan Why have the protests and riots lasted so long in Ferguson? Why have out-of-town agitators and opportunists like the Communist Revolutionary Party and the New Black Panthers flocked to a St. Louis suburb? Why, 12 days after Michael Brown was shot to death by a policeman, do the good people of Ferguson who want to see a fair … [Read more...] about Over-Covering Ferguson (Guest Voice)
Morning Joe Forgets Bush’s ‘Now Watch This Drive’ (Guest Voice)
The most appalling thing about the beheading of an American journalist by ISIS was not the act itself. According to Joe Scarborough's Morning Hypocrisy, AKA: Morning Joe, the fact that the President could condemn the horrific act, then play golf in Martha's Vineyard, the liberal elite playground, is by far the most unconscionable thing he can… … [Read more...] about Morning Joe Forgets Bush’s ‘Now Watch This Drive’ (Guest Voice)
Michael Brown Had Pot in His Blood!
Michael Brown Had Pot in His Blood! By Dick Polman So it turns out, thanks to a leak from the St. Louis County medical examiner's office, that the unarmed teen who was shot by a cop six times in Ferguson, Mo., including twice in the head, had marijuana in his bloodstream. And, naturally, the character assassins are essentially saying, "Ya see? He was a druggie, a violent … [Read more...] about Michael Brown Had Pot in His Blood!
The Ebola Horror: No Comments, Just Prayers
[icopyright one button toolbar] I have seen first-hand the anguish and desperation of a young mother whose baby has been diagnosed with a life-threatening congenital heart disease for which, in her native country, there are few prospects for the specialized and prohibitively expensive open-heart surgery that is required. I have also seen first-hand the joy of the same … [Read more...] about The Ebola Horror: No Comments, Just Prayers
Shaun Mullen’s New Book Is Now Available On Kindle
A character in the Doonesbury comic strip once called the 1970s "A kidney stone of a decade," and compared to the 1960s and 1980s, it indeed was. It was a period of economic and political decline and, of course, abuses of power with Watergate being the worst but by no means only scandal. Decades get demythologized; it is a quintessential part of the Great American Meat … [Read more...] about Shaun Mullen’s New Book Is Now Available On Kindle
Rash of new abductions of foreigners in Syria
IRBIL, Iraq — The posting of a video showing the grisly execution of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State, the al-Qaida spinoff that controls much of Iraq and Syria, coincided with a rash of new abductions of foreigners in northern Syria. Two Italian citizens and a Japanese man, who might have been fighting with… … [Read more...] about Rash of new abductions of foreigners in Syria
ISIL Terrorists Must be Defeated, JCS Chairman Says – Hagel Agrees
[icopyright one button toolbar] At a Pentagon news conference today, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey , said the ISIL terror group has an “apocalyptic, end-of-days” vision that eventually must be defeated, not only in Iraq but in Syria as well. Referring to ISIL as ISIS because such highlights the terrorists’ long-term goal … [Read more...] about ISIL Terrorists Must be Defeated, JCS Chairman Says – Hagel Agrees
Packer on ISIS
George Packer, one of my favorite political writers, offers his take on ISIS in The New Yorker.[icopyright one button toolbar] Armed movements driven by an ideology like that of ISIS are expansionist as well as eliminationist. There is always a new enemy to defeat, a new threat to the dream of purifying the world. The Islamic State, whose success makes it a magnet for … [Read more...] about Packer on ISIS
Two of My Most Favorite Things…
ISIS/ISIL, Ferguson, Sarah Palin... OK, enough “gloomy and doomy” stuff. Time for two of my most favorite subjects. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert Culbertson greets his son after a six-month deployment on the attack submarine USS New Hampshire, which returned to its homeport on Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn., Aug. 13, 2014. A U.S. … [Read more...] about Two of My Most Favorite Things…
Railroad ‘Bomb Trains’: Speeding to Disaster
It’s 3 p.m., and you’re cruising down a rural road, doing about 50. [icopyright one button toolbar] A quarter mile away is a sign, with flashing yellow lights, alerting you to slow down to 15. It’s a school zone. But, you don’t see any children. Besides, you’re going to be late to your racquetball match. So, you just slide on past. You’re an independent long-haul … [Read more...] about Railroad ‘Bomb Trains’: Speeding to Disaster
Sarah Palin – still delusional after all these years
Sarah Palin - still delusional after all these years By Richard K. Barry The Hollywood Reporter ran an excerpt recently from a new book about Saturday Night Live. It's actually an update of an old book. Live From New York is by James Andrew Miller and Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post television critic Tom Shales (due out in September). It adds a couple hundred pages … [Read more...] about Sarah Palin – still delusional after all these years
Before Killing James Foley, ISIS Demanded Ransom From U.S.
Well, well, it now turns out that despite the original statement broadcast to the world before a member of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria beheaded American freelance journalist James Foley that the group was sending a message to the United States and President Barack Obama, the group that is bringing back the bad 'ol days memories of World War II and a certain mustachioed … [Read more...] about Before Killing James Foley, ISIS Demanded Ransom From U.S.
An ISIS primer: who, what and when
An ISIS primer: who, what and when By Shoshana Bryen and Michael Johnson WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL), currently controls about one-third of Iraq. It is a combination of: [icopyright one button toolbar] • A non-al-Qaeda revival of the al-Qaeda-sponsored Islamic State of Iraq … [Read more...] about An ISIS primer: who, what and when