China 'outsmarted US' in Snowden chess game (via AFP) China interceded to allow Edward Snowden's dramatic flight from Hong Kong, calculating that infuriating the United States for now was necessary to prevent longer-term corrosion to their relationship, analysts and media said Monday. On a visit to New Delhi, US Secretary of State John Kerry said it was… … [Read more...] about China ‘outsmarted US’ in Snowden chess game
Texas Republican Confuses Rape Kit With Abortion
Update: 9:45 am - The bill, SB5, has been sent to the Senate (as a message); the Senate has approximately 37 hours to pass it before the Tuesday midnight deadline for the special session. As Republican members of the Texas House sought to push through an anti-abortion bill, SB5, during a special session, one legislator put her foot in her mouth. During proceedings … [Read more...] about Texas Republican Confuses Rape Kit With Abortion
Texas Legislature Marches On: Anti-Abortion Bill One Step Closer To Passage Despite Protests
Hundreds of women continue to storm the Texas Capitol in Austin in protest. Republican lawmakers have hijacked a special session, ostensibly called to work on redistricting, in order to pass an anti-abortion bill that was blocked in the regular session. Featured photo: Charlotte-Anne Lucas [View the story "Texas House Ready To Pass 20-week Abortion Bill In Special … [Read more...] about Texas Legislature Marches On: Anti-Abortion Bill One Step Closer To Passage Despite Protests
India’s Energy Ties with Iran Unsettle Washington (Guest Voice)
India's Energy Ties with Iran Unsettle Washington by John C. Daly India's relentless search for hydrocarbons to fuel its booming economy has managed the rather neat diplomatic trick of annoying Washington, delighting Tehran and intriguing Baghdad, all the while leaving the Indian Treasury fretting about how to pay for its oil imports, given tightening sanctions on fiscal … [Read more...] about India’s Energy Ties with Iran Unsettle Washington (Guest Voice)
Boehner’s House implodes
WASHINGTON -- The roof fell in on John Boehner's House of Representatives last week. The Republican leadership's humiliating defeat on a deeply flawed and inhumane farm bill was as clear a lesson as we'll get about the real causes of dysfunction in the nation's capital. Our ability to govern ourselves is being brought low by a witches' brew of right-wing ideology, a … [Read more...] about Boehner’s House implodes
Edward Snowden heads for asylum: Why Ecuador?
Edward Snowden heads for asylum: Why Ecuador? (via The Christian Science Monitor) The saga and travels of Edward Snowden took another turn Sunday with reports that he is headed for asylum in Ecuador. Why Ecuador? Most obviously, the South American country is friendly to WikiLeaks. That’s the whistleblower organization whose founder Julian Assange has spent the past year … [Read more...] about Edward Snowden heads for asylum: Why Ecuador?
Immigration Has Republicans Twisted into Odd Knots
Republicans wooing Hispanics are looking like stiff old men on “Dancing with the Stars,” awkward, embarrassing and tripping themselves into unnatural postures to scale up border walls and land on pathways to citizenship. Mitt Romney’s thumping among minorities last year persuaded GOP naysayers that 2016 would be about “complexions and elections,” but the stretch from … [Read more...] about Immigration Has Republicans Twisted into Odd Knots
Watergate Catastrophic For House Rs In ’74
Historic Tidbit: One of the many freshman swept into Congress in 1974 was a New Yorker named Edward Pattison, who beat a 70 year old seven-term Republican named Carleton King. Pattison would narrowly survive 1976 due to a Republican/Conservative Party split, but by '78, would be hurt when he admitted he had smoked marijuana, which prompted Republicans to begin referring to him … [Read more...] about Watergate Catastrophic For House Rs In ’74
The ’60s Batman theme, “sung” by actual bats
First there were the singing cats (below) and singing dogs. The Week tips us off to the fact that now we have the singing bats -- bats singing the 1960s Neal Hefti "Batman" theme: Humans can't hear their ultrasonic screeching unless we digitally lower the frequency to something our ears can distinguish. Which is at least partly how we ended up with this: The original … [Read more...] about The ’60s Batman theme, “sung” by actual bats
Newest Terrorism Outrage: Taliban Murders Foreign Climbers in Pakistan
And so the bar has been lowered (just when you thought it could not be) again on the barbarism shown by 21st century terrorists. But, then, if terrorists of varying stripes didn't care about blowing men, women and children up in buildings or while they're a work in a high rise, or beheading innocents on camera so it's on the Internet, in a way it's not surprising that they'd … [Read more...] about Newest Terrorism Outrage: Taliban Murders Foreign Climbers in Pakistan
Peggy Noonan and the Cuckoo Birds
Republicans? Really? The cuckoo is noted for laying their eggs in other, dumber, birds' nests, so that the victim will incubate and feed the young cuckoos -- freeing the cuckoos of the tough job of hatchling raising. Peggy Noonan would not be, in this scenario, a cuckoo, but, rather the VICTIM of the cuckoos. Where Was the Tea Party? Peggy Noonan's Blog (Rupert Murdoch's) … [Read more...] about Peggy Noonan and the Cuckoo Birds
Honor Flight’s Mail Call at 30,000 Feet
On April 26, an “Honor Flight” flew 35 World War II veterans from Austin, Texas to our nation’s capital so that these members of the Greatest Generation could visit the World War II Memorial built in their honor. That flight was named the “Vic Mathias Honor Flight” in honor of R. Vic Mathias, himself a World War II veteran and later a prominent leader in Austin, who was … [Read more...] about Honor Flight’s Mail Call at 30,000 Feet
Reaction to NSA Leaker Snowden’s Hong Kong Exit
It's almost a case of life imitating cinema art. The dramatic flight of NSA leaker Edward Snowden from Hong Kong now reportedly involves Wikileak legal advisors, diplomats and the cooperation and/or enabling of his flight from American extradition by several countries (China and Russia in particular). And reaction is pouring in via the new and "old" media. Here's a cross … [Read more...] about Reaction to NSA Leaker Snowden’s Hong Kong Exit
Report: Ecuador Receives Asylum Request from NSA Leaker Edward Snowden
BREAKING: Russia Today is reporting that Ecuador has received an asylum request from NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The reality is that this was a huge espionage catastrophe for the U.S. and he is valuable to the Russians and Chinese. How he got to see the "crown jewels" at the NSA is incredulous. The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. … [Read more...] about Report: Ecuador Receives Asylum Request from NSA Leaker Edward Snowden
Death of a Language (Cartoon)
See great cartoons by all the top political cartoonists at http://cagle.com. To license this cartoon for your own site, visit http://politicalcartoons.com … [Read more...] about Death of a Language (Cartoon)
US wants cooperation of countries where Snowden may go
US wants cooperation of countries where Snowden may go (via AFP) The United States was tracking Edward Snowden on Sunday as the former NSA computer technician facing US espionage charges arrived in Moscow en route for an undisclosed destination. Snowden, who leaked secret details of vast US telephone and Web surveillance programs to media outlets, left Hong Kong… … [Read more...] about US wants cooperation of countries where Snowden may go
Schumer: Putin ‘aiding and abetting Snowden’s escape’
First there were allegations that he was orchestrating a crackdown on the opposition, the allegations that he walked off with Robert Kraft's Superbowl ring, then reports of a tense-no-love-in mood when he met with President Barack Obama, and now there's the development that Russia is involved in helping NSA leaker Edward Snowden flee Hong Kong and go to a country where the … [Read more...] about Schumer: Putin ‘aiding and abetting Snowden’s escape’
How Hitchcock Assembled (Cut) “Psycho”
Alfred Hitchcock's great 1960 film "Psycho" was a trial-blazer in more ways than one. In this great video Robert Carroll has footage of the great man himself explaining how he "assembled" the pieces of film and his philosophy. MUST VIEWING: Hitchcock Assembled from Brian Carroll on Vimeo. … [Read more...] about How Hitchcock Assembled (Cut) “Psycho”
In Snubbing Kenya, Obama Acts Like a Typical ‘Luo’ Man (The Citizen, Tanzania)
Here is an article from Tanzania, another of the three African countries President Obama is due visit on his to upcoming trip to the continent, from June 30 to July 3. Given the fringe controversy over President Obama's origins, it is particularly interesting, and touches on the tribal undercurrents in African life, which is something people outside the region are hardly aware … [Read more...] about In Snubbing Kenya, Obama Acts Like a Typical ‘Luo’ Man (The Citizen, Tanzania)
Africa Needs Obama to Join Fight Against Witch Hunting (Xewmedia, Senegal)
This week we posted content from Africa that I found quite startling. In this article, columnist Leo Igwe of from Senegal's Xewmedia implores President Obama to take a stand on the issue of "witch hunting." Yes - I said witch hunting - and this is serious. In Africa today, according to Igwe, witch hunting and the defamation and abuse of people accused of witchcraft is a major … [Read more...] about Africa Needs Obama to Join Fight Against Witch Hunting (Xewmedia, Senegal)