Month: January 2014

At least 26 people were killed and 24 more were wounded during a relative break in the violence. Though, the figures may be low due to the difficulty of reporting from Anbar province.

The National Security Agency depends on huge computers that guzzle electricity in the service of the surveillance state. For the NSA’s top executives, maintaining a vast flow of juice to keep Big Brother nourished is essential – and any interference with that flow is unthinkable. But interference isn’t unthinkable. And in fact, it may be … Continue reading “Cut Off the NSA’s Juice”

Supporters of warfare, welfare, and Wonder Woman cheered last week as Congress passed a one trillion dollar “omnibus” appropriation bill. This legislation funds the operations of government for the remainder of the fiscal year. Wonder Woman fans can cheer that buried in the bill was a $10,000 grant for a theater program to explore the … Continue reading “Warfare, Welfare, and Wonder Woman – How Congress Spends Your Money”

Does John Kerry understand the world he inherited? Is he in denial? Consider. At Davos, Switzerland, Kerry called it a “myth” that America is withdrawing, and “the most bewildering version of this disengagement myth is about a supposed U.S. retreat from the Middle East.” Is he serious? How else does Kerry describe Obama’s pullout of … Continue reading “Is Kerry in Denial?”

Even though there were few good reasons to vote for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, the Republicans provided plenty of better reasons not to vote for their candidates, allowing Obama to benefit from the political vacuum. I was particularly concerned in both election cycles regarding the in-your-face religiosity of several of the GOP candidates. … Continue reading “Putting a Christian Zionist in Charge”

The high casualty numbers of late held steady today thanks to the ongoing violence in Anbar. At least 63 people were killed, and 75 more were wounded.

The response of self-identified progressives to the Edward Snowden revelations has been ambiguous from the beginning. On the one hand, there are the ACLU-type liberals, epitomized by Glenn Greenwald – the reporter most responsible (along with Laura Poitras) for shining a light on the National Security Agency’s all-pervasive surveillance – who are horrified by the … Continue reading “The Progressive Crack-up”

At least 45 people were killed across Iraq, and another 82 were wounded. The air strikes and clashes continued in rebel-controlled areas of western Iraq, while bombings and shootings terrified residents in central and northern Iraq.

At least 69 people were killed across Iraq, and another 84 were wounded. Again, as in recent days, many of the casualties were in Anbar province, where some of the residents claim government shelling against insurgents is actually killing civilians.

Iran’s pushback against statements by Secretary of State John Kerry and the White House that Tehran must “dismantle” some of its nuclear program, and the resulting political uproar over it, indicates that tough U.S. rhetoric may be adding new obstacles to the search for a comprehensive nuclear agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said … Continue reading “US ‘Dismantling’ Rhetoric Ignores Iran’s Nuclear Proposals”