DAYLEE PICTURE: The skyline of Shanghai in China. From National Geographic.
North Korean leader yesterday reported to have had ex girlfriend executed Believed to be replacing officers appointed by his father, Kim Jong-Il, to strengthen his position
Obama’s Gamble (Fred Kaplan) from Slate
"Seeking congressional approval for his Syria strike was risky and right."
The Odds of War in Syria? A Lot Higher Now (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"Obama did the right thing, morally and constitutionally. Now the question is will Congress follow suit and approve a strike on Syria—or will they take the side of a murderous war criminal. Michael Tomasky runs the numbers."
I have been amazed (but not necessarily surprised) by the rhetorical and comparative assumptions and myopic glibness that have been on display from all quarters concerning Obama's efforts to punish Syria for its use of chemical weapons. One of the most common set one hears about is "Well, bombing Syria will make no difference so why bother?" Ask Slobodan Milosovic what difference a brief bombing campaign can have? Ask Assad's generals what a difference a brief bombing campaign might have on their armed forces? It could easily translate into hundreds, perhaps a thousand+ military casualties in 2-3 days. The "no difference" crowd seems to think that the purpose of US involvement is depose Assad or to assist the opposition and allow them to win the civil war. Despite the howlings of McCain/Gragham et al., this would be a terrible reason for the US to get involved. Our record of choosing winners and losers in civil wars is simply dreadful!! To me, the central issue here revolves around upholding the chemical weapons ban of which both the US and Syria are signatories. Compared to other WMD weapons bans, the chemical weapons ban has been remarkable effective since it was first put into place after World War I. Some critics have slammed the idea of punishing Syria because the US will "own" whatever happens in Syria after that. The problem with this narrative is that no matter what the US does, posterity will hold us partially responsible. Case in point: say Obama had never put down a "red line" about chemical weapons or that, after this latest incident, he chose to look the other way and ignore it? What would happen in Syria (and what will happen in Syria if he does not act)? Assad would end his civil war with a dramatically escalated campaign of chemical bombing that would leave the world with hours of news footage showing whole communities, men, women and children, dying from saran gas. This will be the cost of doing nothing. Even those (like Sarah Palin) who say basically "fine -- let them go kill themselves!" would find this argument almost impossible to sustain in the face of this type of carnage. Another case in point: Bill Clinton's handling of the genocide in Rwanda. The US's "look the other way" attitude in the 1990s was shameful -- and no greater authority than Clinton himself says as much. There is no "winning hand" here either for Obama or the US. All possible actions as well as inaction itself carry heavy price tags. So -- he's going to do what I think is the right thing: go to Congress, get authorization, and do something that will make Assad's military leaders think twice about using these weapons but without putting US troops in there or otherwise trying to pick winners or losers.
How France–France!–Became the World's Sheriff from the National Journal
"Just 10 years ago, Paris seemed toothless, isolationist, and untroubled by human-rights abuses elsewhere. Now it’s leading the charge across the Middle East."
Obama Decision On U.S. Syria Attack Wins Applause From Skeptical Liberals (Ryan Grimm) from the Huffington Post
"Liberals who are often critical of President Barack Obama's foreign policy are hailing his decision to seek authorization from Congress to strike Syria, even as many continue to oppose the military action itself. It is being seen as a step back from an increasingly imperial presidency in the post 9/11 era, on issues including indefinite detention, surveillance or global drone and cruise missile strikes."
U.S. Spy Agencies Mounted 231 Offensive Cyber-operations in 2011, Documents Show from the Washington Post
"U.S. intelligence services carried out 231 offensive cyber-operations in 2011, the leading edge of a clandestine campaign that embraces the Internet as a theater of spying, sabotage and war, according to top-secret documents obtained by The Washington Post. That disclosure, in a classified intelligence budget provided by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, provides new evidence that the Obama administration’s growing ranks of cyberwarriors infiltrate and disrupt foreign computer networks."
The NYPD Division of Un-American Activities (Matt Apuzzo & Adam Goldman) from New York Magazine
"After 9/11, the NYPD built in effect its own CIA—and its Demographics Unit delved deeper into the lives of citizens than did the NSA."
Is Class the New Race? (John D. Sutter) from CNN
" ... in some remarkable and troubling ways, class has become an increasingly significant barrier to equality in modern America. The gap between rich and poor has been growing in the United States since the late 1970s, and our level of income inequality, one proxy measure for that gap, is now on par with many sub-Saharan African countries."
Love for Labor Lost (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"... what’s unimaginable now is that Congress would unanimously offer even an empty gesture of support for workers’ dignity. For the fact is that many of today’s politicians can’t even bring themselves to fake respect for ordinary working Americans."
My Week in Oil Boom Country (Amy Harder) from the National Journal
"I had zero cell-phone service when I landed in Bismarck. I know this state is mostly rural, but how was I supposed to know Sprint doesn't operate here? Two hours, $183, and one new cheap smartphone later (thanks, Radio Shack!), I was on the road for an almost four-hour drive to
Williston, the heart of America's oil boom."
Republicans Either Support Immigration Reform, or They Kiss Texas Goodbye from Daily Kos
"Texas would be purple of Latinos voted. But they don't, so who cares, right? Well, Republicans should, because even with the same existing shitty turnout rate the growth in the Latino and Asian communities will erode the GOP's base by about 5 1/2 points every four years, or about 1.4 points per year."
G.O.P. Senators Fail to Head Off Primary Challenges by Tea Party Rivals (Jennifer Steinhauer) from the New York Times
"For the past two years, Republican senators facing re-election have very deliberately spent millions of dollars, hired multiple consultants and cast scores of conservative votes with one goal in mind: avoiding the embarrassing primary conflagrations that befell their party in 2010 and 2012 and cost Republicans a chance at taking back the Senate. It has not worked."
The Conservative Crackup: How the Republican Party Lost its Mind (Kim Messick) from Salon
"How a major, diverse political party became so dependent on the Tea Party's narrow range of strident voices."
The Tea Party’s Paranoid Aesthetic (Kim Messick) from Salon
" I want to argue that we can discern in these messages a kind of master narrative, a collection of meanings that expresses the Tea Party’s sense of American history and of its own place within that history. It is this “story line,” I think, that explains the powerful appeal of the Tea Party movement ... It conjures a world that inherently resists any attempt to arrange its elements in a non-apocalyptic way: What look like policy disputes are actually episodes in the eternal contest of Good with Evil; what appear to be mistakes are really insidious triumphs, the brutal forward motion of a doomsday machine."
Conservative Editor: Republicans are Losing Because of Family Guy (Eric W. Dolan) from Raw Story
"Republicans are losing to Democrats because pop culture in the United States is dominated by liberal thought, according to conservative writer and TV editor Bill Whittle. ... “You’re programmed by the pop culture. You’re programed by story,” Whittle said. “It’s all about stories, and if we’re the villain in all of the stories that are told we’re never going to win another election again.”"
AMERICAN AUTHOR NUGGET!!
The Forgotten Genius of Ring Lardner (Allen Barra) from the Daily Beast
"A writer so influential and popular that Hemingway adopted his name finally gets the collection he deserves. Allen Barra on the literary legacy of one of America’s finest sportswriters and short story
craftsman."
WORLD WAR II NUGGET!!
WWII’s Greatest Battle: How Kursk Changed the War from the Daily Beast
"Perhaps the most important battle of World War II was a giant clash of tanks between Germans and Russians, but today it is largely overlooked in the West. Andrew Roberts on a new book that makes a convincing case for how it changed the war."
CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY NUGGET!!
Picture Their Hearts (Dionisia Morales) from Oregon Humanities
"A woman looks back at her parents’ interracial marriage before the height of the Civil Rights Movement."
LABOR DAY NUGGET!!
God Save Our Scone, Cream and Jams! National flags recreated with food each country is associated with Australian company created 17 flags using international delicacies from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Star fruit, crab and banana leaves among the diverse ingredients representing exotic nations."
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