The edge of a thermal pool at Yellowstone. From National Geographic.
NATO Strike hits Gaddafi compound from the Associated Press via the Sydney Morning Herald [of Australia]
"NATO airstrikes have targeted the centre of Muammar Gaddafi's seat of power, destroying a multi-storey library and office and badly damaging a reception hall for visiting dignitaries."
Obama's Cuts His Rhetorical Deficit (Hendrik Hertzberg) from the New Yorker
"One of the mysteries of the Obama Presidency has been Obama’s inability—or disinclination, I’m not sure which—to give sustained emotional sustenance to a certain slice of his supporters. I don’t mean the “Democratic base,” especially the institutional “interest group” base. And I don’t mean the disillusioned left, which is easily, almost perpetually disillusioned because it has such an ample supply of illusions. (A lot of lefties, notwithstanding their scorn for “the system,” seem to have an implicit naive faith in the workability of the mechanisms of American governance. Hence their readiness to blame the disappointments of the Administration’s first two years mainly on Obama’s alleged moral or character failings—cowardice, spinelessness, insincerity, duplicity, what have you.)"
The Consequentialist: How the Arab Spring Remade Obama’s Foreign Policy (Ryan Lizza) from the New Yorker
"One of Donilon’s overriding beliefs, which Obama adopted as his own, was that America needed to rebuild its reputation, extricate itself from the Middle East and Afghanistan, and turn its attention toward Asia and China’s unchecked influence in the region. America was “overweighted” in the former and “underweighted” in the latter, Donilon told me."
There is a lot of interesting stuff in this long-form essay on Obama's foreign policy.
US Prepares Syria Sanctions from the Wall Street Journal
"The U.S. is preparing to impose unilateral sanctions on senior officials in the Syrian regime, the Wall Street Journal reported."
The Freedom Movement Comes to Syria (Fouad Ajami) from the Wall Street Journal
"It is unlikely that the Gadhafis and Mubaraks could have entertained thoughts of succession for their sons had they not seen the ease with which Syria became an odd creature—a republican monarchy."
There was a time when I appreciated the analysis of Fouad Ajami -- and then he completely embraced the Iraq War and all kinds of neo-con thinking. His analysis since has been (at best) pedestrian. Today's column has some interesting historical dimensions -- but I am struck by the headline, this on the *precise day* when the tanks are rolling into the rebel centers of Syria to crush the very freedom movement Ajami has just gotten around to trumpeting.
The Real Value of False Choices (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"...if there are false false choices, there are also real false choices. And here I should acknowledge my personal stake in this debate. Twenty years ago, I wrote a book called “Why Americans Hate Politics” arguing that liberals and conservatives often imposed a series of false choices on voters that prevented them from expressing their true preferences. Many voters preferred an intelligent “both/and” politics to an artificially constrained “either/or” approach. The classic case for me was the phony division of Americans into “feminist” and “pro-family” camps."
Mideast Unnerving North Korea in Sentaku Magazine [of Japan in English]
"North Korea's ruler and his heir apparent are scared stiff at the prospect of prodemocracy movements spreading from the Middle East and northern Africa to their home turf."
Inequality in China from the Editorial Board of the Irish Times [of ... ahem, Ireland]
"EVER GROWING social inequality and the persistance of endemic poverty in China are increasingly the most glaring anomalies in the country’s professed road to what Deng Xiaoping called “Socialism with Chinese characteristics”."
An Interview with Garrett Graff about The Threat Matrix from NPR's Diane Rehm Show [scheduled for later 11am today]
Giving people the heads-up on this now -- this sounds REALLY interesting!
"Since the 9/11 attacks, the FBI has undergone a radical transformation. Under the leadership of Robert Mueller, the bureau has become a worldwide anti-crime and anti-terrorism network with more than 13,000 agents serving in nearly 80 countries. Drawing on unprecedented access to Director Mueller and previously classified documents, journalist Garrett Graff details the history of the FBI and its work today in hot spots and war zones around the world."
The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup (Linkins & Siegel) from the Huffington Post
"This week, a black cloud settled over the 2012 campaign when a bunch of polls came back and the results showed that no one was all that happy about the state of the GOP field."
Trump and Bachmann Woo GOP Voters in South Carolina (Patricia Murphy) from the Daily Beast
"The Palmetto State has picked the GOP nominee every year since it began holding the first-in-the-South primary in 1980. Patricia Murphy visits and finds lots of love for two unlikely candidates."
Trumpery (Hendrik Hertzberg) from the New Yorker
A two-fer for Mr. Hertzberg today! See up top.
"For the Donald, thinking less and less seems to be working more and more…"
Trump Donated $50,000 to Rahm Emanuel's Mayoral Bid from the Illinois Review
"Real estate billionaire Donald Trump gave Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel $50,000 in December 2010, just months before hinting to the media he is seriously contemplating a bid to be the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee."
??? Go figure!
The Anti-Palin Crusaders from Politico
"She is a promiscuous, petty and unintelligent, yet deviously conniving warmonger intent on capturing the Oval Office and, from there, the world. Those are just some of the opinions about Sarah Palin held by members of a small but extremely active network of gadflies, bloggers and authors who have devoted much of the last 2½ years to proving their case to American voters. This self-styled anti-Palin movement — whose members span the globe and are mostly but not exclusively liberals — has been behind some embarrassing revelations about the former Alaska governor, her family and allies."
One sees this type of obsessive *digging* on the right all the time. But, as a liberal, I can't IMAGINE the energy it takes to pursue this kind of "hatred" hobby. At this point, SURELY, there must be something more constructive these folks could be doing with their time!
OBAMA BOOK NUGGET!!
The Apple Fell Far from the Tree: A Review of The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family by Peter Firstbrook (Kwame Anthony Appiah) from the New York Review of Books
"it’s easy to escape your wider family. Families have contracted; the claims of kin are increasingly optional. Ancestor hunting is one of the more harmless addictions enabled by the Internet, but many Americans still couldn’t give the maiden name of both their grandmothers. In much of the rest of the world—as for most of human history—the web of kinship is rather stickier."
ENVIRONMENT NUGGET!!
America's 25 Greenest Cities by The Daily Beast
"Earth Day was celebrated Friday, but how does your city fare the other 364 days of the year? The Daily Beast crunches the numbers to determine the 25 cities with the greenest citizens."
Sorry -- Pittsburgh is not on the list.
BIG KITTIES PLAYING VIDEO NUGGET!!
Big Cats and Easter Eggs [filled with Cat NIP?] from Bigcatrescue.org via Americablog
"I always love seeing how the big cats play just like the little ones."
GAY-LESBIAN HISTORY NUGGET [of a sort]!!
Lesbian Nation (Ariel Levy) from the New Yorker
"Lesbianism in the seventies promised a life of radical empowerment, and women were drawn by ideology as well as by desire."
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