Echoes of 2001-2003

Reading this section of Trump’s speech to the heads of Arab countries the other day takes me back to the period immediately following the 9/11 attacks. But no discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three—safe harbor, financial backing, and the social standing needed for …

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Just what the Middle East needs

By a vote of 51.4% – 48.6% the Turks approved a referendum today which gives their current President executive powers similar to those of the US President. There’s some question as to how legitimate a lot of the “yes” votes were, though: The CHP is refusing to accept the Yes victory and is demanding a …

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Big news day

First the Senate Republicans, as promised, destroyed years of Senate traditions in order to place another conservative vote onto the Supreme Court, a long-term goal of theirs. It started with Bush v. Gore, when five conservative justices abruptly halted the recount of Florida’s ballots in the 2000 election and made George W. Bush president. [snip] …

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Let the intifada bloom!

It’s not that I think General Flynn would have advised Trump to support the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but almost any National Security Adviser might have tried to tell the man that suggesting the US abandon it might cause the Palestinians to get angry. In his news conference with Mr. Netanyahu in …

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Keep them Muslims OUT!

But Trump’s efforts to do so with today’s executive orders may be unconstitutional. If so, it may be due to a single sentence in the majority opinion Justice Alito wrote in the Hobby Lobby case. That was the one in which five justices said privately-held corporations didn’t have to comply with Federal rules they objected …

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Barack, Bibi and the State of Israel

Tom Friedman has been an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times for a long time. As early as 11 years ago he was being ridiculed (see picture) by the more irreverent members of the blogosphere for his certainty that he was the holder of all truths, even when those truths had been invalidated convincingly. …

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Republican candidates

Here’s a nice summary from Fred Kaplan at Slate of the most notable responses from the Republican Presidential candidates to the three transactions the US concluded with Iran this week: the release of the Navy sailors, the nuclear deal and subsequent release of Iranian assets and this morning’s prisoner exchange. It was pretty evident even …

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Oy, these right-wingers

Ann Coulter thinks says Nikki Haley was mean to Donald Trump and is a closet immigration amnesty-lover who should be deported. (I’m not sure Coulter ever thinks; I think she just reacts to things.) Roy Edroso at alicublog documents the fright-wing’s responses to the release of the 10 Navy sailors momentarily detained by Iran for …

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