How many Syrians will Obama kill with perfectly-legal cruise missiles to avenge the 350 deaths of Syrians by chemical weapons (note: the US does not count depleted uranium or white phosphorus as chemical weapons)?
Note: this is a trick question.
Blitz to War
•
As the US prepares to attack Syria, this makes the rush to war against Iraq look like a long slog. The alleged chemical attack only took place a week ago, and it has yet to be confirmed by any independent observers whatsoever. Yet the cruise missiles are already being targeted.
The average American has no idea what’s going on there, can’t name more than one city in the country, and probably has no idea that we are supporting radical Islamists there. Meanwhile, you have to ask yourself, why would Assad use chemical weapons?
He isn’t stupid. He’s a well-educated, calculating, intelligent despot. He knows that chemical weapons would draw down the wrath of the international community. Not to mention give Obama an excuse for war. I seriously doubt that Assad ordered this attack.
Parenthetically, anyone who doubts that there is really no substantial difference between Democrats and Republicans should remember that John Kerry, just gave a bloodthirsty speech, what is the alternative to Bush in 2004. Now it seems that he probably would have pursued the same policies as Bush.
50
•
An hour ago, I turned 50, making me eligible for the AARP and presumably qualifying me for all of the jobs that baby boomers have been keeping me out of all of my life. Or maybe not. Those guys are probably going to keep working until I die. Hell, they’ll probably kill me.
Frankly, I’m not one of those people who cares much about my own birthday. I learned that as a kid, no one’s ever around the last week of August to help you celebrate. But if you’re lying on a tropical beach somewhere, to paraphrase Wreckless Eric, tip a margarita in my honor and enjoy it, and think about the millions of Generation Xers moving their way forward.
If you are a member of the millennial generation, take heart. Unlike our parents’ generation, we actually like you guys and want to help you out.
ANewDomain Column: NSA: LOVEINT Means Always Having to Say You’re Sorry
•
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and with the NSA it’s hard to think of anything that hasn’t. Now England’s Daily Telegraph is reporting that some of the NSA’s army of four million staffers and contractors use the agency’s PRISM and other high-tech spy programs to gather intelligence on their husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends.
Check out my column on this topic, exclusive to ANewDomain.net, which yes, pays me for them so you should support them:
I probably wouldn’t do it now; I turn 50 today. But back in my 20s, I was wilder. I loved pranks, I was curious, I was testing limits. And I was a computer programmer. And a hacker. I can’t imagine 29-year-old me not using the limitless access to Americans’ private communications and personal information that NSA analysts have — these guys even tapped Obama — to check out my girlfriend’s bank balance and text messages and phone records.
David Carr to Journalists: What Are You Thinking?
•
In a column that harkens back to his glory days as a media critic for the New York Times, David Carr calls out the journalists (David Toobin, David Gregory and Jeffrey Toobin) who have brutally attacked Juliana Sanchez of WikiLeaks and Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian.
When traditional print and broadcast journalist from corporate media attack bloggers and other new media types, he points out, they are siding with the government against journalism itself and thus imperiling the entire profession.
So what are these guys thinking, he asks?
It’s a great piece, and I applaud him for taking this stand, but he is clearly unwilling to say what must be said: it’s political. The guys who are attacking the whistleblowers and leakers, who fantasize about a drone strike against Julian Assange or Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker, are right wing, statist, sons of bitches who belong in camps themselves after the revolution comes one day.
The irony is rife: even as they accuse others of not being “real journalists,” they are themselves betraying the very essence of what it means to be a journalist: opposition to government. You cannot possibly trust government and be a real journalist.
NYT Uses Piece on Immigrants to Promote The One
•
Except for looming war against Syria, it must be a slow news day. Today’s New York Times releases a piece that could easily go into that famous “the Times is on it” Twitter feed: the fact that some people who immigrate to United States aren’t interested in getting US citizenship. What’s remarkable here is how the piece ends with, and features a photograph of, a woman who became an American citizen in order to vote for Obama in 2000. Will fetishization of this mass murderer never end?
No Wonder Campaign Signs Look Crappy
•
Today’s New York Times has a piece about a New York mayoral candidate that is unintentionally revealing about the contempt that newspapers and many politicians have for the importance of graphic art. New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio was a campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s Senate race in New York in 2000.
Here he is chastised for allowing a conversation about the color and font to be used on campaign signs to drag on for 20 minutes. Maybe these guys aren’t aware of basic advertising principles, but these things are extremely important.
We’ve Seen This Show Before
•
In 2002 and 2003, Bush told Iraq that its offer to allow weapons inspectors to visit came too late to avoid military action. Now Obama is doing the same thing to Syria.
But hey, what could go wrong?
Fundraiser Update
•
Almost there! Looking to raise $2000 to cover website redesign and improvements…thanks to everyone who contributed, we’re at $1787!
