Surprise! We haven’t had one of these in a while. Y’all seemed to like Open Threads more, and they were less work, so I went along with you. But lately, you’ve seemed less enchanted with the open threads, and I like VFPs (they appeal more to my compulsion to try to make sense of the news), so here you go:
- U.S.: Missile was Russian-made (WashPost) — Now this is a lede story worthy of the term. The WSJ, the NYT and the WashPost are all going multi-column on their headlines on this one. You may of may not have noticed, but normally a lede on those sites is held to one column. Since the headline on this could well include the words “Cold War Redux,” this is heavy news, indeed.
- SIDEBAR: Indiana University student athlete killed in crash — She was Dutch. There was one U.S. citizen: Quinn Lucas Schansman.
- SIDEBAR: Obama says ‘near 100’ AIDS workers killed. Is it true? — The number remains uncertain, but the NYT has identified at least one top researcher killed in the shootdown.
- Netanyahu Warns of Wider Israel Operation in Gaza (NYT) — The story that would be the lede most days. The world is an extraordinarily dangerous place these days, as the U.S. slouches toward greater isolationism.
- Obama opens Eastern Seaboard to oil exploration (AP) — A story with implications for SC. The exploration involves something called “sonic cannon,” which lets the women of the world know right off that this is something a guy is responsible for thinking up.
- SC jobless rate held steady in June (thestate.com) — The rate has stayed stagnant since April, after a year of sharp declines.
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The world is an extraordinarily dangerous place these days, as the U.S. slouches toward greater isolationism.
-Brad
Wow. That is probably the singularly worst reading of history I think I have ever seen. I’d laugh but there are far too many people that hold that ridiculous world view.
Truth is the world has always been a dangerous place. Name a time when the world wasn’t a dangerous place. 1812? 1914? 1939? 1950? 1980?
Truth is the U.S. is hardly isolationist. We still have troops in Afghanistan, Germany, Korea, Okinawa and once again Iraq. We still send Israel billions in military aid. And to a lessor extent Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Isolationist?? Maybe you’re confusing the U.S. with Switzerland or Belgium.
Truth is many of world’s dangerous places are dangerous BECAUSE the U.S. has acted as the world’s policeman. Our meddling in places like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya etc etc etc have all ultimately led to violent eruptions and fostered an environment of extremism that is coming home to roost in many unpredictable ways. Remember the Shah? He was our guy but his ultimate downfall led to an extremist regime. Remember how we supported the Afghan rebels against the Russians? That one created the environment for the Taliban to thrive. And to borrow a turn of phrase from John Kerry, the U.S. was for Saddam Hussein before we were against him.
It is most assuredly not U.S. isolationism that has led to the very violent world we live in today. Rather it is just the nature of the world to be a violent place. And American imperialism has only served to exacerbate that natural tendency, not to tamp it down.
So the world is a dangerous place, and the US should be more isolationist because we’re doing more harm than good?
Do I have that right?
Our involvement in the world should be about humanitarianism not political activism. And we certainly shouldn’t be in the business of forcing the neo-con worldview of American exceptionalism down everyone’s throat.
which lets the women of the world know right off that this is something a guy is responsible for thinking up.
-Brad
I’ve got news for you Brad there are plenty of women out there that could have thought up the term “sonic cannon”. I know you long for a simpler time when women “knew their place” but let’s face it women curse, have tattoos, serve as fighter pilots and own guns, trucks and plenty of other manly toys. Check your calender it’s 2014 not 1910.
<3 bud!
That’s just a bizarre response, and Kathryn’s “like” is just as odd. My observation is one I often hear from my wife. She hears of something really stupid-sounding that involves doing something in a way that sounds unnecessarily dangerous or invasive or using excessive force, or guns, or explosions, and she says, “Obviously something a MAN thought up.” And I, rather sheepishly, have to agree, because she’s obviously right.
So I repeat that observation, and what I get is that I want women to “know their place?” Where on Earth did THAT come from?
Self-effacing humor; it’s not for everyone.
“…but let’s face it women curse, have tattoos, serve as fighter pilots and own guns, trucks and plenty of other manly toys.” – Bud, of course!
Not exactly, Bud.
And please, don’t rant about Washington Times’s bias unless you can find this important concern in your daily diet of ‘unbiased’ New York Times newsprint: “Obama picks non-pilot to head Air Force in Pacific”
As a taxpayer who helps pays for our military academies’ liberal, peacenik professors, let me tell you the non-pilot woman picked for one of the most significant Air Force postings of your lifetime is niether a pilot nor graduate of the Air Force Academy.
Borrowing from one of your favorite SecDefs:
“As far as Saddam Hussein [Lori J. Robinson] being a great military strategist, [s]he is neither a strategist, nor is [s]he schooled in the operational arts, nor is [s]he a tactician,…. Other than that, [s]he’s a great military [wo]man, I want you to know that.”
– Norman Schwarzkopf
Obama’s selection of Robinson, like too many of his other military policies, is destroying the very morale of the world’s preeminent military. This is not the least bit unexpected nor ironic, as prgressive (liberal)
types take our military for granted and as former Sen John Kerry once implied, probably consider them mentally inadequate.
Shame on all who take our military for granted!
#4: There’s a reason there aren’t a lot of oil wells of our eastern seaboard. There’s not a lot of oil out there.
If you want to see (hear) sonic cannons in use, ride up to McLeod Farms in McBee for a peach season hailstorm. They have sonic cannons that soften the hail to prevent damage to the crop. Most people talk about the weather but do nothing about it. McLeod Farms does something about it.
Sonic booms every 5 seconds. Heard for 15 miles around. Sounds like a war zone right there in McBee.
I think that’s the last place I would want to see and hear a spring storm, honestly.
About the oil. There may be a significant amount of oil of the Atlantic coast but it’s probably not a huge amount. Estimates are all over the place. Why don’t we build wind turbines off the cost instead. At least if one of those blows over during a hurricane it won’t flood Myrtle Beach with black crude. Not sure why we would risk wildlife for a few barrels of oil that is going to eventually run out no matter what we do. It’s time for a new, cleaner way of powering our toys.