Here's how the Obama folks have been starting to spin Syria. The president made a credible threat to use military force in Syria. At the same time, he worked behind the scenes to get Russia's Vladimir Putin to push Bashir al-Assad to give up chemical weapons.
Feeling aggrieved over reports of widespread government surveillance? Feeling guilty about not feeling aggrieved? Relax. There's little you can do about the revelations.
For a president who distinguished himself from his predecessor by promising to extricate the United States from Iraq and Afghanistan, Barack Obama suddenly appears determined to maroon his own presidency in Syria. But critics who worry that Obama is imitating George W. Bush are missing the central irony in his predicament -- which stems from his failure to mimic Bush closely enough.
Some things you just have to do, in spite of great uncertainty.
Launching missiles at Syria isn't one of them.
The weekend obits toasted two American originals who died in their 90s. Both dedicated their many hours to preserving bygone technologies -- in one case typewriters and in the other vinyl records. Both would have closed shop sooner were it not for young hipsters, raised on the digital, seeing novelty and beauty in the great inventions of the mechanical age.
Hovering over the congressional debate on whether to authorize the use of military force in Syria is the specter of Iraq.
Blunder after blunder. That's been the story of President Barack Obama's policy toward Syria.
In April 2011, Obama said dictator Bashir al-Assad "had to go." But he did little or nothing to speed him on his way.
Thousands of Chinese are fleeing to the United States. We are not talking about impoverished peasants hiding in cargo containers. We're talking about millionaires flying first class and buying condos in the choicest ZIP codes. A big reason for this relocation, real estate agents say, is a desire for America's clean air, as opposed to China's suffocating smog.
The Denver Post warns, "Milk, food prices could rise if Congress fails to act."
Congress is working on a farm bill, which, among other things, will set limits on how high or low milk prices can be in different regions of the country.
A little infidelity, a little cheating, is OK in a marriage -- or even protective of it -- if the sneaking is just about money. Note the emphasis on "little."
Americans change their minds on some issues. One of them is crime and punishment.
Indianapolis offers the full urban deal: great architecture, hot restaurants, famous museums and a walkable downtown. But it also has had one of the worst panhandler problems I've seen. At almost every street corner, it seemed, someone was squeezing you for money.
When Democrats and Republicans agree, I get nervous. It often means that they agree to grab my wallet.
Moderate Republicans are, were, good things. I use the past tense "were" because as they became rarities, the centrists' chief function was preserving majorities in Congress for their radicalized party.
Evidence of the astonishing incompetence of the Obama administration continues to roll in.
New York City seems on the verge of making the same mistake that Detroit made 40 years ago. The mistake is to abolish the NYPD practice referred to as stop and frisk.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner was detained at London's Heathrow Airport for nine hours -- no waterboarding or electric shocks, just pointed questions and confiscation of David Michael Miranda's computer gear. That prompted Greenwald to threaten Britain with more of his writings.
The mere prospect of Hillary Rodham Clinton running for president again is evidently provoking outrage among old adversaries -- from Rush Limbaugh and Fox News to Maureen Dowd -- whose appetite for bogus "Clinton scandals" will never be sated. With the fizzling of Benghazi after an official State Department probe found no wrongdoing by the former Secretary of State, her critics have moved on, casting a gimlet eye on the charitable foundation built by her husband, the former president, over the past decade. Although Hillary has mostly been very busy elsewhere, the foundation provides an ample target for speculation and spite -- so long as critics ignore what it actually does for people around the world.
We need police to catch murderers, thieves and con men, and so we give them special power -- the power to use force on others. Sadly, today's police use that power to invade people's homes over accusations of trivial, nonviolent offenses -- and often do it with tanks, battering rams and armor you'd expect on battlefields.
In his book "Rise of the Warrior Cop," Radley Balko recounts the rise of police SWAT teams (SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics) armed with heavy military equipment. SWAT raids began as rarely used methods of dealing with violent situations, like hostage-takings.
This Congress has been criticized for not passing many laws -- and praised for that in some quarters. And it's true that in quantitative terms its productivity has been low.
