Here is another interesting article from Juan Cole, Tom Friedman & funding ISIL: Israel/Iran Derangement Syndrome.

…If the US has to play whackamole with everyone in the Middle East who objects to the sordid goings-on in Israel/Palestine, we’ll eventually be bankrupt and without regional allies, and the region itself will collapse and present more severe security threats of the Daesh sort.

In contrast, a de facto US rapprochement with Iran to squelch the Daesh/ ISIL threat before it metastasizes further (see: Tunisia) is clearly in the interest of the United States and its people, including Jewish Americans.

Cole presents some interesting theories about the conflict in the middle-east that may be worth considering.  I don’t have the expertise to say exactly how much of his theory is historically accurate.  Probably the reason I first looked at this article was the possible attack on Tom Friedman, a famed reporter whose 15 minutes of fame was up a long time ago.  Friedman still gets undeserved respect in some circles., but fortunately Juan Cole is not afraid of him.

Informed Comment has the article Yemen Bombing: It’s not ISIL and it’s not Sunni-Shiite Conflict.

So this is political. The Houthi movement has politicized Zaidi Islam, after the Saudis politicized hard line Sunni Islam. The Houthis have all kinds of enemies now– secular Arab nationalists loyal to the Aden government, Sunnis who resent Houthi dominance of largely Sunni cities like Taizz, southern secessionists, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Any of these could have hit the mosques, not because they hate Shiism but because they oppose the Houthi take-over of Yemen’s government in the north.

I don’t know enough about this situation to pass judgment on the accuracy of the above analysis.  However, it is worth keeping in mind as an inoculation against what you will read and hear in the lame stream media.  The lame stream media has a preconceived notion as to what this is about, so they feel no need to spend any resources digging any deeper.  Besides, the lame stream media’s story helps promote more war which is  very profitable to the owners of the lame stream media.

Politico has the story Jeb Bush’s forgotten father-in-law.

Bush says his Mexican father-in-law abandoned his family to work in the U.S. That’s not how his other relatives remember it.

I know from experience that there may be a side to this story that nobody wants to talk about.  It makes it impossible to judge who is “right” and who is “wrong” in this story, without knowing whether or not there is a hidden part.

I don’t think either political side in this country gains or loses by hearing this story.  I publish a link to it more for the human interest aspects than for any other reason.

Politicus USA has the article Bernie Sanders Demands War Tax On Millionaires To Pay For GOP Military Spending Increase.  The article quotes Sanders’ statement as follows:

The Republican Party is going to have to end their hypocrisy with regard to deficits and the national debt. They are going to have to be honest with the American people. Wars are enormously expensive, not only in terms of human life and suffering, but in terms of the budget. If the Republicans want another war in the Mideast, they are going to have to tell the American people how much it will cost them and how it will be paid for.

Either the Republicans agree to pay for it, or they tell the truth about the deficit and debt.  The Republicans know full well, that under the current economic situation, the deficit could stand to be, and actually needs to be higher than it is now.  Their attempts to cut all non-war related spending on the backs of the poor and middle-class has absolutely nothing to do with the economics of deficits and debt.  It has everything to do with draining the last drop of blood from the poor and middle-class so they can give it to the top 0.1%.

Politicus USA has the article John Boehner Going To Israel To Try To Sabotage Likely Obama Nuclear Agreement With Iran.

Republicans are opening a new front in their campaign to undercut the Commander In Chief. Speaker of the House John Boehner will be going to Israel to meet with Netanyahu around the same time that the White House expects an agreement to be reached on Iran’s nuclear program.

I can only hope that Politicus USA is overestimating the perfidy of Speaker Boner, but given his past actions, that might be hard for them to do.

The Republicans will keep this up until someone shows some interest in looking into the ramifications of the Logan Act.

Why does Obama think punitive measures are the only way to get the Iranians, the Russians, the Syrians, and North Korea to talk, but he thinks sweetness and light will sway the Republicans?

CNN has the story Congress gives Obama room on Iran.

Congress is giving President Barack Obama some breathing room on nuclear talks with Iran, while Obama is appealing directly to Iranians to support a deal facing a deadline at the end of the month.

After weeks of contentious maneuvering by the Senate and the White House over a bill that would force the administration to submit any deal to a congressional vote, senators pushing the measure said Thursday they would wait an additional three weeks before bringing the legislation to the floor.

CNN had a clip of the video that I will show in its entirety below.  What CNN showed wasn’t bad, but somehow I had the feeling that I wish Obama would learn the lesson of STFU sometimes.

After watching the entire video, I see that there is a little more diplomacy and tact in the thing, but there still remains a little of the feeling of STFU. What are the idiots in this country going to make of the President speaking in a language they don’t understand? I won’t even give dignity to their thoughts by quoting the words that they will probably use.

So what are we to make of the Reuters article Deadlocked Iran nuclear talks break off, to resume next week?

Iran and six world powers suspended negotiations on a nuclear agreement and were set to meet again next week to break a deadlock over sensitive atomic research and lifting of sanctions, Western officials said on Friday.

While the negotiations have made progress over the past year and both sides appear determined to push for a deal, differences on sticking points are still wide enough to potentially prevent an agreement in the end. France was demanding more stringent restrictions on the Iranians under any deal than the other Western delegations, officials said.

Maybe this is where my thought that a little STFU would be in order.

I just ran across The Washington Post article Latest round of Iran nuclear talks end abruptly, slated to resume next week.

I quote the following excerpt mainly because it plays a key part in my comment on the article. It does not give you nearly the impression of even handed coverage that is in this article.

The Iranians, however, say the onus for the tough political decisions falls on Washington and its allies.

Zarif tweeted a message in response to Obama’s Nowruz greeting, saying, “Iranians have already made their choice: Engage with dignity. It’s high time for the U.S. and its allies to choose: pressure or agreement.”

My response to the article was:

Wow, of the three stories I have read today, this is the most complete one. It seems pretty even handed. What is amazing is that the article even covers the Iranian response to US claims that Iranians have to make tough choices. Who in this country would know that Iranians have their own opinions, too, if at least one newspaper didn’t mention it?

In fact the article was not overly optimistic like the CNN article, nor overly pessimistic like the Reuters article. The Washington Post article gave more of the information you would need to make your own judgment.

Think Progress has the article The Only Place It Was Cold This Winter Was The East Coast Of The United States.

Globally, this has been the hottest winter on record, topping the previous record (2007) by 0.05°F.

The article has a nice picture from the NOAA.

Now we know that being able to bring a snowball into the chambers of Congress in Washington, D.C. is not a refutation of the idea of global warming. Perhaps some Congress people have a very distorted idea of what the globe is.

See the Addicting Info article Senator Who Brought Snowball To Congress ‘Disproves’ Global Warming Using Trusty Bible.

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, recently delivered unto the world comedy gold when he brought a snowball to Congress in a hilarious and failed effort to, using said frosty orb, prove global warming is a lie.

Yes, you read that right – chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Thanks to Cedric Flower for posting the Think Progress article on Facebook.

The ACLU has the article Be Careful With Your Micro-Expressions at the Airport.

You’re late for your flight, sweaty from having dragged your luggage to the check-in counter, and stressed about making it through security before boarding begins. For some of us, this is the rule, not the exception. For most of us, it’s a pretty unremarkable scenario.

Not so fast, says the Transportation Security Administration. Typical airport behavior like this could make you a suspicious traveler who should be subjected to questioning and additional screening – and possibly referred to the police for investigation, detention, or arrest.

They also have this video.

Contrary to what some people think, the ACLU is watching out for your civil liberties, too. Don’t be so quick to disparage what they do.

You can also see and share this video on Facebook.

Naked Capitalism has the story Bank Super Lawyer, Rodgin Cohen of Sullivan & Cromwell, Says Regulatory Capture is a Myth.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a credulity-straining account of how Rodgin Cohen, the dominant bank regulatory lawyer in the US, was trying with a straight face to convey a line that legitimates his role: move along, there is no such thing as regulatory capture.

The article refers to another Naked Capitalism article, Stanford Law School Covers Up SEC’s Andrew Bowden’s Embarrassing Remarks by Deep-Sixing Conference Video.

Fortunately, our Richard Smith, based on his considerable experience with scammers removing incriminating evidence from the Internet, had the presence of mind to download the entire presentation. NC has restored it to YouTube, and, unless Stanford Law School’s next tacky goof is to get cute with DMCA requests, you will always be able see it here.

I always thought that having the right wing nuts of the Hoover Institute on the Stanford campus was an embarrassment to Stanford.  Now I see that it fits quite nicely with the Stanford philosophy.

The embarrassing video had SEC regulator Bowden marveling at the huge profits of the private equity business.  One of the comments pointed out an obvious fact.

An actual regulator might find those large profit margins worthy of a second look…….

When I see all the stories of hedge fund managers going to jail for insider trading, I realize that the reason that hedge funds used to make such out sized returns for their investors was that they were cheating.  Since it is well known that it is next to impossible to beat the market averages over the long term, one must look askance at how some individuals defy this.  Many have done this by cheating.  You have to wonder if there are any who achieve this high level of performance honestly.