Journalism, creating salt-of-the-earth types for conveniently found wisdom since David Broder was middle-aged.

Featuring music of Lucy Schwartz and The Polyphonic Spree.

And since this case now in Vaughn Walker’s San Francisco courtroom is headed for the Supreme Court notwithstanding any lower court rulings, and since the Prop 8 defense is primarily about the sacred procreative aspect of marriage, Chief Justice John Roberts ought to set an example: married at 41, two adopted children.

What did the people of his time who looked at this Annunciation by Simone di Martini see when they looked at it? You can get a close look at central image using the image viewer at the excellent Artchive Site.

For years, we’ve been following reports – first in Iraq and then in Afghanistan – of US forces, particularly JSOC teams, using night raids and air strikes to terrorize local citizens. All too often, these attacks not only terrify civilians, they kill them. Following each such killing, we hear that US forces are going to [...]

Only a truly strange person would be caught reading the transcript of Meet the Press in a local bar.

Last year, I tracked European objections to continued US access to SWIFT data. In November, some Germans balked at pushing an agreement through before the new European government was put into place. In December I described the interim agreement put into place until the new government can negotiate a new one.

Anyone interested in how progressives are using the Internet as a vehicle for political and social action should pick up Jessica Clark and Tracy Van Slyke’s accessible, provocative book, Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (The New Press, 2010). Their micro-analysis of networked progressive activism forms a topographical map of the loosely affiliated groups and individuals who have emerged as a movement in a rapidly changing media environment. Using this map, readers can sort their way through the thicket of interrelated legacy publications, websites, blogs and social networking sites that constitute the hubs and highways of the progressive movement and understand how progressives have been using new media to push back against the political status quo. Especially for those who are engaged in the process, having the opportunity to understand how their efforts are reinforced and influenced by the contributions of those in other portions of the far-flung blogosphere gives purpose and definition to the broader workings of an often ill-defined entity.

At least Bill Moyers still pays attention to single payer.

A new UN report notes secret detentions “might reach the threshold of a crime against humanity.” Obama’s OLC braintrusts the Detention Task Force’s recommendation of indefinite detention of some Guantanamo prisoners. These actions make sense in the light of a 55 year old report on CIA covert actions.