Folks, Hopefully you’ve had a better week than the acting career of Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos. We’re heading into a weekend, followed by a Christmas holiday. In other words, this is the perfect place for important people to dump important stories significantly timed to avoid the scrutiny of a hysterical, polarized and lazy public. How important are... Continue Reading →
Under the Radar News from the Week of the Midterms
Folks, As predicted by myself to myself, the midterms aren’t really going to change a lot of things. Maybe the Russia investigation stuff will heighten, but my gut feeling is it probably won’t matter. Here, however, are some stories that will matter… How Donald Trump should deploy the CIA against Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, plenty of lobbyists... Continue Reading →
Under the Radar World News…aka Jihadist School Shooters, Russian Movie Villains and Chasing Hamza
Folks, Biggest under-reported story of the week has to be the compound discovered in New Mexico where five adults were starving and abusing 11 underage children with the intent of developing them into school shooters. Hm. Abused children, remote compound, school shooter training…shouldn’t this be clickbait for every eyeball-starved news organization? Well the adults were, ahem,... Continue Reading →
Under The Radar…aka What China’s Surveillance State, ISIS Recruitment, and Oxfam’s Orgies have to do with System of A Down, Ricardo Montalban, and the Fourth Planet Hollywood Investor
Folks, I remember when System of A Down released, “B.Y.OB.” I remember driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, tanned from a day at the beach and a belly full of surf and turf while Serge Tankian screamed, “And we all live in a fascist nation!” This was 2006. I remember thinking I liked SOAD more... Continue Reading →
Under the Radar News…aka Things that Happened While You Talked about Potential Supreme Court Picks at a BBQ
Folks, Here’s hoping you enjoyed the 4th of July, even if you think that whole American Revolution thing was a mistake. Imagine you have two harmless ingredients which, when combined, become more powerful than VX gas. Imagine it is undetectable in most chemical security testings. Imagine it is deadly to the touch. Imagine it can absorb... Continue Reading →
Can We Trust Turkey?
[Note: This article was originally written on 1 NOV 2015. The author is finally getting around to publishing it, hoping that he’ll look really smart if it all comes true.] _____ “Can we really trust Turkey?” After you’ve bored friends and family with your talk about ISIS, Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and Al-Qaeda, why would... Continue Reading →
This Week in Links: Russia, Spooks and Trouble
It's not your imagination, It's been almost two weeks since my "weekly" list of links. Which means I'm still more serious about doing a weekly email than the Russians are about doing a cease-fire. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the Russians aren't serious about a lot of other things. Like flying spy planes over the... Continue Reading →
