The Smithian

May 23

“President Obama raised the question of whether the long-term costs of drone strikes, including the reported killings of innocent civilians and declining image of America in many Muslim countries, may outweigh the short-term benefits of eliminating specific militants. The month after a drone strike killed the American-born terrorist leader Anwar al-Awlaki, another drone strike mistakenly killed his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who had set off into the Yemeni desert in search of his father.” — Shreeya Sinha, Digital Editor, Foreign Desk, the New York Times

Julian Assange seemed like an intriguing topic for prolific documentarian Alex Gibney, but little did he know the rabbit hole of secrets, lies and hypocrisy he would find as he dug into his subject.

an interview with GIbney, here.

'This...again goes to a basic fact about today’s politics, which is that Tea Party lawmakers have—willfully, it seems–decided that they no longer have any obligation to engage in basic governing. And that holds outsized influence over the entire party. Indeed, this Tea Party debt ceiling gambit has the support of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. This, even though other Republican leaders, such as John Boehner, have already admitted that Republicans are going to raise the debt limit in the end. The fact that McCain has now denounced their antics...in such harsh terms suggests that allowing the Tea Party trio to continue calling the shots may be increasingly untenable.'

…the Nigerian Nostalgia Project has now become a successful archive and digital community project…

May 21

mexicanfoodporn:

Taco de papas y cebolla en salsa y taco de bistec con salsa de chipotle #mfpkitchen #potato #steak #spicy #salsa #lime #mfpkitchen #mexicanfoodporn

[snackable]

‘Too bad that Republicans don’t sing the praises of the First Amendment when the White House is held by the G.O.P. In fact, they do the exact opposite…’

…In fact, they did the exact opposite when the Republican administration does the exact same thing that is now at the center of the Obama scandal involving the Associated Press—that is, seizing phone records of reporters. (Please note: The issue here isn’t whether they are right or wrong. What I’m talking about is the utter hypocrisy of the G.O.P. on this matter.) Let’s take the most important disclosure of a classified program that occurred in my lifetime: the 2005 article in The New York Times that revealed the existence of the program to allow the government to wiretap Americans and others in the United States without a warrant if it was part of a national-security investigation. Somehow, I don’t remember Republicans banging the First Amendment drum when that story came out— instead, they were calling for reporters to be charged with treason, which could have led to them being executed.

bold, ours. more, here.

brazilwonders:

Brazilian people (by VECTORINO)

[meaningful glance] x2

(via braaazil)

One thing…that shouldn’t be up for debate is whether or not we should be as prepared as possible for inevitable weather events like tornadoes…there’s an increasing chance that we will not be thanks to the manufactured crisis known as sequestration…sequestration includes an 8.2 percent cut to the National Weather Service. According to the organization representing weather service employees, that means there is “no way for the agency to maintain around-the-clock operations at its 122 forecasting offices” and also means “people are going to be overworked, they’re going to be tired, they’re going to miss warnings.”

more.

Haruki Murakami has signed a deal for the English translation of “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage”…[it] sold over a million copies in just over a week…in Japan…

more.

“I increasingly think of Obama as walking a tiny, little rope suspended across a Grand Canyon. Through four and a half years he has mainly kept his footing, in a way that becomes cumulatively surprising—and I say that even while disagreeing with many of his policies, notably including the recent security-state extensions. Every now and then…we see how hard what he is doing is.” — James Fallows, at the Atlantic

…the QR code on the posters leads to a pro-gun website featuring an elaborate quiz on gun rights.

May 20

+++++

art: photographer unknown

[look of the hour]

'Americans moved to the suburbs after World War II to escape the problem of poverty in cities. Running away is no longer an option—the cities’ traditional woes are now in the suburbs, too.'

‘…every Republican on the House Agriculture Committee voted to approve an omnibus farm bill containing a $20 billion cut in food stamps over the next decade in the program’s $800 billion or so 10-year budget…’

While less devastating than turning the program into a capped block grant to the states, which the House Republicans have previously endorsed, the cut is nearly five times the reduction approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate Agriculture Committee, which already is too much. The House bill’s cuts would end food-stamp assistance for nearly two million people, with the pain falling mainly on low-income working families with kids and older Americans…

more.