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Two use cases: A light house, and national defense. Read below the fold...

I had really meant to steer clear of Obama's May 23 counterterrorism speech, but I heard such different accounts of it, that it both ended and expanded the war on terror, I thought I should take a look.

Here is the speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/remarks-president-...

The accompanying fact sheet: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/fact-sheet-preside...

And the guidance for counterterrorism operations outside the US: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/2013.05.23_fact_sh...

As always, it is a question of definitions. What Obama meant by an end to the global war on terror was that there would be no more Afghanistans, no more 100,000 soldier armies invading foreign countries.

"Beyond Afghanistan, we must define our effort not as a boundless “global war on terror,” but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America. In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries."

Minus Afghanistans (and Iraqs), it will still be global, a war, and against "the terrorists". This view is re-inforced in his discussion of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) which has served as the "legal" basis for the current war on terror: Read below the fold...

VT Digger (hat tip MR):

Act 48 [the single payer bill] required Shumlin’s Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding to submit a recommendation for the “amounts and necessary mechanisms to finance Green Mountain Care,” the publicly funded plan, by Jan. 15, 2013.

On Jan. 24, the so-called financing plan arrived on legislators’ desks. While it provided an amount to be raised of roughly $1.6 billion, the document did not include the “necessary mechanisms” to raise those dollars. Read below the fold...

To restate the obvious. Start with Obama's (hastily called) April 30 presser: "[OBAMA: ] We -- we will implement it." That's Obama giving the troops marching orders.

So, Obama committed to meeting ObamaCare deadlines and a successful rollout.* So here's the best way to think about what Obama says about ObamaCare, what the administration says, what exchange spokesholes say, what "career" progressives say, what Obots say, what Democrats say, what a lot of "grass roots" organizations say, and a lot of what the press runs with as the narrative-- Read below the fold...

Village Voice:

At night, you can see it clearly--the corner windows of the Cooper Union's seventh floor, flooded in red light. It's a signal from the students who have been occupying the president's office for two weeks. They're there because they've lost faith in university leadership that voted to start charging tuition after 111 years of free education. They're there because the board of trustees denied responsibility for a series of bad financial decisions made behind closed doors. They're there because they'd like to know what the hell is going on.

Very very smart, these art students. Solves the problem of bringing a hitherto private space into the public eye (as opposed to occupying public space by definition visible, a la Zucotti Park). Meanwhile, the Trustees are even more appalling than we thought they were: Read below the fold...

(See the Archdruid's series on "How It Could Happen," parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 ("it" being the break-up of America somewhat along the lines of the Jesusland Map). FT columnist Jurek Martin in DC:

The one thing that has brought out the best in America is its response to natural disasters, at home or overseas. It always seemed that partisan divides vanished when catastrophe struck, wherever it happened. And all eyes turned to the federal government for help when it did because that was something that Washington could be quite good at (hurricane Katrina in New Orleans conspicuously excepted). Read below the fold...

Took the bus to Blue Seal, having abandoned the idea of leaves, only to discover they were out! Too many people seeding their lawns in the moist, cool weather, unfortunately (damn lawns). Let that be a lesson to me: Call first! Read below the fold...

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The Democratic National Committee is looking for an Analytics Engineer to join our digital team.

We run one of the most effective, creative, and innovative digital programs in politics, and an optimized data-driven process is core to achieving the communications, fundraising and organizing goals of the cause.

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Stephen M. Walt writes in “What is the U.S. REALLY Doing in Syria?”:



1. The Syrian conflict has become a proxy fight between the opposition and its various allies (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Turkey, etc.) and Bashar al-Assad's regime and its various outsider supporters (Iran, Russia, Hezbollah).

Read below the fold...

So, about sheet mulch: Read below the fold...

Read below the fold...

Bill Van Auken writes in “Argentina’s General Videla and the ‘war on terror’”: Read below the fold...

What, you think Obama -- and Wellpoint's Liz Fowler, who drafted ObamaCare for Max Baucus while his chief of staff -- would ever do anything to help the unions or collective bargaining? Kidding, right? The Hill: Read below the fold...