The good news: We're not at war yet. But the momentum for a legally murky attack on Syria still has legs. Britain, though far from parliamentary unanimity on military action, says it's "highly likely" the government of Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in an August 21 attack.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is asking everybody to just be cool for a minute while his investigators piece together the facts on the ground. He expects a report by Saturday.
And by the way, Syrian rebels have been pleading for the US to send gas masks for a more than a year. No dice.
President Obama yesterday took a break from mulling a punitive, potentially illegal military strike to celebrate the legacy of one of our nation's most-resolute peace makers.
Just when you thought drones were nothing but stoic killing machines that free their operators from thorny problems of conscience, they go and do something sweet like help us fight the Rim Fire.
Good old Montana, folksy land of Big Sky, Big Mountains and Big Personalities... like the judge who sentenced a 54-year-old teacher who'd raped a 14-year-old student to 30 days in jail, and publicly laid blame on the victim. The girl committed suicide in 2010.
Now I'm wondering if the New York Times's web site has been attacked by hackers again. It won't load on my computer, but did a moment ago.
Protestors in cities throughout the nation have taken to the streets today to demand higher wages at fast food restaurants. It's not a new push—the protests have cropped up again and again in recent months in, for instance, Seattle. Where is Portland on this? Am I missing protests, or are we out of the loop?
Here's something hopeful! Saudi Arabia has passed a domestic violence law—a first for the ultra-conservative kingdom. The country has played host to the types of horrific perversions of justice under sharia law that have become more and more publicized in recent years. From a Reuters report: "The Supreme Judicial Council in 2007 condemned a 19-year-old woman to 200 lashes and six months in jail on a charge of having been with a man she was not related to after she was attacked and gang-raped."
Here's something terrifying! North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un reportedly had his ex-girlfriend and 11 others gunned down by firing squad. Friends and family who were brought in to watch the executions were promptly sent to prison camps, according to the Telegraph.
Let's hope the Weather Widget tells it true, and this morning's rain is just a troll toll in some forced metaphor wherein we cross a bridge to frolic beneath the sun this weekend.
Finally, inevitably:
