Adam Serwer

Having finally gotten through four seasons of Battlestar Galactica, I want to revisit the occupation/New Caprica storyline that was widely received as a criticism of the war in Iraq. The occupation arc is actually my favorite part of the series, not just because it was extraordinarily well done but because the rescue sequence, in which […]

My post at Greg‘s today is on the latest laughable push-poll Republicans are touting as “evidence” Obama is going to lose the Jewish vote: The phrasing in this poll is comically skewed towards eliciting the most negative responses possible. As always, the game is to perpetuate the sad conservative meme that this time, really this […]

James Zogby‘s Arab American Institute has some bad news for the Obama administration regarding its outreach to the Muslim world, finding that the U.S.’ approval is ” lower than at the end of the Bush Administration, and lower than Iran’s favorable ratings.” Across the board in the countries surveyed, respondents cited “continuing occupation of Palestinian […]

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, plummeting in the polls, is emerging as the neocon candidate of choice. Marc Thiessen, trying his best to shoehorn his inaccurate characterization of Obama administration detention policy as “catch and release,” into the GOP Primary conversation gives Pawlenty a chance to bear his spittle flecked comb: “I think that is […]

Today the Washington Times published an op-ed from Retired Admiral James A. Lyons arguing that the decision of the Army to allow a Muslim soldier to acquire conscientious objector status shows it has “embraced” the worldview of Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan: Now it seems the Army has embraced Maj. Hasan’s position in an […]

David Swerdlick and John McWhorter are debating the significance of Herman Cain, with McWhorter concluding that: Are they embracing him just because he allows them to disavow racism? Let’s say there’s some of that — but then the same people who would make this charge are surely aware, and often say, that the whites who […]

Ezra Klein has a chart that puts the offer Barack Obama gave John Boehner in context: What Obama offered Boehner was an opportunity to take the Bush tax cuts off the table. So though $800 billion in revenue sounds sizable, it’s only half as much in total revenue as the White House’s April proposal, two-fifths […]

The Israeli Knesset is taking an ill-advised path in trying to tamp down domestic dissent: The Israeli Parliament on Monday passed contentious legislation that effectively bans any public call for a boycott against the state of Israel or its West Bank settlements, making such action a punishable offense. Critics and civil rights groups denounced the […]

Jeremy Scahill has a must-read piece on the CIA’s operations in Somalia, which may peripherally shed some light on why and how alleged al Shabab member Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was captured. According to Scahill, the U.S., through the CIA, has been running a local detention operation there under the auspices of Somali intelligence: A Somali […]

Yesterday former DC Mayor and current Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry proposed the world’s worst solution to poverty in his ward, which is “encouraging homeownership” by banning new apartment buildings: “The American dream is to own a home. And black people have not gotten the American dream as much as they need to,” Barry says. […]