The case of the young Muslim woman who has decided to return to her home country and enter into a forced marriage is much on my mind this morning. I have learned more about the situation — more than I can reveal here — and I must caution everyone against judging her. This world from which she comes, and this culture in which she is enmeshed, is so far from anything we Americans know and understand. It is evil, straight up.
Just as we predicted, it seems - despite the "everything is awesome" jobs data - that auto sales exuberance has hit the wall of credit saturation. Despite a surge in incentives in Q1, GM US auto sales rose just 0.6% (drastically lower than 6.0% rise expectations) and Ford rose 7.8% (missing expectations of a 9.4% surge).
One of the truly remarkable things about Donald Trump's run for the White House is the extent to which he has proven to be immune to criticism.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll poll shows that 63% of Americans - 82% of Republicans and 53% of Democrats - believe torture of suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified to gather information.
While it would be nice to beat the crap out of some bad guys to get them spill the beans - and prevent more terrorism - the truth is that torture DECREASES the amount of information we'll get and actually INCREASES terrorism.
We've Known for Over 2,000 Years that Torture Produces FALSE Confessions
We've known since ancient Rome that torture doesn’t work:
The New York Times editors express hope that a proposed cease-fire in Yemen might hold:
Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to meet soon with foreign ministers of gulf Arab nations. If he can make sure they go forward with the cease-fire, there may be a chance of ending a conflict that has slaughtered civilians, tarnished America’s standing and diverted resources from fighting the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.