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I Opt In! And Other TSA News of the Day
1) Permanent emergency. Kip Hawley, right, who was TSA administrator during GW Bush's second term, has an important and eminently sensible-seeming big essay today in the WSJ on re-thinking airport...
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Placeholder on Bo Xilai
A number of people have written in to ask why I haven't put up anything extensive, or at all, on the roiling controversy surrounding former Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai, his wife (and now murder...
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Remember the Pepper-Spraying Cop? UC Davis Releases a Powerful Report
If you are looking for something to read today, I highly recommend the "Reynoso Task Force Report," with its accompanying "Kroll Report" appendix. These are the findings of the panel chaired by Cruz...
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Annals of the Security State, Khan Edition
This news has been all over the Indian press but not so much here. Short version: India's version of Brad Pitt / Matt Damon / Bruce Willis was held up -- again -- on arrival in the US by Homeland...
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From Bo Xilai to Helen Keller: Today's China-News Roundup
1) The Atlantic's own Helen Gao has a very interesting look of the interplay among rumor, fantasy, official "fact," and forced revisions to those facts, in the riveting Bo Xilai drama in China. Part of...
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Pushback on 'Helen Keller Brand' Sunglasses
I mentioned this morning an ad in China Daily for "Helen Keller brand" sunglasses.A reader with a Chinese name thinks my amusement about the ad was unfair.Your latest post at the Atlantic includes a...
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False-Equivalence Watch: Nice Work by the Times and Post!
Today a majority of the Senate voted in favor of the "Buffett Rule," but the 51-45 "Yes" vote was not enough to overcome the Republicans' threatened filibuster.Here is how the NYT, to its credit,...
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Space Shuttle Flyby: Today's Security Theater Milestone
I am not in DC today, but if I were I'd be outside right now ready to watch something I've never seen: a flyby and low pass by the modified 747 that is the "Shuttle Carrier Aircraft," with the shuttle...
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A Chevy Volt Owner Shows Us His Mileage
Last week ago I mentioned the strange "controversy" over the Chevy Volt. This car is the brainchild of a lifelong auto enthusiast who is also a political conservative, but to the right-wing media it...
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The Unspeakable F-Word, Government-Style
I have mentioned this theme a time or two in the past. But, seriously, if you can sit still for one more installment, this matters. We're not just talking boiled frogs here.1) From Jason Zengerle's...
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A Cloud No Bigger Than a Man's Hand: CCTV America Dept
Over the years in China, I watched my share (thousands of hours?) of China Central TV, CCTV, and have a very clear idea of its role as reliable presenter of the official governmental view.In the past...
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The Jetstar 'Texting While Landing' Incident, and the Cessna Descent Into the...
Thanks for a slew of messages and queries on the two unrelated air-safety items in the news today. These involve an episode two years ago in Singapore, and one today over the Gulf of Mexico. The main...
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'This Industry's Voice on Capitol Hill': The Drone-Industrial...
This will make you feel better in just about every way. About Congress itself, about checks and balances on the military, about oversight of big spending programs, and about prudent expansion of...
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The Most Important Speech You'll Read Today
OK, I know that may seem crabbed praise. But this is something really worth taking time to consider. It's an address by Jonathan Watts, who is winding up nine years as a correspondent in China, about...
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Today's Upbeat Aviation Report
After several crash-and-peril mentions a few days ago:1) The HP-24 Sailplane. The story is here. A reader explains:This guy has been working in his garage for 11 years on a new domestic sailplane. It's...
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It Had to Happen Sometime: Involuntary Switch to 'New Look' Gmail
Last year, Gmail warned us that the change was coming.Early this year, the warnings became more frequent and pointed. The "new look" of Gmail, unasked-for by the public and shorter on usability than...
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The Most Interesting Part of Jon Huntsman's 'Regrets'
Through the past year's evolution of the Huntsman 2012 campaign, my own reactions went through an altered version of the famous Kübler-Ross cycle. I started with denial: how could a serving member of...
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Modern Media
I was out at a "policy" dinner this evening, and on coming home realized how much I was enjoying talking with my wife -- and after she conked off, narcotized by my fascinating chitchat, how much I was...
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Sometimes the Life of a Journalist Is Just Too Glamorous
Do you sometimes approach your email inbox with a sense of anxiety or dread? Here's the solution: If you join the exciting world of journalism, you can be uplifted by your incoming messages, as I so...
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Maybe There Is Actually Hope for 'Centrist' Politics?
I know, that's crazy talk, and I don't really mean it. But compare this passage from Sen. Marco Rubio's speech just now at Brookings with anything you heard in the past year's GOP debates or campaign...
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