A chip off the old block.  Just like old times in the Three Kingdoms.

Take a stronger stance, Obama & Co. Condemn the brutal suppression and insist all Iranian voices be heard.

Via Salon:

The new pro-capitalist, anti-nationalist center-left finds allies in investment banks and college campuses but has little to offer ordinary people who view the nation-state as their agent and protector in a dangerous world. Nobody should be surprised when, in a period of economic crisis, significant parts of the population should turn to unabashed nationalists of the right, as opposed to progressives who fret that helping out their fellow citizens might be a form of discrimination against more deserving foreigners.

Michael Lind examines the success of far-right nationalist and populist candidates in the June 7 elections to the European Parliament and what it portends for Democrats here in the US.  His most interesting argument is the European center-left has replaced their socialism for capitalism while retaining their ideological internationalism.

From Asia Times:

The taste of Choco Pie, moreover, apparently is spreading like a poison that is contaminating the [North Korean] system. Since businesses in the complex began serving the snack four years ago “to boost morale”, said Chosun Ilbo, the South’s biggest-selling newspaper, it’s had “explosive popularity among workers”.

How does one become a Choco-Pie bootlegger?  I see great potential in that line of business.

From Slate:

In effect, Obama’s speech to the “Muslim world” serves to erase the national borders of our Arab allies, and however questionable those allies are, their borders serve American interests, and erasing them serves Iranian ends.

Maybe the concept of a “Muslim world” can change from being one of “resistence to the West” to something more inclusive and diverse.

And it’s now official: Women dominate men at every level of higher education, in terms of degrees conferred.

There’s no attempt at an explanation here, even though the data begs for one.  In any case I’ve always believed that women in general were smarter than men, but that a select population of males have had the requisite genius or aggression (or both) necessary to take control of the establishment.  But with the sheer greater volume of women with college and post-collegiate degrees, this may soon change and we males may all be consigned to manual labor in short time.

From The Daily Dish:

The [Uniting American Families Act (UAFA)] sponsored by Leahy in the Senate and Congressman Jerold Nadler (D-NY) in the House, would modify immigration policy to end discrimination against lesbian and gay Americans who want to sponsor their permanent partners for residency in the United States. Such couples are often separated, or torn apart, because current U.S. law does not allow for the same sponsorship rights for lesbian and gay citizens as for heterosexuals.

Did not know Andrew Sullivan and Glen Greenwald were gay.  Hope the bill passes, for their sake and others.