If you can imagine trying to do two complicated math problems simultaneously while a rabid dog gnaws on one ankle and a furry animal pees on the other, you've got a good idea of the task before Secretary of State John Kerry and his team, working with five other countries to get a framework agreement

Each time it’s pretty much the same. We’re an ancient people; we’re always threatened; Iran is bad; the US should attack them; never again. Is the Prime Minister totally unaware of the universal truism: familiarity breeds contempt? Sometimes a new wrinkle finds its way into a Netanyahu speech. At his first address to a Joint

Members of the Congress, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen: It’s good to be with you for this my third address to a Joint Meeting of Congress. I’m well aware that it is a distinct honor and a rare privilege to address the two houses of Congress in Joint Meeting. HISTORY OF JOINT MEETINGS On the

These two were made for each other. Yiddish describes them best. Netanyahu is a schnorrer, the perpetually uninvited guest that always wants more. Boehner is a schnook, the not-so-bright dupe. Skulking around in the shadows for six weeks, Boehner and Netanyahu hit upon a scheme to benefit each other individually and undermine American foreign policy.

With 36% of those eligible voting, an older, whiter, less-gay electorate than the one that re-elected Obama in 2012 delivered both houses of Congress to Republican control. In other words, the people who watch FOX beat the heck out of the people who watch MSNBC. The low turnout and the composition of the electorate are

Before this, Israel's third slaughter operation in Gaza in six years, the average American accepted Israel's propaganda line that, “Hamas terrorists in Gaza are raining down missiles on Israel, which is only exercising its legitimate rights of self-defense.” They accepted this explanation because the pathetically timid American press was afraid to ask logical follow-up questions,

In the summer of 1982, the Israeli Air Force pummeled the densely-populated and virtually defenseless city of Beirut, Lebanon for nine weeks. A Newsweek Magazine reporter on the scene cabled his New York office … “Watching the Israeli Air Force smashing Beirut was like having to stand and watch a man slowly beating a sick

On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped while hitchhiking in the occupied territories about 40 miles from Gaza. They were found dead on June 30. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's immediate response: “Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay.” His evidence: None. Netanyahu's right-wing coalition partners want dead Palestinian bodies, and a lot of

Yeah, I know his approval rating is only 44%, but that's a damn sight better than Regan's lowest of 35%, or Bush II at 25%. I'm familiar with Obamacare, and the website. But remember, he passed it and he hit the numbers he had to hit, and he stuck with Kathleen Sebelius all the way.

Around the time of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, I attended an event at a synagogue in Washington DC. The speaker was Abba Eban … former Foreign Minister of Israel, Cambridge-educated, erudite, probably the best public spokesman the state of Israel has ever had. He was there to make the case for Israel on