Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2823

North Korea's World Cup

Evan Osnos notes:

North Korea succumbed 7-0 [in its match against Portugal:], and the result does not appear to have beenreported in the North Korean press. No sign of it in North Korea's mainnewspaper—accessible by a Japan-based portal—and, so far, the official North Korean news agency

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, the president removed General McChrystal but not COIN. Reax here. Andrew's take here. Pre-announcement analysis here, here, here, here, and here. Beinart examined the MacArthur analogy. The Rolling Stone reporter responsible for it all shared the secret of his craft.

In other news, Australia selected its first female PM, the Bartonites dug in, and we provided polling on Obama here, here, and here. Team America kicked ass at the last minute to keep the dream alive. Other Cup ...

The Animal That Masturbates, Ctd

A reader writes:

Speaking of masturbating animals (yes, I've been waiting for this),
did you know that male billy goats orally pleasure themselves to the
point of climax?

I discovered this one summer while working as a Farm and Wilderness camp counselor in central Vermont. It was in the middle of morning barn chores that I noticed half of my nine year-old campers were lined up along the goat's fence, staring quietly ahead. "I thought that was a boy?" one of them asked me, without looking...

Face Of The Day II

Australia has a new prime minister - Julia Gillard, seen above in a recent photo by Raveendren/Getty. The Reuters story of the internal Labour party coup here. Bonus: she's Welsh by birth! It's the culmination of quite a record of female advancement down under:

South Australian Liberal Kay Brownbill became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives without being preceded by her husband when she won the seat of Kingston in 1966, while Joan Child became the first Labor woman...

Obama: Hostage To Petraeus

Those of us who hoped for some kind of winding down of the longest war in US history will almost certainly be disappointed now. David Petraeus is the real Pope of counter-insurgency and if he decides that he needs more troops and more time and more resources in Afghanistan next year, who is going to be able to gainsay him? That's Thomas P. Barnett's shrewd assessment. Obama's pledge to start withdrawing troops in 2011 is now kaput. It won't happen. I doubt it will happen in a second term...

"Do Intelligent Arguments Make A Difference?"

DiA a depressing thought:

I'm trying, and failing,to think of an instance where voters on any side have been persuaded bya reasoned opposition on any issue. It might happen with individualvoters on particular issues, largely of the technical variety—ifsomeone sits down to figure out whether they support a bond issue,maybe—but I can't think of a single issue where an argument, howeverelegantly expressed, has tipped the balance. These, I think, are themethods by which public opinion...

Face Of The Day

Our favorite Portland pet photographer features Ramen Noodle, the two-legged dog with the heart of a champion.

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Cop-On-Canine Violence

Balko's campaign against cops shooting dogs continues:

The point here is not that all cops are trigger-happy dogmurderers. But there does seem to be an attitude that an officer isjustified putting a few bullets into a dog if he feels even theslightest bit of discomfort around the animal. Mere fear of a bite,not even an actual bite, is justification for gunfire. Subsequentcomplaints about dog killings are usually dismissed with littleconsideration. The lack of training is especially troubling...

Dancing With Cancer, Ctd

A reader writes:

I may be the 400th person who has sent you this, or maybe the first.  Either way, it's from the 5th season of "So You Think You Can Dance?"  Choreographer Tyce Diorio had a friend who was battling breast cancer at the time, and he choreographed this piece to not only express her feelings but the feelings of a friend who must balance being strong for someone ill, while also grappling with the immense frustration at being powerless to truly help them.  In the end, those who are...

The News Is Broken, Ctd

Joyner isn't sure about Ezra's prescription:

My strong hunch is that the reason people became slightly moreconfused about health reform over the course of the debate — and adifference of 6 percent in a poll with a sampling error of +/-4% isnegligible — is because they started paying more attention and realizedhow complicated it was.Similarly, Ezra's proposed solution falls into what I've termed the Wonk's Fallacy, the belief of people who are truly fascinated with the details of public policy...