Month: July 2015

So whether my friends to my left believe it or not, I wasn’t opposed in principle to negotiating with Iran. But the deal arrived at seems a very, very poor one. I’m still educating myself, but the lack of anytime-anywhere inspections, and the un-freezing of over a $100B of funds (producing a massive influx of cash for a regime everyone agrees is the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism) just doesn’t make sense to me. If the frozen assets were decoupled (and perhaps tied to commitments on better behavior in terms of funding terrorism) and there were anytime-anywhere, remote-monitoring allowed inspections, I’d have to think hard about whether the deal was better than the alternatives (all of which suck). But with that said, here’s a POV from someone who may not be a policy expert, but who can’t be argued with having quite literally put himself in the firing line of Iran’s proxies. And full disclosure / warning: I wouldn’t presume to call Chuck a close friend, but he’s part of the circle of military folks that tolerate me as their unofficial civilian mascot, so if you choose to criticize him, don’t be a jerk about it, because given what he has gone through I will not take it well.

Wounded Vet says Don’t Trust Iran via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdjcKActAKM

Been a while since I worked with Jim and his gang (which was an honor and a pleasure) but SoA remains one of my favorite charities. Short version (in my own words): they coordinate donations to micro-charity projects in areas the US military is involved, with the projects being requested by our troops. Simplistic example: A sergeant in Afghanistan observes that the men from a local village are joining the Taliban and shooting at him and his guys because all their farm equipment got wrecked. Solution: buy them some farm equipment so they can (literally) pick up ploughshares as opposed to guns. Check ’em out…

War, Peace, Philanthropy | Excellence in Philanthropy | The Philanthropy Roundtable via http://ift.tt/1M2oaCK

Where to start? a) “factivists” ? Really? Is this the “reality-based community” all growed up? b) What’s wrong with this juxtaposition? “This week, Jeb Bush! will be fundraising in California, where he hopes to demonstrate his commitment to the sharing economy by “hailing” an Uber.” “While Silicon Valley and the rest of the country move forward, Jeb Bush is looking backwards…” c) Is Uber really the best issue the DNC has to work with right now? I seem to remember something about #LoveWinning. And a big law that had something to do with healthcare. And a historic, peace-ensuring Middle East agreement. So, they’re gonna go with picking on a company so dynamic and game-changing that I cannot go more than a day or so without hearing someone pitch some new tech idea as “The Uber of x” ? Alrighty then. d) The Democratic National Committee has established its own “grassroots” rapid response team. They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means. e) Don’t any of these kids know how to play this game…?

While Jeb Bush is in California……. | Factivists via http://ift.tt/1HuMQR8

501st Legion Stormtrooper Walks Over 600 Miles to Comic-Con to Honor Late Wife | Nerdist via http://ift.tt/1HqNH1U

The End and Beginning of Microsoft’s Mobile Strategy | Technossus via http://hubs.ly/y0ZSwN0

Technossus named as a ‘Best Place to Work’ in Orange County | Technossus via http://hubs.ly/y0ZcBr0