Uncle Sam addicted to war crimes in Yemen

US war crimes in the Saudi, Yemen civil war pile up endlessly. Two recent horrific Saudi bombings, facilitated with US planes, bombs, mid air refueling and intelligence, killed dozens of kids. Defense Secretary James Mattis pleaded with the Saudis to be more careful, essentially saying the endless slaughter of Yemeni innocents is causing Uncle Sam a public relations problem.  Now comes word the Saudis and their UAE allies are colluding with Al-Qaeda in Yemen to support their war against the Houthi rebels. Both the UN and Human Rights Watch charge the Saudi coalition in doing little to prevent civilian casualties and that civilian bombing investigations are a sham. One US senator actually spoke truth, pushing back against the atrocities we're enabling to both help goose munition maker profits and to undermine Iran, our imaginary bete noir in the Middle East. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy tweeted "There it is WAR CRIMES. Funded and facilitated by the United States." Gee, only 99 senators to go and we might get our sorrowful Uncle Sam into rehab to cure his addition to war crimes in the Middle East and Africa.     

McCarthy should exit Chicago mayoral race next

Three city leaders, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, States Attorney Anita Alvarez and Police Chief Garry McCarthy, greatly exacerbated the Laquan McDonald shooting aftermath. Two of the three have left the Chicago stage with States Attorney Alvarez' 2016 Primary defeat and Rahm's withdrawal from the 2019 mayoral race yesterday. Alas, that leaves the third enabler who colluded to add needles time, pain and expense to a matter that should have been resolved in months rather than years, still strutting the public Chicago stage. McCarthy couldn't accept his share of the blame when fired, prompting his mayoral 'spite' bid to topple the mayor who fired him as, in his mind, the scapegoat for the shooting controversy.  To make matters worse, McCarthy is running as the 'law and order' candidate, a moniker often interpreted as being insensitive to the needs of the community to rely on a police force they can trust in Chicago's most violent communities. McCarty is a cop's cop, who parlayed his law and order street cred in New York and Newark to snare the Chicago job. His resume has virtually nothing else to recommend him to run a huge, troubled municipal entity. McCarthy should follow Emanuel's lead by just 24 hours and drop out today. He has nothing to offer Chicagoland except more pain as the trial of Laquan McDonald's shooter gets underway.