Georgians vote Saturday in an election that many see as pivotal for the former Soviet republic. Either it will take the path of a pro-Western democracy or it will slide back into Russian-style autocracy. …

The prominent neoconservative Robert Kagan has resigned his position as an editor at large at the Washington Post due to the paper’s Friday decision not to endorse a candidate for president.  Kagan has had a long career within neoconservative politics, founding with William Kristol of the Project for a New American Century. Both Kagan and Kristol advocating for regime-change in Iraq long-before the Iraq war, including in a New York Times op-ed in 1998. Throughout the conflict, Kagan repeatedly praised the Iraq War, declaring victory multiple times, praising the “surge,” and claiming after the invasion that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were merely yet to be found. More recently, Kagan has served as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.  Kagan, much like Kristol, has emerged since 2016 as an opponent of Donald Trump. He endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, and more recently has recently written articles in the Washington Post decrying a hypothetical “Trump dictatorship.” He has confirmed both his resignation and its cause.  Kagan is married to Victoria Nuland, a State Department official best known for her hawkish and anti-Russian views, including for her role in Ukraine’s 2014 “Maidan” Color Revolution, and her promotion of the Russiagate hoax.  The post Neocon Grandee Kagan Resigns Over Post Non-Endorsement appeared first on The American Conservative.

The following article, Why Are The Tyrants That Run Our Society So Incredibly Sick?, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Have you ever wondered why so many of the most powerful men in our society turn out to be sexual predators?  As you will see below, another extremely powerful man was just arrested on Tuesday.  This happens over and over again, but we aren’t supposed to see a pattern.  Every time another big name is … Continue reading Why Are The Tyrants That Run Our Society So Incredibly Sick? ...

For anyone who thinks stories of sexual harassment and assault are complicated, writer Maura Quint has a story for you. Actually, she has quite a few. Quint posted a thread on her Twitter account that quickly went viral in which she talked about a number of real-life encounters with men that started out sexual, involved her expressing disinterest, and the men responding appropriately.It wasn't an unrealistic hero's tale of men handing over the keys to their autonomy. Rather, Quint's incredible thread made it clear that the only variable in cases of assault vs. non-assault are when a man doesn't respect the autonomy of the woman he's propositioning. Her thread opens up in an all-too-familiar tone, where we're led to believe it will go to an incredibly dark place:Instead, Quint says her indifference to his proposition was met in kind with a guy just acting in a basic, non-rapey way:She goes on to offer several other examples of being in sexual or potentially sexual situations with men who also managed to not sexually assault her:And here's the real kicker, Quint says she has been assaulted. To her, the difference isn't hard to pinpoint:Her thread has been re-tweeted nearly 50,000 times and "liked" more than 100,000 times. Other women and some men jumped in with their own tales of drinking, partying and still, somehow, managing to not assault or even harass the women they encountered.It's a stark contrast to the half-baked defenses of Brett Kavanaugh and other men like him. There are incredibly rare exceptions where a man is accused of assault or harassment and he is entirely free of guilt. But for women, or anyone for that matter, who has survived sexual assault or experienced sexual harassment, there is no "gray area."There's being OK with assault and then there's everything else. Whether or not we're consciously aware of this, we've all chosen a side. But if you're on the wrong side, it doesn't have to be that way forever.This article originally appeared on 10.02.18

With Donald Trump threatening to reverse Roe v. Wade upon taking office, the need to defend women's reproductive rights has never been more urgent. As other writers have pointed out, pro-life fanatics have the power of positive connotation on their side and use this advantage to demean the valid arguments of pro-choice advocates.I mean, who would ever claim to be in opposition to life? Only, equating zygotes with adult human beings fails to recognize the science behind conception, as Bill Nye points out in an older video that has recently gained new relevancy.In the video, you can see how frustrated Nye is explaining why abortion rights aren't something we should be debating in the first place. After a brief explanation of how conception occurs, the science educator proves how little our laws have to do with reason or logic."You cannot help but notice — and I'm not the first guy to notice — you have a lot of men of European descent passing these extraordinary laws based on ignorance," he says, adding, "It's just a reflection of a deep scientific lack of understanding and you literally apparently don't know what you're talking about." We can only imagine how frustrated he — along with every other advocate of logic — must be feeling now.While anti-abortion zealots aren't typically eager to consider science or reason, this video could potentially sway those who are on the fence about impeding on women's rights. And while it shouldn't take a white guy to explain why women's rights are human rights, sadly, few people seem to listen when the plea for respect comes from women — despite the fact that these draconian laws only affect them.Still, Nye and other logic-lovers are willing to hear you out, pro-lifers. If the argument truly comes down to protecting children and not depriving women of basic rights, there are several discussions worth having. For instance, instead of focusing on the rights of unborn babies, perhaps we could put our resources into protecting the children that already exist. We take it for granted that real, live children don't enjoy the same human rights that adults do — an archaic way of thinking that time and time again puts kids in harm's way. By actively fueling global warming, we deprive today's children from having any semblance of a dependable future.Now, more than ever, it's imperative that we focus on the facts. By relying on scientific evidence to guide a course of action, we can respect one another's beliefs without infringing on one another's rights. It's really not that hard. Take it from The Science Guy himself: "Be objective about this. We have other problems to solve, everybody."This article originally appeared on 11.23.16