Thoughts Out Of Season

State Department travel@gov (Enter Turkey's in box for more info) For your safety: Avoid travel to southeastern Turkey, particularly near the Syrian border. Stay away from large crowds, including at popular tourist destinations. Exercise heightened vigilance and caution when visiting public access areas, especially those heavily frequented by tourists. Stay away from political gatherings and rallies. Follow the instructions of local authorities in an emergency. Stay at hotels with identifiable security measures in place. Monitor local media. For further detailed information regarding Turkey and travel: See the  State Department's travel website  for the  Worldwide Caution , Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts , and  Turkey’s Country Specific Information . Enroll in the  Smart Traveler Enrollment Program  ( STEP ) to receive security messages and help us locate you in an emergency. Contact the  U.S. Embassy in Ankara , located at 110 Atat...

The United States has been verbally attacked by both sides of the Egyptian conflict, one side lamenting the fact that the US provides the Egyptian military with 1 billion dollars a year in aid and the other side pointing to Obama as backing Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. The US appears bordering on schizophrenia in its response to the current crises that has plunged Egypt and its great people in turmoil. I will attempt to explain why this is such in my own way, as poor as the attempt may be. Obama's response has been to chastise the military for its seemingly heavy handedness in responding to the protests by Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood supporters but as he was democratically elected he must respond to the concerns of his constituents. And there is the problem. The American people are a politically lazy people whose thought and convictions are molded not by strenuous intellectual thought but by thirty second television sound bites and videos. Their lack of ability for any susta...