Turkey and the PKK

A couple days ago I posted an article from the New York Post which was critical of the Turkish government (the article criticized the Turkish government). Some folks have emailed me and told me they felt the article was biased against Turkey.

(If an article is biased toward someone or something, it tries to be supportive of that person or thing despite what the truth might be. If an article is biased against someone or something, the article attacks a person or thing despite what the truth might be.)

So I found an article which tries to explain the Turkish government's attitude toward the Kurdish people and the organization called the PKK. I think this article is more objective (it tries to be as truthful as possible and does not take sides).

This article argues that in order to fight ISIS the USA was willing to partner with a group which is considered to have links to terrorist organizations if it is not a terrorist organization itself. This organization is considered a threat by the Turkish government and Turkey is concerned about the support the USA seems to be giving it.

So I am a bit uncertain what to believe or whom to support. Please recall the expression: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. 

ISIS was an insane and inhumane organization that had to be crushed/destroyed. They were the worst terrorist organization around. This group of Kurds came forward and offered to help the USA to destroy ISIS, and they did. This now, of course, puts the USA in a bad situation, since the folks who helped the USA will now expect help in return. Yet, the USA has been allies/friends for decades with Turkey, which wants to crush the organization that helped the USA crush ISIS. 

The group "War" performing "Why can't we be friends?" :P :P :P

Here is the article:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/turkeys-afrin-offensive-could-have-dangerous-consequences/article37737163/

Here is vocabulary from the article to help you understand it:

an offensive - this is a military attack.

to arm a group - to supply a group with weapons

to deem someone/thing to be something - to consider someone to be something

emboldening - making stronger and more confident

intimately connected - close to

tactical and logistical necessity - only in order to plan their effort against ISIS effectively the USA has partnered with this group. Tactics means plans/strategy - logistics is how to move supplies from one point to another.

internal cohesion - cohesion means being able to stick together. So this group has a strong sense of unity.

aerial support - support by airplanes with bombs and missiles

to reliably commit troops - to send soldiers into battle in a predictable way that the US and England could trust (this is from an English newspaper).

implicitly our best bet - it goes without saying that if they were good for America they would also be good for England. Implicit means you don't even have to say anything to understand the truth of the matter.

a slick rebranding of the PKK - they are basically the PKK but they are called something different. A slick rebranding means a clever and attractive rebranding.

a joint fighting force - when differing groups joins one larger group and fight jointly.

a fig leaf that covers the reality etc. - a fig leaf is a large leaf that was sometimes placed over the sexual organs of statues of naked men so that the public would not have to look at the sculptures penis. So a 'fig leaf' is anything that covers something else up.

token Arab fighters - just a few fighters so that the claim can be made that Arabs are fighting as a part of this group

ideologically connected - they believe the same things

de facto leader - he may not be the official leader, but, in fact, as things work out, he is the leader. de facto is from the Latin language and means 'in fact'

was hoisted - was lifted up, was displayed prominently

liberated by - freed by

the chain of command - who leads an organization from top to bottom

traced - followed

to be unfazed by this - not to be bothered by this

arch-nemesis - the worst possible enemy

annexed - took over

progressively - more and more

predominantly - mostly

it was all bluster - it was nothing but loud talking and verbal threats

the straw that broke the camel's back - the one last little item that destroyed a good thing

nonchalant - casual, informal

audaciously - forcefully and with courage, strongly, showing aggression that is felt to be offensive to others

Turkey's ears perked up - when a dog's ears perk up, they rise. If your ears perk up, you suddenly hear something interesting and start paying more attention

thwart - stop

preclude the resurrection of ISIS - stop the re-birth of ISIS, stop ISIS from developing again

neglecting Turkey's sensitivities - not paying attention to what might bother Turkey

push Turkey into Russia's ambit - push Turkey closer to a friendship with Putin

incursions launched - an incursion is an invasion or a military movement into territory, to launch something is to start something

to root out - to eliminate totally, as if pulling a plant out from its root

militia - small army

a quagmire - a place where you get stuck. So the author of this article seems sympathetic toward Turkey and acknowledges that these are terror organizations to Turkey, but the author is warning Turkey about starting  battles against these groups because it will lead to disaster.

inflicted on - forced on

residents - people who live there

will face fierce resistance - people will defend themselves fiercely - aggressively

deployed -used

added strain - added stress, increasing the possibility that things will fail

Obama restricts immigration of 'legal' highly educated foreigners, but wants to harbor (protect) minimally educated 'illegals'

Sometimes it's been hard to understand why the current president has made various decisions which he has made. There's been little logic and no vision for the past 6 years. Instead of showing leadership, he's been hiding and reacting. At times, internationally, Vladimir Putin has made him look like a boy playing a man's game. Right now in Syria Putin is taking action and all Obama can do is complain like a spoiled child. Even his great accomplishment - Obamacare - is a badly flawed system that many people do not like and which may be eliminated if a Republican becomes president.

Now it seems he has made a decision which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. There are many many many highly educated foreigners who were lead to believe that they could enter the USA and gain green cards (the ability to work and live in the USA). Obama has changed his mind. Yet, he doesn't seem to have a problem with the 12 million minimally educated illegal immigrants who are in the country and often using government services for free without paying one penny of taxes.

Within a short time Latinos will be the largest segment of the US population, yet statistically Latinos under-perform every other racial and ethnic group in the country educationally. It seems as if we are going to need highly educated and skilled people from outside our borders. 

An article about this issue:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11525621

Vocabulary:

to undo something - to reverse something, to take something that has changed and change it back to its original state

a green card - this is a card which gives the holder of the card the ability to stay and work legally in the USA and to possibly become a citizen some day

an order - something which must be executed, a command

a federal judge - a federal judge works for the US government, not a state or city government. A judge is the person you see in a court room.

to decline - to reject something, to say 'no' to something

permanent residents - people who can legally stay for a long time in the USA without being citizens

initially - at first, at the start, earlier

in the public interest - the judge said it would not benefit the American people if educated foreigners came into the country (we need more uneducated people - because they will stupidly vote for the most corrupt candidates of the Democratic party...don't worry, I hate Republicans too)

to sue - to go to court and try to get money from a person or to go to court to get an order from a judge

revised - changed

class-action status - this means that many people were being represented in this court case

curtailing - limiting

a temporary restraining order - an order by the judge that something has to stop immediately until it can be better looked at

blocking - stopping

backlogs - when work backs up and you fall behind on your work, you get a backlog; when something piles up

streamline - to make it shorter and less than it was

urging them to abide by... - these major companies desperately need qualified workers and are upset that Obama is streamlining this process; to urge is to encourage...to abide by means to obey or follow

Trouble in Venezuela

(The elected president of Venezuela - Maduro)

This is just my opinion, but there seems to be a dangerous trend in the world these days. Opposition political parties are using social media to organize protests (often violent) to try to remove elected leaders. (A trend is something that seems to be happening a lot.) (An 'opposition' political party is a political organization that does not have power, but wants power.)

This has happened in Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, Ukraine and now Venezuela.  

Again, I have to point to a country like South Korea.  They got rid of (eliminated) a dictatorship peacefully, and even though about half of Korea does not like the current president, you do not see Koreans killing each other in the streets.  Personally, I believe that if there is a problem in a democracy, peaceful means can be used to solve the problem. (A dictator is a leader who was not elected and who has total power.)

In Ukraine violent protests occurred 10 months before an election.  Was it worth it to destroy parts of Kiev, kill 25 police officers, and further ruin the Ukrainian economy when there was an election 10 months away?  Human life is not valuable?

What also bothers me is that the government of the USA seems to always support the protesters (those who gather together to show disapproval of something) when the government is not friendly with the USA, even though the protesters are taking anti-democratic action ('anti' means 'against'). But even though the US government will support these anti-democratic protests, they will then say the protesters are fighting for democracy.  This is called 'hypocrisy' - when you say one thing but do another thing, or when your actions contradict (go against) your words.

Here is a story about the protests happening in Venezuela:

The article:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/02/venezuela-says-us-plotting-with-protesters-2014217151340225175.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

to plot with - to develop a strategy or to plan actions with; so the government of Venezuela is claiming or alleging that the US government is helping or encouraging the protesters who are trying to overthrow this government.

to expel - to kick out of the country, to remove from the country

in retaliation for - in revenge for; if someone does something to hurt you, you might retaliate by trying to hurt them

Maduro's ordered the expulsions on Monday - please be aware this is a grammar/typing error. It should be: Maduro ordered the expulsions 

an expulsion - to get rid of someone, to force someone to leave a country

a mass rally - a gathering of a huge amount of people; mass means a lot of

he challenged the government to arrest him - basically he encouraged the government to arrest him knowing that it would be a big mistake for the government to do that; to challenge someone to do something is also to 'dare' a person to do something.  You know the person doesn't want to do something so you tell the person to do it anyway.

to arrest him - to have the police take him into custody

persona non grata - a person who is not welcome somewhere

to conspire - to work secretly to do something

the charges - allegations, claims

baseless - not based on anything true

to urge - to encourage

under the pretense of - under the excuse of; Venezuela claims that the US diplomats really wanted to offer advice and support and maybe even money to the students, but claimed they were talking to the students about visas.

as cover - they pretended to go to universities to talk about visas so they could secretly talk about increasing the protests

energized - given extra strength to, made the opposition more active

ousting - getting rid of; to oust someone means to get rid of him

scattered - not organized, here and there

provincial - cities in different provinces

socialist - a socialist government tries to control the economy to make sure that the needs of citizens are met; a capitalist government protects the interests of business in the belief that the wealth generated by business will help everyone

inherited - after Chavez died, Maduro received these problems

mired in - stuck in

controls on currency - I'm not an economist but somehow by not allowing the value of the currency to change, this has caused prices to rise and apparently new products are not being made

kicked out - forced out of the country

manoeuvre - maneuver is the English spelling: an strategic action

legitimise/legitimize attempts - to make attempts seem moral or ethical or legal

destabilize - make unstable, to make something so unstable or weak that it will collapse and fall

clashes - fights

infiltrators - people who sneak into (secretly enter) an organization to cause trouble

fomenting the violence - causing the violence

hooded assailants - attackers wearing hoods

Test your knowledge of higher-order English vocabulary - 10 words + exercise

malfeasance - this means an illegal or wrong action, especially by a government official

ornery - an ornery person is kind of a nasty, bad-tempered person who likes to argue and fight

untrammeled - unrestricted, not fenced in, free to move about

arbitrage - when you buy something cheaper in one place and sell it for a higher price in another place

ubiquitous - all over the place; if something looks as if it is all over the place, it is ubiquitous (the word is pronounced with an initial 'you' sound --> you BIK wih tus

unalloyed - pure, not mixed with anything else

an obloquy - a very nasty or mean statement about another person; harsh, severe criticism (this noun can be countable or non-countable...i.e. non-countable: How can you resort to such obloquy!  countable: I am tired of all these obloquies being directed at the president!)

a blandishment - this is a deliberately kind of flattering or nice statement meant to get a person to do what you want him/her to do

to bowdlerize - to remove material from a literary work because the material is thought to be too 'dirty', vulgar or offensive; basically this means to censor a work but there is an extra meaning - if a work is bowdlerized, it no longer has the same meaning as it had before the censoring

athwart -  in opposition to, against something


Answers are below the exercise:


Sometimes young adult versions of classic famous novels are ____________________ so much that they no longer even resemble the original works.

The current data were completely ________________ what everyone had believed.  The theory obviously had to be changed.

One of the worst cases of _________________ in recent American history involved Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois.  He was thrown in jail for trying to sell a high-ranking political position to anyone who wanted to buy it.

These days there are people who engage in what is called the "forex" trade, which is a type of ___________________.  They buy a certain amount of foreign currency at one price and then sell it at a higher price in a different market.  Basically, 'forex' is a type of individual gambling that produces no real good for any economy.

Sometimes it's better to use _________________ to encourage a person to do something that is right than using threats of punishment.

I don't understand why it is so hard to catch a cab in Manhattan.  The cabs seem to be _________________, yet they all also seem to be carrying people. 

If a country in Europe joins the European Union, their citizens will have ____________________ access to other EU countries.

Bob recently proposed marriage to Becky and when she accepted, he was filled with the deepest and most _______________ joy he had ever felt.

Frankly, I was disgusted by the recent presidential campaign.  I do not understand why candidates cannot focus on the issues and why they have to resort to ____________________ that attack the reputations of other candidates.

Many people say that New York City cabbies (cab drivers) are rude.  That is an understatement.  They are worse than rude, they are __________________ and it is best to just take the subway in order to avoid arguments and nasty exchanges with them.

Answers are below:




Answers:

bowdlerized
athwart
malfeasance
arbitrage
blandishments
ubiquitous 
untrammeled
unalloyed
obloquies
ornery

Violence in Africa: 2014

(Image taken by Miguel Medina)

 
Here is a brief article about violence in Africa.  Basically, for a long time, African tribes and nations were forced to serve European countries (especially England) as colonies.  Africa provided workers and natural resources to the European countries and derived (got) little benefit.  Many countries in Africa have never fully recovered from this situation and they still struggle to 'modernize.'  In the mean time, there are now religious wars throughout the continent.


An article about contemporary Africa:

http://news.msn.com/world/africa-sees-violent-deadly-start-to-2014-1

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a neighborhood - many foreign students have a hard time distinguishing between a neighbor and a neighborhood.  A neighbor is someone who lives near you while a neighborhood is an area in a city where people live.

raging - if a person is 'raging' against something, he is very angry and aggressive.  Rage is uncontrollable anger that often leads to violence.

conflicts - in this case: wars

a death toll - the number of people who have died

gruesome - ugly and shocking

combatants - soldiers or people fighting for a cause (a cause is a goal, usually a political or religious goal)

to behead - to cut a person's head off

weighs sanctions - considers punishments

a cause for concern - a reason to worry

a think tank - this is a group of people - usually highly educated - who have meetings to think about world problems and how to solve them

the auspices of someone or some group - if you are working under the auspices of something, that something is supporting you, basically you work for that organization or you represent that organization

to be burdened with - means to have suffered from, in this case.  A burden is something heavy that you carry.

a lack of political will - so many countries just don't care about peace and are not willing to work for it.  "will" often means "desire"

a mandate - in this case a mandate emans a sense that something has to be done for moral (right) reasons

radiate - spread, move

ethnic groups - I am German-American: that is my ethnic group.  If someone is from a tribal group or a group from a particular region or area, that is the person's ethnic group.

targeted each other - decided to attack each other for specific reasons

to dispatch - to send

breakaway units - smaller groups that left the army to form their own military groups

external intervention - other countries getting involved in the conflicts

to exacerbate something - to make something worse

tensions - in this case tensions between countries means that they do not trust each other and are close to fighting or fighting even harder

violence pits Muslims against Christians - if you are 'pitted' against someone, you are fighting or competing against that person.

atrocities - terrible things that happen during a war, usually involving the killing of innocent people

inter-communal - I am not quite sure what the writer means.  Violence within a community, I think.

unprecedented - never seen before

uprooted - forced to leave their homes

to temper the violence - keep it down, decrease it

to resign - to quit his job

a power vacuum - a vacuum is an area without air, an empty area.  So a power vacuum is a situation where nobody is in power.

a coup - when the military takes over the government

a dictator - a leader who controls everything about a country

to solidify his power - to make his power very strong

a mercenary - a soldier who fights for money

integrated conflict systems - because so many countries are involved in each conflict, you just can't look at 2 countries...you have to look at the larger picture and all the countries that are 'integrated' or involved in this situation

comprehensive - it covers everything

drivers of conflict - the causes of conflicts throughout Africa

detonated - exploded

reversed course - changed what they were doing and did the opposite

a dearth of - a lack of, not enough of

when crises erupt - when a terrible situation happens

one is left to rob Peter to pay Paul - this means that there are not enough resources to use everywhere, so when something happens, resources are taken from one place (robbing Peter) to be used elsewhere (to pay Paul).  There should be enough resources for every situation.

to beef-up - to strengthen, to make stronger

5 useful higher-level English words

irreverent - not respectful, showing contempt toward someone or something
to dispel - to force something away, to get rid of something
to coax - to persuade through gentle means
to exasperate - to make a person very annoyed or angry (adj = to be exasperated)
zealous - very enthusiastic or aggressive about something, overly enthusiastic about something


I really didn't want to leave the house this weekend but my kids were able to ____________ me into taking them to the zoo.

Joe seemed to be a good employee during his first few weeks, but he has been making one mistake after another and this has started to _________________ me.

Satire is a type of literature in which an _______________ approach is taken toward some situation in order to make fun of the situation and to show that it is wrong.

The Tea Party - a new political party in America - has been accused of being too __________________ in regard to its attacks on President Obama and people of color in the USA.

Our boss held a special meeting to ____________ all the rumors that our company was going to be bought by a larger company.

answers are below:



answers:

coax
exasperate
irreverent
zealous
dispel

Test your English vocab! 5 words...

a criterion - a standard by which to measure something
fallacious - false
a hedonist - someone who lives for pleasure
a skeptic - someone who needs proof before he/she believes anything
adversity - difficult or trying times


Although the new theory as to how life began on earth sounds nice, I remain a ___________ because there has yet to be any hard proof or sound experiments to verify the theory.

Frans Hals is one of my favorite painters and he was certainly no ascetic. Indeed, if anything he was a ____________ who loved the pleasures of life.

Many academic experts do not believe that a student should be admitted to a university based on just one test. There should be more than one _____________ by which to determine college admission.

I like this philosophical question: Are you ethical or were you lucky?  The question implies that people who are 'good' are people who have often not experienced much _______________.  It implies that if you have not experienced difficult times, you have not truly been tested and you are 'lucky' and not 'good' or ethical.

To say that I can't prove that fairies do not exist, and therefore they may exist, is a _________________ argument.  You can't prove a 'negative'.

answers are below:




answers:

skeptic
hedonist
criterion
adversity
fallacious

Paintings by Hals!

10 useful high-level words and a quiz :)

1. innocuous - harmless, not bothering anyone
2. miserly - cheap, parsimonious
3. nonchalant - easy going, not in a hurry, casual, very relaxed
4. ostentatious - very flamboyant, showy, deliberately showy to draw attention
5. a quandary - a dilemma, being unable decide what to do next (to be in a quandary)
6. to repudiate something - to turn away from something, to refuse to be associated with something
7. surreptitiously - secretly, in a sneaky way
8. trite - an expression which is used too commonly, a cliche
9. to venerate - to respect highly, to worship
10. a zealot - someone who is extraordinarily passionate about something (usually a cause)

1.  I'm in a bit of a _______________. I am not sure whether to go to graduate school or take this new job. 

2.  As a young man the politician had belonged to a club that did not allow women members.  He, of course, _________________ his membership in that club and stated it was a youthful mistake.

3.  Foreigners have to realize that in Thailand they do not just respect their king, they _______________ him and a person can be thrown in jail for showing disrespect to the Thai king.

4.  The security guard threw the homeless man out of the public library because he had been sleeping.  I felt that this was wrong - the homeless guy was ____________________; he wasn't really bothering anyone.

5.  One of the reasons Americans have turned against the Tea Party is that members of that political party often seemed to act like ________________.  They were very emotional, aggressive and passionate in expressing their hatred for Obama and for liberal government policies.

6.  Bob is getting married and I want to write something meaningful on the card I am going to give him.  Can you help me think of something that won't sound ______________?  I don't want to write, "Congratulations on your marriage!" or "Best of luck in the coming years!"  Those expressions have been used too many times before.

7.  Our boss is OK but his big problem is that he seems to be a bit ________________. He tries to save money in regard to everything we do and this makes it hard to operate effectively.

8.  The American people were shocked to learn that their president, Bill Clinton, had been ___________________ seeing and having an affair with one of his interns in the 1990s.  He was married but secretly pursuing this affair.

9.  The attitude of some clerks at coffee houses really bothers me.  In the morning I am always in a hurry and need to get my cup of coffee quickly.  But the clerks are often quite ____________________ and they take their sweet time.

10.  I am getting sick of seeing all the women in New York walking around with these big __________________ Louis Vuitton bags.  Oh my God!  Whom are they trying to impress!?  I don't care whether a woman owns such a bag.

answers are below:






answers:

1. quandary
2. repudiated
3. venerate
4. innocuous
5. zealots
6. trite
7. miserly
8. surreptitiously
9. nonchalant
10. ostentatious

3 nouns and 4 adjectives ---> Test your vocabulary (higher-level words)

1. an analgesic - a drug that eliminates pain
2. to be absolved of something - to be made clean or pure, to be determined innocent
3. a harbinger - something that happens which indicates something else will happen
4. punitive - something done to punish someone
5. inveterate - you usually hear this adjective with 'liar' (an inveterate liar); someone is an inveterate liar if he always lies; if you are inveterate in regard to something, you can't help yourself, you have to do it: an inveterate alcoholic
6. meticulous - very detail oriented
7. apathy - a lack of concern

The economic reports of the past few months have shown high unemployment trends. Economists fear this may be a ______________ of another economic recession (severe downturn). 

Progressive educators tend to steer clear of various ______________ measures in their classrooms.  They try to be positive and provide rewards for good behavior instead of punishments for bad behavior.

The president of the company turned out to be an ______________ liar. Everything he ahd said over the past three years had been false.

Anthony Weiner, an American politician who resigned from his congressional position due to a personal scandal, claimed that he had sought psychological counseling and felt he was now ________________ of all of his previous questionable activities. However, when he was running for a new political office, new scandals emerged, showing he had not truly cleansed himself of his former demons. 

Toshiro was in the USA to set up a Japanese branch of the company he worked for. he needed American assistants but was afraid they would not be as ______________ as his Japanese assistants.  He needed people truly dedicated to details.  He was pleasantly surprised to find such assistants here in America as well.

In the last mayoral election in New York City, only 24% of eligible New Yorkers voted. This is probably due to _______________.  Most people simply do not care who the mayor is since they do not think most politicians are honest and they do not think any mayor can really change anything for the better.   

Sun-ae told me that I should avoid taking any type of ________________ for my back pain.  She said it removes the pain but not the ultimate cause of the pain.  But I have discovered that after I take that type of pill my back feels better for weeks.

answers are below:







answers:

harbinger
punitive
inveterate
absolved
meticulous
apathy
analgesic 


Yes, I caused this scandal :) http://kpopsecrets.tumblr.com/post/940839145/daniel-gauss

"Agent Orange" still harms the Vietnamese people

I was motivated to present this posting because I recently saw a very good photography exhibit in New York City about the Vietnam War.  The exhibit gives a person an idea of how terrible this war was.  What many Americans and others around the world do not know, however, is that things that happened during the Vietnam War are still harming the Vietnamese people.  In fact, the 'dioxin' from chemicals used in the Vietnam War is still causing incredible harm to the Vietnamese.

Here are some photos from the exhibit:

http://www.stevenkasher.com/exhibition/91/#!3258

The USA was actively involved, militarily, in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1972.  

The USA became involved in Vietnam after the French army was captured by the Vietnamese at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Here's something I found on youtube about the battle.

Ironically, although France had been occupied by Germany during World War II, and therefore knew how it felt to have a foreign country's soldiers in their homeland, as soon as World War II ended, France re-occupied various countries (including Algeria and Vietnam) which had once been French colonies. The French wanted to use the rubber and rice as well as inexpensive workers of Vietnam.

After the battle of Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam was divided into North Vietnam (communist) and South Vietnam (capitalist).  President Eisenhower (president from 1953 to 1961) refused to send US soldiers to South Vietnam during his term in office.  President John Kennedy was the first president to send US soldiers to Vietnam.  Although Kennedy was a Democrat, he considered himself to be strongly anti-communist ('anti' means 'against') and did not want North Vietnam to unify the entire country under a communist government.

50,000 American soldiers died in Vietnam and over 1,000,000 Vietnamese died before President Richard Nixon removed all US soldiers from Vietnam in 1972.  In 1975 North Vietnam finally defeated South Vietnam and the country became unified under a communist government.

During the war the US used a chemical called 'Agent Orange.'  This chemical was sprayed on Vietnamese forests in order to 'defoliate' the forests (to destroy the leaves and other plants).  The US army wanted many forests to be defoliated so that they could see the Vietnamese soldiers more easily.

Unfortunately, Agent Orange contained a chemical called 'dioxin.'  If dioxin gets into a human being's body, it can cause severe damage.  Indeed, if dioxin gets into a person's body, it can cause birth defects in the person's children.  A birth defect is when there is something physically wrong with a child.  To this day many Vietnamese children are being born with birth defects due to the effects of Agent Orange.

Here is an article about this from a few months ago which shows that when Agent Orange was being manufactured, the companies creating this chemical knew that it was dangerous to human beings.  Clearly, the United States government should be doing more to help the Vietnamese people to clean up whatever dioxin is left in the soil.  To this day children are still being born with birth defects due to this chemical.

The article:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/22/197316/makers-of-agent-orange-followed.html

Vocabulary:

dictated by -  ordered by, demanded by; if the formula was dictated by the US government, the US government required that certain type of formula.  A formula is the way something should be produced.

a cargo plane - a giant plane that usually carries goods and products (cargo).  These huge planes were used to carry Agent Orange over the Vietnamese forests and then the chemical was sprayed on the trees from the air.

to dispense - to emit, to send out, to spray

a herbicide - a chemical that kills plants.  Anything with 'cide' means an agent that kills.  Insecticide kills bugs and insects.  Rodenticide kills mice and rats.

the conflict - the war

defoliants - chemicals to kill plants

veterans - former military personnel, former/previous soldiers

he dropped a startling bombshell - he said something which was a shocking surprise

contaminated with dioxin - contained dioxin, possessed dioxin

scenario - a situation (so the US knew that Agent Orange harms people, but nobody at that time seemed to care because they thought only Vietnamese people would suffer).

strict military specifications - the military had strong guidelines or a specific formula that had to be followed

compensation for ailing veterans - money to be given to US soldiers who began to suffer from dioxin (ailing means suffering)

exposure - coming in contact with the chemical

cited - referred to, pointed to

organ toxicity - if something is toxic it can kill you; so dioxin can severely harm and destroy body organs (a body organ might be the liver, kidneys, lungs etc.)

psychopathological - dioxin can cause damage to the brain

revelations - if something is revealed it is made known to everyone

shielded - protected, defended

liability - legal responsibility

absolved themselves of responsibility - they have stated they are innocent or not responsible for the harm caused by the dioxin to people

Operation Ranch Hand - this was the secret 'code' name for the process of dropping/spraying Agent Orange on Vietnam.

benign - it was supposed to be a benign program...benign means there was not supposed to be any harmful effect on people, only trees.  Benign means 'harmless.'

the moral will - a moral person tries to do what's right and tries to avoid doing what's wrong; a will is a desire to do something.  So 'moral will' means the desire to do something good.

Ravens are very smart

There is not much vocabulary in this article (but the vocabulary is pretty useful); however, I liked the video of a raven which seemed to deliberately (not accidentally) seek help from a person, after the raven had had a bad experience with a porcupine.

Here's what a raven looks like:

What's a porcupine?  It is an animal that has many protective 'quills.'  A quill is very sharp and tends to stick into an animal which attacks it.  In fact, I think the porcupine can 'shoot' its quills when it feels threatened (when it believes it is in danger).  Somehow this young raven in the video got too close to a porcupine and the porcupine struck the raven with a few quills.  But, ravens are pretty smart, so this raven got some help from a kind lady.

Here's what a porcupine looks like:

The article and video:

http://gawker.com/raven-asks-human-for-help-with-painful-quills-after-por-787258723

Vocabulary from the article/video:

a splinter - this is a little tiny, sharp piece of wood that can stick into a person's skin.  When a child gets a splinter (usually in his/her finger) he/she runs to his/her mom/dad and gets it removed.

to holler and screech - holler means yell and screech means to yell in a very high pitch.  Men tend to speak in a lower pitch while women tend to speak in a higher pitch.

fledgling - a fledgling teacher is a new teacher, a fledgling baseball player is just beginning to play baseball...so this was a young raven just starting to learn about the world.

borne the brunt of an attack - suffered the consequences of an attack.  The 'brunt' of an attack could be considered the 'main force' of an attack.  "to bear the brunt of something" is an idiom you hear every once in awhile.  Let's say that you are working on a project with a group, but you are doing most of the work.  You could say, "I am bearing the brunt of all the work for this group."  You are carrying most of the weight.

extracting - removing.  A dentist might extract a bad tooth.

Quoth the raven - this means, "The raven said..."  There is a famous poem which was written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 1800s called The Raven.  He uses the phrase "Quoth the raven: nevermore!" in the poem.  It's very old fashioned language.

Yes, this bozo is a supreme court judge

The Supreme Court is very important in the USA because it has the power to review (look at) laws that are made in Congress and this court can 'overturn' those laws (eliminate them).  Indeed, Obama was afraid that the Supreme Court was going to eliminate or overturn the law he worked with Congress to create in regard to health care insurance in America.

Because this is such an important Court, you would think that the nine people on the court would be amazing individuals.  No.  For instance, let's look at Antonin Scalia.  He is one of the most conservative judges on the court. Conservatives usually do not like to see things change and are not usually considered to be very open-minded. 

When Scalia was asked his opinion about allowing gay people to get married, he said something like: "Oh my God!  If we allow gay marriage this year, will people want to marry animals next year?" 

He has made many crazy statements like this.  For instance, affirmative action is the policy that some universities use to bring in more black and Latino students, since these students are underrepresented in many good American universities.  When Scalia was questioning a lawyer from the University of Michigan about affirmative action, he literally asked: "If you want more black and Latino students at Michigan, why don't you just drop your academic standards?"

So the following interview with Scalia will probably not surprise you. 

By the way, you might be asking, "Why are there such bozos on the US Supreme Court, and what's a bozo?

If you call a person a bozo, you are, basically, calling the person an idiot.  This is Bozo the Clown:

This is Antonin Scalia, who is, in my opinion, a bozo:

Why are there such bozos on America's top court?  Because liberal presidents pick liberal judges to sit on the court, and conservative presidents pick conservative judges to sit on the court.  So basically the last several presidents were not looking for judicial geniuses.  They were looking for judges who agreed with their political views.  So the judges are kind of like puppets.  This is a puppet:

Right now there are 4 very conservative judges who were appointed by conservative presidents and 4 very liberal judges who were appointed by liberal presidents.  There's one guy who is mostly conservative but who sometimes votes as a liberal. Ronald Reagan, one of the most conservative of recent presidents, appointed Antonin Scalia to the court in 1986.

The article:

http://now.msn.com/antonin-scalia-supreme-court-justice-discusses-the-devil-seinfeld-in-new-york-magazine-interview

Vocabulary:

the devil, Seinfeld - the devil is, in the Christian religion, the force or influence that causes 'evil.' Seinfeld was a very popular and very funny TV show in America in the 1990s. As you can see from the article, Scalia loves Seinfeld.

Here's a sample:

hilarious - very funny

The Nazi Soup Kitchen - a very funny Seinfeld episode about the owner of a chain of soup restaurants in New York who had the reputation for being very mean or nasty.  So Seinfeld called him "The Soup Nazi."  Here:

coarsening of society - Scalia thinks that US society is becoming less 'nice' - it is becoming tougher and rougher because people lack manners and politeness.