A lot of Iran's empowerment is a result of the war in Iraq.

Foreigners who speak Arabic in the Middle East are often assumed to be working for the C.I.A. or Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad.

The U.S. spent billions of dollars to build a secular, professional national Iraqi army but failed because, despite all the U.S.-supplied guns, tanks and planes, the Iraqi military fell apart when challenged by a band of terrorists.

Many in the U.S. military believe ISIS needs to be immediately, and repeatedly, smashed by American drones and warplanes.

At its worst, Washington is a place where name-calling partisan politics too often trumps policy.

So here we are, just two months away from the election, with more and more examples that modern day Jim Crowe laws are alive and well in the state of Florida.

It's very important that the government is close to the business community and that we understand their concerns. But at some point, the government needs to be a government.

It is clear from Salman Rushdie's writing that politics and literature cannot be separated. Everything is political.