WASHINGTON Last Thursday, the president’s “engagement” with Iran began. This Wednesday, the U.S. war in Afghanistan will enter its ninth year. And U.S. foreign pol icy is entering a White Queen phase. In Through the Looking Glass, Alice says she is unable to believe the White Queen’s claim to be 101. The Queen responds, “Try again: Draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.“ Alice: “There’s no use trying, one can’t believe impossible things.“ Queen: “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.“

WASHINGTON Although New Haven’s firefighters deservedly won in the Supreme Court, it is deeply depressing that they won narrowly—5-4. The egregious behavior by that city’s government, in a context of racial rabble-rousing, did not seem legally suspect to even one of the court’s four liberals, whose harmony seemed to reflect result-oriented rather than law-driven reasoning.