Friday, February 06, 2015

Return to the Dark Ages in the age of the Twitterverse

Here's my rough and very imperfect knowledge of the history of terror. Not that long ago, in recent memory in fact most terror was politically motivated (the Red Brigades, Carlos the Jackal, the IRA, Munich) and much, sometimes most of it had to do with the eternal and never-ending Israeli/Palestinian conflict. FF to the present with Al-Shabab, Boko Haram and Islamic State and it's pretty much do you read the Quran? no? you have to die infidel! With the latest outrage, the burning in a cage of that Jordanian pilot I don't see how you can't have boots on the ground at this point. Airstrikes alone brings to mind using a can of Raid and you're shooting at the cockroaches scurrying around in your kitchen. Sure you'll get a few, perhaps many but the rest go in the cracks and crevices of your floorboards so basically you have to find a way to get in there, get to the root of the problem. So basically and this is what I don't get unless it has to do with protecting hostages ISIS has this safe and fairly large staging area in some desert somewhere in which they continue to produce a series of highly polished but gruesome videos along the line of Faces of Death. Apparently they feel safe doing this, some kind of drone-free airspace I guess which is only another reason we really need an international coalition of boots on the ground and I don't care if King Abdullah II quotes Clint Eastwood. Lastly many conservatives are blaming Obama himself for the rise of ISIS by not continuing Bush's adventures in Iraq indefinitely when truth be told Bush's original actions led to the rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi which later metamorphosed into ISIS and it bears repeating while Saddam Hussein was a very bad man he had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Meanwhile Americans are continuing to flock to see that sniper film while Boko Haram just took almost 100 civilian lives in northern Cameroon.

16 comments:

  1. USA drops 2 A bombs and burns countless; drops napalm all over the jungle in Vietnam and again..burns countless. A pilot gets burned alive and suddenly it's the nightly news.

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  2. Having trouble staying with the news cycles. Measles has replaced ebola?

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  3. Well apparently Brian Williams is the hot topic right now. Also conservatives are upset because Obama talked about the Crusades.

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    1. Being upset is the raison d'etre of the conservative movement. ISIL claims
      their US female hostage was killed by an air strike. It would be less expensive if we could pay Boko Haram to go after ISIS; sort of like back in the day when we set the Crow against the Sioux. All things considered,
      though, I'm thinking there will be boots on the ground somewhere again.
      (local ex-marine, Iraq, Somaliland, Bosnia) shot himself in the head a couple days back: they need some sort of program to debrief folks after
      the life and death decisions and gore of the battlefield for years and then
      returning to clerking hardware, ya know?

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    2. It's as if the Crusades never happened.

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  4. It's kind of good though to see the Arab nations getting more involved once again. It is their war after all.

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  5. Conspiracy Theory 524E: Having won the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics, Bruce
    Jenner intends to add to his sports fame by winning the women's decathlon as
    Belinda Brenner. The Kardashians will cheer from their box seats "Go Dad!"...
    "Go Mom" & preen for the Rio de Janeiro paparazzi.

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  6. Plan on reading the new Harper Lee book BB?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Hmm. somehow created a feedback loop link. #2 try:
      It may be awhile, I just started a 777 page tome , the introduction of which took three nights. Sleeping pill reading, I daresay, but a gift from
      elder daughter, who tripled majored in English, Chemistry and Operatic Performance. So, I'm obligated right?

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    3. Charlie Rose has always had that sleep-inducing effect for me. That and "Antiques Roadshow."

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  7. 'American Sniper' replaced by 'Spongebob' as top grossing film last week. Fickle
    movie audiences.

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    Replies
    1. Most movies I now watch on DVD. You have the convenience of pausing, going to the bathroom and refilling your highball. Also you don't have to turn your cell off.

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    2. I'da thunk you was up in Boston, shoveling roofs, big bucks, early retirement.

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  8. Oh btw Judge Judy has a thing on her show, some contest or raffle I think to speak at some lucky HS for their commencement ceremony.

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    1. Be interesting if Boko Haram HS (mascot-the Fighting Jungle Barbarians)
      in Mgumba Hurama won the contest.

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