August 23, 2014
"You oughta hear their version of 'Hey Jude.'"
Said Bob Dylan about Brave Combo, "a regional band out of Texas that takes regular songs and changes the way you think about them."
Here's the "Hey Jude," with — of all people — Tiny Tim singing the lead. Here's Brave Combo doing my favorite Doors song.
And here's the place in Bob Dylan's book "Chronicles" where he's eating french fries with Tiny Tim and they're listening to Ricky Nelson on the radio:
Only one Bob Dylan song mentions potatoes. If you know it before clicking, you get points in this game.
Here's the "Hey Jude," with — of all people — Tiny Tim singing the lead. Here's Brave Combo doing my favorite Doors song.
And here's the place in Bob Dylan's book "Chronicles" where he's eating french fries with Tiny Tim and they're listening to Ricky Nelson on the radio:
At some point during the day, Tiny Tim and I would go in the kitchen and hang around..."Tonation," like "potate," discussed earlier today, is, in the opinion of the (unlinkable) Oxford English Dictionary, an obsolete and rare word. It means: "The action of toning or producing musical tones; the tones or notes so produced." As long as we're talking about french fries, "potate" can be slang for act like a potato, but the OED's obsolete and rare meaning is liquid or liquefied.
One afternoon I was in there pouring Coke into a glass from a milk pitcher when I heard a voice coming cool through the screen of the radio speaker. Ricky Nelson was singing his new song, "Travelin' Man." Ricky had a smooth touch, the way he crooned in fast rhythm, the tonation of his voice....
Ricky's song ended and I gave the rest of my French fries to Tiny Tim....
Only one Bob Dylan song mentions potatoes. If you know it before clicking, you get points in this game.
I encounter 5 items of celebrity news.
1. The snake that bit one of the dancers in a rehearsal of the Nicki Minaj song "Anaconda" was a "boa constrictor named Rocky who has been in the entertainment business for 15 years." A boa constrictor is not an anaconda, but the snake had no way to know the song was celebrating some other species of snake. Nor do I think the snake could take offense at the lyrics and think something like: That's all I am to you, something that reminds you of a body part of one of your kind, not as a unique individual with many facets to my serpentine being other than serving as a hyperbolic metaphor for the human penis? Do you even know about the snake's penis? Am I simply a big penis to you? Do you even know who I am? I am Rocky, a veteran of 15 years in the entertainment business! I think a boa constrictor bites when it feels threatened, so if the 15-years-in-the-entertainment-business snake bit a dancer, he must have felt really scared. He doesn't know his name is Rocky, a name that connotes a tough guy. He's just a snake. He doesn't know what snakes mean to us, and he's not really in the business, is he? Not from his perspective. He's not getting any coins, as Nicky might put it. He's a confused, frightened creature in an incomprehensible environment, fighting for survival. And that's our favorite phallic symbol.
2. Jennifer Lopez says: "I like being in a relationship. I’m not one to like, whore around, and stuff like that — that’s not my thing." Is she calling other ladies "whores"? Is that allowed these days? She used "whore" as a verb, naming the action, not the person. That might be a love-the-sinner/hate-the-sin kind of attitude, but then she didn't ever say whoring around is bad, only that it's not her "thing." Do your own thing. That's what we said in the 60s, often along with its corollary: Let it all hang out. The Isley Brothers sang: "It's your thing/Do what you wanna do/I can't tell you/Who to sock it to." Some people — like Jennifer Lopez — find that their thing is having sex with their own spouse. No judgment. It's all good. You whores.
3. That bad old billionaire racist Donald Sterling had fallen out of the news, and here's V. Stiviano rescuing him from that fate and averring that the old man is gay and she was his beard. This is not attention whoring — is that word permissible? — because Stiviano is fighting against a lawsuit filed against her by Sterling's wife Shelly, who accuses her of being "a thief and an embezzler," which provides the basis for a counterclaim of defamation.
4. To stop his descent into into a condition I think is called Jack Nicholsonism, Leonardo DiCaprio must lose 10 pounds. "He has given up pasta – and he loves pasta... He also plans on working out more and he is taking his bike wherever he goes." DiCaprio is about to turn 40, and his girlfriend is a 21-year-old model named Toni Garrn, who apparently either wants to make very sure we pronounce the "r" in her name or is a pirate. We're told of Garrrrrn that "Of course she doesn’t care" that Leo is fat. Why would Leo be with anyone who would say she cares that he's fat when he's fat? I love you just the way you are. That's what Billy Joel sang, back in 1979, stealing, he admits, the last line of the 4 Seasons song "Rag Doll," which was inspired by a squeegee-man girl who extracted $20 from Bob Gaudio. Did Joel have any particular person in mind? Yeah. His first wife, and she didn't even like the song. Joel went through 2 more wives, including a 23-year-old that he married when he was 55. Oh, but don't be too mean to Mr. Joel. He has "battled depression for many years," and once tried to kill himself by drinking furniture polish. Furniture polish? "It looked tastier than bleach." But good luck to DiCaprio, whether he chooses to remain boyishly cute or become the jolly roué. Flabby or toned, he'll always be cuter than Billy Joel, and good for him for never divorcing anyone. He has never married.
5. Speaking of fat, Warner Brothers is in trouble for "fat shaming" in its new direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movie "Frankencreepy." Some curse causes Daphne Blake to go from size 2 to size 8, but size 8 is depicted more like size 22, and Tom Burns of The Good Men Project writes: "It's sad to think that my daughter can’t even watch a cartoon about a dog solving mysteries without negative body stereotypes being thrown in her face." But apparently, there's an argument that the curse is that each character loses what she (or he) is most afraid to lose, and the only reason Daphe loses her fine figure is that she's too damned in love with it in the first place. This notion of curses tailored to each psyche is familiar. In one of my favorite movies, "The Witches of Eastwick," Satan (the above-mentioned Jack Nicholson) curses the various women with their own fears, and in the case of Cher, the fear is snakes. Watch Cher wake up in a bedful of snakes. Can somebody check the IMDB page on those snakes? I want to know how long they've been in the entertainment business and what are their degrees of separation from Rocky?
2. Jennifer Lopez says: "I like being in a relationship. I’m not one to like, whore around, and stuff like that — that’s not my thing." Is she calling other ladies "whores"? Is that allowed these days? She used "whore" as a verb, naming the action, not the person. That might be a love-the-sinner/hate-the-sin kind of attitude, but then she didn't ever say whoring around is bad, only that it's not her "thing." Do your own thing. That's what we said in the 60s, often along with its corollary: Let it all hang out. The Isley Brothers sang: "It's your thing/Do what you wanna do/I can't tell you/Who to sock it to." Some people — like Jennifer Lopez — find that their thing is having sex with their own spouse. No judgment. It's all good. You whores.
3. That bad old billionaire racist Donald Sterling had fallen out of the news, and here's V. Stiviano rescuing him from that fate and averring that the old man is gay and she was his beard. This is not attention whoring — is that word permissible? — because Stiviano is fighting against a lawsuit filed against her by Sterling's wife Shelly, who accuses her of being "a thief and an embezzler," which provides the basis for a counterclaim of defamation.
4. To stop his descent into into a condition I think is called Jack Nicholsonism, Leonardo DiCaprio must lose 10 pounds. "He has given up pasta – and he loves pasta... He also plans on working out more and he is taking his bike wherever he goes." DiCaprio is about to turn 40, and his girlfriend is a 21-year-old model named Toni Garrn, who apparently either wants to make very sure we pronounce the "r" in her name or is a pirate. We're told of Garrrrrn that "Of course she doesn’t care" that Leo is fat. Why would Leo be with anyone who would say she cares that he's fat when he's fat? I love you just the way you are. That's what Billy Joel sang, back in 1979, stealing, he admits, the last line of the 4 Seasons song "Rag Doll," which was inspired by a squeegee-man girl who extracted $20 from Bob Gaudio. Did Joel have any particular person in mind? Yeah. His first wife, and she didn't even like the song. Joel went through 2 more wives, including a 23-year-old that he married when he was 55. Oh, but don't be too mean to Mr. Joel. He has "battled depression for many years," and once tried to kill himself by drinking furniture polish. Furniture polish? "It looked tastier than bleach." But good luck to DiCaprio, whether he chooses to remain boyishly cute or become the jolly roué. Flabby or toned, he'll always be cuter than Billy Joel, and good for him for never divorcing anyone. He has never married.
5. Speaking of fat, Warner Brothers is in trouble for "fat shaming" in its new direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movie "Frankencreepy." Some curse causes Daphne Blake to go from size 2 to size 8, but size 8 is depicted more like size 22, and Tom Burns of The Good Men Project writes: "It's sad to think that my daughter can’t even watch a cartoon about a dog solving mysteries without negative body stereotypes being thrown in her face." But apparently, there's an argument that the curse is that each character loses what she (or he) is most afraid to lose, and the only reason Daphe loses her fine figure is that she's too damned in love with it in the first place. This notion of curses tailored to each psyche is familiar. In one of my favorite movies, "The Witches of Eastwick," Satan (the above-mentioned Jack Nicholson) curses the various women with their own fears, and in the case of Cher, the fear is snakes. Watch Cher wake up in a bedful of snakes. Can somebody check the IMDB page on those snakes? I want to know how long they've been in the entertainment business and what are their degrees of separation from Rocky?
The Washington Redskins need to change their name... to The Washington Posts.
In honor of the brave warrior spirit of The Washington Post, which is taking a bold and daring stand against printing the name "Redskins."
That is the kind of courage and strength that translates elegantly to football, a game where players regularly risk hurting one another and are, accordingly, bound by an elaborate system of rules — which are frequently amended to limit the extent of injuries — by defining penalties. For example, "One arm in front of the body with palm out and fingers up, moved in a pushing motion" is a penalty called "illegal contact." Watching a game, I am often perplexed by the erudite officials in striped shirts who throw down what I like to refer to as "hankies" when these players — who seem so tough and ready for action — do something that the higher ups have deemed offensive.
So the metaphorical meaning is perfectly fine: The Washington Redskins must become The Washington Posts.
I know, you might say "Posts" reminds you of something that's stuck in one place and never moves, which seems like the opposite of football, where the point is to gain territory. But they are trying to reach the goal posts. So "posts" is a football word. And I would also note that there many points in football when an offensive player offends by simply moving. It's a "false start." So you are sometimes required to be like a post.
And don't get after me about trademark law. The Washington Post is in the newspaper business, not the football business. There's no risk of confusion. It's like Apple records and Apple computers.
That is the kind of courage and strength that translates elegantly to football, a game where players regularly risk hurting one another and are, accordingly, bound by an elaborate system of rules — which are frequently amended to limit the extent of injuries — by defining penalties. For example, "One arm in front of the body with palm out and fingers up, moved in a pushing motion" is a penalty called "illegal contact." Watching a game, I am often perplexed by the erudite officials in striped shirts who throw down what I like to refer to as "hankies" when these players — who seem so tough and ready for action — do something that the higher ups have deemed offensive.
So the metaphorical meaning is perfectly fine: The Washington Redskins must become The Washington Posts.
I know, you might say "Posts" reminds you of something that's stuck in one place and never moves, which seems like the opposite of football, where the point is to gain territory. But they are trying to reach the goal posts. So "posts" is a football word. And I would also note that there many points in football when an offensive player offends by simply moving. It's a "false start." So you are sometimes required to be like a post.
And don't get after me about trademark law. The Washington Post is in the newspaper business, not the football business. There's no risk of confusion. It's like Apple records and Apple computers.
Potate = "What potatoes do."
"Haters gonna hate, potatoes gonna potate."
A trending word at Urban Dictionary. Don't confuse it with "potentate." Potentates don't potate.
By the way, there actually is an obsolete and rare word "potate," defined in the (unlinkable) OED as an adjective that perhaps means liquid or liquefied. The etymology is the classical Latin pōtātus, the past participle of pōtāre, which means to drink (as in the English word potable or potation). The etymology of "potato" is different, related to Spanish and French words where the second letter was "a," not "o," patata and patate.
The word "potate" appears in the Ben Jonson play "Alchemist" (1612 ):
A trending word at Urban Dictionary. Don't confuse it with "potentate." Potentates don't potate.
By the way, there actually is an obsolete and rare word "potate," defined in the (unlinkable) OED as an adjective that perhaps means liquid or liquefied. The etymology is the classical Latin pōtātus, the past participle of pōtāre, which means to drink (as in the English word potable or potation). The etymology of "potato" is different, related to Spanish and French words where the second letter was "a," not "o," patata and patate.
The word "potate" appears in the Ben Jonson play "Alchemist" (1612 ):
Eight, nine, ten days hence,That's alchemy talk. If you want to brush up on alchemy terms, here's "A Lexicon of Alchemy," also from 1612. "Magisterium" is defined as "a Chemical State which follows the process of extraction."
He will be silver potate; then three days
Before he citronise: Some fifteen days,
The magisterium will be perfected.
"Mr. Gore likes to say 'our democracy has been hacked by big money,' but he has done some hacking himself..."
"... in his many rent-seeking activities. His Current TV payday, partly at the expense of the Qataris, partly at the expense of U.S. cable subscribers and shareholders, must be especially piquant to Americans exhausted by Mr. Gore's incessant moralizing. What would be nice to know, and what a full airing of the legal record might show, and is at what point Current stopped being a sincere experiment in liberal news and entertainment. At what point did it morph into a scheme to shake down TV distributors and flip the carriage rights for what BusinessWeek estimates was $450 million in profit to Mr. Gore and partners."
From "Al Gore vs. Al Jazeera vs. the Truth/How the ex-veep came by his cable TV windfall remains heavily redacted," in the Wall Street Journal, where you might have to Google some of the quotes text to get a link that works for you.
ADDED: If I read the article correctly, the contract had Gore et al. receiving $500 million and only $65 million has yet to be paid. By litigating for the last 13% of what was due under the contract, Gore lights a fire under al Jazeera to show that the terms of the contract have not been fulfilled, that the whole contract is void, and to get back some or all of the 87% that has been paid. Shouldn't Gore want to keep that door closed? But Gore isn't only putting $435 million at risk. He's also putting his reputation up for attacks, such as the one in the linked WSJ article. If he's a big huckster, he's got an especially big stake in hiding his hucksterism, unless he's retiring from all of that and doesn't give a damn what history thinks of him. Meanwhile, al Jazeera has an opportunity to upgrade its reputation by arguing that it paid most of the money and held a small portion in escrow to motivate Gore to perform his contractual obligations. What were those obligations? Well, something that at least seemed worth $500 million to al Jazeera.
From "Al Gore vs. Al Jazeera vs. the Truth/How the ex-veep came by his cable TV windfall remains heavily redacted," in the Wall Street Journal, where you might have to Google some of the quotes text to get a link that works for you.
ADDED: If I read the article correctly, the contract had Gore et al. receiving $500 million and only $65 million has yet to be paid. By litigating for the last 13% of what was due under the contract, Gore lights a fire under al Jazeera to show that the terms of the contract have not been fulfilled, that the whole contract is void, and to get back some or all of the 87% that has been paid. Shouldn't Gore want to keep that door closed? But Gore isn't only putting $435 million at risk. He's also putting his reputation up for attacks, such as the one in the linked WSJ article. If he's a big huckster, he's got an especially big stake in hiding his hucksterism, unless he's retiring from all of that and doesn't give a damn what history thinks of him. Meanwhile, al Jazeera has an opportunity to upgrade its reputation by arguing that it paid most of the money and held a small portion in escrow to motivate Gore to perform his contractual obligations. What were those obligations? Well, something that at least seemed worth $500 million to al Jazeera.
August 22, 2014
The NYT blithely dispenses with Scott Walker as a GOP presidential candidate.
The column is "Taking Account of Republican Presidential Contenders," by Albert R. Hunt, which begins with the assertion that this year "hasn’t been so kind to... Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin." That's backed up only with this:
Mr. Walker of Wisconsin, 46, a success in a generally Democratic state, was considered a first-tier contender. But a mini-scandal and an expected tight re-election race this autumn have dashed his prospects.Dashed his prospects? But the efforts to concoct a scandal got nowhere. And so what if the re-election race is close? He'll get honed, and if he loses, he's losing in "a generally Democratic state," so even then I wouldn't call his prospects "dashed." I think the NYT is a bit too eager to write off "Mr. Walker."
Before the performance...
... of "Travesties" at the American Players Theater the other night. This play was so good — as a text and as a performance — that the next day I bought tickets to see it again. And I also bought tickets to see "The Importance of Being Earnest" a couple days before the second viewing of "Travesties." The 2 plays are related, and some of the actors play corresponding roles in the 2 plays. I'd seen "The Importance of Being Earnest" (in movie form) long ago, so I got the hang of the references, but not all the particularity. "Earnest" is playing in the outdoor theater at APT, "Travesties" indoors.
I was so taken with "Travesties" that I even bought the text. It's one of these plays about art, and I love art about art. What is art? I'm entranced by all sorts of blabbing on this subject, especially wrangling with the problem of art and politics — propaganda and all that — and "Travesties" has Vladimir Lenin as one of the characters. Lenin says things like:
Today, literature must become party literature. Down with non-partisan literature! Down with literary supermen! Literature must become a part of the common cause of the proletariat, a cog in the Social democratic mechanism. Publishing and distributing centres, bookshops and reading rooms, libraries and similar establishments must all be under party control. We want to establish and we shall establish a free press, free not simply from the police, but also from capital, from careerism, and what is more, free from bourgeois anarchist individualism!Lenin actually wrote that. The playwright (Tom Stoppard) worked it into the script, which isn't all horrific blowharding like that, there's a lot of absurd banter and mistaken identity and various hijinks of a theatrical kind. Lenin is a minor character. James Joyce is more important, and the Dadaist Tristan Tzara.
Speaking of evil dictators — who never wear shorts and flip-flops, by the way — I got around to watching that 2004 movie "Downfall," you know, the raw material for all those Hitler parodies. It's heavy going, 156 minutes, mostly in the bunker. The familiar scene isn't the ending. It's quite close to the beginning.
Neurocinematics.
The science of why people cry at movies is deployed to design movies that will make people cry.
If movie makers could really figure this out decisively, would you go to movies or avoid them? I'm very resistant to manipulation when I perceive it, but I guess part of the science is not to trigger the resistance, but to cause the viewer to have a response that feels natural.
And I see a proximity to political propaganda, so I don't like science helping manipulators learn how to bypass our judgment and get right into our nervous system.
I'm not saying that kind of science is unethical or should end, but we the people need help resisting.
If movie makers could really figure this out decisively, would you go to movies or avoid them? I'm very resistant to manipulation when I perceive it, but I guess part of the science is not to trigger the resistance, but to cause the viewer to have a response that feels natural.
And I see a proximity to political propaganda, so I don't like science helping manipulators learn how to bypass our judgment and get right into our nervous system.
I'm not saying that kind of science is unethical or should end, but we the people need help resisting.
"When someone negates their existence, they cancel themselves out in my mind."
"I have many records, books and films featuring people who have taken their own lives, and I regard them all with a bit of disdain. When someone commits this act, he or she is out of my analog world. I know they existed, yet they have nullified their existence because they willfully removed themselves from life. They were real but now they are not. I no longer take this person seriously. I may be able to appreciate what he or she did artistically but it’s impossible to feel bad for them. Their life wasn’t cut short — it was purposely abandoned. It’s hard to feel bad when the person did what they wanted to. It sucks they are gone, of course, but it’s the decision they made. I have to respect it and move on."
That's not the only point Henry Rollins makes in "Fuck Suicide." My son John focused on one of the other points over at Facebook, where I'm participating in the comments. I'm choosing to focus on this because it made me reflect on the way I feel when artists who have spoken to me kill themselves. Unless they are in the final throes of a fatal illness, their suicide reveals something about the mind that gave rise to the art, and it infuses that art with different meaning.
That's not the only point Henry Rollins makes in "Fuck Suicide." My son John focused on one of the other points over at Facebook, where I'm participating in the comments. I'm choosing to focus on this because it made me reflect on the way I feel when artists who have spoken to me kill themselves. Unless they are in the final throes of a fatal illness, their suicide reveals something about the mind that gave rise to the art, and it infuses that art with different meaning.
I found a metaphor in the garden by the front steps.
The shed skin of a cicada:
In China, the phrase "to shed off the golden cicada skin"(金蝉脱壳, pinyin: jīnchán tuōqiào) is the poetic name of the tactic of using deception to escape danger, specifically of using decoys (leaving the old shell) to fool enemies. It became one of the 36 classic Chinese strategems.... In the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West (16th century), the protagonist Priest of Tang...I know. You want to make a joke like: Give us this day our daily orange-flavored beverage.
... was named the Golden Cicada; in this context the multiple shedding of shell of the cicada symbolizes the many stages of transformation required of a person before all illusions have been broken and one reaches enlightenment. This is also referred to in Japanese mythical ninja lore, as the technique of utsusemi (i.e., literally cicada), where ninjas would trick opponents into attacking a decoy....Genji text:
In the Japanese novel The Tale of Genji...
The lady with the scarf... who had been for some time fondly supposing that Genji had given up thinking about her, appeared startled and embarrassed when she saw him; but, as a matter of course, the usual courtesies were paid. The younger lady, however (who was free from all such thoughts), was rather pleased at his appearance. It happened that, when the eyes of the younger were turned in another direction, Genji ventured to touch slightly the shoulder of his favorite, who, startled at the action rose suddenly and left the room, on pretence of seeking something she required, dropping her scarf in her haste, as a cicada casts off its tender wingy shell, and leaving her friend to converse with the Prince.Ah! That reminds me of another insects-in-the-garden photograph:
"'When she sings the song Pi,' whose chorus is a recitation of the mathematical digits, 'she really brings the emotion to it.'"
"'She’s able to deliver things that on the surface seem odd.'"
From "An Encore 35 Years in the Making/Kate Bush Fans Travel to See Rare Concerts in London."
(Video of "Pi.")
From "An Encore 35 Years in the Making/Kate Bush Fans Travel to See Rare Concerts in London."
(Video of "Pi.")
August 21, 2014
What if your employer gave you a Fitbit to wear and reduced your health insurance payments if you racked up the right number of steps?
"We think the device is easy to use, gets people aware of how little they are walking and helps trigger people to get active.... BP doesn’t see any of the data except in the aggregate."
Yes, but isn't this creepy, the boss making you wear a bracelet that counts your steps? Meanwhile, Fitbit stands to do well if this catches on.
But how do they know who is wearing the device? You could snap that thing onto whichever family member is doing some exercise, including a dog running around in the backyard while you watch TV and eat potato chips.
You'll have to make the damned thing creepier to prevent cheating.
Yes, but isn't this creepy, the boss making you wear a bracelet that counts your steps? Meanwhile, Fitbit stands to do well if this catches on.
But how do they know who is wearing the device? You could snap that thing onto whichever family member is doing some exercise, including a dog running around in the backyard while you watch TV and eat potato chips.
You'll have to make the damned thing creepier to prevent cheating.
"It was a guy I knew a little bit about, and I didn’t like his reputation... I just kind of interposed myself..."
"... and started talking to her about something. The guy got the message and he took off," said Adam Erickson, a Yale sophomore, describing something he did at a party where a female seemed to be drunk and a male seemed to be sexually interested in her. Erickson is quoted in an article at Bloomberg titled "Hook-Up Culture at Harvard, Stanford Wanes Amid Assault Alarm."
I think Erickson sets a good example of the way we should be looking out for one another. I suspect it will be hard for most people to break couples up like this. It takes some judgment and skill, and you incur some risks. Are you your friends' chaperone? People tend to feel safer doing nothing than doing something and err on the side of inaction. But just as we should stop a drunk person from getting behind the wheel of a car, we can keep a drunk person from getting isolated by someone who could take advantage of the mental impairment. It's better not to get drunk at all, of course, but students obviously do, and it's right that the standard is becoming: Don't have sex when you or the other person is drunk. Instead of worrying so much about the consequences of after-the-fact characterizations of sexual intercourse, improve the social dynamic at parties. Let everyone in the group be pro-active like Adam Erickson and just kind of interpose yourself.
I think Erickson sets a good example of the way we should be looking out for one another. I suspect it will be hard for most people to break couples up like this. It takes some judgment and skill, and you incur some risks. Are you your friends' chaperone? People tend to feel safer doing nothing than doing something and err on the side of inaction. But just as we should stop a drunk person from getting behind the wheel of a car, we can keep a drunk person from getting isolated by someone who could take advantage of the mental impairment. It's better not to get drunk at all, of course, but students obviously do, and it's right that the standard is becoming: Don't have sex when you or the other person is drunk. Instead of worrying so much about the consequences of after-the-fact characterizations of sexual intercourse, improve the social dynamic at parties. Let everyone in the group be pro-active like Adam Erickson and just kind of interpose yourself.
"I guess, all in all, I wish I wasn’t American."
Said James Foley, shortly before his beheading, quoted in "How the U.S. and Europe Failed James Foley/America doesn't negotiate with terrorists. Should it?"
Linked by Instapundit, who says, "The response to Foley’s beheading should have been a MOAB dropped on an ISIS-held town."
I have no idea what the right answer is. I am not a military strategist. I want ISIS defeated, but these kidnappings (and beheadings) are their strategy for luring us into their game. They might love us to obliterate one of their towns.
ADDED: The NYT reports
FOR REFERENCE: "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."
Linked by Instapundit, who says, "The response to Foley’s beheading should have been a MOAB dropped on an ISIS-held town."
I have no idea what the right answer is. I am not a military strategist. I want ISIS defeated, but these kidnappings (and beheadings) are their strategy for luring us into their game. They might love us to obliterate one of their towns.
ADDED: The NYT reports
[ISIS] pressed the United States to provide a multimillion-dollar ransom for his release, according to a representative of his family and a former hostage held alongside him. The United States — unlike several European countries that have funneled millions to the terror group to spare the lives of their citizens — refused to pay....Paying ransom strikes me as a terrible strategy, funneling money to terrorists and inciting more kidnapping. As for the Special Operations activities, I infer that when they don't work, we don't hear about them, but the White House made an exception here, because disclosing failure seemed, in this case, like better PR.
Sensitive to growing criticism that it had not done enough, the White House on Wednesday revealed that a United States Special Operations team tried and failed to rescue Mr. Foley....
FOR REFERENCE: "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."
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