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Thread: What to do About ISIS?

  1. #151
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    What do you all think? Much of this resonates with me. Then again....

    I disagree. We are presently unable to control and prevent the perpetrators of these heinous acts and those who support them as we balance civil liberties, privacy, etc. with security/safety. We can and should do our best to discourage those among us who would retaliate indiscriminately against a particular population based on any emotion (anger/hate). I am not fearful of anger/rhetoric directed at the actual perpetrators of these heinous actions and those who sponsor them. I do fear, however, that some of those who fan the flames through expressions of anger and hate at those other than the direct participants and those who sponsor them in times like these really don't care whether their anger actually leads to any meaningful action other than satisfying their own emotions and enciting themselves and others to engage and endanger people who are not part of the problem. I don't think this makes us safer in the short or longterm. During the campaign, Trump said we should kill the terrorists and their families. I'm opposed to that thinking and policy. I'm also opposed to simply carpet bombing the entire middle east until nothing exists to demolish those who are engaged in these actions. I'm opposed to those who cry for a "final solution" against Islam.

    We need to be smarter, not angrier.

  2. #152
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    What do you all think? Much of this resonates with me. Then again....

    I don't think this resonates with you. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/‘fi...Qgo?li=BBnbcA1

  3. #153
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    What to do About ISIS?

    Quote Originally Posted by UTEopia View Post
    I don't think this resonates with you. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/‘fi...Qgo?li=BBnbcA1
    I said "much" of that Brendan O'Neil op-ed resonates with me, and I expressed doubt about it ["but..."],and I asked what others here thought. You're the only one to respond so far, and you did so thoughtfully. Thanks for that.

    There's a huge difference between wondering whether, on the one hand, we should be less passive about terrorist attacks, and should instead be a little more angry and seek to annihilate the perpetrators in some intelligent way; and, on the other hand, supporting, accepting or excusing the mindless violent attack on innocent people reported in the story you linked. So of course that one did not resonate with me. I'll just leave it at that.
    Last edited by LA Ute; 05-28-2017 at 04:20 PM.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  4. #154
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    Quote Originally Posted by UTEopia View Post
    I don't think this resonates with you. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/‘fi...Qgo?li=BBnbcA1
    You are trying to use one isolated, probably mental health related incident to compare to ISIS and the planned and premeditated terror they conduct. Appeasement. Pure and simple appeasement. Rationalized and justified appeasement.

    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

    I understand that you mean well... but this is exactly how not to handle terrorism.

  5. #155
    Quote Originally Posted by Devildog View Post
    You are trying to use one isolated, probably mental health related incident to compare to ISIS and the planned and premeditated terror they conduct. Appeasement. Pure and simple appeasement. Rationalized and justified appeasement.

    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

    I understand that you mean well... but this is exactly how not to handle terrorism.
    Thank you for replying in a respectful manner. This might have been your best post ever

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    "Be a philosopher. A man can compromise to gain a point. It has become apparent that a man can, within limits, follow his inclinations within the arms of the Church if he does so discreetly." - The Walking Drum

    "And here’s what life comes down to—not how many years you live, but how many of those years are filled with bullshit that doesn’t amount to anything to satisfy the requirements of some dickhead you’ll never get the pleasure of punching in the face." – Adam Carolla

  6. #156
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    There Is No Intelligence Solution to Britain’s Rivers of Blood

    After three jihadist attacks in as many months, the United Kingdom is facing a protracted insurgency—not mere terrorism

    http://observer.com/2017/06/london-b...k-british-m15/

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  7. #157
    ISIS Is on Its Heels, but is Fighting to the Death:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/w...raq-fight.html
    "It'd be nice to please everyone but I thought it would be more interesting to have a point of view." -- Oscar Levant

  8. #158
    Quote Originally Posted by USS Utah View Post
    ISIS Is on Its Heels, but is Fighting to the Death:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/w...raq-fight.html
    Reading that article reminded me of when Bill Maher's show got cancelled after he said about the 9-11 hijackers that it was dumb to call them cowards.

    We drop the MOAB on a ISIS cave/tunnel complex in Afghanistan, and they've moved back in. Faith in action? This transcends over to religion, but how do the more informed religionists of today view this kind of insanity? Being led by Satan, or just plain nuts?

  9. #159
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    What to do About ISIS?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ma'ake View Post
    Reading that article reminded me of when Bill Maher's show got cancelled after he said about the 9-11 hijackers that it was dumb to call them cowards.

    We drop the MOAB on a ISIS cave/tunnel complex in Afghanistan, and they've moved back in. Faith in action? This transcends over to religion, but how do the more informed religionists of today view this kind of insanity? Being led by Satan, or just plain nuts?
    Seems to me it is a mixed bag. It includes a lot of fanaticism, probably some sincere religious beliefs for some of the perpetrators, and a lot of lust for power. There's not a scintilla of it that I, as a religious person, would call righteous. On a purely ethical level, I would not call any of it honorable either. By and large ISIS is an army of monsters.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  10. #160
    Quote Originally Posted by Ma'ake View Post
    Reading that article reminded me of when Bill Maher's show got cancelled after he said about the 9-11 hijackers that it was dumb to call them cowards.

    We drop the MOAB on a ISIS cave/tunnel complex in Afghanistan, and they've moved back in. Faith in action? This transcends over to religion, but how do the more informed religionists of today view this kind of insanity? Being led by Satan, or just plain nuts?

    I thought of just one word: Götterdämmerung

    The word is often used in reference to the orgy of self-destruction that coincided with the fall of Nazi Germany.
    "It'd be nice to please everyone but I thought it would be more interesting to have a point of view." -- Oscar Levant

  11. #161
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
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    Because ISIS is fighting in an "infinite game" where we think it is a "finite game" with a structured set of rules of "who won?"


  12. #162
    The Niger incident reveals that al Qaeda / ISIS are taking a "ball of mercury" approach to being defeated in their geographic caliphate in Syria / Iraq.

    Trump announces a looser standard for using drones, extending the remote control warfare mode started under Bush, expanded under Obama. (It insulates us from the immediate blood cost of warfare, but maybe it's like warfare using credit cards with extravagant initial offers. The crows ain't anywhere near coming home to roost... but they'll be coming, in ways that may not even be warfare.)

    As we spread troops less densely and more broadly in the muslim world, it's clear a trap is being set. US over-reacts by raining death from above, in increasingly greater geographic areas, at the same time Trump alienates historic allies and pulls us out of economic agreements and environmental conventions.

    I'm seeing more & more accounts by Utahns, who travel to Europe and get very sobering reactions of concern from our friends about the direction the US is taking.

  13. #163
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    An interesting side I have never heard about: Muslim hacktavists taking down ISIS's internet capabilities.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a8049771.html

  14. #164
    Raqqa in Ruins, ISIS in Retreat:

    http://time.com/raqqa-ruins-isis-retreat/
    "It'd be nice to please everyone but I thought it would be more interesting to have a point of view." -- Oscar Levant

  15. #165
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Nadia Murad has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Dr. Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who I understand has been a relentless advocate for women.

    Nadia was abducted in northern Iraq in August 2014, when ISIS took over her village. Her abductors gave the Yazidi people—a Kurdish and Arabic-speaking religious minority—two choices: Convert to Islam or die. Nadia refused to give in. She is Yazidi.

    She was 21 years old, and was kidnapped along with 3,000 other Yazidi women and girls who were traded as sex slaves from one ISIS fighter to another. They forced her to pray, dress up, and apply makeup in preparation for her rapes, which were often committed by gangs.

    Since she escaped she’s been a highly visible advocatefor her people and against the ISIS savagery.

    https://twitter.com/nobelprize/statu...389531136?s=12

    Here’s a fairly long (24:00) and disturbing BBC report on the Yazidi struggle:

    https://youtu.be/xVzyAMxzLm8

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  16. #166
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    This fits here as well as anywhere. Mike Pompeo gave a speech in Cairo last week that is stunning in its bluntness. I recognize the premises underlying Obama foreign policy, although I don’t accept most of them at all, and I know very intelligent, reasonable people disagree on these matters. Pompeo did us all a service, I think, by laying out the differences in stark detail. Some excerpts:

    Remember: It was here, here in this city, that another American stood before you.

    He told you that radical Islamist terrorism does not stem from an ideology.

    He told you that 9/11 led my country to abandon its ideals, particularly in the Middle East.

    He told you that the United States and the Muslim world needed, quote, “a new beginning,” end of quote.

    The results of these misjudgments have been dire.

    In falsely seeing ourselves as a force for what ails the Middle East, we were timid in asserting ourselves when the times – and our partners – demanded it.

    We grossly underestimated the tenacity and viciousness of radical Islamism, a debauched strain of the faith that seeks to upend every other form of worship or governance. ISIS drove to the outskirts of Baghdad as America hesitated. They raped and pillaged and murdered tens of thousands of innocents. They birthed a caliphate across Syria and Iraq and launched terror attacks that killed all across continents.

    America’s reluctance, our reluctance, to wield our influence kept us silent as the people of Iran rose up against the mullahs in Tehran in the Green Revolution. The ayatollahs and their henchmen murdered, jailed, and intimidated freedom-loving Iranians, and they wrongly blamed America for this unrest when it was their own tyranny that had fueled it. Emboldened, the regime spread its cancerous influence to Yemen, to Iraq, to Syria, and still further into Lebanon.

    Our penchant, America’s penchant, for wishful thinking led us to look the other way as Hizballah, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Iranian regime, accumulated a massive arsenal of approximately 130,000 rockets and missiles. They stored and positioned these weapons in Lebanese towns and villages in flagrant violation of international law. That arsenal is aimed squarely at our ally Israel.

    When Bashar Assad unleashed terror upon ordinary Syrians and barrel-bombed civilians with sarin gas, a true echo of Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurdish people, we condemned his actions. But in our hesitation to wield power, we did nothing.

    Let’s turn to Iran.

    President Trump has reversed our willful blindness to the danger of the regime and withdrew from the failed nuclear deal, with its false promises. The U.S. re-imposed sanctions that should never have been lifted. We embarked on a new pressure campaign to cut off the revenues the regime uses to spread terror and destruction throughout the world. We joined the Iranian people in calling for freedom and accountability.

    And importantly, we fostered a common understanding with our allies of the need to counteract the Iran regime’s revolutionary agenda. Countries increasingly understand that we must confront the ayatollahs, not coddle them. Nations are rallying to our side to confront the regime like never before. Egypt, Oman, Kuwait, and Jordan have all been instrumental in thwarting Iran’s efforts to evade sanctions.
    Full text of speech here:

    https://www.state.gov/secretary/rema.../01/288410.htm

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  17. #167
    I think the foreign policy adopted by the Obama administration was greatly influenced by the attitude of many in the Country after Iraq and Afghanistan and which attitude continues to be the focus of our foreign policy debate. How much blood and money are we willing to invest in protecting other countries around the world? Historically, we have been willing to spend both blood and money most everywhere except Africa. Too often those we support and train end up being our enemies down the line.

  18. #168
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    I say we let her come back to the country, prosecute her, and let her spend a few decades in prison. If she really wants to come back to the United States, that’s what should await her here. OTOH, there’s no telling what might happen if she gets in front of the right judge and jury in the wrong federal judicial circuit, let’s say the Ninth.

    Timeline of the ISIS Bride

    https://pjmedia.com/claudiarosett/ti...he-isis-bride/

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  19. #169
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I say we let her come back to the country, prosecute her, and let her spend a few decades in prison. If she really wants to come back to the United States, that’s what should await her here. OTOH, there’s no telling what might happen if she gets in front of the right judge and jury in the wrong federal judicial circuit, let’s say the Ninth.

    Timeline of the ISIS Bride

    https://pjmedia.com/claudiarosett/ti...he-isis-bride/
    I think a measured approach might be better. 3-5 years on prison, let her out to be a mom. Just because the Caliphate is gone doesn't mean the battle for "hearts and minds" is won in the Muslim World. There should be punishment for joining ISIS and being a support element for all the horrible things they did, but also there's no shortage of horror stories coming out from the regretful "ISIS wives".

    If she wants to come back to America, let's put on our best side and swing some support for the decency to be found in secular republics among the hundreds of millions of muslims who are decent people.

    The alternative is to loudly reject her return and let her go on a "book tour" of sorts through the Muslim world saying Christian America is a group of hypocrites on following Jesus' message of forgiveness. This would lend indirect tacit support for the sleeper cell attacks we're going to see, and serve to extend the ongoing war for hearts and minds among Muslim youth.

  20. #170
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ma'ake View Post
    I think a measured approach might be better. 3-5 years on prison, let her out to be a mom. Just because the Caliphate is gone doesn't mean the battle for "hearts and minds" is won in the Muslim World. There should be punishment for joining ISIS and being a support element for all the horrible things they did, but also there's no shortage of horror stories coming out from the regretful "ISIS wives".

    If she wants to come back to America, let's put on our best side and swing some support for the decency to be found in secular republics among the hundreds of millions of muslims who are decent people.

    The alternative is to loudly reject her return and let her go on a "book tour" of sorts through the Muslim world saying Christian America is a group of hypocrites on following Jesus' message of forgiveness. This would lend indirect tacit support for the sleeper cell attacks we're going to see, and serve to extend the ongoing war for hearts and minds among Muslim youth.
    I was hasty in recommending several decades. Something along the lines of what you suggest might be OK. If her case ends up in the Ninth Circuit she could actually go free (I’m not kidding) and that would be a very bad thing.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  21. #171
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I was hasty in recommending several decades. Something along the lines of what you suggest might be OK. If her case ends up in the Ninth Circuit she could actually go free (I’m not kidding) and that would be a very bad thing.
    What would the punishment be for a US citizen to advocate and encourage people on social media to carry out mass killings and to directly support terrorism?

    It seems like it would be larger than 3-5? Google just said it could be 10-20 years (depending on some various factors).


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  22. #172
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker Ute View Post
    What would the punishment be for a US citizen to advocate and encourage people on social media to carry out mass killings and to directly support terrorism?

    It seems like it would be larger than 3-5? Google just said it could be 10-20 years (depending on some various factors).
    I doubt it will be 3-5 years but I am not a criminal law guy. I know there are sentencing guidelines at the federal level.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  23. #173
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    I started wondering about the coverage of the Easter atrocity after a day or so. Why were journalists so careful to avoid mentioning that the victims were Christian, or that radical Islam might have been involved? I usually assume that mass murders of white people result in such caution because of a desire not to provoke racial animus. But here the 300+ victims were brown people. (That’s the term my South Asian Indian colleagues use in describing non-caucasians.)

    I’m still wondering. Now ISIS, truthfully or not, has taken responsibility for the murders. This column, although more acerbic than necessary, addresses the issue in detail:

    Taqiyya for Easter

    https://www.steynonline.com/9317/taqiyya-for-easter

    It’s short. Read the whole thing.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  24. #174
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I started wondering about the coverage of the Easter atrocity after a day or so. Why were journalists so careful to avoid mentioning that the victims were Christian, or that radical Islam might have been involved? I usually assume that mass murders of white people result in such caution because of a desire not to provoke racial animus. But here the 300+ victims were brown people. (That’s the term my South Asian Indian colleagues use in describing non-caucasians.)

    I’m still wondering. Now ISIS, truthfully or not, has taken responsibility for the murders. This column, although more acerbic than necessary, addresses the issue in detail:

    Taqiyya for Easter

    https://www.steynonline.com/9317/taqiyya-for-easter

    It’s short. Read the whole thing.
    I'm not sure what your news sources are (JK, I can guess), but NPR, that liberal bastion, has reported extensively on the fact that (a) the victims were Christian and that (b) the perpetrators of the attacks were linked to ISIS.

  25. #175
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Applejack View Post
    I'm not sure what your news sources are (JK, I can guess), but NPR, that liberal bastion, has reported extensively on the fact that (a) the victims were Christian and that (b) the perpetrators of the attacks were linked to ISIS.
    CNN, NY Times, LA Times. (Someone sent me the link to Mark Steyn, who’s a conservative pundit I read once in a while when directed there. He’s 100% predictable.) If NPR is handling this correctly, good for them. I’m still not seeing, among liberal outlets, the same level of outrage about Sri Lanka that we saw over the New Zealand atrocity, which certainly outraged me.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  26. #176
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    CNN, NY Times, LA Times. (Someone sent me the link to Mark Steyn, who’s a conservative pundit I read once in a while when directed there. He’s 100% predictable.) If NPR is handling this correctly, good for them. I’m still not seeing, among liberal outlets, the same level of outrage about Sri Lanka that we saw over the New Zealand atrocity, which certainly outraged me.
    Just listened to the NYT podcast The Daily, which covered the Sri Lankan attacks today. They described the context in SL as a small nation with a 10 year peace from the Tamil-Senhalese civil war, most recently dealing with a dysfunctionally divided government where the President is trying to fire the Prime Minister. There was a little regarded Muslim preacher who has for years been claiming Muslims have the right to kill non-Muslims, but he & his small group of followers had only done things like deface statues, previously.

    Indian Intel informed the Sri Lankan government about a plot to blow up churches, but the authorities didn't take it seriously, based on this preacher's track record. The NYT reporter interviewed is based in India, flew to Sri Lanka to cover the aftermath, and said based on covering suicide bombings in Iraq and other places, the level of sophistication required to pull off that kind of attack with those types of explosives clearly implicates external expertise, presumably ISIS.

    He said there are FBI and other investigative agencies from other nations now in Sri Lanka, and the big question is how ISIS was able to assist and train an otherwise backward domestic group which previously had only accomplished vandalism.

    The NYT didn't shy away from the incident being an act of Islamic terrorism, but noted it initially confused many, who assumed the attack was related to historic and ongoing tensions between the Tamilians and Senhalese (Hindus and Buddhist). It certainly fooled me, initially.
    Last edited by Ma'ake; 04-24-2019 at 06:17 PM.

  27. #177
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ma'ake View Post
    Just listened to the NYT podcast The Daily, which covered the Sri Lankan attacks today. They described the context in SL as a small nation with a 10 year peace from the Tamil-Senhalese civil war, most recently dealing with a dysfunctionally divided government where the President is trying to fire the Prime Minister. There was a little regarded Muslim preacher who has for years been claiming Muslims have the right to kill non-Muslims, but he & his small group of followers had only done things like deface statues, previously.

    Indian Intel informed the Sri Lankan government about a plot to blow up churches, but the authorities didn't take it seriously, based on this preacher's track record. The NYT reporter interviewed is based in India, flew to Sri Lanka to cover the aftermath, and said based on covering suicide bombings in Iraq and other places, the level of sophistication required to pull off that kind of attack with those types of explosives clearly implicates external expertise, presumably ISIS.

    He said there are FBI and other investigative agencies from other nations now in Sri Lanka, and the big question is how ISIS was able to assist and train an otherwise backward domestic group which previously had only accomplished vandalism.

    The NYT didn't shy away from the incident being an act of Islamic terrorism, but noted it initially confused many, who assumed the attack was related to historic and ongoing tensions between the Tamilians and Senhalese (Hindus and Buddhist). It certainly fooled me, initially.
    Both Pres. Obama and Hillary Clinton, in their condolence messages, referred to the victims as "Easter worshippers." That got an eyeroll out of me.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  28. #178
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    Both Pres. Obama and Hillary Clinton, in their condolence messages, referred to the victims as "Easter worshippers." That got an eyeroll out of me.
    Seems like much ado about nothing. Does any religion celebrate Easter other than Christians?

    Btw, I miss Solon. His post on the origins of Easter on the other board was awesome.
    “To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.” James Hatch, former Navy Seal and current Yale student.

  29. #179
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    Both Pres. Obama and Hillary Clinton, in their condolence messages, referred to the victims as "Easter worshippers." That got an eyeroll out of me.
    You can't be serious. The phrase emphasizes that the victims were in a house of worship on the highest of holy days--not just Christians in a marketplace on a Thursday. Makes it even more detestable. You are really looking for things to eyeroll about.

  30. #180
    Quote Originally Posted by chrisrenrut View Post
    the other board
    utefans?

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