Open Thread for Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Some possible topics:

  1. At the Citadel, Bush calls for US ground forces to fight Islamic State — OK, now we have the basis for a political discussion about options. And it appears that Bush has decided a bold proposal will get him some traction, and if it doesn’t — well, he’s finished anyway.
  2. Alleged ringleader in Paris attacks killed in raid, officials say — He didn’t get far. He was right outside Paris.
  3. Richland 2 postpones trips to Washington, D.C., after Paris attacks — This sort of surprises me. Does it surprise you? First Bartlet hides his M.S.; now this.
  4. Martin Sheen salutes ‘courage’ of son Charlie after HIV announcement — Well, you’ve gotta support your kid. But this has to be causing headaches for C.J. Cregg.

Or whatever you’d like to bring up…

 

30 thoughts on “Open Thread for Wednesday, November 18, 2015”

  1. Norm Ivey

    #2: Good. this guy was supposedly responsible for the Charlie Hebdo and the French train attacks earlier this year.

    Does anyone know why the focus on France from these people?

    1. Assistant

      Norm –

      France has the highest proportion of citizen Muslims of any major European country and has had several brutal episodes in its recent past that these and others outside the country bear in mind. Most notably was Algeria’s fight for independence, fought not just in Africa, but also in France. One episode, on October 17, 1961, during demonstrations by pro-independence Algerians in Paris and its suburbs, the French police killed some two hundred people, throwing many bodies off bridges into the Seine.

      Today most Muslims live in banlieues, workers’ centers, intended to be villages with high-rise apartment buildings that would serve as the ideal place away from work with all amenities available. These centers are now isolated communities populated with out-of-work Algerians and other Muslims on the dole, breeding grounds for all sorts of antisocial behavior. (The French economy has been in poor shape for decades, with little expansion. That’s one reason why there are no jobs for these folks.)

      So while the Islamic jihadists would really like to retake lost ground in Spain, France has the highest probability of a win for them, given the despondent Muslim population that’s at about 10% of total French population. Plus they are native-born with French passports, assuring them of easy passage throughout the EU,

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        Excellent analysis there, Mike.

        Folks, “Assistant” is actually Mike Cakora, who can’t post under his own name because he has to evade detection by the NSA of this blog — that is to say, the function that flags anything with the name “Mike” in it. And his email address has “Mike” in it.

        Hence the new identity…

  2. Norm Ivey

    #3: We’re talking about kids. Of course you postpone the trips. You don’t use children to prove to ISIS that they don’t frighten you.

    2. Doug Ross

      Geez, live life. Teaching kids to be scared of random acts of terrorism doesn’t help. Unless the NSA has clear evidence of a pending attack, hiding in a bunker is not the way to live. If individual parents want to make the decision to keep their kids at home, fine. The best response to these types of attacks is to go about your lives as normal.

      Protective bubbles ensuring 100% safe zones will be distributed to all students shortly.

      3. Pat

        Actually it might be safest to travel there right now, while everyone is on high alert and not lulled into some sense of false security.

  3. Rose

    #4. Courageous? I think not. He’s known he was HIV positive for years and only came forward because his former sex partners were blackmailing him. Will he become the advocate for HIV fundraising and research and education that Magic Johnson became? Nope. Piece of trash.

    1. Harry Harris

      If there’s an entry in the dictionary for “narcissistic jerk,” it might have Sheen’s picture. Characterizing his actions here as courageous is, indeed, a dis-service to people, including HIV positive people who have shown courage. He may have opportunity to display courage going forward, but this episode shows none -just the selfish tendencies for which he’s become famous.

  5. Karen Pearson

    I assume Mr. Bush, unlike his father, has a plan for paying for this war. Another problem here is that ISIL is perfectly capable, and often is, fighting guerrilla style while hiding behind civilian populations. Plus they are capable of such atrocities as to provoke poorly thought out responses. If we invade it may be all too much like Viet-nam. Either we go in with tremendous force and little concern for civilian populations or we try to fight them on their ground where they can blend into the population and we can get the blame for atrocities. In the first case we have the power to win, but at the expense of creating permanent enemies of all the arabic peoples. After all, they haven’t gotten over the crusades yet, even though the crusaders inflicted at least as much damage on Christians as they did on Muslims. In the second scenario…well, anybody remember how successful we were in ‘Nam? As much as I’m not a fan of involvement in this turmoil, I think President Obama is probably taking the best course, and one that will be reinforced by other countries now. What I fear is a World War III where multiple countries are involved in a major war. And I think we are on the brink of it.

    1. Bryan Caskey

      “As much as I’m not a fan of involvement in this turmoil, I think President Obama is probably taking the best course, and one that will be reinforced by other countries now.”

      “Obama’s own policy decisions—allowing Assad to convert peaceful demonstrations into an increasingly ugly civil war, refusing to declare safe havens and no fly zones—were instrumental in creating the Syrian refugee crisis. This crisis is in large part the direct consequence of President Obama’s decision to stand aside and watch Syria burn. For him to try and use a derisory and symbolic program to allow 10,000 refugees into the United States in order to posture as more caring than those evil Jacksonian rednecks out in the benighted sticks is one of the most cynical, cold-blooded, and nastily divisive moves an American President has made in a long time…. In all the world, only President Obama had the ability to do anything significant to prevent this catastrophe; in all the world no one turned his back so coldly and resolutely on the suffering Syrians as the man who sits in the White House today—a man who is now lecturing his fellow citizens on what he insists is their moral inferiority before his own high self-esteem.”

      Full article here.

      1. Karen Pearson

        That’s nice. We already have a tremendous war debt. We tried to help in Somalia. Our military “help” basically armed and trained the people who became Al Quaida. We intervened on the side of those who wanted to overthrow Saddam–they were going to welcome us as “liberating heroes.” We do not have the right to interfere in anyone’s country unless they are attacking us or our allies. I hope we have the brains not to. I understand that these dictators are guilty of many atrocities, but the only people who can free a land are the people themselves. We may indeed end up with many soldiers in Iran, but I hope not for the reasons I stated above.

      2. Mprince

        Observe, ladies and gentlemen, here we have a typical case of SODS: Severe Obama Derangement Syndrome.

        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          It’s a real epidemic, and there appears to be no cure.

          And the only people who seem to be immune to it are people who previously suffered from Bush Derangement Syndrome…

          1. Bryan Caskey

            I’ll admit that I don’t like much of anything that the current POTUS does. I’m probably deranged. I read that piece, and I think “exactly”. Am I a terminal patient?

            1. Brad Warthen Post author

              Well, if you’ve got it, it’s your own fault. All you had to do was get innoculated with a mild case of Bush Derangement, and you’d be fine right now.

              But seriously…

              George Will’s column today suggesting that we all take a closer look at Christie caused me to do so. And while I found some things I liked in this speech Will recommended, there were also things I didn’t like — obligatory slaps at Obamacare and the like.

              And one thing I REALLY did not like was when I saw that he had called the president of the United States “a joke.” That is either a manifestation of Obama Derangement, or an overly eager attempt to pander to those who do suffer from it.

              I’m really, really tired of this kind of politics, in which people insist on seeing those with whom they disagree as completely illegitimate in every way. It’s really tearing down the country…

              1. Brad Warthen Post author

                I disagree with a LOT of what Mr. Obama does and says. But I would never call him a “joke.”

                I’ve sat and talked with the man, and I know from direct personal experience that he is worthy of my respect. But I would extend respect to him even if I hadn’t met him.

                Is it possible that we will have a president someday whom I could NOT respect. I hope not. That would be the case were a Donald Trump elected, but fortunately things have not come to that….

              2. bud

                I’m really, really tired of this kind of politics, in which people insist on seeing those with whom they disagree as completely illegitimate in every way.
                -Brad

                That’s one reason I’ll be voting for Bernie Sanders.

      3. Brad Warthen Post author

        Obama did not, as Chris Christie says, create the refugee crisis.

        His role was not that active.

        What he did was fail to do anything to stop it, even when Assad crossed his “red line.”

        It’s a sin of omission, not commission. The bad thing he did was, essentially, doing nothing.

        A lot my friends on the left like leaders who do nothing under such circumstances. They saw it as wise and mature and even courageous for the president to ignore the advice of his own national security team, back when the opportunity to have a good effect in Syria was far greater than it is now.

        I do not admire that inaction.

        1. bud

          I suppose you prefer sending in thousands of troops to kill and be killed. Or worse send in drones to murder civilians. The reason ISIS exists is because of the insane Bush invasion of Iraq. Obama has had few good options and frankly his biggest mistakes were doing too much. We should have left the place and never, never sent one more soldier to do anything else. The French are paying a steep price for their meddling. Same for the Russians. Why does everyone feel compelled to get involved in the affairs of the region. If we need oil then just pay whoever controls it at the time we need it. Otherwise leave the place alone.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Before I look at either the post or the video, is it from the most recent season? Because I’ve only made it through season 4.

      I binge-watch a season at a time during free-Showtime weekends, and haven’t had the opportunity to see any of Season 5…

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