Paris. Hollande. IS. Daesh. Bruce Thiesen. Christopher Hitchens. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Afghanistan. Alexander the Great. Russia. Viet Nam. Democratic Debate. Jihadi John. Marco Rubio. Fox News. Libya. Pope Francis. World War III. Genghis Khan. Fred and Ginger. The Great Depression. The War to end all wars.
When I finished blogging yesterday, the body count in Paris was below thirty. Today, when I woke and reached for my iPhone to check the news, 129 were dead, 350+ injured with 99 of them in critical condition.
Friends of mine, Chuck and Lois, have an apartment in Paris and spend a good part of every year there; thankfully they were not in Paris yesterday.
All morning I felt grim, unbelieving and so very deeply saddened.
Last night’s event has touched the world in a way nothing has since 9/11.
Hollande has all but declared war on IS or Daesh, using the Arabic acronym for the organization. Countries around the world have lit their most important buildings in the red, white and blue colors of the French flag.
There is the weight of tragedy in the air. The events were on the mind of ever thinking person I know.
Bruce Thiesen, a fellow blogger, posted this quote from Christopher Hitchens: This is an enemy for life as well as an enemy of life.
Truer words were never spoken. It all harkens back to the horrors of World War II, of men like Hitler and Mussolini and Stalin.
The events of last night have infected my day as they have for everyone I know. It came to me as I was shopping, for tomorrow is my day to do coffee hour after the 10:30 service, that Hollande is correct; we are at war.
I’ve felt that since 2003, when we invaded Iraq. We are at war. We have participated in wars without really involving the American public. We fought but the public was to go on with their normal lives, shopping and eating at restaurants and not think about war.
I think that was a mistake. In some way, shape or form, we should all be engaged if our men and women are fighting.
We should be actively supporting them in some way.
It’s a favorite rant of mine. I wanted to be asked to sacrifice if they were being asked to potentially make the ultimate sacrifice.
Now, we are years into this. Afghanistan is our longest war ever, a place that has bedeviled military leaders since Alexander the Great, the place that was Russia’s Viet Nam, a place the British couldn’t hold at the height of their power.
Tomorrow there will be another Democratic Debate. Really? I’m exhausted already and can’t imagine all the campaigning yet to come. But because of Paris, the debate will be focused more on terrorism and how the candidates would respond.
Jihadi John, the British terrorist who beheaded a number of men, is apparently dead in a drone attack. On Friday, the head of IS in Libya is believed to have died in an air attack.
At the gym today, the TV at my treadmill was turned to Fox News and I actually didn’t change the channel. I wanted to know what they were saying. They brought on Marco Rubio who decried events and blamed them on Obama and said as President he would take the fight to them.
Yes, I do think that will happen. Probably right now we’ll be led by France which, in righteous anger, will attack Daesh in every way it can.
More war. Pope Francis suggested we are fighting World War III now, in bits and pieces. He may be right.
Rubio said it was a “civilizational war” and he is not wrong.
IS wants to destroy the West. It hates our civilization with a passion and a fervor not seen, I suspect, since Genghis Khan who swept all before him before he and his Empire became dust in the wind.
It is dark. Floodlights illuminate my beloved creek. I am going to make myself a martini and watch a movie that, I hope, will transport me beyond the ugly realities of the day, the way Fred and Ginger lifted the hearts of Americans during the Great Depression.
We may well be now fighting the real Great War, the war to end all wars.
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Tags: Afghanistan, Alexander the Great, Bruce Thiesen, Christopher Hitchens, Daesh, Fox News, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Hollande, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mussolini, Paris, Poper Francis, Russia, Stalin, The Great Depression, Viet Nam, World WarIII
This entry was posted on November 15, 2015 at 1:37 am and is filed under Daesh, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Paris Killings, Social Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 11 14 15 The Real Great War to end all wars…
Paris. Hollande. IS. Daesh. Bruce Thiesen. Christopher Hitchens. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Afghanistan. Alexander the Great. Russia. Viet Nam. Democratic Debate. Jihadi John. Marco Rubio. Fox News. Libya. Pope Francis. World War III. Genghis Khan. Fred and Ginger. The Great Depression. The War to end all wars.
When I finished blogging yesterday, the body count in Paris was below thirty. Today, when I woke and reached for my iPhone to check the news, 129 were dead, 350+ injured with 99 of them in critical condition.
Friends of mine, Chuck and Lois, have an apartment in Paris and spend a good part of every year there; thankfully they were not in Paris yesterday.
All morning I felt grim, unbelieving and so very deeply saddened.
Last night’s event has touched the world in a way nothing has since 9/11.
Hollande has all but declared war on IS or Daesh, using the Arabic acronym for the organization. Countries around the world have lit their most important buildings in the red, white and blue colors of the French flag.
There is the weight of tragedy in the air. The events were on the mind of ever thinking person I know.
Bruce Thiesen, a fellow blogger, posted this quote from Christopher Hitchens: This is an enemy for life as well as an enemy of life.
Truer words were never spoken. It all harkens back to the horrors of World War II, of men like Hitler and Mussolini and Stalin.
The events of last night have infected my day as they have for everyone I know. It came to me as I was shopping, for tomorrow is my day to do coffee hour after the 10:30 service, that Hollande is correct; we are at war.
I’ve felt that since 2003, when we invaded Iraq. We are at war. We have participated in wars without really involving the American public. We fought but the public was to go on with their normal lives, shopping and eating at restaurants and not think about war.
I think that was a mistake. In some way, shape or form, we should all be engaged if our men and women are fighting.
We should be actively supporting them in some way.
It’s a favorite rant of mine. I wanted to be asked to sacrifice if they were being asked to potentially make the ultimate sacrifice.
Now, we are years into this. Afghanistan is our longest war ever, a place that has bedeviled military leaders since Alexander the Great, the place that was Russia’s Viet Nam, a place the British couldn’t hold at the height of their power.
Tomorrow there will be another Democratic Debate. Really? I’m exhausted already and can’t imagine all the campaigning yet to come. But because of Paris, the debate will be focused more on terrorism and how the candidates would respond.
Jihadi John, the British terrorist who beheaded a number of men, is apparently dead in a drone attack. On Friday, the head of IS in Libya is believed to have died in an air attack.
At the gym today, the TV at my treadmill was turned to Fox News and I actually didn’t change the channel. I wanted to know what they were saying. They brought on Marco Rubio who decried events and blamed them on Obama and said as President he would take the fight to them.
Yes, I do think that will happen. Probably right now we’ll be led by France which, in righteous anger, will attack Daesh in every way it can.
More war. Pope Francis suggested we are fighting World War III now, in bits and pieces. He may be right.
Rubio said it was a “civilizational war” and he is not wrong.
IS wants to destroy the West. It hates our civilization with a passion and a fervor not seen, I suspect, since Genghis Khan who swept all before him before he and his Empire became dust in the wind.
It is dark. Floodlights illuminate my beloved creek. I am going to make myself a martini and watch a movie that, I hope, will transport me beyond the ugly realities of the day, the way Fred and Ginger lifted the hearts of Americans during the Great Depression.
We may well be now fighting the real Great War, the war to end all wars.
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Tags: Afghanistan, Alexander the Great, Bruce Thiesen, Christopher Hitchens, Daesh, Fox News, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Hollande, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mussolini, Paris, Poper Francis, Russia, Stalin, The Great Depression, Viet Nam, World WarIII
This entry was posted on November 15, 2015 at 1:37 am and is filed under Daesh, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Paris Killings, Social Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.