Thoughts from The Land of the Brave

From the Land of the Brave

I'm glad to see that here in the Land of the Brave we get wall-to-wall TV coverage every time some mope puts a pipe bomb in a trash can. Would that we get half of that for the 50+ people shot and killed every day.

Culture Update

Over the weekend, I took in the very funny play Don't Dress for Dinner. It's a sex farce, very amusingly done by the local Buffalo Theatre Ensemble who perform at College of DuPage.

Hillbilly Elegy

Also over the weekend, I read Hillbilly Elegy. It's by J. D. Vance, a second-generation hillbilly who grew up in Ohio. The book is a case study in why some people (black or white) seem to stay impoverished: they lack the skills and social support to do anything but be poor. It served as a refresher lesson to me - others may find it new information.

Keep Calm and Carry On

It's becoming clear that the latest pressure-cooker bomber is frankly an idiot.

One Internet commentor said (in full - emphasis mine): I appreciate your latest post about how many mistakes the alleged perpetrator made, and we are all extremely thankful that he was as bad at this as he was. But that's not an accident.

Good intelligence work, good police work, more aware citizenry and other measures set up since 9/11 have limited -- for now, and hopefully far into the future -- the ability of major terrorist plots to get off the ground in the US. Major cells get disrupted, chatter on social media leads to arrests, and then great police work over this past weekend gets the bad guy in no time. There simply isn't any scope for large-scale, mass-casualty events at the moment in the US. Our strategy is working. It is impossible to prevent every idiot with an internet connection and a pressure cooker from blowing something up. What we can do -- and are doing -- is make sure that the numbers are limited, the major plots don't happen, and the casualties are kept to a minimum. Fear and chaos are not the answer. We are winning this war.

Not all wars end formally. Sometimes they just peter out.