IFZ suggested in previous articles that the U.S. is more in danger of local, random violence than the imported variety. This thinking eerily is highlighted as the Mile-High State again erupts in a shooting frenzy.

As reported in the national media, the U.S. entered the holiday weekend traumatized by the well-coordinated cordon of death that the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, DAISH) visited upon Paris. That trauma, of course, is sustained by the pre- and post-911 terror attacks brought to us by Al Qaeda. It may be that ISIS and Al Qaeda are conflated in the mind of the public. The fact is that they are rivals in the delivery of what would appear to be the, "senseless" distribution of death and destruction. What ISIS and Al Qaeda do, makes sense within their centuries-old, twisted, religious rivalries. In that regard, ISIS has exceeded Al Qaeda in technology, cunning and brutality. Part of ISIS's cunning is to use other, well-established hatreds to feather its own cause. That is what is happening in France.

As pointed out in two previous IFZ articles, France is a ready-made market place for terrorism. It is well stocked with the fruit of inequities harvested over its long association with the Algerian people. Those explosive products are readily available for anyone who wants to go resentment-shopping. ISIS is coming and going in that French market place. Some of the carts spilled out on the streets of Paris last week.

As stressed in the indicated IFZ articles – the latest of which is hereto-linked – The U.S. was smart enough to begin disassembling its similar market place before it could be opened for shopping by the likes of groups such as ISIS. IFZ also points out that U.S. internal violence is more of a threat to us than anything ISIS could cook up on these shores.

The day after Thanksgiving, a lone gunman invaded a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. After a shootout and standoff of more than 5 hours, a policeman and 2 others lay dead. Nine others were hospitalized. For that complete time, people were frozen in homes and businesses within the surrounding area, Yes, America, there was terror, brought on by sudden violence and death – but not from ISIS.

A lone voice from one of our 3 national branches of government could be heard "crying in the wilderness" – "Damn you, NRA!"

Illustration courtesy of Ray Staar

The iconic view of Rio de Janeiro, by sea or air, is Cristo Redentor, the huge statue of Christ the Redeemer. The arms are outstretched, extending its blessing to those denizens captured within the Iberian Catholicism that was transplanted to the whole of the lower portion of the American continent. Can we expect a similar monument, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as the subject, to be erected somewhere on the Persian Gulf. The way things are going, Putin may earn it.

Vladimir Putin's appraisal of the Middle East fiasco is that the U.S.-led Western nations have made a mess of things in that part of the world. They destabilized existing governments, of which they had an unfavorable view, by decapitating the leadership of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Egypt. Those blatant, imperialistic actions created deadly vacuums. The arrogance of their ignorance precluded them from comprehending the deep complexity of the sects and rivalries extant among the various national and language groupings within Islam. These catastrophic failures were akin to throwing open wide the gates of hell and losing the long-suppressed bane of the whole of modern civilization: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS).

The mosh pit that is now Syria began when ISIL – whose deadly reign of terror already had politically and militarily compromised Iraq – extended hits bloody tentacles into Syria. The civil war then in progress there, to oust Dictator Bashar Al-Assad was greatly affected by ISIL's attempt to defeat both Assad and the rebels. Barack Obama had drawn a redline against the use of chemical weapons by Assad. Just at the point of U.S. missile intervention, A deus ex machina, in the form of Vladimir Putin, descends just in time to rescue Assad, by facilitating the transportation of the chemicals out of the country. Of course, Putins action were self-serving; he is keen to protect the status of his client Bashar Assad – as well as Russia's valuable Syrian port access.

The U.S. entered the fray by air. The attempt to arm Syrian rebels against Assad ended in a miserable failure. The ensuing bloody and inhumane conflict produced flights of refugees that at first overwhelmed Jordan and Turkey – and now have caused incalculable consequences in Europe and, soon, the U.S.

With hardly a notice of/to the Western quixotic Keystone Kops, Putin sets up shop in Assad's front yard. With a wink to the West, he says he is going to bomb ISIL – and immediately proceeds to go after the rebels who are attempting to oust his besieged client Assad. He says, Oops, and then lobs a few bombs owe in the general direction of ISIL. Putin: See, I told you I was after them devils, too! (He giggles to himself.) For the coup-de-gras, he is ready to send in ground troops – that which the West has become too gun-shy to do. Obama and other U.S. voices hope that Putin will become enmeshed in the Middle East swamp, as had we. Putin's calculation is this: By going after both the rebels and ISIL by air, and holding the territory with ground troops, he saves Assad's ass – and by extension, his influence and port in the Middle East. Thus, by defeating ISIL and the rebels, he establishes, at least, a status quo peace that allows the refugees to return home, thereby relieving great pressure on Syria's neighbors and the EU.

If Putin is able to accomplish this Syrian hat trick, and also assist in the defeat of ISIL in Iraq and elsewhere, then, by God, the West should, at least, spring for the cost of the newest of the World's Greatest Wonders, the Colossus of...(er...) – Vladimir the Redeemer.

***** ***** *****

A macho-man they call "Putin,"
Rode in, a-rompin' and a-hootin'.
He said that he'd heard
Ol' Sam was a nerd.
'Twas time for him to go shootin'!

There as been released a gotcha, right-wing book that purports to outline a host of Hillary-devious contacts during her tenure as boss of Foggy Bottom. Curiously, there is a related, rather weird, foot-patting connection thereto by the New York Times.

Hillary will not be permitted to repeat her run for the presidency as a single unit. Bill and Chelsea already have been established as fellow-travelers along the campaign trail. Bill will be scrutinized for matters apart from his prospective First Dudosity. Since Chelsea is now active with the Clinton Foundation, her role, too, will be starkly different from that which she experienced in past campaigns. With Bubba’s reputation for confounding his rivals, it is to be seen whether this all-out assault on the Clinton trio is or is not a wise strategy on the part of the vast right wing conspirators.

Apartfrom the perennial song of, Benghazi, and the now constant aria being sung over a supposedly squeaky, extant-or-not Internet server, there are legions of Greek choruses pursuing the past globe-trotting itineraries of both Hillary and Bill. The contentions are that there must have been some monkey business involved with certain diplomatic contacts made by Hillary, and subsequent donations made to the Clinton Foundation and/or the Clinton Library. Bill is criticized for extracting fabulous speaking fees from supposedly State Department-approved audiences whose comprehension of spoken English is dubious.

If the conversation ever reaches a lull, there are always the charges of malingering on the part of Hillary, in order to avoid uncomfortable confrontations. The not-so-sotto-voce scuttlebutt on Bill is that, in the company of a Daddy Warbucks, he jets to a swinging island somewhere, stocked with underage objects. This is not the end of negative attention-getters: Voila, the newly emerged Monica Lewinsky and the lava overflow from the bimbo eruptions.

Marco Rubio, in his coming-out speech (without actually covering Paul McCartney), made thinly disguised references to politicians of yesterday touting yesterday ideas. Considering his own, anal-retentive ideas of yesterday, he leaves a hilarious, April-December opening for Hillary on the hustings. This seems to be the only easy one for her, thus far.

*****     *****     *****

There was a trio called Clinton,

Akin to nuclear fission.

They asked, “Shall we run?”

Agreed ‘twould be fun.

Beware the fallout emission!

I met a man, his wife and two beautiful daughters in my doctor's waiting room yesterday. They were obviously Muslim and looked to be Arab. One of the little girls was very young and adorable, so I asked how old she was. The man looked surprised to be addressed by a stranger in public but said "6 months". I said she was beautiful. He smiled slightly.

That started a conversation where I asked where he was from, he said Iraq. I asked "Baghdad?" and he replied, "Anbar". He had only gotten out a bit more than a year ago, so I knew that meant he had lived through it ALL. Saddam. The "liberation" The Occupation. The Uprising. ALL of it.

I said "oh I am so sorry. I apologize on behalf of my entire country. We elected an idiot for a President and he destroyed your country and killed so many of our young people for no good reason. I am so, so sorry".

This took him aback, but we continued to talk. He talked about how bad Saddam had been but made clear that it was all worse since.

I asked "are you Muslim" and he said yes. I asked Sunni or Shia and he was surprised I even knew the two branches. So we talked some more about what is going on and he mentioned that he sees on American TV all the news about Christians being killed, but he wants us to know that they are killing EVERYBODY. I said I understand and made clear my hatred for ISIS.

All the while he would occasionally be looking at his phone and doing what I long ago got used to watching my two teenage kids do, texting. As I already know they think nothing of doing it while engaged in a real life conversation, I thought nothing of it. At one point I asked if he had any more family and he said "all of them, except my wife and children" as he gestured to that beautiful trio sitting next to him. A lump started to build in my throat. He held up his phone and said "my sister". It took me a second, as at first I thought he wanted to show me a picture. But I focused and saw it was a chat conversation. "Is she still there, in Anbar?" "Yes". She says; "there is nothing left to do but die". I wasn't sure I heard him right through the heavy accent and my face must have showed the confusion. He repeated "there is nothing left but to die".

At that point the lump in my throat came out through my mouth, my voice made some sound that startled everyone in the waiting room and my tears streamed down my face with no thought to who was watching. This was the last straw for him too and his tears began to flow, but in a completely silent way. The daughter looked at her mom, who simply shook her head while rocking the infant.

The receptionist noticed and asked if we were alright. Before I could think of how to answer, he did; "yes, I just shared some news, that is all". She went back to what she was doing and the others in the room did their best to make believe they heard and saw nothing.

Suddenly I realized that all of this could be a metaphor for, well, everything.

I was called in first and when I got out the older daughter was sitting there and I think the fact that she had seen her father talking to me for so long made it ok for her to acknowledge me. She said her father was with the doctor. I had to wait for some papers and they came at the same time that he came back out. We walked outside together and at the street motioned that we were parked in opposite directions. We shook hands and he pulled me in close and hugged me. His wife acknowledged me for the first time with a slight smile. The older daughter looked back as they were walking away and waved goodbye.

And me?

I was left alone with a heartbreak that I could not begin to explain to my wife when I got home...

Originally posted