zenpundit.com

[ by Charles Cameron –0 a DoubleTweet from Foreign Affairs deputy managing editor Justin Vogt ]
.

Halal Dunkin’ Donuts in Karachi..

9/11 mastermind KSM ordered Dunkin' Donuts as he watched the attacks on TV in Karachi–and panicked a bit. From a new book, The Exile. pic.twitter.com/TAdmIlbnPK

— Justin Vogt (@Justin_Vogt) April 20, 2017

TFW Kid Rock seems like a dignified person. pic.twitter.com/4si40caH0U

— Justin Vogt (@Justin_Vogt) April 21, 2017

and Ted Nugent gets a private tour of the White House from President Trump — with Kid Rock and Sarah Palin:

“He gave us a wonderful personal tour of every room and talked about the origins of every carpet and every painting — there was a Monet — and then we had dinner,” said Mr. Nugent, who has referred to former President Barack Obama as a “mongrel” and to Hillary Clinton with an array of unflattering epithets.

[ by Charles Cameron — .. a runner moves between prose and poetry, mere winning and the runner’s high ]
.

The pragmatic:

"Running doesn't make people immortal. The gains in life expectancy are capped at around 3 extra years, however much people run"

— Bill Lagakos (@CaloriesProper) April 19, 2017

The ecstatic:

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;… they shall run and not be weary,they shall walk and not faint.

— Ndzavi Derrick CBA ? (@NdzaviD) March 19, 2016

**

The pragmatic tells you what most running is like: the ecstatic tells you how you feel when you hit “runner’s high — here’s one athlete’s description of winning, where winning itself becomes the least interesting aspect of the race:

The starter gave us instructions, and the gun went off. I ran a few steps into a dimension I didn’t know existed.

Suddenly I seemed to be up in the rafters of the arena, looking down at my race far below. I could see the black framework of the high catwalks vaguely around me, the cables, the great spotlights, the blazing brilliance of the tiny track so far beneath me, and myself running in the midst of the others in my race that was on both with me and without me.

And in the total silence of this incredible vantage point, a voice said tome clearly, in a kindlysort of way, “Well, Grace, thisis what you always wanted.”

And then I was back down in my race again, winning it, setting a new U.S. record. Afterward, exuberant, curious, and a little wistful, I asked some friends who were there, “Didn’t anyone clap or cheer or anything?” I didn’t remember hearing the crowd at all.

“Sure they did! Everyone was yelling and screaming. Didn’t you hear them?”

No. I hadn’t heard anything. Except the voice. I don’t even remember anything about the race itself except for what I saw from up there.

That’s Grace Butcher, from Garth Battista, The Runner’s High: Illumination and Ecstasy in Motion. And the “high” doesn’t have to include an out-of-body experience, though I had that myself one day when I was very young. It’s just a matter of transcendance, of what the Buddhists would call “gone beyond” without further specifying..

Life as poetry.

[ by Charles Cameron — tweets, and how they become, for me, a problem in number theory ]
.

The initial question is, should I pair this:

Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2017

with this:

Trump: And if you’re not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for, right?
Mike Flynn just asked for immunityhttps://t.co/B2uVkFb8Fp

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 31, 2017

Or this:

Michael Flynn in September: "When you are given immunity, that means that you've probably committed a crime." pic.twitter.com/w5wir35ZfX

— Axios (@axios) March 31, 2017

— or the last two with each other?

Such are the hazards of imprisonment within the DoubleQuote system — two, when three or more are available and relevant, becomes a constraint rather than a facilitation. So would any other positive integer — and god save us from the irrationsals!

[ by Charles Cameron — a meditation on grief, politics and the raid in Yemen ]
.

That long moment with SEAL William “Ryan” Owens‘ widow, Carryn Owens, was the central human moment of President Trump‘s speech to the Joint session of the United States Congress today.

**

My emotions were varied and braided. The widow’s grief was obvious, and I felt and grieved for her, as I’m sure we all did.

What the President did w Owen's widow was capital P Presidential. It was the single most extraordinary moment I've seen from Trump – by far.

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 1, 2017

At the same time, the President featuring it in his speech seemed manipulative and, in the worst sense, political:

It was by far the grossest thing Trump has done and reporters are bizarrely intoxicated by it https://t.co/fGG0Ap3627

— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) March 1, 2017

As I say, my emotions were varied and braided.

**

Nor let us forget the father’s grief, which expressed itself in an angry, anguished question —

— nor, finally, the grief of the Awlaki family at the loss in that same raid of Nawar Anwar Al-Awlaki, Sheikh Anwar Awlaki‘s 8-year-old daughter — an American girl among the civilian casualties.

I grieve again.

[ by Charles Cameron — good news in response to bad ]
.

First:

Appears hundreds of graves vandalized at #STL Jewish cemetery. Damage is extensive. @andybankertv live report on @KPLR11 and @FOX2now at 5p pic.twitter.com/wneuIpl5MY

— Joe Lamie (@GIJoter) February 20, 2017

resulting in:

From the reporter who met Syrian refugees helping repair the desecrated Jewish cemetery in Missouri. https://t.co/r9e2BKjMOO

— Lisa Goldman (@lisang) February 24, 2017

And now:

More anti-Jewish hate? Dozens of headstones damaged at Philadelphia Jewish cemetery https://t.co/2vNhUfDTm4 @ADL_National @ADLPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/5eDSeF09JL

— Oren Segal (@orensegal) February 26, 2017

resulting in:

Muslim youth have come to help Philadelphia Jews repair the vandalized cemetery, reports Rabbi Yosef Goldman. https://t.co/njQzz4WH6C

— Lisa Goldman (@lisang) February 26, 2017

**

The heart dismayed, the heart uplifted. Thank you, thank you.