Flashback: President Obama's Plan To Take Out ISIS -- September 17, 2015

From September 17, 2015:

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No Link, Being Reported Everywhere

President Obama's DOD training program to take on ISIS;  "4 or 5" soldiers; $500 million.

Just kidding, here's one of the links:

Gen. Lloyd Austin, who leads the U.S. military’s Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday there are only four or five Syrian fighters left out of 54 who were trained as part of a [$500 million] U.S. program.

Another 100-120 fighters will be trained in the program’s three remaining classes, NBC News reported Wednesday.

Obama said in September that assisting Syrian rebels was “the best counterweight” for combating the Sunni radical terror group’s control over large swathes of Iraq and Syria, NBC reported.

I can't make this stuff up. This general even admits he doesn't know whether it's four or whether its five "Syrian" fighters. Whatever happened to $60 hammers and $600 toilets or whatever it was. Don't even talk to me about rent seekers in corporate America.

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For The Granddaughters

Irony

Examples of irony:

Prohibition of alcohol in the US, 1920 - 1933: actually accomplished the opposite of what was intended -- more alcohol produced than ever; cheaper than ever.

From Camille Paglia:

“The Greek gods are sharp personalities, interacting in dramatic space [the stage]. Their visualization was first achieved by blind Homer [why great authors are great authors], in his epic arcs of cinematic light.

Previously Posted 

Irony

I wrote the following some years ago after reading Harold Bloom's The Book of J. Harold Bloom introduces a fourth "definition" or example / type of irony.

First type of irony: Socratic irony. Irony as first used by Socrates. "A feigned ignorance and humility designed to expose the inadequate assumptions of others, by way of skilled dialectical questioning."

Second type of irony: common irony. "Use of language to express something other than supposedly literal meaning, particularly the opposite of such meaning, and also the contrast or gap between expectation and fulfillment."

Third type of irony, how J used irony: dramatic irony or tragic irony. "The incongruity between what develops on adjacent words and actions that are more fully apprehended by the audience or readers than by the characters." J was a master of such irony. I wonder if playwrights like Neil Simon or Oscar Wilde aren't good examples?

Fourth type of irony, invented by J: her irony was "the representation of what happens when altogether incommensurate realities juxtapose and clash." For example, a god wrestling with a human is J's type of irony (gross incommensurate beings, god vs mortal). How can Abram haggle with Yahweh? How can Jacob wrestle with a nameless one among the Elohim (angels)? How can we be persuaded that a masculine rough hunter like Esau would give away his birthright for a bowl of soup? I would think there are many, many examples of this type of irony in the Odyssey.

An aside: In the movie, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” the events between Johnny Depp and an unnamed boy may be examples of both the third and the fourth types of irony.  As an example of the third definition of irony: when Johnny Depp said he didn’t want to see the boy again. Later in the movie when they cross paths, Depp has been blinded and cannot see the boy.  The same event can represent the fourth definition of irony:  an unnamed, untrained boy saves the life of a trained killer.]

Of the four "types" of irony, Harold Bloom says J created her own form, the fourth form.