"...it was the worst of times."

'ACT OF WAR' 
ISIS CLAIMS CREDIT

Two comments this Saturday morning after the attacks in Paris. At least one news outlet (HuffPost) wrote that ISIS, "CLAIMS CREDIT". Don't they know that you take "responsiblity", not "credit". Killing 120 people is not an admirable act.  Also columnist Howard Fineman wrote that, "We are all Parisians, again." What kind of idiocy is that? When were we all Parisians before? And isn't it time to retire that cliche, which was not a cliche when President Kennedy said we were all Berliners. The Paris attacks are hideous, horrific, and frightening because such carnage can happen anywhere when they involve soulless zealots. It's hard to imagine that there is an army of creatures filled with so much hate that they can kill so indiscriminately. But I am sure that we, the civilized, will stupidly employ reason and law to deal fairly with these monsters once we capture them, if we capture them outside of their moment of terrorism. That's a pity. Because to dispatch every proven member of ISIS whether home-grown or newly arrived for another country, including and especially the United States, I would like to see the return of the guillotine, and I will happily take up knitting.

credit noun (PRAISE)

› [C/U] ​praise or ​approval, esp. to ​recognize ​achievement:[U] You have to give him credit for being so ​honest.[U] How can he take credit for ​work he didn’t do?