The President's summary of his policy on the Islamic State or on "the group known as ISIL" was not elegantly enunciated: "To degrade and ultimately destroy" is a compound infinitive phrase that is pitched to the demotic or colloquial in ways that contribute to misinterpretation and distortion.
The infinitive "to degrade," a somewhat esoteric military term of art roughly inserted into public discourse some years ago, is meant to refer us immediately to an enemy's capabilities, which are to be brought to a lower level, but the second and more common connotation of "degrade" is quietly also conveyed, perhaps somewhat intentionally if not entirely consciously: to humiliate, to render an object of spite. ((To complete the linguistic circuit from the high to the low, we can observe that in the language of the street, or perhaps the language of the President's "anger translator," to degrade IS is to fuck IS up, to chingar IS, or perhaps to smash IS, like a bug.)) Regarding the phrase in its entirety, the absence of pauses (which could be indicated by commas) and the omission of the second particle "to" run the two parts of the President's program together, and encourage his critics to indulge their impatience or polemical convenience, to drop the qualifying adverb "ultimately" altogether or to treat it as an intensifier, and, as events unfold, to expound on each day's, week's, or month's necessarily mixed results as somehow contradicting a solemn promise or revealing a strategy already "in ruins" or "in full-scale... meltdown," or suffering from a fatal mismatch of minimal means and maximal ends, or, also premature if less dramatic, simply "not working."
"To degrade and, ultimately, to destroy" might have been more difficult to misinterpret, since a more careful phrasing would clearly designate and distinguish two phases of a long-term strategy. As offered and initially implemented, if not as articulated or heard or unconscientiously translated, the strategy seems to mean "at first primarily to contain, but actively to contain in such a way, specifically by reduction of capacities and potentials, as to expose the targeted entity to destruction." Indeed, the two-part program does not exclude - or perhaps can be taken to imply - a policy shaped to the nature of a presumed ultimately self-destructive phenomenon.
On “Open Thread”
Scott's not a lout!
have a care, sir. have a care
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thanks for the good news. perhaps Scott will be heartened by Sterling's getting a lifetime ban from the Clips.
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I watched Garrett Richards pitch very well for the Angels yesterday and it made me think of Scott
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accessorize very carefully
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not complicated a tall
read the essay and was a tiny bit surprised. happily.
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I can't imagine that you would require any aid in going to his blog, reading the thing, and reacting
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did you read and develop an opinion of Slater's "The Debate Over BDS"?
On “The sanity of Chait’s “complete insanity” (race in contemporary American politics)”
heck, I spent my first dozen years living in a project.
but, yeah, I do, thx.
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thanks, bob
things have been a bit rough and I've been at a loss.
On “Open Thread”
fer as I know
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Saudi Prince Bandar promised a victory he could not deliver..... and now he gone
On “Standing athwart themselves”
almost every minute godless savages and idolaters crash through our borders, borders that a cowardly incompetent bloated and socialist administration barely pretends to defend, and seize innocent and blonde Christian women and children and in pagan cruelty, hurls these innocent souls over the edge of the Earth.
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the inner empire of reagan idolatry
On “Tod Kelly, Ta-Nehisi Coates, et al. vs. Richard Cohen”
Coates on Baldwin, anyone?
On “The Iran Deal Concretely”
I'm nothing if not non-sarcastic
On “Open Thread”
It was after that night that Yossarian realized that the fish dreams were indicative of a real problem.
On “Israel’s “Wig-Out””
I would think that an Israeli strike in Iran in defiance of the US government's expressed wishes would probably be concurrent with Israel launching nuclear attacks on Washington and New York.
This would serve to confuse and silence people likely to disapprove and criticize the strike on Iran.
On “Tod Kelly, Ta-Nehisi Coates, et al. vs. Richard Cohen”
feel free to point out the pieces of peanut among the mass...
On “Open Thread”
I was just gonna fire up twitter and thank you..... but this is far more convenient.
gotta say that the chap in the pic sure knows have to sit a beetle....
On “Tod Kelly, Ta-Nehisi Coates, et al. vs. Richard Cohen”
did your discussion involve .......
(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.
(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.
On “Open Thread”
lord knows that I enjoy teasing miggs, and he gets up your nose far more than mine.
but you guys seem not to be overdoing it at all.
On “Tod Kelly, Ta-Nehisi Coates, et al. vs. Richard Cohen”
it was a false, silly and needless controversy
On “Open Thread”
here's one Frankfurt book that fits you here.....
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Groucho: He died too soon, too soon!
Chico: Yeah, an hour too soon.
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with the NFL lately drafting German nationals, I was trying to envision it on a jersey, but I'm guessing that even the hardiest and experienced equipment managers, guys who went through and weathered Fuamatu-Ma'afala and Houshmandzadeh will pull out