#TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner Tuesday, 8 November 2016 could give us a new head of state, not encumbered by walking pneumonia but by a psychotic orange comb-over. Democracy allows us the right to participate in the peaceful transfer of power from one head of state to another in the executive branch, although this year might create a new precedent in terms of self-inflicted leadership decapitation.
In addition to pain in the phantom limb, some people experience other sensations such as tingling, cramping, heat, and cold in the portion of the limb that was removed. Any sensation that the limb could have experienced prior to the amputation may be experienced in the amputated phantom limb.
Apr 28, 2015
Instead of engaging in a real debate over the efficacy of these assassinations as an element of counter-terrorism strategy, we are left with the voices of Republicans who see nothing wrong with the state drawing up its monthly assassination lists, and those of Democrats who worry about civil rights issues and want judges to review whom the government proposes to assassinate each month. If ever there were an example of tactics in search of a strategy, this is it. Sadly, this is only the latest example of the national security establishment confusing the two.
This country has witnessed the substitution of tactics for strategy during the last decade as a series of military and civilian leaders have trumpeted the benefits of "counterinsurgency strategy" as the correct approach to our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, counterinsurgency is nothing more than a tactical approach on the battlefield – which, by the way, has mostly failed miserably when attempted by western militaries over the last century. It is not a strategy.
Leadership decapitation as a strategy is short-sighted, bound to ultimately fail, and may actually increase threats to our country. What is the evidence to support this assertion and where has leadership decapitation been tried?
Although you might not realize it, the United States is by far the greatest modern day practitioner of leadership decapitation.
Leadership decapitation is a prescription for never-ending war, which may be useful for political purposes in some US quarters (as it is in Israel), but it remains a terrible strategy. Just ask the Israelis how it has worked out for them. Despite the comforting illusion of the cost-free, push-button war offered by our stand-off drone strikes and our darkly-clad soldiers jumping out of helicopters to gun down suspected terrorists, we are playing a dangerous game that may only increase threats to this country. (2013)
There are lots of good physiological reasons why people find heads fascinating, and powerful, and tempting to remove. The human head is a biological powerhouse and a visual delight. It accommodates four of our five senses: sight, smell, hearing and taste all take place in the head. It encases the brain, the core of our nervous system. It draws in the air we breathe and delivers the words we speak. As the evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman has written, ‘Almost every particle entering your body, either to nourish you or to provide information about the world, enters via your head, and almost every activity involves something going on in your head.’..
‘The point of terrorism is to strike fear and cause havoc – and that doesn’t happen unless you have media to support that action and show it to as many people as you can,’ said one analyst interviewed by the Los Angeles Times shortly after Nick Berg’s execution. These murderers post their videos on the internet because they know that the news media will be forced to follow the crowd. Television news programmes either become redundant by refusing to air videos that are freely available online, or else they do exactly what the murderers want and show the footage to a wider audience. Meanwhile, the internet provides a ‘void of accountability’, in the words of Barbie Zelizer, where it is unclear who took the images, who distributed them and who saw them. The whole experience is lost in the crowd.
www.salon.com/...