‘Not With a Bang, but With a Tweet’
Terror in Berlin
1. My wife and I stayed in an apartment near the Gedachtniskirche on our first visit to Berlin in July. We enjoyed a traditional organ grinders’ festival in the square, and attended Sunday service in the beautiful, evocative modern church building next to the ruined church. We were deeply conscious of the layers of history embedded in this spot. Another layer of history has just been added. Our sympathy is with the German people.
Our world is in the the worst terror/refugee/religious crisis since World War II, as demonstrated by the attacks … in Turkey and Germany as well as the carnage in Aleppo. Our world needs American leadership to help bring some kind of stability to these troubled times.
— Bearded One in Chattanooga, Tenn., reacting to an article about a driver who steered a truck through a crowded Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing 12 and injuring dozens. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
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2. All of you who blame the attack on the refugees-welcome politics, please tell me one thing: How could a more rejecting and hostile stance towards refugees have prevented any of this? Any person with a clear paper record can visit Berlin as a tourist. It is also pretty easy to get in control of a truck and make it a weapon by driving it into a crowd.
Under that premise, what makes us more of a target? Being hostile and generally suspicious towards refugees and letting them suffer and die seeking safe shelter? Or being the helping and saving hand for those who are often fleeing from wars lead by extremists and fanatics?
You might consider it naïve to think that you can disarm hate by just being generous, hospitable and good spirited towards those in despair (although: isn’t that just what the Bible — in case you believe in it - tells us to be?). But on the other hand, just think about how far 15 years of ramping up security measures and surveillance have brought us? Are we any closer to really feeling safe than 15 years ago?
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3. I feel myself slipping further and further in favor of a hard stance on immigration and that’s scaring me especially as I’d consider myself to be educated and very socially minded. It is beginning to feel like it is simply not possible in this current political and social climate as seemingly neither side is going to relent. The fight to not succumb to these feelings is almost becoming unbearable and at some point I will not be able to stop them from coming to the fore.
What I am saying is I have realized that there will come a point where I have had enough as someone’s patience and resolve to see good intentions quite literally blowing up in their face unfortunately erodes. There is only so much of this people can take before doing what they feel is necessary to prevent them from occurring. The Middle East needs to do some real soul searching or they are going to find themselves against the world.
Romania Nominates a Female, Muslim Prime Minister
4. That’s a breath of fresh air in a climate of brewing xenophobia from the right in Europe. It would be interesting to see how this develops. I hope she is successful in doing a good job for her country.
— Rap Mc on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about the nomination of Sevil Shhaideh by Romania’s largest political party for prime minister. If her nomination is approved, she will be the country’s first female and the first Muslim to hold that office.
Photograph of an Assassin
5. I find the pictures disturbing, especially the ones showing the victim (although, to be fair, The NYT is not the only outlet showing it). I am not a great fan of Russian intervention in Syria, but irrespective of our political views, the victim had family, friends ... please take this picture down.
— Leila in Palm Beach, Fla., reacting to an article about the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey in Ankara on Monday by a Turkish off-duty police officer, captured by an Associated Press photographer.
This comment received more than 300 reader recommendations and more than 40 reader responses.
6. I disagree with those who say this picture shouldn’t be published. It is a brilliant photograph. The real crime is not showing just how real the pain and violence in our world is. Don’t look if you can’t stand it, but the press needs to do its job.
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Trump’s Nuclear Policy, in 140 Characters or Less
7. I could say: This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a tweet.
— Christopher Hobe Morrison in Lake Katrine, N.Y., reacting to an article about President-elect Donald J. Trump’s tweet on Thursday advocating for an expansion of the United States’ nuclear program.
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8. The United States currently has the nuclear capacity to end life in this planet many times over. So what additional threat is there to be had by the U.S. building its nuclear arsenal further? Do think Iran or North Korea would in anyway be deterred by the threat that the U.S. could wipe them out 10 times rather than five? The only thing they want is to sit at the table of nuclear power brokers and to be able to exert their influence. The only thing that can prevent that is to use literally any other threat (e.g. economic sanctions). [T]he relative power of the U.S. (as well as the safety of the planet) can only be diminished as everyone races to obtain the same threat. And worse, crazy unpredictable states with nuclear weapons have far more effective power than anyone else.
Cindy for the Win, Alex
9. I have so much admiration for her winning six times despite her health issues. I won two games in 1988 and was drained after taping three shows in one afternoon. I too mentioned that Cindy would have qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Hope the show either matches her winnings or donates a Tournament of Champions portion in her name to a cancer charity.
— Gail Hofmann on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about Cindy Stowell, a six-game “Jeopardy!” champion who competed on the show while fighting Stage 4 colon cancer. She died on Dec. 5, just over a week before the episodes aired.
Whence Comes Santa Claus?
10. It’s common knowledge that the North Pole is located in Canada, and indeed that a letter to “Santa Claus, North Pole, Canada, H0H 0H0” will get to its destination. But perhaps he has established a branch operation in Finland.
— Anders Ourom on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to a 360-degree video tour of the Santa Claus Village in Finland.
P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/24/nytnow/top-10-comments-not-with-a-bang-but-with-a-tweet.html?_r=0
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