"The matter with Islam is not in its inspirational message but in certain holdover practices from ages ago. To be sure there were abhorrent practices carried out during the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church. But that was long ago."

"The origins of what Carrie faces over Season 4—and which her successors as chief of station in Islamabad will continue to face in the future, were largely presented accurately in Charlie Wilson's War, a dramatic account of that war that the two of us developed and oversaw when we were at CIA."

"The failure to indict was more puzzling in the Staten Island case than the one in Ferguson, as indictment does not pronounce guilt, it only decides on whether there should be a trial. It is, though, perhaps not surprising, as the jurors were all from Staten Island and were therefore likely to have a local point of view. In this regard, it is significant that there is on Staten Island a strong presence of present and former policemen and firemen and their families."

"...[J]ournalists in the past were often regarded as neutral intermediaries between hostage takers and those willing to pay ransom. Now it is unsafe for journalists to go anywhere near ISIS."

"The general lack of consideration for Obama, and the unwillingness of the Republican Party to work with him, are a reflection of this discomfort and racial aversion, as well as a painful reminder that our whites and blacks live in a non-integrated way...."

"...[T]he hijackers promised to end the siege if they were allowed safe passage, and the Egyptian authorities agreed. The hostages disembarked on October 9. It was decided to fly the hostage takers, plus Abu al-Abbas, out of the country aboard an Egyptair plane. However, unbeknownst to the Egyptians, intelligence was obtained by the U.S."

"...[F]aced with the sudden ISIS capture of Mosul and its threatening march toward Baghdad, President Obama acted swiftly and decisively, assembly a coalition of moderate Sunni states against Isis and naming a respected ex-military officer, Gen. John Allen, to oversee the campaign. Much of Obama's legacy as a President will depend on the outcome of this war against ISIS."

"Another bit of fantasy that emerged from Netanyahu's speech was the notion that in view of recent developments (the rise of a common enemy in ISIS), a rapprochement between Israel and the Arab World could facilitate an Israeli-Palestinian settlement."

"...[I]n eliminating the Syria-Iraq border in favor of a larger Islamic Caliphate, it made moot whether attacks against it took place in Iraq or Syria. There is now a license for the U.S. and its Jordanian and Gulf allies to pursue their air attacks against ISIS and its main concentrations, which are in Syria."

"...[A] lot of Sunnis are going to get killed as the Obama strategy is being carried out, and it remains to be seen how the Sunni Arab powers on the outside — Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Gulf states and Jordan — as well as the Sunni populations on the inside in Syria and Iraq — are going to tolerate it."