Brian Williams and Lost Irony

Still attempting to unpack the layers of irony implicit in MSNBC's Brian Williams invocation of a Leonard Cohen lyric ('I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons', from First We Take Manhattan) as he glowingly described the recent US missile attack on a Syrian airfield. Not only was the irony of Cohen's original poem completely lost on the awestruck Williams but he then further compounds the farce by giving a literal reference to the poetic line when applying it to the film footage of the missiles' flight pattern. At this moment, my guess is that Leonard sat up from his grave, gave an ironic nod to the hapless mortal, and gently lowered his head.

The War Is Over

Did you hear the latest?; it came in a dream, delivered by an echo of Phil Ochs; the mindless repetition of murderous folly in our endless war against terror is, at last, over! To this day, the echoes remain: 'pardon me if I refrain'!