The burning alive of captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh by ISIS is so horrible that I think I’ll always remember the shock of turning on the TV and learning about his terrible, terrible death.  Did you close your eyes, too, when a frame was briefly shown?

He was in a cage when he was set on fire. What a hideous, hideous way to die.

Jordan’s King Abdullah met with members of the U.S. Congress yesterday.  Byron York reports that the King quoted Clint Eastwood lines from the cowboy movie “Unforgiven,” though sources did not supply the exact lines:

[Republican Rep. Duncan] Hunter would not say which part of "Unforgiven" the king quoted, but noted it was where Eastwood's character describes how he is going to deliver his retribution. There is a scene in the picture in which Eastwood's character, William Munny, says, "Any man I see out there, I'm gonna kill him. Any son of a bitch takes a shot at me, I'm not only going to kill him, I'm going to kill his wife and all his friends and burn his damn house down."

"He's angry," Hunter said of King Abdullah. "They're starting more sorties tomorrow than they've ever had."

The King probably wanted help with fire and bullets from the United States, and it will be telling to when we know what kind of help we give Jordan. Meanwhile, Jordan has executed two with ISIS links, including a female wannabe suicide bomber.  

President Obama, you will not be surprised to learn, did not quote Clint Eastwood. Kyle Smith captures the tenor of the president’s remarkably unruffled response:

Obama, in the manner of a bored professor who can’t believe he really has to spend any more time repeating the obvious to the remedial students, weighed in: “It’s just one more indication [pause] of the viciousness and [pause] barbarity of this organization. [pause] Aaand it, I think, will redouble [pause] the vigilance aaand determination on the part of our global coalition to, uh, make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated. Ummmm. [Adopting a whimsical look] It also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they’re operating off of, it’s bankrupt. [Suppressing a smirk, pivoting to a much more important subject.] We’re here to talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better.”

Redoubled vigilance—that’s gonna do it.

Max Boot observes that “the White House consistently refuses to get serious.”

Don’t miss White House Dossier’s video headlined thusly:

World in Chaos, Obama at Peace