Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “What Will Come After Paris” (editorial, Nov. 16):

France has reacted with anger to the Paris attacks, just as we did after 9/11. But history shows not only that a thoughtless response doesn’t win the peace but also that bombing makes things worse by generating more angry fighters. It’s impossible to defend against suicide attacks.

We should have learned by now, and it’s time to try something different.

For starters, we can understand those who would attack us. Muslims note that more of their families have died in our attacks than have Americans or French in attacks by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or the Islamic State. Muslims might view indiscriminate deaths to be just as terrorist as we did the deaths in Paris and New York.

So we won’t turn the tide of attacks from the Middle East unless we stop bombing and give assistance to the growing masses of refugees.

JOHN SCHAEFER

Arcata, Calif.

It's time for awards. The National League Rookie of the Year is Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs. The American League Rookie of the Year is Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros. See here.

See here.

One of Shepler's ferries heading back to the mainland, from Mackinac Island. One can take a ferry from either Mackinaw City (at the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula) or St Ignace (at the southern tip of the Upper Peninsula). Click to enlarge.

Here.

Here.

Truer words were never written.

Re “France, paradise lost” (Opinion, Nov. 4): Pamela Druckerman concludes her article on France with: “These days, it’s just a flawed, ordinary country that mostly thinks for itself.” I, too, have lived in France for over 12 consecutive years and do not recognize the France the writer describes. The French remain book readers, rational, caring for the “other,” simultaneously pragmatic and abstract in their thinking, both altruistic and realistic, and believers in the idea that thought has no frontiers.

France has the largest Muslim population in Europe and must be commended for insisting that those who aspire to become French citizens adhere to the rules of the enlightened republic and its secular laws—and that learning the French language is mandatory. Likewise, France ought to serve as an example to the United States, mired as its political system is in Christian fundamentalism, gun culture, and a phobia of the immigrant “other.” The French have succeeded in finding the balance between non-savage capitalism and the humanistic tenets of the French Revolution. Theirs is a country whose values beg emulation.

Constantine Christofides 
New York

Note from KBJ: Theirs is a country on the verge of destruction. Good riddance!

Hell, yeah!

At one end of the main street on Mackinac Island, there is a grassy area that abuts the water. The proprietor keeps a number of kites in the air to entertain tourists. It was relaxing. Luki and I skipped stones in the waves. Click to enlarge.