What happens when a reckless gamble turns out to be a disaster? In a recent NRO article, Thomas Sowell voices his dismay over the lack of knowledge American voters had when they elected Barack Obama as president. They knew nothing of his prudence or uprightness as they sent to the White House an untried man whose only qualifications seemed to be “his glib rhetoric and his racial symbolism.”

Members of President Obama’s administration tell the same story about the president—a man too vain and headstrong to take information and advice from knowledgeable and experienced officials. Today we face a real and frightening threat from an epidemic called Ebola. “Yet,” as Thomas Sowell writes, “Barack Obama has refused to bar entry to the United States by people from countries where the Ebola epidemic rages, as Britain has done.”

Read more here from Mr. Sowell as he tries to explain President Obama’s often times inexplicable foreign policy disasters, “with the crowning disaster of all, a nuclear Iran, looming on the horizon.”

Here Pat Buchanan lays out the military quagmire in the Muslim world. It is a never-ending mess from which America should extricate itself. Put the matter to a vote in Congress as suggested here and a proper resolution should be forthcoming.

Since 1980, writes Andrew Bacevich, the United States has invaded, occupied or bombed 14 nations in the Greater Middle East — Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Yemen, Pakistan and now Syria.

The cost: Tens of thousands of U.S. dead and wounded, trillions of dollars lost, hundreds of thousands of Muslim dead and wounded, millions of refugees, Christians foremost among them. And for what?

Are we better off now than we were 30 years ago, with the Middle East today on fire with civil, sectarian, tribal and terrorist wars?

Congress should vote no on any new Thirty Years’ War.

Privately, Barack Obama would probably be grateful.

Back in the summer of 1984 my family toured the country in a 21’ Winnebago Brave. Yes, we were. Today, the idea of driving through some of the same cities is absurd. Maybe my dad felt the same way then too, if so, he didn’t show it. But since our epic trip the U.S. has fallen from #2 to #12 in the Economic Freedom of the World: 2014 Annual Report released yesterday.

The top ranking countries are Hong Kong (maybe not for long), Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, Jordan, and tied for 10th Chile and Finland.

Sort of makes you want to live on an island and get away from it all.

Barack Obama needs to go to Congress and explain how his misguided foray into Syria meets the tests of the Weinberger/Powell Doctrine. Daniel Larison writes at The American Conservative here that America needs to end the latest unnecessary war.

The Post points out the obvious that the war against ISIS isn’t “achieving its aims”:

For now, the U.S. operation in Iraq and Syria is defined mainly by its limitations. The restrictions Mr. Obama has imposed on his commanders are not compatible with the objectives he has asked them to achieve.

The solution to this isn’t that the U.S. should lift these restrictions, as the Post implies elsewhere in the editorial, but that the mission should have very different objectives than it does. Better still, the U.S. should abandon the mission all together. The administration erred in waging this war thus far, and it erred again in waging it illegally, but it does not have to compound that error with further escalation.

Defense Industry Daily reports that the war in Iraq has been using up the country’s supply of Hellfire missiles. These laser-guided missiles are produced by Hellfire Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. Iraq has been firing them from its fleet of AC-208B Combat Caravan prop planes, but may be requesting a large order of Hellfires in anticipation of the delivery of its Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The Defense Industry Daily staff writes:

As Iraq’s civil war heated up, the country found itself running out of laser-guided Hellfire missiles by mid-June. That prompted emergency shipments from the USA, but it also prompted a July trial balloon about shipping Iraq several thousand Hellfire missiles. By the end of July, the State Department felt confident enough to go ahead with an official notice to Congress.

The size of the 5,000 missile authorization plus the 500 missiles in Iraq’s AH-64E request, plus the hundreds of missiles delivered prior, illustrates the scope of Iraq’s request. The question is whether the size of the request foreshadows near-term contracts and delivery for AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, which would begin using the missiles at a higher volume than their tiny fleet of AC-208B Combat Caravan prop planes.

Before heading to Burgundy, on one of our last days in Paris on the front end of this fall’s trip, Dick and I signed up for a Paris by Mouth tour, one which focused on food emporiums in the 3^rd  arrondissement. (I first read about Paris by Mouth on David Lebovitz’s info-packed website.) As often as we’ve been to Paris and wandered through the Marais—home to Musee Carnavalet (focus is on the history of Paris), the beautiful Hotel de Ville, and Place de Vosges—we’ve not been able to get a good handle on the Marais. So why not try eating our way around?

Tip: David lives in the Marais and has an extensive list of recommended eateries, food stalls, and marches in not just the Marais, but also Paris’ 19 other arrondissements. Find David at davidlebovitz.com.

Our guide on our Paris by Mouth expedition was a young woman from Dublin. Her love of Paris she said came from her parents exposing her to France at a young age.  Claire went to University in Paris before going to culinary school and working in bakeries and restaurants. Still searching for what career she wants to follow in life, but young enough and focused enough to make things happen, she was an enthusiastic, knowledgeable guide.

Tip: A tour with Paris by Mouth is a cinch to reserve online through a credit card or PayPal, which I love. Just decide early enough, as these small tours sell out quickly (parisbymouth.com).

In a review of the Mini Palais, a restaurant in the 8^th located in the Grand Palais, Patricia Wells, the celebrated cookbook author and grand dame of her cooking schools in Paris and Provence (fyi: her classes sell out about a year in advance), describes the Mini as among her favorite places for “enjoying the city’s constant elegance and infrequent sunshine.”

Tip: If you’re going to Paris, you don’t want to be without Patricia’s Food Lover’s app. Her GPS location guide and A-Z culinary glossary are priceless (foodloversparis.com).

And so it was on our Marais food tour. No sun, lots of drizzle. But like any seasoned traveler knows, dress accordingly and weather is rarely a problem. And Mark Twain might as well have been referring to Paris when he reportedly said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.”

More than a few minutes later, back at our hotel in the late afternoon, I took this picture from our balcony overlooking Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. Parisian rooftop views are legendary, none more so than from the incomparable Hotel le Bristol. N’est-ce pas?