“It annoys me how pretty my voice is,” Mr. Yorke says. “That sounds incredibly immodest, but it annoys me how polite it can sound when perhaps what I’m singing is deeply acidic.”

Should such an atomic attack be launched against the United States, our reactions would be swift and resolute. But for me to say that the defence capabilities of the United States are such that they could inflict terrible losses upon an aggressor, for me to say that the retaliation capabilities of the United States are so great that such an aggressor’s land would be laid waste, all this, while fact, is not the true expression of the purpose and the hopes of the United States.

To pause there would be to confirm the hopeless finality of a belief that two atomic colossi are doomed malevolently to eye each other indefinitely across a trembling world. To stop there would be to accept helplessly the probability of civilization destroyed, the annihilation of the irreplaceable heritage of mankind handed down to us from generation to generation, and the condemnation of mankind to begin all over again the age-old struggle upward from savagery towards decency, and right, and justice. Surely no sane member of the human race could discover victory in such desolation. Could anyone wish his name to be coupled by history with such human degradation and destruction? Occasional pages of history do record the faces of the “great destroyers”, but the whole book of history reveals mankind’s never-ending quest for peace and mankind’s God-given capacity to build.”

When nukes kill, who counts? No one counts the victims because the victims don’t count. A step back toward the cold-war-era embrace of the atom is a step away from a world that cares enough to count the dead. And a world that won’t count the dead will never care enough to make every life count.

No more going to the dark side with your flying saucer eyes
No more falling down a wormhole that I have to pull you out

The wriggling, squiggling worm inside
devours from the inside out

No more talk about the old days
It’s time for something great

I want you to get out
And make it work

So many lies
So many lies
So many lies
So feel the love come off of them
And take me in your arms

Peel all of your layers off
I want to eat your [???] artichoke heart

No more leaky holes in your brain
And no false starts

I wanna get out
And make it work

So many lies
So many lies
So many lies
So feel the love come off of them
And take me in your arms

I wanna get out
And make it work

I want you to get out
And make it work

I’ll be ok

So many lies
So many lies
So many lies
So feel the love come off of them
And take me in your arms

China, North Korea’s closest ally, issued a statement expressing “serious concern” over the launchings. But the statement also called on all sides to “maintain calm and restraint,” and to avoid moves that would “add to tensions and further complicate the situation.”

[. . .]

The American ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, said today that the administration is “prepared to take measures to protect the U.S, our allies and our friends.”