High overcast and some patches of ground fog this early mid-week Wednesday on California’s north coast, along with just a touch of chilled breeze — not too shabby.

Overwhelmed by other horror stories — the Ukraine, Gaza, a growing Ebola outbreak in east Africa, blah, blah — the tale of what’s happening in Iraq is seemingly getting worse by the half-minute, as those ISIS assholes are consolidating gains by even more killing. The fighting this week north of Baghdad is part of a “scorched earth” scenario that appears unending.

(Illustration: M.C.Escher’s ‘Reptiles‘ found here).

The latest blood-letting comes via some slaughter/war porn:

“Islamic State” jihadists have executed hundreds of Shi’ite Muslims in northern Iraq in what may be one of the worst atrocities yet since the al-Qaeda splinter group seized much of northeastern Syria and made huge gains in parts of Iraq, according to footage released Tuesday.
Video of the massacre was released by the self-proclaimed Islamic State on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The 36-minute video presents a number of scenes, such as footage from bomb attacks, gun battles, Islamic State parades, speeches, and Iraqis being driven off the road in drive-by shootings.
But some of the most shocking scenes are shown in the last five minutes of the video.
The scenes show trucks loaded with hundreds of terrified young men – all whom appear to be no older than 30 – as they are being transported to a remote site in what is believed to be Tikrit.
In the next scene, dozens of them are laying face-down in the sand with their hands bound behind their back.
None of them move.
Moments later, other captives cower down as they speak to the cameraman.
Some of the captives shout, one weeps as he speaks up.
They are then told to stand up and walk with their hands behind their heads as one of the jihadists raises the Islamic State’s flag.
After a short walk, the men are ordered to lie down on the sand before each captive is shot in the head one by one.
At least 50 are killed.
But perhaps one of the most horrifying scenes follows seconds later: A large open area packed with bodies – no fewer than 100, perhaps more.
The video suggests more bodies are outside of camera’s point of view.
Only three men are still alive: bound and facing towards those already slaughtered.
Two gunmen walk up to them and kill them too, shooting them in their heads from behind.

And video killed the AK-47 star: Islamic State, the al Qaeda spin-off that seized wide swathes of Iraq almost unopposed last month, has released a video warning Iraqi soldiers who may still have some fight in them that they risk being rounded up en masse and executed.

And the toll? According to an UN report from a couple of weeks ago, at least 5,576 civilians were killed and another 11,665 wounded from January to the end of June with another 1.2 million made homeless.
Yet, despite repeated attempts to block horrible memories, more than 11 years ago, The Dick: “Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.”
Yes, indeed — so bad inside Iraq, what?
And yes indeed.