In his famous measured delivery, Koppel IMO gave a bloody good fat-trimmed, even eloquent exposition of the Dilemma ~ of (my words, not his)

Just How Much -??- of the essence of America, its 'Values' and its means of self-governance are we prepared to modify in the direction of suspension -- for many many years -- in the face of (say) "the Unknown Threat and its Unknowable Probabilities" ?

(Employing the analogy of Muricans' obsession with The Car, its 40k+ deaths/year and 150-200K injuries and.. the fact that No One would-be-allowed-to alter our right to do that dance and eat those risks. Koppel described the slippery slope we are accelerating down, while making the point of the absence of authorization all along - going surgically to the failure of this admin to set up and Obey any checks/balances ie. Legal Authorizations - in accord with the basic concept that we purport to be.. a Nation of Laws) And a few other matters.

Looked a lot healthier than on the last of the Nightline 23? year marathon - it's since been reformulated for reduced attention span. Charlie asked how many of the new version he'd seen: "3".

Sunday the 10th, on Discovery - Koppel will present a 3 hour synthesis of the above and related, followed by a town meeting. Maybe enough of these _ _ _