You have to hand it to them.

When it comes to sewing confusion, creating chaos, overwhelming the public with distraction and disinformation, they are masters of the game.

There is no attempt here to marginalize the grief that people feel when they view the carnage resulting from terrorist attacks, both that of the jihadists and that by the Western powers who created this whole mess in the first place.

But we must never lose sight of who caused all of it, why it serves their sick agenda, and exactly what must be done to stop them.

And that is the challenge. The human mind, no matter how capacious or driven by concern and noble intentions, can only handle so much. So much killing, so much terrorism, so much bombing, so much war, so much death and destruction, so much cruelty, so much evil, so much blame, so much political posturing, so much lying and propaganda, so much scapegoating.

It’s truly overwhelming.

Yes, they have got our number.

They know how to play on our fears and sympathies.

They know how to wear us down.

They know how to desensitize us, divide us, debilitate us, dissipate our energies, destroy our resolve.

But at the same time, we know exactly what they’re doing!

It is this understanding that is the foundation of our strength.