Between Two Scorpions Quotes

“Defiant exuberance was the theme of the playlist, featuring Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It!,” A-Ha’s “Take On Me,” X-Ambassadors’ “Renegades,” Fall Out Boy’s “Immortals,” and then Alien Ant Farm’s cover of “Smooth Criminal.” Ward selected the Bloodhound Gang’s “Fire Water Burn,” leading an enthusiastic, rousing chant of support of rooftop arson. Elaine declined to sing to “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Alec crooned an off-key version of Chris Isaak’s “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” to Katrina.”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“No matter the crisis, no matter how serious an impending disaster was, somebody was convinced they could get a new flat-screen television out of the mess.”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“Their problems were so common as to be nearly universal, but in their eyes, they were historically unprecedented injustices, and the shooters denounced the alleged selfishness of everyone around them while oblivious to their own self-absorption.”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“Some mornings she looked at the news and wondered if she recognized her country anymore. When the citizenry wasn’t gripped by fear, it always seemed angry. Angry at the president, at politicians, at Muslims, gays, transsexuals, gun owners, evangelical Christians, Catholics, celebrities, radio talk show hosts, single moms, drug users, college students who were allegedly “snowflakes,” small town bakers, football players, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, government bureaucrats, cops, young African-American men, illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, atheists … Oh, she thought, looking at the tiny six-pointed star on her bracelet, and of course, Jews. They always seemed to be the universal scapegoat of every extremist on both sides of the ideological spectrum.”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“Let me hit you with one other local legend, one that might seem particularly pertinent to the moment. Right next door to Turkmenistan is Uzbekistan, where, in 1940, Western scholars discovered the oral history of the Karakalpak people. They shared an epic, 20,000-line poem about a legendary group of warriors, called the Kirk Kuz, who would have been active in the early 1700s. There were forty of these warriors, and they were unparalleled in everything: horse-riding, marksmanship with a bow and arrow, throwing axes and knives, sword-fighting and every martial art imaginable. Strength, agility, cunning, nerves of steel—the DNA of these warriors had to be a double helix of sheer concentrated lethality. They repelled invading hordes and every man in every direction feared the ruthless, silent efficiency of the Kirk Kuz warriors. What makes the Kirk Kuz different is that they were all women, yet another group that may have inspired the legend of the Amazons. They only left their sisters in death or marriage.”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“Irish Alzheimer’s”—an ability to forget everything except a grudge. Alec”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“H. Lawrence’s The Plumed Serpent, written in 1926,”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“But there’s always been this fearful undercurrent in the way America sees Mexico: the beautiful curse at the heart of Steinbeck’s The Pearl, D. H. Lawrence’s The Plumed Serpent, Orson Welles’ corrupt small-town police captain in Touch of Evil, the unstoppable hit man in No Country for Old Men, the Aztec Temple hidden underneath a truck stop in From Dusk Till Dawn. (My”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“Ward couldn’t stifle his laughter at the State Department warning. “‘Although Mexico employs strict gun-control laws, criminals are usually armed with handguns,’” he read aloud. “Gee, it’s almost like those gun control laws don’t work, huh?”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions

“Short of withdrawing cash, physically carrying it, and depositing it into a new account manually, few methods of moving money could escape the myriad NSA snooping programs: Tracfin, Dishfire, XKeyscore, ICREACH, BullRun, PiggyBank, SafeWord, and URSOL. The old hawala systems, once the favorite of terror groups,”
― Jim Geraghty, Between Two Scorpions