Your Sunday Times

++Susan Jacoby writes about "The First Victims of the First Crusade",which chronicles how the crusaders went amok and killed Jews in the Rhineland. No wonder Israeli press hailed President Obama's mention of the crusades in his National Prayer Breakfast speech. Of course, by the Fourth Crusades the marauders forgot about Moslems and just looted Christian cities and called it quits.

++Frank Bruni writes that we have too much religion in our politics. Amen!

++Ross Douthat in "The Caligulan Thrill" tries to fathom the cultural significance of "Forty Shades of Grey". He can't quite figure out whether this is a form of feminism or a libertarian fantasy of a billionaire making women submit to patriarchy. It should be noted that the heroine doesn't reach orgasm, which seems to have defeated one of the premises of the novel about sexual satisfaction.

++Nicholas Kristof writes about the "Unpaid,Unarmed Lifesavers in Syria", namely the work of the White Helmets, who number more than 2,200 volunteers. Kristof rings my bell about the failure of President Obama's policy and his consideration of Syria as a military adventure. For every bombing run,the Administration should match its cost with humanitarian assistance. Kristof worries that the Syrians will become like the Palestinians scattered across the Middle East.

Maureen Dowd in "Call Off The Dogs" goes after the Clinton tendency to have attack dogs and discusses the recent flap over David Brock and Hillary Clinton's campaign.