Motes in a Jaundiced Eye

In the Sunday, December 10th issue of the New York Times, Clark H0yt, the Public Editor agonizes over "... what to call people who pursue political, religious, territorial, or unidentifiable goals through violence on civilians." He need not be so concerned. There does exist a well-established rule for deciding. It comes from Hoyle's rules for poker. Simply put, it says that cards "speak for themselves". A player may not call two-pair a full-house or try to identify a straight as a flush. By analogy, "people who pursue political, religious, territorial, or unidentifiable goals through violence on civilians" should be called what they are: Homicidal Sociopaths.