Trump blows it big time after mass shootings
There's a fundamental flaw in the "slippery slope" argument from both the left and the right.
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When a mass murderer dies
Finally, some salutary news. One of the world's most prolific mass murderers has finally shuffled off this mortal coil — though, unfairly to his hundreds of thousands of victims who were cut down prematurely — at the ripe old age of 93. Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's consigliere during the Khmer Rouge regime that terrorized Cambodia, died in a hospital bed over the weekend. He was serving a life sentence at the time.
Laws don't stop evil
As we emerge from a weekend defined by two horrendous mass shootings, I listen to the commentators trying to explain "why." I think the best overarching answer was provided by our second president, John Adams, in 1798: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Don't take USPS' word for it
"Reforming the Postal Service" (Web, July 28) points to USPS' shipping and package capabilities as its one redeeming quality amid the agency's rapidly growing losses. USPS' $143 billion in total unfunded liabilities and debt are disregarded as an afterthought -- and apparently so are the nation's taxpayers who may be forced to save the organization.
BOOK REVIEW: ''Emperors of the Deep'
"I want to shift the perception of sharks from cold-blooded underwater predators to evolutionary marvels that play an integral part in maintaining the health of the world's oceans, because this is the only way I know how to protect the species and save the world's oceans."
How China violates international law with impunity
The mariner weather lore, "red sky in the morning, sailors (fishermen) take warning," resonates sharply due to China's high pressure drilling operations located in Vanguard Bank, inside Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Terrorism in Nigeria
The good news for Nigerian Christians on Thursday, Aug. 2 was that a would-be assassination of a Catholic priest was foiled by good-Samaritan neighbors who beat back terrorists with primitive weapons.
Fighting the scourge of drugs
The capture, extradition from Mexico, trial and imprisonment of Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Chapo (Shorty in Spanish), was a major blow to the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel. The drug lord will spend the rest of his life in an American Supermax prison.
'How left will they go?'
After a week of watching the Democrats in debate I ask myself, how far to the left are the Democratic presidential candidates going to take their party?
Why endless wars can't be ended
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." Plato made that incisive observation a rather long time ago.
'Red flag' laws bring loads of problems
President Donald Trump, along with several notables in the Republican Party -- including Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas -- have floated so-called "red flag" laws as a means of stopping mass shootings in the United States, saying that if we can keep the mentally ill from buying and owning firearms, well then, that should curb much of the violence. On the surface, this sounds like common sense. But caveat: Who decides who's mentally unfit?
Rewarding the status quo
It is a matter of deep concern that our long-serving politicians and bureaucrats are more comfortable continuously reviewing problems, rather than resolving them.
Ebola, here we go again
Once again, a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus disease is spreading throughout parts of Africa, mostly in the northern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Mitigating the border crisis
The border crisis continues even though the number of people caught trying to enter illegally has dropped substantially. The numbers really are staggering.
How to keep D.C. swimming pools open longer
As D.C. temperatures remain in or near the 90s, the city announced that it will open numerous cooling stations to help residents who lack air conditioning get out of the heat and avoid heat-related illnesses.
Trump is now the 'dark sorcery of racial hatred,' too
MSNBC's Chris Hayes just called out Donald Trump out for his "dark sorcery of racial hatred" and the "well of evil" he promotes with his rhetoric. And then the cameras panned to Marianne Williamson as she stirred a large black cauldron of smokey concoction while chanting, "Begone, oh dark psychic force of collectivized hatred!"
Why shooters shoot
Democrats would have it believed -- fervently wish and hope and dream that it could be believed -- that every time a horrendous shooting takes place in this country, it's due to the existence of the Second Amendment. But the reasons for the shootings have little to do with the guns themselves and everything to do with evil.
Threading the Baltimore needle
Politicians and community members determined to "fix" Baltimore need to be mindful of that trick of the trade because Charm City could become a model example. In short, what happens next in Baltimore mustn't stay in Baltimore, which means it's time.
Teach dangers of hatred
If the president and Congress believe strong background checks on prospective purchasers of guns will be sufficient to stem the increasing terrorist attacks, they are naive ("Trump on guns: Republicans and Dems must come together and 'get strong background checks,'" Web, Aug. 5). The strongest driving force for these massacres has been an unrestricted Internet, over which there is little chance of control.
'Do something,' but something smart
It has happened again, and again. Not one, but two mass shootings over the weekend have triggered a desperate national outcry for action to stop the carnage. With a Texas-sized massacre in El Paso followed by another in Ohio, Dayton-area mourners punctuated a vigil led by Gov. Mike DeWine with chants of "do something." Indeed, something must be done, or possibly many things. Whatever the remedy, though, liberty must not be trampled along the pathway to security.
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