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Second Amendment Blues

SECOND AMENDMENT BLUES

This is a common sense appeal to ban the sale and eventual possession of assault weapons in the U.S. for other than law enforcement and military uses. It also supports a ban on those aftermarket accessories such as bump stocks that enhance the lethality of unmodified weapons. It does not impede or criminalize the possession of other weapons typically used for self-defense, hunting or sport shooting within federal and state laws. Assault weapons that are privately owned can be retrieved...

Lyin' Eyes

LYIN’ EYES

Super Tuesday, the biggest political event in the presidential primary season is upon us. If past is prologue, expect a greater turnout among people who identify as republican than those who identify as democrat.  Expect a large evangelical turnout. Expect that Nikki Haley, for all her grit and gumption will lose every event on Tuesday.  And expect that many self-described but utterly discredited “prophets” will dust off their failed predictions of 2020 to state what is clear to most Americans already:  That Donald...

A TODOS NOS DUELE A VECES

I was listening to REM’s song “Everybody Hurts Sometimes” (A Todos Nos Duele A Veces) the other night. It put me in a reflective, almost somber mood.  I stared at this photo of a young Latina in custody at the U.S. border.  She no doubt has overwhelming problems and pain, as do other young people in America. I tried to put myself in her shoes to understand how she feels. She cannot leave the facility in which she is warehoused.  She cannot leave...

GIVING TO CAESAR WHAT IS CAESAR’S

There is a news story in the most recent issue of National Review (NR) that caught my eye. I’m sure that many of you might have seen it yourselves if not there, then elsewhere. The headline on the NR article is: “Former Kentucky Clerk Ordered to Pay $260,000 in Legal Fees after Refusing to Issue Marriage License to Same-Sex Couples.” Kim Davis was the former County Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, and she was elected to be the clerk in...

THE USES OF CHILDREN IN WAR: A BRIEF HISTORY

For a blog that began primarily as a discussion of different topics in Christianity, I’ve branched out over the years to include other areas of interest (such as travel, current events, heath, literature, history, science and politics.)  I’ve also translated some posts into Chinese, Russian or German.  I don’t believe this has come at the expense of my original focus.  Someone who visits my blog to learn about Europa or the Chinese New Year may come across an appeal to experience a new...

Cause and effect

CAUSE AND EFFECT (NSFW)

Hamas is playing with fire. They sowed the wind and now they and the people with whom they shield themselves are reaping the whirlwind. This example of cause and effect appears in the Bible in Hosea 8:7 where the prophet writes: “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” There is a reaction to every action, a response to every stimulus. This is Newton’s Third Law. Or Skinner’s principle of operant conditioning. Hamas just pushed the wrong lever. This is...

当世界碰撞

当世界碰撞

最近，我在不同的文章（这里和这里）中写到，中华人民共和国近年来采取了好战的态度，无论是在台湾近海进行战争游戏，还是在国际水域与美国的 B-52 飞机仅有三米之遥。 记得还有一次，中国迫使一架美国预警机紧急迫降。 还有下面描述的菲律宾海岸警卫队事件。当世界发生碰撞时，能做些什么？ 紧密联系 中美两国确实没有理由挑起战争。 诚然，两国摩擦的一个主要原因是台湾问题，以及美国一方面承认台湾属于北京，另一方面又要求中华人民共和国不得对台湾行使主权的分裂政策。 更重要的是，在上一次世界大战期间，中美两国曾是手足情深的兄弟，因为我们面对的是共同的敌人。 但这个曾被称为 “沉睡巨人 “的国家已经苏醒，必然会引起一些不安。 美国不能就这样放弃南海。 从吉隆坡海峡到台湾、日本和韩国（再返回），有大量的贸易要经过南海。美国对简单地将这片领土让给中国兴趣不大，尤其是国际法并不承认中国在这里的主权。 中国的地区邻国，如越南、菲律宾或中国本身，可能会在某些时候挑起事端，或意外陷入意外冲突。 印度也对中国的扩张持谨慎态度。一个特别令人担忧的问题是，冲突可能会在我们最不能承受的时候爆发，比如当乌克兰和加沙发生其他地区战争时，或者当美国总统逐渐衰老或患有自恋型人格障碍时（这两种情况在过去十年中在美国接连发生）。 九段线 中华人民共和国的领土野心在 2009 年昭然若揭，当时中国提交了一份备忘录，其中附图提到了 “九段线”，指的是中国在南海的主权主张（见下文）。 然而，美国人（至少对这位美国人来说）并不普遍知道，帝国主义攫取南海广袤海域的想法实际上来自 1949 年逃往台湾之前的中华民国。 北京现政权的所作所为只不过是在贯彻早先的倡议，而他们并没有参与其中。 我之所以使用 “帝国主义 “一词，是因为它描述的是一个国家投射力量的能力。 这也适用于今天的中华人民共和国。 英国《每日电讯报》最近的一篇专栏指出，中国目前在波斯湾的军舰数量超过了美国。 中国对南海的兴趣与南海可能蕴藏的矿产资源（包括石油）有关。 但同时，中国也在利用几乎未露出海面的珊瑚礁（见上图火十字环礁）建立带有简易机场和军港的军事基地。 当然，马来西亚、越南、菲律宾和其他几个主权国家（包括美国）都对这些主张提出了异议。 中国一直警告这些国家撤离九段线范围内的岛屿（如适用），并要求美国军舰远离，但现在中国的态度变得更加强硬。 最近与菲律宾发生了冲突。 就在一周前 菲律宾海岸警卫队准将杰伊-塔里拉（Jay Tarriela）说，大约五艘中国海岸警卫队船只、八艘随行船只和两艘海军舰艇于周日组成封锁线，阻止两艘菲律宾海岸警卫队船只和两艘船向驻扎在第二托马斯浅滩的菲律宾部队运送食物和其他补给品。 在对峙期间，菲律宾海岸警卫队的一艘船和一艘补给船分别被中国海岸警卫队的一艘船和一艘轮船击中。塔里埃拉说：”两艘菲律宾船只中只有一艘成功地向菲律宾部队运送了补给品。 与美国相比，中国人民解放军（实际上是所有武装部队）在战略上有一定的优势。 其中一个优势是他们的部分轨道轰炸系统，该系统已于 2021 年进行了首次测试。 他们的远程高速鱼雷也引起了西方的担忧。 在高超音速武器和运载系统方面，美国正在追赶俄罗斯和中国。 中国也有理由对美国的行为表示担忧。 美国向澳大利亚出售三艘 “弗吉尼亚 “级核潜艇，以应对中国的威胁，这将使澳大利亚拥有更大的影响力，并在必要时拥有更强的火力，以确保其所在地区的安全。 希望两国（中国和美国）之间能够恢复合作精神，尤其是当中国变得更加繁荣的时候。 香港与中国大陆之间的关系未来将如何发展，可能是一个很好的 “煤矿中的金丝雀 “指标。...

当世界碰撞

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

Recently, in differents posts, here and here, I wrote to the notion of the People’s Republic of China adopting a bellicose attitude over the recent years, whether in staging war games off the coast of Taiwan or coming just barely three meters away from an American B-52 flying in international waters. Recall another occasion where China forced an American AWACs plane to make an emergency landing. Then, there are the incidents described below with the Philippino Coast Guard. Are we...

Can we avoid war?

CAN WE AVOID WAR?

The United States is being drawn to the brink of war.  We didn’t plan this. Perhaps didn’t even predict it. We didn’t over react to the situation in Ukraine.  Russia invaded that European country and someone had to take a stand and show some leadership along with the UK and other NATO allies.  If not us, then who? Now, we have Israel.  Many Israelis are U.S. citizens. Israel is the only true democracy within a thousand miles of that country.  Finally, we’re currently sweating what...

A TWO-STATE SOLUTION FOR THE LEVANT

As everyone knows by now, there is a war in Israel, and now the bitter fruits of that horrific attack by Hamas are coming home to Gaza to roost.  This should be no surprize and as recently as two weeks ago I mentioned the potential violence in the mideast in an earlier post, though like others I had no idea of how large the size and scope of the violence would be. On a high holy day, Yom Ha-Kippurim, which commemorates the...