Common Ground

The State of Virginia was, again, the scene of home-grown terrorism, this time taking the life of a brave, young woman, in her 30s, who was standing up for her beliefs and courageously and righteously opposing neo-Nazis.  With not much other than confusing reporting by the mainstream media to go by, it appears that those who were simply against the removal of a Confederate statue did not, by and large, attend the largely neo-Nazi rally. The terrorist act that day injured several more people.  There is great sympathy from the Revived Citizens Party for the victims, and condemnation for any terrorist.  Thanks to President Donald Trump, who condemned the terrorists that inspired this latest act of terrorism on American soil. Some left radicals, however, are taking a page from one of their heroes, Saul Alinsky, and trying to use this tragedy to broad-brush and tar with nefarious tags anybody that doesn't agree with their overall philosophy or globalist outlook.  N

Yet, again, sadly, another terrible mass shooting in our nation, this time in Alexandria, Virginia.  May the recovery of Rep. Scalise of Louisiana and the other people wounded be speedy.  Thank God for the courage of the police officers on the scene who stopped the shooter. 

Mayhem in our nation is becoming so commonplace that it hardly gets page one space in the newspapers anymore, nor do these blogs of ours reflect on every act of terror, here, or else there wouldn't be time for almost anything else, as these aren't newspapers, after all.  It's amazing that the director of the FBI would say that the recent murders in Charleston, S.C. were not terrorism, even though it meets every facet of the government-worded definition of it.  Our sympathy for the victims of Charleston, and our hope for calmness and healing in America on many troubled fronts, such as an oversaturation of feckless politicians who do nothing or very little in the face of crisis.

Ukraine had the good sense to re-arrange their government last month and to begin anew to repair their battered democracy. The political leader and democratist, former Ukrainian Premier, Yulia Tymoshenko, was released from prison after suffering political persecution practically since the former president, Yanukovich, gained power. However, with the opportunistic taking of Crimea by their eastern neighbor during the turmoil, Ukraine has gone from one crisis to another as freedom reigns in the streets of Kiev and non-Crimean Ukraine after long years of oppression. President Obama should not get our nation involved in another foreign entanglement, and should stay out of it -- pretty much. Giving moral and some economic support to Ukraine is one thing, but risking war with provocative actions is quite another. Among such provocations that Obama should refrain from is using the Ukraine crisis as a pretext to start a revived "Star Wars" program in Poland and the Czech

Every weekend, MSNBC devotes long hours to the hellish conditions in a variety of U.S. penitentiaries on weekend non-news programs  (though, they are to be commended for not ignoring what's going on in these institutions) -- and of course these institutions are putting on their best face when TV cameras are showcasing their particular institution -- but when it comes to their regular news reports, they have the gall to spend more time talking about N. Korea's prisons as opposed to Uncle Sam's.  Not that institutions in the U.S. should be like fraternity houses, necessarily, but if you're going to devote time to other countries' imperfections, at least give equal time to Uncle Sam, who also houses political prisoners.

Listening to Judy Gross, the wife of an internationally imprisoned government contractor (Alan Gross), on MSNBC, speak about a government department or agency ignoring her communication is par for the course for sleazy bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., regional federal offices, and American embassies around the world sitting at their desks, swollen with opulence, drinking coffee and lolling away time on nice salaries at least a third or more bigger than those of average Americans.  I also had this experience, writing to our embassy in Ukraine a few years ago (through both their Kiev and Washington, D.C. addresses) and getting absolutely no response whatsoever.  Same thing with the office of the U.S. Attorney of Western Washington (Jenny Durkan) -- absolutely no consideration for the concerns that I expressed to them in 2010, nor any reply.  Regarding the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, I should have complained to their bosses at the State Department, but I had a lot going on at th