I heard a quote from a local fellow I know, "If Black lives matter, act like it!". The death penalty is the government's way of expressing the social value of the victim vis a vis the disdain for the perpetrator. The killer of a small white child is more likely to draw a death sentence than one who kills a black child. Someone who murders a young person is more unworthy than someone who kills an old person. I read the Kansas Attorney General's page on the (unused) Kansas capital punishment statute. I'm not worth anything at all. At least I can now carry a pistol without a permit, so that sort of evens things out.

Hey. If all lives matter, what about incidental civilian victims of world conflicts? Stop glorifying militarism.

There needs to be balance. One would be foolish to drop Intel as well as military defense which in the 21st csnfury includes Pre-emptive strikes. Or would you rather have Iran develop atomic weapons and give them to Hezbollah to wipe Israel off the map? How about Kim Jong UN with 3 Stage missiles capable of hitting Alaska, Hawaii, and the entire West Coast where I live? Then there's Putin's military expansionism and adventurism in Ukraine and Syria, now offering to protect Iraq where the US failed utterly. Meanwhile, ISIS is on the move butchering any non-Muslims and robbing and taxing those Muslims in their Caliphate. Add Hezbollah and the Palis stocking up for missile war with Israel again, this time backed by Iran and Russia, groups like Boko Harem raping girls and taking child brides, Al Qaida still around plotting revenge on the US and the West and of course our frenemy China that cyber attacks us at will and which commits espionage to bolster their armed forces for conflict against the US and its Carrier Battle Fleets. And the worldwide list can go on. Freedom isn't free, it is paid in blood by those who fought for this nation. I am a REP and a hawk. We need to dust off the Bomber fleet and take a world tour. Our enemies are only winning because we let them. As for BLM movement, it started off against police aggression but is devolving into Anti-police violence and mayhem. That was my point of equal Justice under the law. Shooting cops and non-compliance won't solve inner city problems with gangs and drugs, unemployment and non-investment.

Well, we agree that the world can be a scary place.

Spoken like a true Milquetoast, A. Pacifist. You disappoint. Your first comment was bully, and you showed promise. Your war-loving opponent spews the neocon nonsense that gave us Iraq and the disastrous geopolitical consequences, but you don't have the intestinal fortitude to skewer him! "We need to dust off the Bomber fleet and take a world tour." Did that, sir. I sent the U.S. Navy around the world to usher in a peaceful and prosperous 20th Century. "Freedom isn't free, it is paid in blood by those who fought for this nation." I don't recall seeing this brave soldier at San Juan Hill. CHARGE!!!

Let's remember that TR's Great White Fleet was part of his "speak softly and carry a big stick" approach. Japan, after its victory in the Russo-Japanese war (1904), was dissatisfied with the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth, for which its architect TR won the Nobel Peace Prize. They were growing belligerent. The fleet, on a westerly course from California, impressed the Japanese, they kowtowed to the new reality of the U.S. being a Pacific naval power, and everybody had a fine old time. The coal-burning ships returned after 14 months to Virginia.

While I deeply admire "Tough" Teddy Roosevelt, naval designs against Japan not only failed, but led directly to Pearl Harbor! The Japanese Empire expanded and how? By building up carrier and battleship strength; after all, like Britain Nippon is an island nation. They took various islands in the Pacific and put troops on them and then accused the US civilian flying boats of spying on Japanese military installations just like China is doing today! Amelia Earhart? Forced down by Japanese warplanes and executed for spying. Naval Intelligence warned of the Japanese coming attack months before but was ignored. On Dec 7th the USS Ward fired the first shots against a Japanese midget sub trying to breach the sub net in the harbor around 5 am. No one cared. Then, when the first wave approached, radar operators picked them up and reported them. Response? Probably a flight of returning B-17s! Today, we are making the same mistakes with China as we did with Japan. And Iraq? Pleeease! Have we forgotten how to fight total war? You don't go in with bad Intel and then switch missions from conquer to Iraqi liberation allowing them to keep AKs and RPGs at home knowing there would be a power vacuum and sectarian violence!!! ISIS needs destroyed. Iran needs the sanctions slapped back on and their nuke facilities destroyed. Kim Jong UN needs taken out by a B-2. Hezbollah, Fatah, etc... need wiped out not only for Israeli peace, but the region's. We need to tell our many frenemies like the Gulf States and China to stop using and abusing us- with force as a consequence if necessary. We need to SHOW Putin militarily that not only will we arm Ukraine, the Baltic States, and Syrian Rebels with heavy weapons... should they fall, we would go to war. If the US and Europe show continued weakness in the face of evil, evil will prevail as it always does. We don't need Ronald Reagan's vision. That is dead. We need the Stick of Tough Teddy Roosevelt mixed with the Iron resolve of Franklin D. Roosevelt that once diplomacy has failed that our enemies will be defeated by overwhelming force in conviction of moral certainty. Imperial and Nazi Germany were not defeated by diplomacy but by superiority in manpower and machines, with a range of nations all fighting together. Today, the US and Europe, Canada, and Australia are impotent. Japan is at a crossroads. China, Iran, Russia, N Korea and ISIS pose threats to humanity. Do we really have to wait until the sh-t hits the fan to debate and react? What does history tell us about that approach? Total failure. If you do not make decisions, the world will make them for you. History repeats itself. History is not a straight line, it is a pattern of circles.

https://02varvara.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/b52.jpg?w=1304

I wish you guys could get J. Hawkins' feedback on the submission and these comments!

I need to see the Houngan man for help because all this stuff give me a real pain. Uhh... aayee... grrympf... The Constipation Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAzSvhioo34 You flushed me out, Rabbit!