Relevant quotes in a MAGA world

Because of MAGA (Moronic A**holes Gaslighting America) these quotes remain as relevant as ever:
“The really frightening thing about totalitarianism is … that it attacks the objective concept of truth.”
- George Orwell
“There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.” 
- Walter Lipman
“The force possessed by totalitarian propaganda … lies in its ability to shut the masses off from the real world.” 
- Hanna Arendt
 “The ideal subjects of totalitarian rule … are people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.” - Hanna Arendt
 “If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle…it’s simply too painful to acknowledge… that we’ve been taken.”  
- Carl Sagan
David A Sorensen
Duluth, Minnesota

Gun ownership comes with 
responsibilities

It is puzzling that we have been unsuccessful in reining in gun violence. This is especially perplexing considering that sensible policies for doing so are both familiar and non-threatening.
Gun ownership is a right in this country, protected by the 2^nd amendment of the constitution. We are a gun-owning nation and will continue to be one. This is not in question.
We recognize that all rights come with responsibilities and requirements. The right to vote carries with it the responsibility to register, to prove residency where you vote, and to verify – under penalty of law – citizenship and voting age. The freedoms of speech, press, and assembly are framed by laws that protect us from slander, libel, mobs and violence.

For gun safety, the most useful analogy is the “right” to drive on public highways.  While virtually everyone can exercise this right, it is not automatic. Those who aspire to drive must take training, be tested, demonstrate adequate vision, and carry insurance. Licenses to drive are subject to periodic renewal when the requirements are repeated. 

Drivers constitute a community, in which all must comply with basic principles and requirements, so that all can use public highways with reasonable safety. The tests serve to license those who are likely to be good drivers, and to withhold licenses from those who do not meet safety standards.
We should approach gun ownership with these principles in mind: requiring basic training, testing, vision and insurance. Responsible gun owners – like responsible drivers and responsible voters – must meet basic requirements, so that we can maximize safety and minimize the effects of those who are impaired or irresponsible. 

Assuring that the responsibilities of gun ownership are met will strengthen our national commitment to the right to bear arms. The best guarantee of gun ownership is improved gun safety.
Charles Gessert
Duluth, Minnesota

There are no easy solutions

No doubt Phil Anderson is knowledgeable about the many sins of the Military Industrial Complex, first warned about by President Eisenhower, but I remain skeptical about Anderson’s apparent belief that If we would just withdraw our support of Israel, and cease to aid it militantly, those two policies would be largely effective in securing peace in the middle east? And, since I have always wondered where the hatred of Jews came from, and why they have been persecuted for thousands of years – especially since all of them impress me as being just nice, family-loving people, who are of great social benefit to the United States! They have not got three heads, nor do they have sharp spears growing out of their spines. So I have never comprehended why, throughout history, they have been vilified, hated and feared, in so many ways. With that in mind, I found this short video offered by the United States Holocaust Historical Museum edifying:

https://vault.ushmm.org/adaptivemedia/rendition/id_71cea28a17063ced18ca9ae98126283432248858 
But after viewing it, I am still confused as to why Jews often became favorite scapegoats for harsh political movements, and have been shunned by religions of all kinds, all over Europe, and throughout the Middle East.
The Video can be found at this website:
https://www.ushmm.org/antisemitism/what-is-antisemitism/why-the-jews-history-of-antisemitism
So although I have great respect for Phil Anderson’s body of knowledge about the current war between Israel and Hamas, I am interested in knowing what he thinks would have happened if, after Israel was viciously attacked by Hamas, and was then completely decimated by massive amounts of weapons provided by Iran? For several days Israel could not even mount an effective defense due to the ferocity of the attacks against them. i.e. what does Anderson feel would have happened if Israel was effectively bombed into the Stone Age after its Iron Dome defense system proved painfully inadequate towards stopping those sudden and horrific attacks? So, I will leave it up to Anderson to explain how Israel’s complete demise could have benefited the world in any way.

I am all in favor of continued cease-fires and the free flow of vital food and medical supplies into Palestine and the GAZA strip, but, I completely accept the difficulty faced by Biden and other World leaders, after such a defeat, proved nothing less than a catastrophic to ourselves and all of our allies. Hamas welcomes death and committed many horrific war crimes during the first attacks, so in that sense, Isn’t it understandable why Netanyahu is so vehemently opposed to giving in to even an inch of concessions?

In reality, all Biden can do is what he has been trying to do all along-- take part in efforts to persuade Israel not to pursue such equally extreme measures, to eliminate all threats to Israel once and for all! If Netanyahu refuses to relent, or even if he does, the world will still face extreme danger unless all the people in the Near-east drop their guns, and develop a completely new attitude about the common humanity shared by every person in their region, even if Netanyahu decided to provide mercy? Do we really know if a bilateral solution would change anything at all in the long run? Will the world really benefit if the entire population of Israel were bombed out of existence, or even if a victory by Hamas, emboldened many Arabic nations to remain committed to hating Jews, the US, and Israel?

Pardon me, but it’s hard to see any real worth that the rest of the world might experience after all of Israel was reduced to a pile of smoking rubble. At this point, the lyrics of a song sung beautifully by Joan Baez offer us a bit of divine wisdom. “Heaven help the man who gives a boy a gun. Heaven help that boy when he turns 21. And heaven help the man who kicks a man who has to crawl! Heaven help us all!
Peter W. Johnson
Superior, Wisconsin