THE RUSSIAN BUSH

In my opinion, Vladamir Putin is the Russian's George W. Bush, and he doesn't do nuance either.  His country not only contains a very large population of Moslems, but its southern border consists mostly of countries with a majority of Sunni Moslems within them. Putin, however, for some reason, has taken the side of Shia, or Shia-like sects, in Syria.  He already has begun bombing Sunni's who are not allied with ISIL.  As was the case with W., Putin has become involved in a war, voluntarily, with people who can cause him great harm.  Lotsa Luck, fella.

RESOLVING OUR MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Republicans, constrained as they are by Grover Nordquist's pledge, not to raise taxes, and House Rules, that make it mandatory to offset costs of new programs with cuts in old ones (except for tax cuts for the wealthy),  have come up with a unique way to do something about the need to increase funding for mental health care. They propose a large tax cut for the wealthy, with which they will be asked to voluntarily donate, a part of, to mental health care institutions.  See how easy it is to take care of the nation's needs!

PUTIN THE PATZER

Republicans praise Vladamir Putin for his manliness, as proven by his beefcake photos, and, recently, as a fine chess player, as proven by his moves on the international stage.

People who know chess know better.  His moves in the Ukraine qualify him as a "patzer", the lowliest designation for a chess player.  Prior to fomenting a separatist movement, Putin, with a large Russian speaking population within Ukranian borders, was a major player in Ukranian politics, as proven by the fact that he had a most sympathetic compadre in the office of President of the Ukraine until he was ousted from power for corruption.  Putin's reaction to retaliate by force was a blunder no good chess player would have ever made.  He sacrificed his Queen for a handful of pawns.  Sure he has a little more territory and  some more mouths to feed but he lost his strong position in Ukrainian politics in the exchange.

In any event, I, personally, do believe that playing a linear game like chess does not convey any special ability in a decidedly non-linear world.  Better to teach your kids Chaos Theory.

USURPING CONGRESSIONAL PERQUISITES

Although Obama has issued less Executive Orders, to date, than his predecessor George W. Bush, Congressional Republicans are up in arms about what they consider unconstitutional intrusions on the power of Congress.  When it is pointed out to the that they can, at any time, pass legislation to nullify Executive Orders, they are further infuriated as Obama should know that that would infringe on their holiday time, another unconstitutional usurpation of Congressional perquisites.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST GUN CONTROL

As far as I can see there are three (3) basic arguments being made by anti gun control Republicans and the N.R.A:

1. The problem is that there are not enough guns in possession of the people.  If every one had a gun, to defend themselves, there would be no massacres.  The problem is that there is a historical record, in the U.S., which completely disproves this contention.  In the newly acquired Western territories of the U.S., guns were ubiquitous and problems of violence were rampant.  In many instances town or city marshals were appointed to temporarily confiscate all guns at the town or city line as being the only way to keep the peace.  To my knowledge no case was ever brought before the Supreme Court to determine the constitutionality of the confiscations. Perhaps it was because there was no N.R.A., or rather judges, in those times, had a different concept of what a "Well regulated militia" meant.  In any event, in the U.S., we have been there, done that.  
2. Gun regulations and laws will be ignored by criminals so it is futile to have them.  It follows from that, since scofflaws will go through red lights, they should be abolished.  Likewise, since many people commit traffic infractions, let's get rid of all traffic laws.  Think how entertaining a trip to the supermarket will become with no traffic regulations.
3. Stuff happens.  There is no need to act rashly.  What's the rush? Yes, mass murders are becoming more frequent but a few more deaths of our children are no reason to be stampeded into something that has been going on all these years.

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

The seemingly philosophical divide between Pro-Life advocates who are also anti-gun control has been, recently reconciled. According to what I have learned, many of those that are anti abortion consider that killing a fetus is a complete waste.  That fetus could grow, in a relatively short time, into a fine target for those interested in school massacres, a growing pass time for gun hobbyists.

"LACKING THE WHEREWITHAL TO ADAPT TO THE TECHNOLOGY"

Tens of millions of bison that once roamed the Great Plains were reduced to a mere handful because they lacked the wherewithal to adapt to the technology of firearms.  Likewise billions of passenger pigeons, once the most numerous of avian species in North America, became extinct because they too were unable to cope with the same technology.  Each could only be slaughtered without being able to change to meet the challenge.

In a like manner, the human species seem to unable to act for change as they are, almost daily, led to the slaughter by the same technology.

To be fair, however, scientist say that it is only a subset, that calls itself "Americans", of the species, have the problem of being immobilized, like deer being caught in the headlights of an automobile, and unable to act.  Other subsets of the human species are able to take action therefore the problem is self-limiting.  As the American subset becomes more and more debilitated and decimated,  other subsets will colonize the lands, and will able to put the remnants of  the American subset onto reservations, taking away their guns, of course, so they won't harm themselves.  They will have to be very vigilant that the Americans don't get their hands on guns, again, and start killing themselves off  once more. Perhaps they may have to put them in zoos rather than reservations.