Epstein’s demise in a jail cell has its upside

Jeffrey Epstein knew he would lose his criminal trial for sexually abusing young girls so he hanged himself. This was the best solution for everyone and saves a lot of money for us taxpayers. Now those harmed can go after his millions in civil lawsuits.

Monsoon? That’s no monsoon, that’s just the news playing out

No need to panic and run for the storm shelter. That gale you hear roaring through the trees is not a tornado or hurricane, it’s just the huge sigh of relief being expelled by the many rich and powerful men who participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s under-aged fun and games and abuse.

We’ll need to apply common sense to solve gun-violence problem

I hope Arizona enacts the red-flag law that allows authorities to remove weapons from people who are deemed harmful to themselves or others. This is personal to me.

I was a police officer in Minnesota and responded to a person making threats involving weapons. When I took the suspect into custody, I literally filled the back seat of my cruiser with weapons. Well the courts ordered them returned. Later that year this person took one of these weapons, a .45, and went to a restaurant and emptied his clip into a woman he had never met.

This young woman had just been assisted at a church Christmas program. She died at the table where she was eating. This is not a Second Amendment issue, but common sense.

Aiding and abetting the angry anti-social people in our midst

I am sick of hearing that mass shootings are the product of the mentally ill. These people are not mentally ill. They are in full control of their faculties. They know exactly what they are doing and the consequences of their acts.

For the most part they show no signs of delusional behavior and do not have any history of mental disorders. They are angry and do not exercise the level of self-control expected of all of us.

They are the kind of person you could find in many places or online pontificating on “what is wrong with this country” and how it is to be blamed on minorities, elites and the educated.

They made a decision not to listen to any voices of reason. They made a decision to be angry. They made a decision to acquire a firearm and tons of ammo.

They made a decision to walk into a school, place of worship, store, office building, etc., and to start indiscriminately pulling the trigger.

The firearm they used has the power they always wanted but that escaped them in their miserable narrow lives.

They made a choice and society continues to make it easy.

The echoes of terrible history in our border detention centers

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”

This was written by an observer of the latest ICE raids, right? Wrong!

This was written by Anne Frank in her diary entry of January 13, 1943. Sit with the similarities for a minute. How can we stay silent and allow this to continue? That question was asked about Germany, too. The Germans, if they even knew what was happening, could not say a word for fear of death.

We know, and we can speak out. There must be a more humane way to deal with the immigration problems we’re facing. I am not advocating open borders, abolishing ICE or letting tons of people in without regard to the legal vetting process. But this inhumanity must stop. It stops by citizens who no longer stand by in silence and let it happen. It stops when congressmen and senators hold the president to account for his hate-filled rhetoric.

The infestation we should be fearing is not immigrants — it’s hate and bigotry that spawn mass round-ups and mass shootings.

Please speak up!