Don's Tuesday Column

                THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   12/27/2016

                With Christmas Good comes Evil

           Thought for December 24: "Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." - The Rev. Norman Vincent Peale (born 1898, died Dec 24, 1993). On Christmas Eve, it comforted this writer that some uplifting thoughts of the Christmas Season have been found on this page, particularly by fellow-columnist, Joe Harrop. I can only hope for “peace on earth and good will to all people” as it seems there is scant evidence that the message of peace and hope for all is taking root.

            Some historical events can inform both sides of the ledger: Lasting peace began on Dec. 24, 1914, as the War of 1812 ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The peace and alliance (with Britain) has served the free, English-speaking people of the world in times of calm as well as war.

             “Silent Night,” the quintessential Christmas hymn, was composed by Franz Joseph Gruber on December 24, 1818. In 1914, during World War I, impromptu Christmas truces took hold along parts of the Western front between British and German soldiers. The killing then resumed.

            In 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve telecast. Absent a religious renewal and “Awakening” as has occurred numerous times in American history, I feel sad that it is unlikely—given the anti-God animosity directed at all things Christian—that we will have another such recognition of the primacy of our Judeo-Christian heritage.

            Perhaps illustrating the futility of the Biblical “Peace, peace (they cry), but there is no peace,” in 1939 Pope Pius XII delivered a Christmas Eve address in which he offered a five-point program for peace and denounced “premeditated aggressions.”

           The “evil” side of the ledger has a plethora of entries, among which is that the Ku Klux Klan was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee on December 24, 1865. Perhaps illustrating that racism dwells in the hearts of black as well as white people, recent years have seen an upsurge of attacks on white people by black men who told their victims that race (and perceived support for Donald Trump) prompted their hateful violence. Returning evil for evil makes not a good act.

           The evil that resides in the hearts of some followers of Islam toward Christianity and Christians is found throughout the Middle East and Europe. Headlines attest to the fact of such Islamic hatred in America as the FBI stated “ISIS urging attacks on Holiday Gatherings, Churches…” Also, “Jihadist Searched for Midnight Masses in Arizona…”

We have now seen how evil in the hearts of a minority of political advocates reduces their (progressive, Hillary-supporting) fanaticism to threats directed at members of the Electoral College. “The age of Obama will be remembered for the grotesque perversion of law. The latest example is Justice Department and FBI inaction when it comes to death threats to members of the Electoral College who were voting for Donald Trump. Prior to their vote this week, members of the Electoral College received death threats by phone and email. Transmitting death threats via interstate communications is a federal felony punishable by up to five years in prison. (18 U.S.C. 875(c), J. Christian Adams on Fox News)

“Hans von Spakovsky has also argued convincingly that the Voting Rights Act, Section 11, makes it a crime to threaten to kill members of the Electoral College. Section 11 was the same statute that we used to bring a case against the New Black Panther Party for intimidation when they stalked a polling place with a weapon in Philadelphia. (The case dropped by AG Holder)

“Obviously, the Obama administration’s approach to Section 11 enforcement is determined by who the accused are and how they view the protected class. In the case of the New Black Panthers, just as in the case of Trump electors receiving death threats, the Obama DOJ lawyers apparently don’t think the statute has much reach. As the president told a crowd, his administration is about hurting enemies and helping friends.” That, readers, is politically evil.

It’s an example of the banality of evil for Obama’s UN representative, Samantha Powers, to facilitate an anti-Israel motion condemning settlements on land it acquired through Israel’s victory over Arab enemies in the unprovoked 1967 war. For all of recorded history have the spoils gone to the victor. Because the international community basically hates the religiously free, self-governing State of Israel, measures that convey punishment and condemnation are favored.

Andrew McCarthy wrote, “Barack Obama’s Betrayal of Israel is a Black Day for American Diplomacy. It is a disgraceful legacy of Barack Obama that his obsession over settlements and antipathy toward Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu—traits he shares with his old radical comrade Rashid Khalidi—have made the already dim prospects for peace far more remote…Thus the unending pattern that the U.S. and western European powers cravenly refuse to address: Islamic factions and nations are free to reserve the right to eradicate Israel, but Israel must pretend the aggression never happened and the continuing threat does not exist.”

Cartoonist Michael Ramirez packs a lot into his drawings. For instance, one titled “Santa Obama’s legacy” shows Obama in a Santa suit, saying “Ho! Ho! Ho! He’s looking over opened boxes with “gifts”: A skull labeled ISIS, a skunk labeled “Foreign Policy,” a varmint labeled Terror, a “Bill for $20 Trillion,” a tiny dumbbell labeled “Weak America,” a box filled with “World Chaos,” an empty first aid kit labeled “Obamacare,” wreaths labeled “Race, Division and Social Unrest,” a literal “Pink Slip,” and an ugly sweater labeled “Stagnant Economy.” A child sits among his “gifts” with a look of shock on his little face.