Category Archives: Guns

"New Normal"?, 47, Activism, Aftermath, Antiwar activism, Arts: Storytelling, Catholics & Catholicism, Coup, Current Affairs, DEI, Guns, Hard-Core Quaker, Libraries & Archives, Minority Rule, Novels & other Fiction, Peacework, Project 2025, Quakers, Russia, Vietnam, War & Peace

EXCLUSIVE: A Leaked View of the “Afterlife” of the U. S. Institute of Peace

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March  22, 2025

From confidential Washington sources, the following excerpt is drawn from an account of the aftermath of the March 17 seizure and closing of the U. S. Institute of Peace, by armed agents of the DOGE administration. The account has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Brief Encounter at 2301

Mid-March, 2025, on the edge of the National Mall, not far from the Vietnam War Memorials.

It was almost break time, the leftover dinner pizza was hours cold, and Hennigan thought he heard something.

Standing up from the desk chair, he closed the Security Inc. employee handbook, which was making him drowsy anyway, and peered across the open atrium: first left, then right, following the protocol.

Everything seemed in order: several tiers of closed offices rose or each side. Lights were dim. Nothing moving.

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“New Normal”, Black & White & Other Colors, Civil War, France, Guns, Other War Notes, Police Reform, Racism, Revolution, Signs of the Times, Slavery

Dyer: Police Killings & Trouble In France

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Violence in France

On Saturday, the fifth day of violent protests all over France against the police killing of an unarmed teenager,, the daily arrests dropped below 1,000 for the first time – but the violence became even more extreme.

By Gwynne Dyer, in Opinion — July 4 2023

Nahel Merzouk, shot by a French policeman


In L’Haÿ-les-Roses, a southern suburb of Paris, protesters rammed a stolen car through the gates of the mayor’s home shortly after midnight, and then set the vehicle on fire so that the blaze would spread to the house.

The mayor, Vincent Jeanbrun, was still at his office trying to deal with the situation, but his wife, Melanie Nowak, and their two children aged five and seven were in the house.

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Catholics & Catholicism, Francis & Catholics, Guns, Putin, Religious Issues & Conflicts, Remarkable People, Russia, Ukraine, War & Peace, War Notes, Zelenskyy

Pope Francis and his “Secret” Ukraine Peace Mission

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[NOTE: For very orthodox Catholics, the Church is at the center of history, and the Vatican  is at the center of the Church. Hence if there is some major disturbance, such as war, the Church “naturally” should have a role in ending it and repairing the damage.

But on the battlefield, it is fighting that counts: victory, defeat, stalemate — the outcome depends on weapons, valor, leadership, stamina, and, sometimes luck.  Churches come later, unless their leaders bring tanks and drones.

Thus Pope Francis, despite all the to-ing and fro-ing recounted here, is shown to be essentially a bystander, and whether he and his diplomats will have any actual role in hastening the war’s end is by no means clear.

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Central America, Guns, Guns & Long Guns, Guns & More Guns, Mass killings, Serbia, Signs of the Times, Terror and Terrorism

Gwynne Dyer on Mass Shootings

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Here’s how to sound wise when writing a story about mass killings and gun control. Last week saw two such massacres in Serbia (eight deaths and nine deaths respectively) and only one in the United States (eight killed in a mall in Allen, Texas).

By Gwynne Dyer, in Opinion · May 8, 2023

There was another mass killing in Texas on Saturday in the border city of Brownsville, but it was by car, so it doesn’t count. Never mind. We still have enough to work with.

Start with striking quotes from the relevant authorities. “We walked around like zombies for 24 hours, not believing what has happened and looking for reasons,” said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who began his political career as a far-right Serbian nationalist during the Yugoslav civil wars.

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“New Normal”, Accountability?, Current Affairs, Fire This Time, Guns, Guns & Long Guns, Guns & More Guns, Justice?, Religious Issues & Conflicts, Sacred, Supreme & Other Courts, Terror and Terrorism

Supremes & Guns & Kids: Our Unholy Trinity

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[NOTE: When it comes to religion, history—and in this case the now established American historical religion of guns — for my money, Garry Wills is one of the best writers of his generation . And when Wills draws a bead with a pen his aim is generally true. As it is here.]

New York Review of Books

The Court Kills
Garry Wills — April 4, 2023

Why do we slaughter our own children? Because the Supreme Court condones it.

We are the disgrace of nations because we can’t stop killing our children—along, of course, with their teachers, relatives, and innocent bystanders. We don’t even seem to want to stop doing it, not effectively, at any rate. We say we should, but we don’t. We just can’t. We are worse than the drunk who says he should stop drinking but doesn’t. At least drinking is (or was) pleasant in its early stages. But how can killing be pleasant at first? Continue reading Supremes & Guns & Kids: Our Unholy Trinity →