A Christmas Miracle? USA stopping a war?
by Kary Love
615 words
President Trump has “commander in chiefed” an end to the illegal US role in the war in Syria. And there are reports the Commander in Chief may order a draw down in Afghanistan, the war that keeps on giving! Knock me down with a feather! Turns out it ain’t that hard to end a war! It must be a Christmas Miracle! In the lifetime of the post 9-11 generation, the USA has started many a war, but ended nary a one. Is this a new era? Is it evidence that thisChristmas Christ may return? I do not know how else to understand it.
Of course, the usual suspects are grumbling about this, Lindsey Graham among them, but let us give Trump credit for standing up to the war profiteers and their bought and paid for apologists, peace may break out before anyone thought possible! Even the Senate has gotten into the act, moving to end the US war on Yemen fought by Saudi Arabia, a lapdog dependency if ever there was one, so the USA could pretend it was just “supplying aircraft fuel.”
Can this Christmas Miracle continue? Dare one hope it spread? Imagine, as John Lennon musically urged, no war. Impossible? That is what Christmas Miracles are all about, accomplishing the impossible.
The U.S. is officially fighting undeclared wars in seven countries, according to the White House’s latest war report, known as the “Report on the Legal and Policy Frameworks Guiding the United States’ Military Force and Related National Security Operations,” the unclassified portion admits the USA has ongoing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Niger — all under authority granted in the 2002 Authorizationfor the Use of Military Force to fight al-Qaeda-linked militants. Wouldn’t it be a miracle if all seven of these “official” wars ended over Christmas by order of President Trump?
Wouldn’t that be an amazing reaffirmation of the teachings of Christ, who told St. Peter that violence was not the answer, not even to defend Christ himself from arrest by the Romans? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful Christmas gift to all the soldiers at risk of death and disability, their families and the people of those ravaged, war torn countries? A Christmas miracle indeed!
Now that I am ramped up, why not go for the whole enchilada! Let’s end ‘em all, not just the “official” wars but all those unofficial wars as well. “We don’t know exactly where we’re at in the world, militarily, and what we’re doing,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in October 2017. That was in the wake of the combat deaths of four members of the Special Operations forces in the West African nation of Niger. Turns out the US has Special Ops forces deployed to 149 countries in 2017. Because these are “secret” not “official” wars, just like Lindsey Graham, one cannot be sure how many of these secret wars are still going on, or how many were added in 2018. It would take a Christmas Miracle just to keep track of them. Sowhy not a Christmas Miracle to end them all at one fell swoop?
Maybe it is a propitious time to end all these wars. Given the danger of a confrontation with Russia over Ukraine and China in the South Seas, where significant opponents with nuclear arsenals await, maybe the USA should stand down from the brink and embrace the Christmas Miracle. I am ashamed to admit it, but I was losing my belief in Santa Claus given the plethora of unremitting bad news. But now I am going to sit down and write Santa a letter—I am asking him for a Christmas Miracle!
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Kary Love is a Michigan attorney who has defended nuclear resisters, including some desperado nuns, in court for decades and will on occasion use blunt force satire or actual legal arguments to make a point.
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Dear Dave,
I’m almost debt-free, and I’ll be finishing my master’s degree soon. I’m not from this country, so I’ll be returning home in the next three to five years. Considering my situation, would investing in the stock market be a good idea? I’ve been reading that the market is about to crash, so I wanted to get your advice before doing anything.
Rahm
Dear Rahm,
If someone could accurately predict the stock market with certainty, that person would be a multi-bazillionaire. Right now, there are also articles out there that say the market is about to boom. There are always “glass half-full” and “glass half-empty” articles floating around. I wouldn’t avoid stock market investing based on one ridiculous article you read.
However, in your situation you may not want to invest in the stock market right now. History says you stand a fair chance of coming out with less than you put in if you don’t leave the money invested in the stock market alone for at least five years. The market cycles up, and the market cycles down. This really isn’t a big problem if you’re going to put your money in there, and leave it alone for 20 years or more. But three to five years? The historical data says you’ve got a reasonable chance of actually losing money.
So, I probably wouldn’t invest if you’re going to be gone in five years or less. Instead, when you’re settled and have a career in your home country, I’d advise looking into how you can invest there. You might even want to do some research, and find out if you can begin investing there now.
—Dave
(Designate a percentage)
Word count: 250
Dear Dave,
I’m debt-free except for my home, and I have a small business with revenues of around $100,000 annually. About half of that is profit, and I typically pay myself 40 percent of the bi-weekly revenue. I’m in the media business, and I need to upgrade some equipment. At what point do I put back a little more money, or pay myself a little less, to make this happen?
Luke
Dear Luke,
I know what you mean, man. We’re in the media business, too, and around my office it seems like we buy more and newer technology every day. Really, it’s like a black hole. You could throw money into it the rest of your life, because practically the very moment you open the box it’s obsolete.
We finally decided to designate a percentage of our revenues to equipment replacement. Something is always being replaced, but this way we’ve got a limit and we’ve got something set aside to make our technology needs happen. It’s like the envelope system. If the envelope’s empty, we have to stop buying and put off whatever it is until the cash is available again.
I hope this helps!
—Dave
* Dave Ramsey is CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven best-selling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 14 million listeners each week on 600 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow Dave on the web at daveramsey.com and on Twitter at @DaveRamsey.
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