On politics and terrorism and our thin blue line

Oh what a week it has been.

Donald Trump and Ben Carson are now neck and neck at the head of the Republican primary pack. And CNN has reevaluated its criteria which may allow Carly Fiorina to join the crowded debate stage on September 16.

That three political outsiders have risen so strongly in the polls gives proof of the peoples’ disgust with establishment Washington. Carefully calibrated positions, politically correct formulations, and raw hypocrisy have left the voters deeply disgusted. So candidates who speak obvious truths (among Mr. Trump’s wild exaggerations) without submitting to the verbal constraints demanded by the liberal elite are eagerly embraced.

For instance, there is a political cartoon currently making the rounds on social media illustrating this point. It depicts a puzzled  President Obama on a “Wheel of Fortune” set asking the host, “Gee Pat – I don’t have a clue… workplace violence?  Armed insurgency? Can I buy a vowel?” The game board displays “_SLAM_C  TERROR_SM,” and the caption reads “And it’s even his favorite vowel.”

Why does this strike home? Because everyone knows that the horrors perpetrated by the Islamic State and Boko Haram are rooted in their Islamic beliefs, twisted as they may be. We know it. President Obama knows it. But he will not bring himself to say the words. That is deeply distressing to the populace who desire a clear identification of our adversary and what motivates them. Somehow, we hope, Trump and Carson and Fiorina will not be afraid to name the enemy.

Meanwhile, the Hillary Clinton private email server story will just not go away. Seven thousand more of her emails released by the State Department contained significant redactions. Redactions (black outs) of text indicate that the text is sensitive. Arguments are swirling whether she committed a crime by not using a federal email account. Yes. No. Perhaps. Or, possibly, only technically a crime.

Here are a few questions for you. Why did her email server share an IP address and SSL certificate with the Clinton Foundation’s email server? Was her server STIGed to federal security standards? Why did Mrs. Clinton wipe her server and submit the emails to the State Department as a pile of printed documents? Why are we not privy to the email metadata? (For those confused by the forgoing, ask your son-in-law in IT or any high schooler to research it for you).

There is one thing for certain. Wall Street banks, dogged by populists such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, would not get away with providing printed copies of email to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC would assert that the missing metadata was material, and that printed emails were subject to undetectable alteration. The regulatory response would be swift,  harsh, and the fines quite steep.

In other topics, there has been a deeply disturbing trend playing out. Consider this:

Charles Gliniewicz

Darren Goforth

Henry Nelson

Steven Vincent

Carl Howell

Sean Bolton

Scott Lunger

Sonny Kim

These are all police officers who have been killed by gunfire in the past few months. One in particular, Goforth, killed in cold blood, ambushed. Officers dead. Families bereft. Kids fatherless. It is hard to appreciate the depth of the loss.

But not less, the loss to their communities. These officers were sworn to serve and protect. In their absence, their communities are less safe. It is difficult to understand the mindset of activists and protesters who carry signs proclaiming “Police are the Enemy.”

What a twisted worldview.

Yes, there are some bad cops. There are bad teachers and doctors and baseball players too. But we don’t paint them all with the same brush. Unfortunately, the debate in this country as of late has done just that.

The vast majority of police officers are honest and fair. Their job is incredibly difficult. They never know, when encountering a subject, whether that is an upstanding citizen such as yourself or a psychopathic criminal. The danger is palpable, their precautions understandable.

Here is a bit of advice. Never argue with a police officer. Comply with his or her directives. If you feel you are being treated unfairly, lodge a complaint later with his superiors or with a judge. So many tragedies, almost all of them, could have been avoided.

In closing, it is now September. The shadows are growing longer, the days shorter. Take a deep breath and enjoy this late bit of summer. Politics and civil strife and global terrorism will wait until tomorrow.