Stop Saying It

There are two phrases that need to be eliminated from the political vocabulary.

1. "Hearts and prayers" especially after a school shooting-- meaningless claptrap. Those who say it go home to their families and do nothing to stop another shooting. Their hearts stay in their bodies and since God has no vote in Congress, guns continue to proliferate.

2. "Israel has the right to defend itself." Those words mean that no matter what led up to any attack on Israel, the history of the region is ignored. Yes, those  1,000+ people killed on October 7th, was a horrible thing...but there is no balance to the 40,000+ killed in Gaza. The people there already suffered under Israeli occupation. Hamas was created as a result of what Israel was doing. 

October 7th does not justify attacking two other countries, killing more. If Israel has the right to defend itself, Lebanon and Iran have the right to defend themselves too. 

Unfortunately, as each country "defends itself" too many innocent people die and no one, no one, no one in those countries are safe.

The solution is for all the countries in the world to stop supplying weapons from bullets to bombs to any country in the area. Of course, that won't happen. 

So far, the only winners in hearts and prayers and the defend itself crowd are the gun and other weapon manufacturers.