Watching the evening news about the horrible events in Belgium today. Aside from sadness -which I definitely feel – I’m at a loss as to how to stop it. They are talking about paying more attention to people carrying Belgium passports. The vast majority of Belgians – and Syrians – and young men here at home – are not terrorists. That’s one of the problems here – there really no way to guess who might be radicalized….Poor Brussels. A beautiful city. Karen Amy on facebook

Thinking out loud, it seems to me that our first priority should be make no more terrorists. Then we should protect our borders, and track down the terrorists that are here. I realize that those are both overlapping and conflicting goals and I have almost no idea how to reconcile and accomplish any of it.

I do know that when ISIS tells Belgium, “We bombed you in retaliation for you bombing us”, it is probably worth thinking about. I do know that Trump is making things worse, and, additionally, that his scapegoating is scary not just to Muslims and Mexicans, but to everybody.

I do know that He who defends everything, defends nothing. which has been attributed to  Frederick The Great of Prussia, is still true. If we have a million people on a watch list, we are not really watching anybody. That is why people on the watch list can still kill people at a Christmas Party in San Bernardino.

I also know that saying we are at war is wrong. These are criminals, thugs, and have to be treated as criminals. If some young man goes to Syria and comes back, saying he is sorry, he should be charged as aiding the enemy and put in jail. Armies are not going to solve this as fast as good policing.

Poor Brussels…and poor  Raqqa. Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, John Dunn