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WASHINGTON (Analysis) — Far right-wing theocratic fascism has crept into the halls of the United States government. It now permeates the often unstated agendas of certain politicians and officials, whose Christian dogma demands that they act to make the United States a bastion for like-minded souls — meaning only those souls ardently worshiping the same God, for the same reasons, and in the same manner as they do. Everyone else is, for all intents and purposes, the enemy.

John McCain, center, speaks as Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, second left, and Opposition leader Oleh Tyahnybok, right, stand around him during a rally in Kiev, Ukraine, Dec. 15, 2013. (AP/Dmitry Lovetsky)

GAZA — The Gaza Strip — one of the most densely populated areas in the world and often referred to as an open-air prison — rarely makes headlines nowadays, despite a situation there that is becoming increasingly dire for local Palestinians.

A man watches a television screen showing President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 10, 2017. (AP/Ahn Young-joon)

People walk by a TV screen showing a local news program reporting with an image of U.S. President Donald Trump at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 9, 2017. (AP/Lee Jin-man)
Like some demonic Hollywood director, President Trump keeps finding new ways to make us jump out of our seats, just when we think we’ve seen everything. On Tuesday, he outdid himself by twice pledging to meet any further North Korean threats to the United States “with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper applauds as he delivers his annual State of the State address in Denver. Dissatisfied with Democratic fortunes in the Trump era, a group of prominent Democrats is forming an organization outside the formal party structure with the goal of winning again in Republican-dominated middle America. Calling itself “New Democracy.” (AP/Brennan Linsley)
Published in partnership with Shadowproof.

Inmates from Sacramento County await processing after arriving at the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, Calif. (AP Photo)
KANSAS (Analysis)– For a nation lauding itself as the “land of the free,” the United States certainly maintains a remarkable number of laws criminalizing activities most would consider part of their daily lives. From kids penalized for setting up a lemonade stand to the prohibition of cannabis, seemingly everything Americans do has attached to it a law, license, permit, or regulation, as well as a consequent penalty.

A Kurdistan separatist fighter waits at his position near Degala, Iraq. Oct. 16, 1996 during fighting between rival Kurdish factions. (AP/Burhan Ozbilici)

A Colt M4 rifle and a button that reads “I Vote – Proud Washington Gun Owner.”
OPINION — In my lifetime ‘gun control’ has become as explosive as any political issue in this country can be. To my mind, all we need to do to settle that issue once and for all is to read the Second Amendment and do what it says.
Here it is: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”