News

Everyone has opinions, and it seems that the opinions are constantly changing. As this tumultuous election season in the United States unfolds, we see the candidates relying on opinion polls to guide their strategy as they verbally thrust and parry, trying to best their opponents. Huge amounts of money are being spent to gauge the likes and dislikes, beliefs, frustrations and irritants as pollsters try to determine the mood and desires of the voting public. Political candidates, consultants and pundits use the statistical data to determine the “hot button” issues of their voting blocks.

The world is fraught with dangers of every description: robberies, murders, rapes and assaults occur in every venue, whether school classrooms and hallways, places of work, store parking lots, sidewalks, highways or homes. We all need a protective shield.

“The German 18-year-old who killed nine people at a Munich shopping centre on Friday night was obsessed with mass killings, owned a book on US school shootings and played computer shooting games. Most of his victims were fellow teenagers” (The Guardian, July 24, 2016).

“Following Brexit, the question of ‘what is Britain’s role in the world?’ has come into sharper focus than at any time for decades’” (The Telegraph, July 20, 2016).

According to a recent UN report, “Almost a quarter of a million children in parts of Nigeria’s Borno state formerly controlled by Boko Haram are suffering from severe malnutrition, the UN children’s agency says” (BBC, July 19, 2016). The report continues, “In areas where Boko Haram militants had been in control, it found people without water, food or sanitation. Last month, a charity said people fleeing Boko Haram had starved to death” (ibid.).