Home News 3 Stories You Should Read 1/03/2019: Iran,  James “TJ” Stevens, Bill Gates

3 Stories You Should Read 1/03/2019: Iran,  James “TJ” Stevens, Bill Gates

by Confluence
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In the category of:  Wind up the war machine

Trump’s huge Iran gamble will have lasting impact

Starting right now, and given Iran’s easy access to soft targets, the Middle East and even Europe suddenly look a lot less safe for Americans, including US troops Trump may be even more tempted to haul home.
 
Two days into his re-election year, Trump — who rails against Middle Eastern entanglements — has plunged the United States into another one, with vast and unknown consequences. It challenges a presidency that is already alienating half of his country, following his impeachment and unrestrained behavior in office. Trump may find it impossible to rally the nation behind him to weather the crisis. He has also scrambled strategic and moral expectations of the United States — ordering the killing of a senior foreign leader of a nation with whom the US is not formally at war — albeit an official regarded by Washington as a terrorist.
 
 
The reverberations of his act on Thursday will last for years.
 
 
 
 
 
 

In the category of:   Dark corners

‘The Rage Of Evil’ Delves Into The Mind Of A School Shooter

A new RYOT/HuffPost short documentary revisits a 1982 incident in which a young man entered a school determined to shoot others and himself.

On Nov. 10, 1982, James “TJ” Stevens entered Lake Braddock Secondary School in Fairfax County, Virginia, with a high-powered hunting rifle. The then-18-year-old had one goal in mind: to shoot people inside the school and then shoot himself. 

No one died that day, but Stevens did hold 10 people hostage inside the school for nearly 21 hours. After serving two and a half years of a four-and-a-half-year sentence, Stevens went on to join the workforce, get married and have children. His story is told in “The Rage of Evil: Thoughts From a Former School Shooter,” a new RYOT/HuffPost short documentary, which can be seen in its entirety above.

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In the category of:  Makes sense

Bill Gates calls for higher taxes on the rich

“Very wealthy people often have large investments they’ve held for long periods, and if those investments aren’t sold or traded, that money is never taxed,” Gates wrote in a blog post. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Capital gains taxes should go up too, “probably to the same level as” ordinary income, he said. The estate tax should be hiked, and loopholes used to duck it ought to be shut down. People should also pay more on “carried interest,” Gates said.

He also called for higher state taxes, including the creation of an income tax in his home state of Washington.

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