 May the 25th, 2022. Welcome to American Issues Take One. I'm Tim Apachele, your host. And today's topic is Biden's firm military support for Taiwan. But before we get to that topic, we have to go around the table and we have to discuss, unfortunately, the Rob elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Before I do that, I'd like to introduce our guests. Today we have as my co-host, Jay Fidel, our special special guest, Kimmy Eda Foster, attorney at law. And of course, as always, Cynthia, Lee Sinclair. Hey, good morning everyone. Morning Tim. Good morning. You know, before I go to you guys, I'm going to just throw out a few statistics here. I hate to do it, but we've been desensitized to all these shootings and sometimes it's important to remember what's going on. So between 1999 and 2022 with the Rob elementary shooting here up 21, 19 children and two adults, we've had shootings that have taken the lives 169 children and educators. And that constitutes 14 mass shootings in schools of one type or another. You know, we started off in 1999 with Colobine, Colorado, 13. And by mid, you know, mid 2015, we had a Pilschek High School, Parkland, Florida, 17, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 17 with Rob elementary 21 and the list just keeps on going. And so I'm going to ask Jay, my co-host, you first, your thoughts on where we're at, the, the, the log jam of why nothing gets done. And that seems to be the, the popular refrain. Nothing's getting done. Your thoughts, Jay. My three thoughts I'd like to share with you, Tim. The first is this book called Betrayal by Irish Appuro. It's a study of Mitch McConnell. And it tells you on no uncertain terms that he is without a conscience and without any care for the country. And for some reason he has influenced the United States Senate for a long time already, not to do anything about this and a number of other issues that we should be addressing crisis issues. And it's, if you had to lay it on one doorstep, it would be Mitch McConnell. The second point, that's a very readable book, a worthwhile book, I recommend it. The second point I want to make is about the media. You know, in the minds of these shooters, as they're, you know, planning and doing their deeds, they're thinking about how they're gonna be famous, how they're gonna leave a legacy. And I believe that's true, even though they're about to die, a lot of them like yesterday. But at the same time, I think part of it is they ideate in their minds this legacy and the legacy is filled with television. It's filled with news media. You know, giving them the legacy, popularizing them, you know, Bonnie and Clyde kind of thing, which is my third point. So I'd say that if the, and Cynthia has made this point in the past, if we just shut them down, if we didn't talk about them, like we shouldn't talk about Trump, we would probably reduce the level of the wanton violence in schools. The third point, and it goes to Bonnie and Clyde, is the certain strain in the American culture that extols violence. But I'll go further. And people like it. They want it. It's a kind of, you know, it's reverse heroism of sorts, folk heroes. But there's another thing too, in human history, I wish we had a, you know, a PhD history, excuse me, you're not a PhD history person, right? Oh, okay. God, no. Yeah. If we had a history person right here, and we could ask him this question, the question is, it's really funny how evilness is part of the human experience. There are those that gravitate toward anything you could, you know, it evil. That's what it is. It's wicked evil. It's part of the human experience. And this is somehow also part of the human experience. What I can't tell you, and I'll stop right now, what I can't tell you is why it happens so much in this country. I can't tell you that. Well, I can do as late at the feet of Mitch McConnell. All right, thank you, Jay. Kimmy, I'd like to get your thoughts on this topic, either about Rob Elementary School or any of the shootings that have taken place in Buffalo or wherever. Go ahead. Yeah. I know we were talking about this before, but I was in fifth or sixth grade when Columbine happened, and it was a shock. We got pulled out of school because they were afraid of copycat shooters. The nation went into mourning. Everyone didn't, you know, how could this possibly happen? 23 years later, there's, I think there's now what, 19 children dead? I think the death toll is still rising. And just the hypocrisy and inability of people to say things like, well, there's just nothing we can do. Like, you know, we're second amendment rights, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, you can absolutely do something about this. We have no gun control. Like we were talking about earlier in the show today, is like what drives me the most nuts at this exact moment in time is that the Venn diagram of people that were screaming last week about protecting children and protecting the unborn and the Venn diagram of people that are saying, well, there's nothing we can do. We have to protect gun rights is a circle. Like that is just driving me absolutely crazy because it's like, I saw this thing on the internet today. It was like, well, we should probably thank our elementary school children for their sacrifice for touching our second amendment rights. And it's like, this is disgusting. This is absolutely disgusting that we've gotten here as a country. And I completely agree with you, Jay, that you can lay this image McConnell's feet. Even yesterday, his whole response was, oh, our thoughts and prayers are with the family. Nothing about gun reform, nothing about reducing contributions to NRA, nothing about that. And it's like, this is just gonna keep happening because all you want is the money in real action. And it's, ugh. All right. Thank you. I just wanna go to the term that we often use and that is the word gun control. So many things are important because they become ingrained in our definition and once something's defined, that's how we start to treat it. And the word gun control is maybe a term that we ought to change because control means, oh, you're gonna take away my guns. You're controlling my right to ownership of guns. So maybe it's time for new semantics and new definitions to get away from the 30-year debate or an argument about gun control. So we'll see. Cynthia, I'd like to go to you for your thoughts on what's occurred here and get your perspective, please. My heart is broken because there's no excuse. And I disagree with Jay in the sense that Mitch McConnell isn't the only one. I've got a list right here. Mitt Romney. These are all GOP senators I'm gonna list here. From the NRA got 13,647,676. Colors from the NRA. Richard Burr in North Carolina, 6 million. I'm not gonna give you all the specific numbers afterwards but almost 7 million. Roy Blunt in Missouri, 4 million. Tom Tillis, 4 million. Corey Gardner, 3 million. Well, that's 4 million too. It's only like two away from 4 million. St. Marco Rubio in Florida, 3 million. Joni Ernst, 3 million. Rob Portman, 3 million. And that is not the full list, okay? That's just the beginning. So after good old Governor Abbott found out that those kids were killed, you know what he did? Went to a fundraiser that night. Of course, now he says, oh, I only stayed a minute. It was just to tell him I wasn't gonna be able to be there. So that could have done with a phone call. And then I watched them sit up there and pat each other on the backs. Every single one of those Republican legislators from Texas, Ted Cruz standing there in the middle, Mr. NRA himself, right? All so that they can uphold a second amendment that was a flawed amendment to begin with back in the, what was 1700s, was it Riddwell? 1780, something I think is when it was Riddwell? Okay, and that was for muskets, for people to be involved in a militia. Not your average Joe Blow who has a problem with drugs or whatever, who has a problem with mental illness that isn't being approached to be able, this 18-year-old walked into a gun store and bought a gun on his 18th birthday, which was seven days prior to when he shot everything up. So Texas' great idea on how to stop it. More guns, let's put more guns in the schools. Well, there was an armed officer, resource officer on site that stopped this guy before he went in but didn't shoot him, didn't pull his gun and say, hey, tell me who you are and where you're going with that long gun. No, he didn't. So what good are those? None of that is good. We need to change the laws like Jay says, like President Biden said, okay, and then I'm gonna tell you one more and then I'll stop, I'm sorry. But if I get mad, then I won't cry. Otherwise I'll just fall right down crying and I won't be able to get through the rest of the show. Actually two things, sorry. There are talking points that come out of the NRA and Greg Abbott sat up there and said every single one of them during his little press conference, thoughts and prayers couldn't be presented. Good guy with a gun can stop them. Mental health, when purpose white, it must be white supremacy or it must be mental health at that point. See, too soon to be political. Dem's gonna grab guns and that it's a false flag. These are the kinds of things that they are so set on saying. And here we have Representative Randy Fine after President Biden came out and said, when is this gonna stop? What are we gonna do? We got to do something. And he says, I have news for the embarrassment that claims to be our president. Try to take our guns and you'll learn why the Second Amendment was written in the first place. Now if you ask me, that's a threat on our president and the FBI should be knocking on that guy's door. All right, thank you Cynthia. Before we go on to the next topic, just a couple of quick facts. At 2018, there's over 400 million guns in this country. As far as background checks, 90% of Americans think it's appropriate to have background checks. You never see these kind of numbers. And last but not least, Citizens United has done more to fund not only the GOP, but also Democrats as far as supporting no legislation on gun reform. And I won't use the word gun control because we're gonna try to get away from that word. All right. I have to add one thing, Tim. Go ahead. Last night, there was this thing about them. I guess it was about China on PBSOI. And it was about China and the pandemic of the World War I time. And there was a sign one woman was carrying in it. She was wearing a mask. And it said, wear a mask or go to jail. Wear a mask or go to jail. And that tells you the difference between then and now. If you didn't wear a mask, you went to jail. Now, if you don't wear a mask, nothing happens. And if you're the other guy and complain about it, well, you get beat up or what? And it reminds me also, I'll stop in a minute. Australia, often cited as a successful gun reform country. And what they did was they said, look, we'll buy your guns back and we'll pay you fair value for the guns. And if you don't sell it back, you'll go to jail. It's the choice. And I think it's time to return to that in the sense that there's a place to enforce laws. We should make them, but we also have to enforce them. And we're gonna get all this talk about gun control now and it'll peter out in a week and there won't be nowhere. We have to do more than that. Can I say one more statistic that I have? It is that there were 288 school shootings in the United States since 2009. Canada had two, France had two, Germany had one, Japan, zero, Italy, zero, UK, zero. That's what we're against. That's what we're against. Glaring numbers, Cynthia, definitely glaring statistics. No two ways about it. Okay, we're gonna switch here and we're gonna go to the topic of the recent President Biden's comment in Tokyo regarding his support or the United States support for Taiwan. And if you remember, President Biden is not your typical politician. He doesn't mince words sometimes. He actually is very clear, black and white, and that's very unusual for a politician, particularly at President of the United States. But if you remember, he was black and white when he said that Putin was involved with war crimes in Ukraine. He was black and white when he said there was genocide that's being committed in Ukraine. And this week, he was not strategically ambiguous. He was clear as it could be is that there is gonna be military support for Taiwan should China aggressively approach and attack Taiwan. So JTU, are you surprised that Joe Biden was actually this explicit? He also was on CNN town meeting months ago and basically said the same thing about an explicit support for Taiwan on a military basis. And then of course, they try to walk that back. And I think they try to walk back a little bit what happened this week, your thoughts. People around him were gonna try to walk those things back but I admire him for saying them, you've made a pretty good case that he does speak proof to power. And he does say what's on his mind and what's on his mind is correct. So I don't fault him. I wish they wouldn't try to walk him back all the time. And in dealing with Putin, you've gotta be strong and in dealing with Xi Jinping, you gotta be strong. And we all know that Xi Jinping is watching Putin and he's learning from what's going on and how we react in Ukraine. And if we're soft in Ukraine, he's gonna take that as a signal that would be soft in Taiwan. So I think it's a poker game, a very sophisticated poker game. You have to understand your adversary. I suppose if you analyze Xi Jinping over and over for months and years and you overthink it, you probably would be very reserved just as we were very reserved at the outset about the MiGs in Ukraine. But actually it probably has a good effect. What it's saying is at least we have a president who will make these statements. At least we have a president who would consider the possibility of heightening the aggression, the response. And whether we do it or not is another question. That's gonna be circulated among many think tanks and many government officials before we do anything. But at least the possibility exists. And I think we've got to make that point with Xi Jinping. So all in all, I think it's good, it's right. And I appreciate him saying it and I appreciate him saying it vis-à-vis Putin. Okay, Kimmy, Jay just mentioned think tanks that the president, no doubt, is taking some information from one way or the other. And the question is still ambiguous is that when the United States says it's gonna back up Taiwan on a military basis, the question is, does that take the form of what we're doing in Ukraine? And that is no direct boots on the ground, no naval blockades, no air zone protection, but we're supplying sanctions and we're supplying weapons. Do you think when it comes to Taiwan, we take the Ukraine approach or do you think we directly get involved with boots on the ground or naval blockades or protection of the airspace for Taiwan? I think I suspect it's probably going to be the latter if push comes to show, if China actually invades or starts making military aggressions. I wanna say at the outset, I think important in answering your question is that I understand the impulse and I do it too to compare the situation in Ukraine and the situation in Taiwan. But I think at the end of the day, it's kind of a flawed analysis because they're two very, very different geopolitical sections, very, very different geopolitical relationships with the United States. The US's relations with Ukraine are kind of more recent, very informal. They're not part of NATO, all of those things. The US relations with Taiwan go back a much longer time. I think the Taiwan Relations Act is what, 1978, 79, something like that, which a lot of people have decided to where you're just reinforcing your commitments. I also think that it's because it's, I hate to say this and it sounds cold, but it's a priority issue too. Russia invading Ukraine, it's awful, it's war crimes, it's anti-humane, but Russia is, I think, on the sunset. China has been on the rise for a very, very long time. And also just kind of our economic interest in Ukraine and Taiwan, those are very, very, very different. In Ukraine, I don't know that much about what their industrial complex is, but I know it's nowhere near as significant as what we're going out of Taiwan. Microchip production, inductor technology, all of those things. So if push came to shove, I think our response would be significantly stronger because we have one a history of it, two more vested interests and three, just a stronger relationship with them. And that's kind of the differences I've seen. Let me follow up by asking, in NATO, the United States said, hey, if we plant our troops in Germany, in all these NATO countries, then an attack on one is an attack on all, but more importantly, that US soldiers are being attacked. So would it be wise for the United States to actually put naval ships off the shores of Taiwan or like in Korea, South Korea and like in Germany, we put troops actually on the soil of Taiwan so that if there is an aggressive attack by China, it really is an attack on US soldiers. Would that be a deterrent? And do you think Taiwan would ever allow us to put boots on their soil? I think it would definitely be a deterrent, especially because I think China is a much more sophisticated analyst and I think they play the long game. I think they recognize things that Putin does not necessarily. Whether Taiwan would allow it, I really don't know because I mean, Taiwan wants their support, but Taiwan also wants sovereignty and independence that you recognize that it can stand on its own two feet. And there's also the issue that God bless the US military, but we have never ever gone into somewhere and then left, which is not our thing. You know, we go there, we stay, we make home. Like that's what we do. Don't forget Afghanistan, Kimi. You're right, unless we leave it in complete shambles, those are your two options. So I think that Taiwan would definitely be faced with kind of a controversy of like, okay, we're trying to be this sovereign nation, but we could really use some support in the back end, at least initially, you know? So I don't know what's gonna happen there, but it's gonna be a push and pull they're gonna have to address at some point. Okay, that's fair. Cynthia, you know, sometimes I don't like to say our government is naive, but sometimes our government is naive. And I think it was wishful thinking for the United States to assume or just turn a blind eye to the interaction between China and Hong Kong that China was gonna honor their word to let Hong Kong exist as an economic subset of China and not meddle with them. But we now know that's not true and all democracy for Hong Kong is basically vaporized. Are we also going to be naive when it comes to China and Taiwan? If China starts saying, you know, we will treat Taiwan as a independence, but yet a sovereign nation of China, but independently run, should we fall into that trap as we did with Hong Kong? Well, we is a big term. I myself, I'm not. I use they. The powers that be, and I don't know necessarily they're naive as they make their choices, they independently make their informed choices. So I don't know. I don't trust China. I don't think anybody should trust China. I don't think China is as, they do play the long game, but you know, we think about and we talk about the misinformation that comes out of Russia. China is like the, I don't know, the originator of disinformation and misinformation. The very first, and I think a good example, the very first Olympics that took part in China, or took place in China, they made it scrubbed all nice and pretty and shiny and everything looked beautiful and all these happy people dressed in all these beautiful colors. And then you go about 20 miles outside of the city and it's squalor for as far as you can see. People living in cardboard huts, freezing to death, you know, working their fingers to the bone. They get nothing from the state, all of those things. So China has established itself right then and there and that's, I don't know as it's naive as it's blinded by the truth of who China is and that's who China is. They're gonna present something to the world, but then, you know, what is the iPhone city in China where all those people, they had to put up nets around the buildings because the work conditions were so horrible that they were launching themselves off the roof to commit suicide. That's who China is. So we got to remember who China is and in dealing with Taiwan, we also have to remember that China has just as many nukes as Russia. So if we didn't like stand up personally to Putin because we're afraid of nukes, the same thing applies here. Now, giving them weapons to help support themselves, I am completely behind, but putting boots on the ground, I'm not behind at all, but that's just me and I don't remember government. That's fair enough. We're almost out of time, but I wanna go, Kimmy, I wanna go back to you for something here. Sure. You know, Taiwan is one of the leading manufacturers of computer chips. And so the question is, is China's interest pertaining to that industry or is this just a political agenda that China has to say that, you know, we are still a communist nation, although we resemble a lot of capitalism, but we're communist and we want Taiwan to, you know, get in line with that concept. Do you think it's economic or political or both? I think it's both. I think China has long had grand ambitions of kind of reunifying what they see as their empire. And also I think China has done, China, like you just, I think kind of alluded to, it's a bizarre situation, right? Where they're trying to run a pseudo-capitalist economy in a communist society. They don't work. They are diametrically opposed. So I think it's both, I think it's all of it. I think they want the land that they think is owed to them. They want the economic benefit that comes with it. And they also want, I mean, at the end of the day, they want the respect of the rest of the country, the rest of the world. You know, they want to be part of Pax Ajeana, the rise of this whole area. I know we're running out of time, so I think you're probably gonna circle back to Cynthia at least one more time. Well, eventually. Last question on this topic, Jay, you get it. What are the top, maybe the top two or three strategies the United States and or in its cooperation with Japan and Australia and South Korea and India, what top strategies could be implemented to dissuade China from further aggression, certainly flybys into their airspace to cease and desist those type of activities? Well, first, the first one is at home. You know, if Xi Jinping sees that we're discombobulated, that our government is not effective, that Mitch McConnell isn't doing anything and all that. And he's waiting, just as Putin is waiting, for Trump to come back, because he knows that Trump is a fool when it comes to international policy, total fool. Trump mucked up the Hong Kong situation to a fairly well. So if he comes back, that works in favor of China. China hopes that we don't play the long game, that we change our governments like our underwear, and that we have different policies every time you look. And that works just perfectly for Xi Jinping, who is likely to be president for life, at least for a long time. So what we have to do first is get our house in order domestically and play the long game or at least think about playing the long game. It's better to think about it than not to think about it. Even if we have trouble doing it, let's at least take that position. The second thing is, I think the quad, you know the quad, that is the sort of the beginnings of a trade arrangement between four countries and building stuff that will compete with China is a really good idea. And we should spend a lot of time and money building the quad and more, a kind of NATO of the Southeast Asia. This is ripe, it's time for that. I think those countries will get on board. I think they're all terrified of China, and they'll be happy to join us. But again, they have to trust that we'll be around, our administration be around longer than a couple of years. And finally, I do think that Taiwan would have us, not necessarily for big bases, but any kind of presence. Because in their world, in their list of priorities, the first priority, talk to any Taiwanese about this, the first priority is maintaining this sovereignty. And it should be, it's like life itself. And the second priority is maybe capitulating to American influence. I don't think they distrust us. They're a democracy, we're a democracy, we're not all bad. So I think they would let us go there. But the problem is it would be a sharp stick in China's eye to have troops underground or a base or a presence of any magnitude on Taiwan. And that would be of some concern that it would accelerate, escalate the whole affair. But on balance, like Biden, I myself, and you can vote for me for president, I myself would do it, okay? I would do it because I think it's time for the United States to take affirmative action. We have lost so much ground in Asia Pacific by being weenies. It's time for us to do strong and dedicated things. All right, thank you. That concludes our time for this topic. The term strategically ambiguous always comes to mind as far as hard interaction with Taiwan. Okay, Cynthia, your last thoughts and comments for this program, either pertaining to the Texas shooting, school shooting, or this topic specifically. We need to go past thoughts and prayers. Every single person out there needs to call their representatives, their state representatives, their, you know, their US representatives, call, flood their inboxes, flood everything. But we have to start with voting rights because until we give voting rights, we're never gonna get rid of any of these lazy Republicans that are able to keep re, I don't know, upping themselves by changing the laws on who gets to count the votes. And so if you wanna make change, you gotta get involved. And maybe even do more than just be ready to vote, be ready to really make a stink, call Washington, call everybody you can think of to call because we gotta stop this to almost 300 school shootings since 2009, as opposed to other countries that have two. There's just, we can't sit by silently, you know, sending out thoughts and prayers like all the kids from Marjorie Stone Douglas were saying when they were done, we're done with these thoughts and prayers. We need more than thoughts and prayers. Get, get involved in the programs that the Sandy Hook parents have that the kids from Marjorie Stone and Douglas have. Get involved. Just get involved. Good point. Thank you, Cynthia. Kimmy, your last thoughts please. I completely agree, Cynthia. You know, I'm so tired of thoughts and prayers and moments of silence and seeing flags at half mass and then having people say, well, nothing we can do about it. And just knowing that, you know, we, the American people have the ability to change this by voting these guys out. And these people, like these senators and these representatives need to recognize that they are servants to the people, not to the NRA, not to money, not to their seat. And I completely agree, you know, call them, push them, tell them we need to get you out of there because you're not protecting the most vulnerable of our population, that's children. And I would love, I hope something happens, but I just, I'm feeling a little heartbroken and just sad about it today because it's been 23 years and nothing has happened. Thank you, Kimmy, very much. Jay, you get the last thought and comment. Well, there's a connection between the two subjects we've been talking about. You know, I said that we can't have a, you know, convincing credible foreign policy dealing with people who would like to upstage us at every turn, if we don't have it worked out at home. And clearly, you know, the thing in Texas demonstrates and the thing in the Senate demonstrates that we don't have it worked out at home. This should be basic fundamental, you know, respect for people, respect for law and order for security, to be proud and patriotic of living in this country. And how can you do that? You know, thoughts and prayers, of course, don't do it. You have to take affirmative action. We have to throw the bums out. And the way to do that, I mean, regrettably, the only real way to do that is at the polls. So we are in an inflection time here, not only for, you know, school killings and so many other, you know, human issues in this country, but for all the policies that we might adopt domestically and foreign. And to be the country we think we are, that we wanna be. And we're a long way from that. And this is the year. This is the year where we collectively decide. Okay. I missed data. I said, you're gonna get the last comment, but I'm gonna take the last comment. You know, we are not gonna get an assault ban in the Senate. It's a fool's mission to try. But we can get a red flag, a national red flag bill passed. We can get a background check passed. The nation supports it by 90%. Even a lot of GOP support red flag legislation is something that's obtainable in the time is now. So with that, I'd like to conclude. I'd like to thank our special guests, Kimmy Ida Foster. Eday, make it Eday. Eday, excuse me, my apologies. Kimmy Eday Foster. Cynthia Lee Sinclair and Jay Fiedale, my co-host. Thank you for joining us on American Issues Take One. Won't you please join us next Wednesday at 11 o'clock. And until then, I'm Tim Apachele, your host, and we'll see you later. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.