Waching daily Apr 2 2018

Yes, Russia is a threat -- but America needs to play a shrewder game.

Here's what that means

Several weeks ago, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found

slumped over a park bench in the English town of Salisbury.

It was determined they were victims of a nerve agent attack, which left both in critical

condition.

That nerve agent is alleged to have been manufactured and possessed illegally by Russia, and the

UK immediately blamed Moscow for the attack.

If Russia were behind the attack, which is highly likely, it is possibly the country�s

most significant intrusion into NATO territory since the radiation poisoning of another former

Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, in 2006.

As for potential Russian motives, it is speculated Skripal had been working with the UK�s foreign

intelligence service, MI6.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats and spies, and Russia, which denies the attack to the

point of concocting conspiracy theories about why the chemical weapon originated in America

or the UK, responded in turn by expelling 23 British diplomats and spies.

Meanwhile in America, the Trump administration just sanctioned Russian entities involved

in cyber-attacks and �election interference.� And now, in the face of continued Russian

intransigence over the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, America is expelling 60

Russian diplomats and spies, and closing Russia�s Seattle consulate.

Senior Trump administration officials said that all of the Russians expelled were spies

working under diplomatic cover, including at the United Nations.

The administration believes there is an �unacceptably high� number of Russian intelligence operatives

in the U.S.

The officials also said that the Seattle consulate was a counter-intelligence concern because

of its proximity to a U.S. Navy base.

This diplomatic row only serves to illustrate the trend of significantly deteriorating relations

between Russia and the West.

Even if Russia is just a spoiler, they are a spoiler with a massive nuclear arsenal.

We must respect the fact that this arsenal poses an existential threat to the United

States.

And a declining power, especially one with as many nukes as Russia has, can be dangerous.

America expelling so-called Russian diplomats is an appropriate response to Russia�s brazen

attack on Skripal and his daughter.

If Russia abuses its privilege of having operatives on our shores�diplomatic or otherwise�it

should face the consequences.

And in general, America should want to reduce the number of spies�even those under diplomatic

cover�that Russia has on American soil.

But some hope that this is only the beginning of a more aggressive stance toward Russia.

The question remains: Where would such an aggressive stance lead, and what would it

accomplish for America?

America should certainly keep a close eye on Russia.

Nominally, Russia�s nuclear arsenal is on par with America�s.

And because of its massive geography, Russia borders many areas�including Europe and

China�where America has troops, or has interests, military or economic.

source foxnews

For more infomation >> Yes, Russia is a threat but America needs to play a shrewder game Here's what that means - Duration: 2:49.

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Is There Anything Wrong with Sports and Hobbies? - Duration: 4:28.

I'm not into sports so much. I like watching sports occasionally, but not very often. Baseball's

my sport because I can have it running in the background and don't really have to pay

too much attention to it. Hobbies, a little bit. Not really my thing now. I've got enough

to do in life and really so much of what I do, especially reading and researching is

such joy to me that that kind of is my hobby. But you know, watch Netflix or something sometimes

with the family or with my wife and, a little bit, but I don't have a serious hobby I really

commit myself to, other than perhaps photography. Aileen and I have gotten into it a little

bit, and when we can, when we have opportunity, we might escape the city a little bit and

find something worth shooting. But, we don't live in the right area of the world to really

do a whole lot of that.

I don't know that the Bible gives us a lot of clear direction on hobbies and sports,

and I think that's partly because when the Bible was written, people didn't have the recreational

time we do today. So, we live in a time where we have so much time available to us. I mean,

we're still very busy and we still spend our evening's driving the children around and

doing these sorts of things, but we have so much time and we consider it today this inalienable

right that I should have four or five hours in the evening where I can turn my mind off

of work-related matters and I should be able to commit myself to watching television or

watching sports or playing sports or playing games or whatever it is that I do recreationally.

That's a real privilege and historically, it's a real aberration. You look back through

history, most people were subsistence living. They were working much, much harder, much,

much longer hours that we were. So, and that was true back in biblical times. So yes, we'll

find some hints about proper use of our time. We can see the apostle Paul often referencing

sports, which makes us think he probably had some interest in sports. He certainly borrowed

those metaphors a lot. I don't think we're going to find a ton of direct guidance about

hobbies in general, and certainly our specific hobbies in specific.

One of the things that's funny about hobbies, at least in my assessment, is that we really

get our own hobby, we really think that one is worthwhile. But we look at somebody else's

hobby and we think it's ridiculous that they would commit time and attention to that. So,

the example I like to use is, some women will look at men and their video gaming and think,

that's just ridiculous, and some men will look at women with their coloring books, those

two very prominent hobbies today, and think that's ridiculous. So, I think that in a sense,

that's the point of a hobby, is it isn't something that in and of itself is all that worthwhile,

but it is relaxing. And as long as it's not unbiblical or ungodly, I think we're free

to pursue those things and we probably shouldn't be passing a lot of judgment on others because

again, many of our hobbies don't really make sense. If you're deeply into football, and

somebody else is deeply into tennis, I mean really both hobbies are absolutely ridiculous

on the one hand. On the other hand, if we find them relaxing and enjoyable, we're free

to enjoy them, God doesn't prevent it. So, in fact, I think He invites us to enjoy them

for noble purposes.

Sports, whatever you enjoy, can be very relaxing. Life is difficult, right. Life is busy, there's

a lot going on. We get tired, we get weary. Hobbies, sports, good movies, television,

all of these things can be a good way of recharging. They can be a good way of doing something

different that we find relaxing. And so, work, vocation, whatever it is, it does wear us

out, it does make us tired. There's real joy then, in turning our attention to something

recreational, something we just do for the sheer pleasure of it. I've often found it

interesting that many of the hobbies we do were things we enjoyed as kids, and now they've

become hobbies. So some of those passions or interests remain, they maybe take on adult

shapes or adult forms as we go on, but they often do harken back to childhood and the

things we enjoyed in our lighter and more carefree days.