Mad world

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On New Year's Eve four people were shot dead in California following a domestic dispute over a washing machine. The apparent senselessness of these killings made them newsworthy, but otherwise it was just business as usual. Assuming the daily averages held up, at least 80 other Americans died on New Year's Eve from bullet wounds, about 50 of them at their own hand. Is it any surprise to learn that gun manufacturers were among the top stocks of 2015? While the market in general struggled through the year, record sales saw Smith & Wesson up by 80 percent and Sturm Ruger up by nearly 70 percent. Considering that touchy-feely left-wing pinkos are trying to smash the Second Amendment and take away all the guns, that's not bad going. Saudi Arabia has kicked off the new year with a massive bout of state-sanctioned homicide. Last year's 157 beheadings - a 20 year high - now seems like a warm-up exercise as three days into 2016, 47 people named as "terrorists" have already been executed. I've suggested before that the Saud family hegemony is in big trouble and this seems further proof of their insecurity. Unfortunately, this despotic and corrupt regime is still the best defense against a total Middle East meltdown so Western governments will continue to tut-tut at the atrocities while doing whatever they can to maintain the status quo. Heading to Nigeria' now, where Africa's tallest statue of Jesus has been unveiled in the predominantly Christian southeast of the country. Commissioned by local millionaire businessman Obinna Onuoha, the nine-meter, 40 tonne statue was carved from white marble by a Chinese company. Although Mr Onuoha believes that "religions can exist side by side...in harmony" it is likely that some of Nigeria's northern Muslims won't react quite so kindly to this outsize act of idolatry. That the statue is also unmistakably western in appearance probably won't help either. It may be significant, however, that Nigeria and China have cooperated in the construction of this project as they are both seen as strongholds for the long term survival of Christianity. Although facing major challenges from ideologies like Islam and communism, sources suggest that western Africa is where the Church is most likely to thrive in the next generation or two, whilst China is expected to have the world's largest Christian population by 2030.