Engaging Life with Courage and Intelligence
While Trump befriends America’s enemies, his tariff wars convert friends into enemies. The headlines are filled with the growing animosity from Canada, Mexico, and Europe. However, let’s not forget our friends in Asia. Japan is currently selling U.S. Treasury bonds in reaction to Trump’s tariff war. So, why do you think we should be concerned?…
Many books document the aftermath of countries and cults that fail spectacularly. The scenario should be familiar to everyone: A charismatic leader convinces his cult followers that they have mighty, secret powers or standing in the world. He convinces them that their unique beliefs will allow them to triumph in the afterlife, the current life,…
Arrogance really comes from insecurity, and in the end our feeling that we are bigger than others is really the flip side of our feeling that we are smaller than others. Desmond Tutu While some of James Bond’s movie scenarios involved undercover spying with foreign governments, several involved spying on rouge, power-seeking entrepreneurs. One of…
Ostensively, Elon Musk purchased Twitter because he thought it was silencing the voices of his right-wing causes. Elon said he believed in “radical free speech,” meaning no voice should be silenced. He noted that Twitter management and the Deep State were violating the sacred American tenet of free speech. He apparently had already sided with…
On March 18, 2025, President Trump made the White House an automobile showroom for Elon Musk’s Tesla EVs after Tesla lost more than 40% of its market value. When was the last time a President of the United States made an endorsement and became a spokesman for a commercial product? I cannot think of a…
Elon Musk and his Tesla design team have become adamantly against using radar sensors or LIDAR to allow a Tesla to drive independently. To quote Elon, “LIDAR is fricking, expensive and unnecessary.” However, as Tesla’s competition now realizes, LIDAR is necessary for many reasons. Relying solely on visual information is dangerous at 30 mph, 60…
When my genealogical research began, my first inclination was to focus on my Y chromosome and surname. While researching the arrival of my 7th great-grandfather from the Spanish Netherlands, I noticed his wife’s maiden name was Rapalje. I found the name interesting but was more interested in my direct male ancestor. Years later, I returned…
I was surprised to discover a Northern Rebel from my mother’s family. Almost all of my mother’s family either refused to fight in the Civil War or fought on the Union side. However, one Confederate soldier departed from the Showalter fold. Despite arriving in America as Mennonites in 1750, one of the descendants of the…
This man reported for duty as a US Navy recruit in 1944. When the officer asked his name, he thought he was joking. He told the officer that his name was William Patrick Hitler. William was Adolph Hitler’s half-nephew. William attempted to ingratiate himself with his famous uncle, but that failed. He later immigrated to…
Note: This post was written in September 2024. As the political divide and divergent versions of reality in American politics have increased, I became increasingly curious. What was the cause? As someone who studied social psychology, psychology, and sociology, I thought there was more to it than simple explanations such as red state vs. blue…