Engaging Life with Courage and Intelligence
When countries are controlled by criminal enterprises
America has had a few very intractable problems that tied our society in knots. In the 19th century, it was slavery. After the Civil War, the most significant issues revolved around economic prosperity and inequality. We’ve had many economic ups and downs with winners and losers. Ironically, both are now unhappy. The losers are resentful,…
The most recent Real Time With Bill Maher episode concerned Maher’s recent White House meeting with Donald J. Trump. Maher’s shtick is a unique comic style. He portrays himself as a truth-seeker with no limits. He proudly proclaims his atheism, libertarianism, political incorrectness, and satire. He skewers every shade of the political spectrum, except for…
When we hear the term barn burner (also barnburner), most think of an exciting event, usually a competitive sport. We assign the term to the most thrilling, intense, and captivating activities. The television sports commentator said the recent men’s NCAA championship game “was a barn burner.” However, we can also assign it to other events….
Donald Trump has had a lifetime fascination with professional wrestling. As most people older than ten know, professional wrestling is entertainment, not a sport. It pretends to be a sport, but it is a carefully choreographed masculine drama in which the winners and losers are predetermined. Professional wrestling seeks attention and cathartic release from macho…
The terms lock-in (noun), lock in (verb including different verb forms), or locked-in (adjective) have been around for a while. They have a surprisingly broad range of usages in technical, slang, social, business, medical, religious, and political contexts. Likewise, they have a wide spectrum of connotations, from highly positive to extremely negative. A lock-in can…
The self-described genius has another challenging task. In addition to stopping the Russian war with Ukraine in one day (any day now) and putting all immigrants with tattoos into an El Salvadoran prison, Trump has to teach penguins how to do math. Trump imposed new tariffs on every island, inlet, floating iceberg, and country (except…
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…
I remember when conservatives were against criminal drug operations and stood for law and order. However, it appears that conservatives have wittingly or unwittingly rewired their brains to embrace a lawless leader in exchange for what? I would like to understand the morality of their new allegiance to criminality. Democrats and Independent politicians have committed…