Engaging Life with Courage and Intelligence
When countries are controlled by criminal enterprises
We all grew up either in a family or knew families in which truth was not their highest priority. When a family member failed a class in school, wrecked the family car, or was involved in a teen pregnancy, the grown-ups in the family swiftly moved into cover-up mode. With the talent unseen since the…
Shakespeare’s Hamlet dramatizes the tragedy associated with madness, paranoia, and deception. Unfortunately, all Americans have become unwilling actors in a similar tragedy. As an aside and to quote Polonius, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t.” From day to day, the current administration spews nonsense, and more dangerously, acts in bizarre and…
Welcome to Veritonia — a totally fictional modern nation where truth is flexible, confidence beats correctness, and memes count as peer-reviewed research. This short cinematic satire explores how facts get “professionally improved,” arguments replace thinking, and news guarantees certainty — not accuracy. But some people still dare to ask the most dangerous question: “Is this…
America loves competition — but what happens when one side starts the game with all the money and all the advantages? From 1923 to 1968, the New York Yankees didn’t just win — they dominated Major League Baseball. This episode explores how financial power, unequal markets, and the absence of salary caps helped shape one…
I continue to be puzzled by America’s collective failure to uphold the values embedded in our Constitution. Virtually all Americans once believed in the rule of law, the separation of powers, the separation of church and state, and other foundational assumptions. This post introduces the fundamental question: “Why and how are we destroying ourselves?” and…
Why do many Americans so easily accept blatant lies as gospel? Although we all make assumptions about what is true, truth is neither obvious nor immutable. Sifting through the various facts and claims of truth can be exhausting, so most of us prioritize our pursuits of truth. We tend to put more energy into pursuing…
There may be another painful sign that irrational exuberance exists in our newest Gold Rush, the creation of energy and infrastructure of the AI Revolution. In warp-speed fashion, after President Trump won the 2024 election, a new energy company was founded by former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Toby Neugebauer, an equity guy. In…
Lucky for American revolutionaries in 1776, the English king had a persistent and recurring mental problem. King George III was not an absolute monarch like King Henry VIII, but he still had considerable power and influence over English affairs. The following is a video about King George III and his personal challenges. As Mark Twain…
Lincoln and Twain now find themselves in a pizza parlor with many young people. The big screen television on the wall plays a bitter debate between political candidates. Instead of debates about policies, most politicians engage in name-calling and identity politics. In essence, it is a con game in which voters play the role of…
Humans have been conning and tricking other humans for eons. Most cons are on a relatively small scale, perpetrated by devilishly clever people. We hear about these “little” con jobs regularly on the nightly news. Elderly people are told to put money into a Bitcoin ATM because a bank employee said they would lose their…