Engaging Life with Courage and Intelligence
The translation of the news flash in Spanish is “Dictatorships Do Not Function.” For anyone who believes that authoritarian regimes are good for anyone but the dictator and his family, there is a perfect example to bet against authoritarians. The BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, and South Korea’s intelligence service—consistently cite an initial North Korean deployment…
Many of us, either continually or occasionally, regard the “strange” actions of others as being stupid, evil, or uninformed. There is no need to provide examples of “strange” actions since America is now so fractured that it would be harder to find examples of shared “solid” understandings. In light of the chaos in the public…
NOTE: I took the day off today. This blog post was generated almost entirely using artificial intelligence. Any errors, omissions, or political slights are not my fault. However, the AI included footnotes, which is more than I ever do. I used evato.com to generate the images. The landscape of U.S. immigration enforcement is undergoing a…
If a rabbit does not see, hear, smell, or feel a bobcat coming, the rabbit will be the bobcat’s next meal. I have no perception of the microbiome of subterranean ecosystems. Likewise, I am unfamiliar with the current pop song “Born to Die” by Lana Del Rey. These two facts do not mean that I…
A surprising percentage of Americans side with the narrative that some things cannot and should not be thought about or acted on. Guns, including automatic firing capability, should not be controlled. If God allows dozens of crazy men to shoot 20 people at a time, who are we to object? A minority of Americans (about…
Several recent opinion pieces and historical reflections concur on one point. Our country was once guided by civility, logic, hard work, capital investment, land, property, and the rule of law. Our economy and society were based on these foundational elements. Today, our economy has morphed into an attention and speculation-based economy. To quote from a…
The daughter of a hypothetical English king is getting married. The king has spent an enormous amount of money battling internal and external foes, and he needs to purchase 500 bottles of French wine. While he pretends to have unlimited wealth, he is desperate to spend as little as possible for his daughter’s wedding. However,…
Sometimes it’s hard to be a Republican Giving all your love to just one manYou have bad times, and you have good timesDoing things that you don’t understand But if you love him, you’ll forgive himEven though he’s hard to understandAnd if you love him, oh, be proud of him‘Cause after all, he’s just a…
The movie character Forrest Gump was not the most intelligent man in the world, but he always tried to do the right thing under trying circumstances. His phrase “stupid is as stupid does” is a little pejorative, so maybe a better phrase is, “judge someone by their actions, not by what they say or how…
The Automation of Delusion Social media can be used in purely benign, even positive ways. Sharing photos with our friends and relatives, joining community interest groups, and building businesses are almost always positive activities. However, our ever-evolving social media technologies can also afford us with an efficient method to join a cult, become addicted, or…