There are some similarities between Chinese religion and Western religions, but there are many more differences than similarities. Therefore, because almost everyone who might read this essay grew up in a Western civilization and nation, let me first begin by trying briefly to describe Eastern religions.

The Freedom Caucus is not part of congressional government; they are opposers of congressional government. In fact, ideologically they are fundamentally opposed to any government of any sort, but especially the federal government, of which they are but a tiny fraction of the 535 Senators and Members of the House. Those who are as far to the right on the political spectrum as the FC are truly beyond the pale.

Because of partisan polarization, if bills are rejected by the courts, the politicians commission public polls to be taken to determine the preferences of the body politic, hoping that may sway the courts. It is bad politics to pass dubious legislation and then to poll the public to see what they think when proposed laws are struck down by the courts.

Both of the major American political parties have stymied the production of much-needed new policies because neither is willing to move toward the center.

Are presidents or Vice-Presidents governmental officers, or are they in a different category or class? Does the 14th Amendment omit them from consideration? They undoubtedly are officials. Does that mean they are in the same category as officers? If it is ruled that a president is not an officer, is that a distinction without a difference?

Because of these factors, the word “state” means different things to different nationalities, but only Americans perceive “state” as Americans perceive “state.” To everyone else, state equals nation or country. It is an epistemological puzzle.

It is impossible to believe that Hamas planned to achieve the astonishing success it has had by means of its bloodthirsty incursion into Israel on October 7. In a few hours they killed 1400 Israelis, almost all of them civilians, and took as many as 400 people hostage, some of them Americans and other nationalities, but most of them Israelis. However, that is not the success to which I refer in this essay. That vengeful terrorist military exercise was nothing other than a carefully-executed massacre. Many people around the world think it was justified on the basis of how they perceive the Israelis to have treated the Palestinians since 1948, but many others considered it to be what it was: a blitzkrieg outrage. 

This country does not need to hear another barbed word emerge from the pursed lips of Donald Trump in the August 23 debate. It would be a great blessing to the USA and the entire world if he were prevented from ever saying anything else in a public forum. It would be a greater blessing if Mr. Trump does not succeed in gaining the presidential nomination of the GOP in 2024 or any other year.

Back when Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, but he kept insisting for almost two years that he didn’t lose and that the election was stolen, I remember writing an essay where I said that it would be too dangerous for him to be imprisoned if he were convicted of any criminal charges. I thought that some of his most ardent followers are so zealous that they would take up arms against police and soldiers all over the country.

Millions of Americans and Israelis are wondering how men such as Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu could ever be elected the leaders of two nations that both had strong democratic credentials from their inceptions. There are several answers to that question, but perhaps the most pertinent one is this: In both nations the religious-right has an influence far greater than their numbers would seem to warrant.

Shakespeare wrote, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!” How often over the course several decades has Joe Biden been reminded of a similar sentiment. Yet he has supported his son as best he could through all of Hunter’s numerous escapades, never giving up on him.

The United States Supreme Court, in a highly politicized legal precedent, struck down the policy of affirmative action which has been followed for a few decades in most of the nation’s university and college admissions policies. Institutions of higher learning have consciously attempted to improve the educational experience of minority racial minority students by giving a relatively small degree of preference to qualified Black, Asian, or Latino applicants. Clearly this policy was meant to redress some of the biases under which these groups have lived for many generations. It was believed that if these students were accepted into colleges that in previous generations would never have been granted them admission, it would benefit them, the communities from which they came, and the entire American society.

Humanity is baking or broiling the air we breathe, and too many of us are too unconcerned. This is not Chicken Little crying out, “The sky is falling; the sky is falling!” This is us, igniting the many fuels that cause climate change.

Turn up the thermostat in the summer and down in the winter. Recycle everything that is recyclable. Don’t turn on any lights that are unnecessary, and remember to turn lights out that are no longer necessary. And remember what Smoky the Bear has been telling us for decades, “Only you can prevent forest fires!” 

Unless something unforeseen and unforeseeable happens, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or Ron DeSantis shall be the next president. Given everything we know now, couldn’t the party members, in smokeless rooms, make better choices? After all, they are the ones who have to work with the presidents, and if they don’t get to choose them, they might become too evenly split in Congress to be able to function effectively.

The biggest threat to the EU turned out to be the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February of 2022. Ironically, that raw display of militancy has become the most unifying incident in the relatively short history of the EU. Vladimir Putin has united the nations of the EU to a degree they have never known or even envisioned.

For four years, Donald Trump was the most dangerous man in America, and he is forcefully trying to snare that dubious position again. However, the position has now been assumed by Ron DeSantis, the Governor-Autocrat of Florida. No, the Governor-General of Florida. No, since he is of Italian extraction, Il Duce of Florida, who is seeking to become Il Duce of the Disunited States of America.

The demand for millions of new workers will become the main mechanism for overcoming the current internal resistance to immigration. The irony of anti-immigration fervor is that everyone who came into the New World had their origins in the Old World. The first people who came to the Americas fifteen thousand years ago crossed the land bridge which then existed between Siberia and Alaska. Why is there any antipathy to outsiders when all of us are ultimately outsiders?

The worst GOP decision is to be heartless in writing legislation and gutsy in promoting it. There’s far too much of that going around right now A woman from Georgia is even more strident in that department than a man from Florida. When it comes time vote, look toward the political left, not the political right. That way, you won’t deliberately leave anyone out.      

Trifling pleasantries are a part of life we should never give up. So hang in there. Take care. Take it easy. How’ve ya been? See ya. Keep on keeping on.

So here is an idea to think about. Would it not be a more enlightened policy for the United States of America, Arms Manufacturer for the World (slightly to alter a Sandbergian phrase) to somewhat shrink the actual size of our armed forces, and instead, to keep warehouses filled with munitions of all sizes and shapes to sell or give to other nations whom we believe are “good guys” fighting “bad guys” when they need those particular kinds of materiel? Might it not even be a less expensive policy were we to do that?