My morning interaction with my newspaper consists of many groans, occasional smiles and avoidance tactics. Since I am the only active player in this relationship, all three of these responses come from me.

Working backward, avoidance takes the form of turning to the crossword puzzle and not even looking at the rest of the paper. When I do venture further, the smiles come from a particularly well-written piece, from reading a point of view or information that enhances my understanding of the world, or from being reminded that wonderful people populate this country and world. Such a reminder came this week in a story of two neighbors whose yard signs support opposing presidential candidates, but who also have a second sign that says, “We (heart) them,” and shows an arrow pointing to their friend’s home.

Honestly, these days the groans are my most plentiful response. A Wall Street Journal editorial that included these words, “Joe Biden has an obligation to answer questions about his son’s influence-peddling and his own financial dealings—notably regarding China,” elicited a huge groan.

I don’t consider myself a conspiracy theorist. For the record, I believe that U.S. astronauts landed on the moon and I don’t think that Elvis Presley’s death was faked. However, I am increasingly cynical when it comes to the government and know that powerful interests continually do mendacious things of which we average citizens are completely unaware.

Should Joe Biden win the election (honestly or dishonestly) I do not give his chances of a four-year term of office more than 50%. I think I am being overly generous by suggesting odds that high. Whether he will “choose” to resign or whether he will be forced to resign by his own party, is irrelevant. The point is that it will be relatively easy to attack his mental capacity and/or bring forth serious allegations of abuse of power. He will be in office only on the sufferance of the Left. Their goal is to place in the Oval Office a redistributive Leftist willing to trash America’s founding values. She is waiting on the sidelines.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I groan at that editorial I mentioned above because I think it misses the point. Socialism thrives on a system whose rigorous rules and regulations cast such a wide net that every citizen, without exception, can easily be criminalized, even by falling foul of retroactive legislation. Every person is a potential criminal or easily threatened with or subject to blackmail. Anyone, no matter who, is in danger of being targeted. In addition, society’s rules change so rapidly that what was acceptable yesterday is unacceptable today—as we frequently see happening now. Things that the media is ignoring about Joe Biden today, can be front-page news tomorrow. I fear that Joe Biden’s very weaknesses that are being ignored today are what make him desirable to those scrambling for power.

WHAT BATTLE IS AMERICA (AND THE WORLD) FACING TODAY?
What should we do?  
Reprinted by popular demand! Different times but the same principles.

ebook		paperback

I completely understand the desire to relegate memories of the first 2020 presidential debate to oblivion, but for those of you who will bear with me, I need the cathartic experience of writing about it. I also think it is important to do so to distance myself from those who think that President Trump showed himself to be forceful and in command. He did not. Both Chris Wallace and Vice-president Biden presented themselves poorly as well but, in my opinion, the president was the worst of an embarrassing bunch.

From the outset, let me say that I will be voting for the current president. I am voting for and supporting, as I have for the past five years, policies rather than choosing a person who will be my family’s guide to character and morals. I look at what President Trump has done rather than at what or how he speaks. I support almost all of his record. I further believe that no other Republican who was running in 2016 could have stood up against the Clinton and media machines. We needed, and we voted in the primaries, for a bulldozer, a maverick, a Hulk Hogan. President Trump’s actions have fulfilled my expectations and I am grateful for what he has done during his term of office.

Having said that, he blew an opportunity at the debate. I have heard the president in State of the Union speeches and at other times speak articulately, clearly and strongly. On each of those occasions, he countered the image of the media and the Left. During this debate, he matched the parody that they constantly and unfairly portray him to be. His worst self was on show.
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These days, it’s pretty difficult to tell what is satire vs. what is news. So, when I read advice in a major publication that anyone interested in law and order should vote for Joe Biden because otherwise the streets would be torn apart by riots, my first response was to chuckle. Then, when I saw the author, I realized that he was serious. In other words, “You’d better vote like I want you to or I will rampage through the streets.”

Obviously, this is the advice we give kids all the time when faced with a bully. “Give in.” Everyone in the class should hand over his allowance to the bully because, if not, he will make your life miserable. Is a co-worker sabotaging your work? Hey—just let him do better than you or he might threaten you even more. (Yes, that is my tongue bulging out my cheek.)

This is the policy that until now most American presidents took with the Palestinians as well. You raise your children to blow themselves up as long as they take others with them? We’ll grovel so that maybe you’ll blow up fewer of us. It worked exactly as it works with the schoolyard bully, leading to a stronger and more implacable enemy.

This week, President Trump’s unconventional leadership resulted in an unprecedented breakthrough with peace agreements between Israel and Bahrain and Israel and the United Arab Emirates. More treaties are expected. Had something like this happened under any other president there would be universal acclaim. Instead, petty minds carp about not enough people wearing masks during the ceremony marking the occasion.

For decades, Palestinians have been used by the countries around them. Rather than being given a helping hand by “cousins” who amassed untold wealth, they were condemned to poverty and told that they could never succeed because of Jews, Zionists, the American Satan and Israel. Complicit in their victimhood, they elected corrupt government after corrupt government, where leaders lived like kings while too many of the ruled huddled in hovels seething in hatred.

Now, some of these “cousins” are recognizing that the world has moved on and that the tactics of the past no longer work. That is a huge step forward, even if it is unfair to those in whom they bred hopelessness. However, it does finally provide an opportunity for the Palestinians to assert their own willingness to aim for a better future rather than drowning in the failed past to which their corrupt leaders condemned them.

Perhaps most incredible, as the Arab world takes steps forward, rising leaders in the Democrat Party right here in the United States are supporting similar policies to those that have subjugated the Palestinians. These policies breed resentment, jealousy and violence.  Like a spiritual dark cloud, the worst of human nature moves from one area of the world to another. Vote for Biden or I’ll tear your neighborhood apart? One can only pray and work hard to ensure that there are enough Americans willing to stand up to bullies.

You may not be able to control world politics,
but you can harness your own thoughts and actions.

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Day for Atonement: Heavenly Gift of Spiritual Serenity

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