Given my personal history with the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine, starting in 1969 as a graduate student and then ministry in Kyiv in 1991 and running real estate offices in both capital cities in the exciting days of 1991-2013, I am often asked what we should now do to end this terrible war. Since the Russian invasion in February, 2022, I’ve written three posts about the war. I just re-read all of them, and I would not change a word. The most relevant one right now is my November, 2022...
I’m sure that Elon Musk is smart. More importantly, President Trump thinks Elon is smart and apparently listens to him. I’m therefore addressing this post to Mr. Musk in hopes that he can convince the President that he’s about to make terrible mistakes on international trade that will almost certainly undermine, undo, and negate whatever positive impacts his other policies might have on our economy. Perhaps even turn his promised Golden Age into a stagnant mess. Implementing tariffs will...
I don’ know about you, but I’m both cautiously optimistic and nearly exhausted by recent events here in our country. And about the last thing we need is another opinion piece on this or that, so I’ll keep this brief. All I ever want is the truth. I believe that for quite a while now, particularly the last twelve years, we’ve been told a lot of lies or at best half-truths by powerful groups and individuals in and around our government, and these excesses led to some really bad policies. On a...
As we prepare to turn the calendar to 2025, and as I prepare to turn 78, I have written down a group of Hopes/Prayers for the coming year, and also a group of Personal Resolutions. You know I’m a follower of Jesus, who transformed me forty years ago, and that we live in a unique nation founded on Christian principles. These two truths are the wellspring for what follows. Hopes and Prayers for 2025 1. In 2025 we need much less federal government, for two reasons. The most obvious is our...
This short monthly post is meant to be a postscript to a longer essay I wrote nine years ago, which focuses on two “big picture” aspects of Thanksgiving. I just re-read it, and I don’t think I’d change a word. Please take a minute to read the earlier post, Why Thanksgiving?, and then come back. Within the framework of that larger perspective, in November, 2024, I now want to be specific about several people and events for which I am particularly thankful. Although our large family has some...
It’s twelve days before the 2024 Presidential election, so as I write this monthly post I have no idea who the winner will be. But if Donald Trump is elected, itwill be mostly because he has a huge, loyal following, but in part because many Democratic policies of the last decades have been so stupid and so dangerous, defying common sense, that they make any flawed but more conservative candidate seem attractive to a lot of independent-minded voters of both parties. And a corollary to that...
Everything has become way too complicated. I understand it will usually be that way in science, engineering, and technology, but I’m focused here on our personal lives and on national programs and policies. Instead of adding amendments, clarifications and exemptions to direct almost every aspect of government action and our personal behavior, let’s cut to the simplest way to get something done, without trying to rig the outcomes. It will take some courage, but here are some initial ideas to...
This is a bit of an unusual post for me. As always, I want it to be informative and filled with truth. But this post begins with a dream. I dreamed that a year ago both of the self-centered old men finally got out of the Presidential race to become the Elder Statesmen of their respective parties. They were then able to share advice and to weigh in with opinions, while letting the next generation of potential leaders battle it out in the primaries to define the best ideas and the best talent to...
Can we agree that both parties are offering candidates with some less-than-perfect personality traits, and that both parties have lied on numerous occasions? If that’s the case, then how does one decide how to vote in November? I suggest by looking beyond the personalities and the accusations, and focusing instead on the policies that each party supports, which usually are written down, straight forward, and hard to lie about. Another reason to do so is that it is these policies, if and when...
This post has two parts: The Big Picture, and then Application. I’m a slow learner. I finally had an epiphany about what specifically bothers me so much about DEI—Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I’m a huge fan of Diversity. It’s one of our nation’s greatest strengths, and we all benefit from interactions with diverse people-types, backgrounds, characters and arguments. The main reason I like Diversity is because we don’t create it—God does. From the color of our skin and our gender to our...
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