At age 72 I hope you don’t mind if I want to focus on what’s real and true, not on what’s false or BS. The BS is that we in the U.S. are suffering through a terrible time of oppression, inequality, dysfunction and major problems. Yes, problems exist in varying degrees, and always will. But read Steven Pinker’s book Enlightenment Now to be reminded that this is a remarkably great age for the world in general, and for the U.S. in particular, with the one exception noted in my earlier post. A...
I’ve just finished Taylor Branch’s book The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with The President. Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the King Years Trilogy, finished the book in 2009. It contains 667 pages of intimate details taken from seventy-nine secret, mostly late night interviews in the White House with President Clinton from 1993 to 2000, and after. I wish I’d read it sooner. It’s an incredible labor of love for the sake of accurate history. After each interview, as Taylor...
Here are three quick updates to earlier posts, with several hyperlinks to excellent resources. Progressives: What Does Abortion Have To Do With Economic Policy? The movie Unplanned is now available on streaming video and on DVD. Whatever your thoughts on the subject, please watch it. Can Anyone See What China is Really Doing? Only If You Look. A good friend sent a link to an important unclassified paper on China by the U.S. Department of Defense: Assessment On U.S. Defense...
I don’t get it. If you are a Progressive and want to argue for higher taxes, Medicare for all, student debt forgiveness, wealth redistribution, even socialism, though I probably won’t agree with you, let’s talk. But when you advocate for making it as easy as possible to kill babies in their mothers’ wombs, I don’t have anything to say. You’re just wrong. Period. It feels like someone 150 years ago, even a Supreme Court Justice, arguing that enslaving another human being because of the color of...
How should we approach the upcoming mid-term elections? With a focus on today’s 24/7 headlines, or with a longer term perspective? Are the elections, as President Trump claims, all about him, or larger issues? As a Christian conservative with strong libertarian leanings, what are my guiding principles for voting? And, by the way, I know that there is only one true Savior, and he is not any politician, party or government. The founding document for our nation, the Declaration of Independence,...
Bill Gates calls Steven Pinker’s new book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, “My new favorite book of all time.” Pinker’s work is a 453 page, incredibly well researched tour de force on every aspect of life across the globe since The Enlightenment. And almost every page explores the incomparable progress we humans have made during the last 250 years to beat back death, extend life, multiply productivity, equalize rights, increase leisure, and add to...
I suspect that this post will make some readers angry. That's not my intent, but it's probably inevitable, because I want to ask some politically incorrect questions which no one seems to be willing to take on. This year in the Pacific Fleet there have been three collisions and a grounding of combatant ships, a terrible record previously unmatched by the U.S. Navy. A quick search online will bring up several articles about the details of each incident. The two recent, tragic collisions at sea...
As many of you know, I recently spent several days in London with a group of wonderful Believers who are originally from Nigeria, at an event for Joshua's Army. We were joined by a pastor from Lagos, Nigeria, and by a pastor in the Nigerian community in London, both strong men of God. Our weekend discussion was about how husbands and fathers can better model Christ with our wives and children. While there were many beautiful facets to the weekend together, the one I want to focus on for this...
Most Western countries are experiencing a revolt against the intellectual and political elites who have governed nations, the media, academia and central banks for as long as most adults can remember. While the country-specific details vary slightly, the common wisdom of these elites has produced ever increasing state intervention in our economies as well as in our personal lives, along with the near destruction of the family, a huge increase in victimization/entitlements, crony capitalism, no...
We are only about two weeks from this unfortunate election, and millions have already voted. I want to give you my current thoughts, with the caveat of retaining the right to modify my views right up to the day when I pull a lever. Let me also confirm that we are all very tired of this election and want it to be over so that we can clean up and move on. And you can check out my original suggestions from back in May, 2015 at this link. My intent here is not to start a range war with anyone,...
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