Let me stipulate up front that this post contains several generalizations which I know do not apply to everyone in every case described. But focus with me on the larger picture, and I hope you will find the generalizations to be useful, as well as the many embedded reference links. Given my history in Russia and Ukraine in the early days of commercial real estate, friends often ask me why the Russian people don’t stand up more to the obvious lies and terrible consequences of Putin’s war on...
This month, just before the Midterm Elections, I’m focused on the perfect storm created by the intersection of three disastrous forces running amok in our nation today. I wrote about the first force back in 2013, in “What We Don’t See is Killing Us”—I hope you will take a moment to read it, because it sets the stage for what is to follow. In that post, I extolled the writings of Henry Hazlitt on Economics, and particularly his observation that policies always have two effects: immediate and...
There’s a new short-hand term sweeping through the nation’s elite HR Departments, universities, Boards of Education, media, boardrooms and even the military: Kamalafication. The term is the Progressive code-name for someone who should be chosen for an important position based primarily on skin color, gender(s), or Woke awareness. That person should be highly Kamalafied to fill the vacancy because she, he or they will first and foremost push the Progressive Agenda as it applies to that...
As addressed in last month’s post, there are many good reasons to dislike Critical Race Theory (CRT), and to work quickly to end its poisoning impact on leadership in our nation’s corporate, education and military's highest circles. One of the least discussed reasons to end CRT is its teaching that Oppressors—Whites, Males, Heterosexuals, and Christians—will never change and will always oppress. CRT’s answer to this “fact” of unrelenting oppression is that governments must step in to solve the...
How does a nation prosper, or even survive, when its leaders are delusional, seeming to believe things that are clearly not true, and then basing policies and actions on these delusions? Merriam-Webster defines delusion as “a belief that is not true: a false idea.” In other words, a lie. Believing in and acting as if lies are true will always lead to disaster. Truths are what we need. Simple truths, which, as Albert Barnes pointed out, make their own way without needing extra fanfare or fancy...
The current “Cancel Culture” is one terrible result of the Oppressor/Oppressed Critical Theory tsunami that is sweeping our nation today after decades of preparation, primarily in all levels of our nation’s education system. We were recently told by a friend who is a senior academic at a prestigious Ivy League university about a first year student who was being hounded and “cancelled” by fellow students, professors and administrators for something she wrote when she was fourteen. This woman...
I wrote the original version of the following story almost twenty years ago, as the second chapter in an anthology of short stories, Ten Lies and Ten Truths. I have rewritten parts of the story this week, to capture the new realities of History 2021 A Story Harrison Gillies sat alone in the teacher's lounge of a prestigious New England private high school grading English essays. Paintings donated by the Art Department, an oriental rug, and a couple of decades' accumulation of furniture lifted...
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...
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