U.S. national debt and Gross Domestic Product

 
AXIOS

Count Your Blessings, but Count Carefully

 

I’m obsessed with the idea that a guy who wears jeans and drives a Jeep today is basically the same creature that wore animal skins and lived on hand-caught river fish 20,000 years ago. Those beings had the same basic physical and emotional needs, but had to meet them with very few tools and amenities. 

I’ve previously described my favorite illustration of this point: imagine a group of prehistoric hunter-gathers, who didn’t even have textiles yet, discovering a modern landfill. It would be an unimaginable sea of blessings: tools, materials, clothing, food, and ideas galore. The hundreds of circling seagulls alone would be a such a blessing they’d tell the story for generations. They’d build the first city there and write the great blessing-pile into their scriptures.

Modern people are accustomed to such an abundance of even better blessings that the hunter-gatherer’s great blessing-pile is actually our refuse — an embarrassing heap of dirty, relatively hard-to-use stuff that we bury in the ground.

We have the same vulnerabilities as our premodern ancestors: disease, loneliness, fear, shame, and death. But we have so many unearned blessings for contending with those problems that...continue here. 

-- David Cain

Conscience

Do we still have a conscience?  Can conscience become corrupted?

Our sense of conscience is so baked in that we all tend to think we know exactly what it is.  But, do we? 

I guess first of all, we have start with some working definitions:

 

Among other things, one could probably assert that conscience is a sense of what is right and wrong.  When the application of it gets specific and is tested, we revert to a sense of what it must be.  In many ways, it is a strange brew (somewhat inconsistent view) of what we think or feel personally and how we corroborate that with what we think or feel collectively.  

In other words, we seem to have some awareness that, besides the content itself, there are at least two influences in what we think or feel is right or wrong.  One is what we think (ostensibly) by ourself and, two, how that jives with what others think.  We are often balancing where either one is, by itself, not right in order to come up with a working understanding that is worthy of reinforcement.

Drivers involved in the very founding of our country (some of which are captured in our Constitution), views on abuses in things like slavery, law enforcement, war, religion, the environment, and personal relationships are all examples of where a sense of conscience is involved.  We might say about something in any one of these contexts that something just isn't...right.  Something isn't good.  And, that we need to DO something about it.

Fast-track this then into our current cultural context.  It can feel like, especially in the public arena, we have lost something — something involving our conscience.  Something isn't right.  And, if that is true collectively, then that might implicate each of us personally.  Because this is where some of our conscience comes from.

In fact, even as our sense of what is right and wrong is awash in all kinds of sources of information to evaluate it, we can see a persistent stance re-emerging about what all of this is adding up to, including whether or not it is good for us (personally and collectively). 

All of this drops us off a bit at the door of the second question we started with.  How malleable is our conscience?  In other words, is it a fixed thing or can it be significantly influenced, even corrupted? 

If you benefit from your sense of right and wrong or good and bad, does that reinforce what we refer to as conscience?  What if you don't benefit?  What if you are harmed by it?  How does your sense of "that's just not right" manifest then?  And, what factors play into this more than others?

You probably know that the cost of things, even basic things like your utility bills, are being significantly impacted right now by the data centers that are driving AI.  Is that OK?  Well, if you can afford it, maybe 'I guess so' still works.  Whenever you want it, you get the benefit of being able to look up nearly anything you want online and getting an amazing array of results that can often be useful to you.  But, what about the depletion of our water supply to support it?  When would that be a real problem?  How much harm would it take?

What about ICE?  Is what ICE is doing OK?  Well, you may not mind the principle, but what about how they are doing it — what about the abuses?   

How about government use of your personal data?  Well, they know anyway right?  What about when they arrest you because of something you said about the government?  What if they create lies to manipulate how you vote?  That's OK, if it's about the Democrats?  What about if its about a fellow Republican?  

What if it’s about how your tax dollars are used, including creating war?

The point is, there is a line somewhere.  Even if it's different for different folks, because of how they are benefited or harmed, there is still a line.

It's our conscience that helps us with where it is. 

Things That Matter Most

In the end these things matter most:  How well did you love?  How fully did you live?  How deeply did you learn to let go?

-- Jack Kornfield

Whatever Is In Hand

Don't be nervous.  Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.

-- Henry Miller

Ability To Grow

I'm wondering...about what most influences our ability to grow, particularly as adults.

Another Seriously? This Is Our President.

Another, Seriously — This is our President?:

Late on Friday night, President Donald J. Trump took to social media. At 11:03 he posted an AI-generated image of himself, alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, all shirtless, along with an unidentifiable woman in a bikini, appearing to be relaxing in a swimming pool. But the “swimming pool” was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

Then, at 11:04, Trump posted an image of First Lady Melania Trump grinning at the press conference Trump held after the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when he said that incident proved he needed his proposed ballroom for his security.

Then, at 11:13, Trump posted an image of....

...

On Wednesday, Trump talked to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin for an hour and a half—the twelfth phone call between the two leaders since Trump took office a second time—and just hours later posted about removing U.S. troops from Germany.  Continue here.

-- Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

Scott MacFarlane Reports

Bad Theology

Some really good theology here...Anatomy of the Soul, Wk 2 (according to the Biblical book of Romans, perhaps even all you really need).

4 Observations (from Others)

Wealth isn't a distinction. If I have no other achievement to my credit than the accumulation of wealth, then I have made a poor success of my life.

-- John D. Rockefeller

We are not given a short life but we make it short; we are not ill-supplied with time but wasteful of it.

-- Seneca

What we find in life is based on where we put our attention. When we focus on the small worlds our thoughts create, we miss out on the beauty and possibilities we are meant to enjoy.

-- Guy Finley

The moral quest has never kept us moral; it’s just kept us from each other. So maybe we should abandon the moral quest … and embrace instead the journey to wholeness, flourishing love, and defiant joy.”

-- Father Gregory Boyle

 

 

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

Ben Sasse on lessons for America

 ...worth both your time and consideration.

Should Scare The Hell Out of Pentagon Planners & Other Things To Be Worried About

AXIOS

I’d like to hear the truth. That would be pretty remarkable from this Secretary of Defense.

-- Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a military veteran told me about his expectations for Hegseth’s testimony

  

AXIOS

How the government is ramping up mass surveillance with AI-driven tech 

Entire NSF science advisory board fired by Trump administration 

Letters from an American

...from the official social media account of the White House no less.

The Evolution of Trump’s Corruption

So Exquisitely Rewarding

It is so easy to give, so exquisitely rewarding.

-- John Steinbeck

LT: Why Kindness is the Ultimate Command of Modern Leadership

In our pursuit of professional excellence, we frequently overlook the most fundamental element of any organization, a hidden dimension to leadership that doesn’t appear on a balance sheet, yet dictates the success of every organization on earth: the human heart. 

Even in the age of AI, the soul of a world-class organization remains human. The most profound strategy a leader can adopt is simple: Be kind because everyone you lead is fighting a battle you know nothing about. In a world that often feels increasingly cold and transactional, this isn't just a sentimental quote to hang on an office wall. It is a strategic imperative. When we trade 'command and control' for 'care and connect', we stop seeing employees as resources and start seeing them as the heartbeat of our success. Kindness is the bridge to a new era of leadership.  Continue...here.

-- Gifford Thomas

Notice Things

I’ve noticed…that I notice things.

Everybody does, at least to some extent.

An interesting question though might be, why?

Why do you I notice what I notice (and what I don't notice...and, why?)?

The Conversation Between

The conversation between your life and God is always happening — the question is whether you hear it.

-- Scott Erickson

3 Observations & A Question

We control so little beyond our effort.

Doing is often as instructive as thinking about doing.

Just because you’re used to the cost, doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t cost you.

Letting go can often be difficult — have you noticed when that is more often the case?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

History: The United Nations

Another history...this time of the United Nations.

On The Lighter Side: Squirrel + Coffee

On the Lighter Side:

 

Lose Sight

You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.

-- William Faulkner

Earth Day 2026

We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do. 

-- Barbara Ward, economist, writer, and founder of the International Institute for Environment and Development

The U.S. Forest Service is closing down research stations ahead of a catastrophic wildfire season

Republicans introduce extreme bill to ban lawsuits against Big Oil forever

For Earth Day, from earthday.org:

Progress does not happen in silence. 

It happens when people show up. 

Environmental progress is built through everyday action—from communities protecting ecosystems to innovators advancing solutions. Clean air, safe water, and climate resilience aren’t optional—they’re essential.

For Earth Day 2026, we’re mobilizing at scale. Every action counts. Every voice matters.

 

 

All flourishing is mutual. 

-- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Self-Sabotage

Most people self-sabotage with self-defeating attitudes and behaviors long before anyone stops them.

-- Shane Parrish

Small and Insular

Ever noticed...that many people are just trying to get something they want (usually, for the perceived benefits that would come with it) and that, then, they spend the rest of their time trying not to lose it.

...what a small and insular way to live.

Way of Faith

The way of faith is not a way of certitude.

Certitude is a way of knowledge.

We are all called to a way of faith. At each step God asks us to trust, to say yes, to put our lives in God’s hands.

-- Richard Rohr

Religion in America

AXIOS

3 Observations & A Question

It seems like pain is required to keep our attention.

 

Coerced behavior is almost always short-lived — you may get the behavior, but not the heart behind it.

Put yourself in the best position you can — and recognize that you don't hold all the cards (or, even many of them). 

 

Is there anything more significant than a present and patient father?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

"Hate To Be Controversial"

 Morning Brew

Yeah right…isn't controversy his whole gig?

DOJ moves to dismiss Jan. 6 convictions against former Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, including seditious conspiracy charges 

This kind of white-washing and lying has to stop here, too: 

What has been happening here since 2010 is something that Goebbels or the North Korean leadership would admire. Not a single true word being spoken. This cannot continue.  

-- Péter Magyar, newly elected Prime Minister of Hungary

Artemis II, Con't - Crew

More on what perspective gives you (click image)....

Face the Future, Con't

Another lingering reflection, on a recent I'm Wondering...:

I'm wondering...about how we orient ourselves to face the future.

For one thing, how am I thinking about the future relative to how I thought about it in my 20s seems quite different.  Obviously, the time-table has changed and that seems to affect things. When I was younger, my sense of 'my whole life in front of me' would often take the pressure off something.  As I age, I would describe that pressure as shifting.  I'm increasingly focused on a shorter term (like a window is closing — which relieves things in some ways, but adds things in other ways).

Another feature of how we orient to the future seems to be related to fear.  I've noticed that fear in older people seems to increasingly dominate their perspective about the future.  I've said I won't let that happen to me.  But, I suspect I am a bit naive (if not arrogant) about that assertion (even if I don't watch FOX News).

And, then, there's the nexus of my own personal, little world and that of the larger collective that continues to evolve over time.  How does what my grandparents remember about 'when they grew up' assimilate with what we're experiencing now in terms of things like social and environmental issues, politics, technology, and our sense of meaning in life?  How does what my grandparents faced as children and what my grandchildren will face affect how I view things today?

Like it or not, a lot of the time, how I view things today is psychologically impacted by my sense of the future.  Are we progressing or are we retreating?  Gaining ground or losing it?  Is the future bright with possibility and betterment or beset by the inevitability of dystopia?  

So, in all of this, what do I turn to for a sense of my bearings? What gives me healthy perspective about the future?  How does my perspective of the future inform what I focus on today (or, is it the other way around)?

Is the future just an abyss waiting for all of us to just fall into?  Or, does it largely resemble the present evolution of the past (even as it is changing)?  Is what I am really grasping at whether or not anything (or anyone) has control of the future…of where things are headed?

As much as things change, they also stay (largely) the same.  Or, at least, the basics do.  The sun rises every day.  Gravity is always there.  Air to breath is a given.  Most days, we get up and do our thing — eat (by the way, a helpful way to do that...here), work, clean, etc. Sure we have nicer clothes, indoor plumbing and climate controlled temperature, the ability to communicate and entertain ourselves at unprecedented levels, to fly nearly anywhere in the world now (whereas before, many people never traveled out of their own community), not to mention outer-space.  But how much has that capability altered the essential nature of my existence — of what matters most in any given moment?

In other words, what will be is more like what it has always been.  If that is true, then most of my future is related to today — to what I do today.  If nothing else, the past demonstrates that.  And, that is a significant part of how I can face the future...today.  

...not to mention the wisdom and faith I benefit from every day from those who have gone before me (both recently and long ago). 

Greatest Danger

The greatest danger to our future is apathy.

-- Jane Goodall

Behavior

Let your behavior lead the way.

-- James Clear, from The Silent Cost of Bad Habits

So, Who Is Deranged?

CBS NEWS

Besides the profound implications, in addition to the overall backlash (not to mention his pathetic back-pedaling or, perhaps even worse, the audacity of his VP's subsequent attempt to school the Pope), how do you reconcile this with:

Hegseth’s Unholy War 

You really can't and it may be catching up with him: 

Trump's incredible shrinking tent

Face The Future

I'm wondering...about how we orient ourselves to face the future.

Artemis II

Regarding perspective, there is still something to be said for your point-of-view:

 USA TODAY

More...here.

This reminds me of something I've mentioned before:

A Reason to Look Up

3 Observations & A Question

Expose the good, in addition to the bad — using one to cancel the other isn’t in our best interest. 

 

Human interaction is important to our well-being — notice what happens without it.

 

Not unlike your overall well-being, you have to work at your health — it helps to habitualize it.

 

What is it that I most want to solve for in my life? — If I don’t know, am I just on auto-pilot (or in a trance)?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Persuasion

'Poem for the week' -- "Persuasion":

Man’s life is like a Sparrow, mighty King!
That—while at banquet with your Chiefs you sit
Housed near a blazing fire—is seen to flit
Safe from the wintry tempest. Fluttering,
Here did it enter; there, on hasty wing,
Flies out, and passes on from cold to cold;
But whence it came we know not, nor behold
Whither it goes. Even such, that transient Thing,
The human Soul; not utterly unknown
While in the Body lodged, her warm abode;
But from what world She came, what woe or weal
On her departure waits, no tongue hath shown;
This mystery if the Stranger can reveal,
His be a welcome cordially bestowed!

-- William Wordsworth

So, What Does Make You Mad?

If this doesn't make you mad, then what would?

Chevron's CEO made $104 million while America bombed Iran 

This?

Hegseth Has Gutted the Entire Joint Chiefs and Replaced Them With People Whose Primary Skill Is Clapping 

Or, this?

“Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD! President DONALD J. TRUMP” 

This administration has been fleecing the system (you and me) in so many ways from the get-go, largely under the banner of conservatism (if not Christianity). It's hardly conservative (or Christian), especially on the financial front — look up the numbers.  Any 'greatness' coming from it is certainly not for you and me.

Are we really going to let these guys take us all down?

The Speech That History Will Remember as the Breakpoint in the Trump-Epstein-Russia Scandal

Put Blinders On

Put blinders on to those things that conspire to hold you back, especially the ones in your own head.

-- Meryl Streep 

Architects

We are the architects of our situation. 

-- Simon Sinek

Adjustments

I’ve noticed…adjustments I need to be willing to make in my life.  

I know I'm getting older.  My compensation for that has been my failing assumption that I can still keep everything going IF I adapt — just find ways to do things differently.

But, there is more evidence that this isn't working.  My body is telling me this, in a variety of ways.  I suspect I'm not listening enough because, perhaps, I'm not accepting the reality of my increasing limitations. 

Maybe what I need to adjust is more than I've thought.... 

Another Seriously? This Is Our President.

Another, Seriously — This is our President?:

Easter: New Life

As we move from the fear of Holy Friday through the despair of Holy Saturday, there is nothing quite like the joy of new life on Holy Sunday to move things back into perspective.

A personalized example for our family this Easter:

1st Team In History

4 Observations (from Others)

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

 

-- Albert Einstein

 

 

Discipline is the greatest thing in the world. Where there is no discipline, there is no character.

-- J.W. Marriott

 

 

I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.

 

-- Lou Holtz

 

Patience is everything.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

Holy (Good) Friday: He Became What We Fear

Father Richard Rohr offers a guided meditation, inviting listeners to be present with Jesus at the crucifixion:  

Picture yourself before the crucified Jesus; recognize that he became what you fear: nakedness, exposure, vulnerability, and failure. He became sin to free you from sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). He became what we do to one another in order to free us from the lie of punishing and scapegoating each other. He became the crucified so we would stop crucifying. He refused to transmit his pain onto others.

Richard imagines Jesus speaking these words to us, offering God’s love and forgiveness:

My beloved, I am your self. I am your beauty. I am your goodness, which you are destroying. I am what you do to what you should love. I am what you are afraid of: your deepest and best and most naked self—your soul. Your sin largely consists in what you do to harm goodness—your own and others’. You are afraid of the good; you are afraid of me. You kill what you should love; you hate what could transform you. I am Jesus crucified. I am yourself, and I am all of humanity.

We are invited to respond to Jesus on the cross:

Jesus, Crucified, you are my life and you are also my death. You are my beauty, you are my possibility, and you are my full self. You are everything I want, and you are everything I am afraid of. You are everything I desire, and you are everything I deny. You are my outrageously ignored and neglected soul.

Jesus, your love is what I most fear. I can’t let anybody love me for nothing. Intimacy with you or anyone terrifies me.

I am beginning to see that I, in my own body, am an image of what is happening everywhere, and I want it to stop today. I want to stop the violence toward myself, toward the world, toward you. I don’t need to ever again create any victim, even in my mind.

You alone, Jesus, refused to be crucifier, even at the cost of being crucified. You never asked for sympathy. You never played the victim or asked for vengeance. You breathed forgiveness.

We humans mistrust, murder, and attack. Now I see that it is not you that humanity hates. We hate ourselves, but we mistakenly kill you. I must stop crucifying your blessed flesh on this earth and in my brothers and sisters.

Now I see that you live in me and I live in you. You are inviting me out of this endless cycle of illusion and violence. You are Jesus crucified. You are saving me. In your perfect love, you have chosen to enter into union with me, and I am slowly learning to trust that this could be true.

Feels Free

You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.

-- Thich Nhat Hanh

No foolin'.

No foolin'.

But, in some ways today, I wish I was.

In a week or so, I will be holding another grand-baby.  So, I was sprucing up a bit at the barber today (for the inevitable pics).  We got talking about how little humor there is these days, not to mention the fun we used to have playing April Fools jokes on people.  "Everyone is so uptight right now...", he said.

Unfortunately, that seems a bit too true.

But, I'm not, right?  Well, I did recently acquire (is that the way to say it?) shingles....

There is SO much not to laugh about right now.  So much hanging in the balance.  So much to not ignore.  So many people suffering at the hands of systemic power (not to mention our own).

It feels like there's just not much mental or emotional space left for a little light-heartedness.  We're worn out.

But, when we get to the point we are no longer able to laugh at anything, perhaps we should pause and reconsider a few things.

In these kinds of moments, we tend to become even more binary.  It gets harder to hold more than one thing at a time — it's either all bad or all good.  The reality is, though, that it's not.  It's really both.  It always has been both.  We have to continue to learn how to be honest and hold...both.  

Life can be terrible.  And, it can be wonderful.  And, if truth be told, often at nearly the same time.  This is hard for us to reconcile, especially in our minds.  And, that may provide the clue we need.  

What we know and what we experience are not always in the same medium.  But, both sources are kinds of intelligence and legitimate.  Perhaps, our highly rational habits (even though they're really not as rational as we think) are often misleading, especially in terms of all that truly informs the quality of our existence.  Too often, we are guilty of using one to cancel the other.  But, that is mostly due to our general discomfort with duality.  Something about one-or-the-other thinking is highly appealing, but it also truncates something in us.  We have to hold bad and good simultaneously.  

A joke, somehow, might be a part of doing that. 

So, maybe we should April Fool someone today...and let them April Fool us.   

We may need that more than we...think. 

How To Think

Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.

-- David Foster Wallace

Imperfections

Ever noticed…when we tend to use people’s imperfections against them?

A Psalm of Peace and Justice

The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
In grass meadows
He makes me lie down,
by quiet waters guides me.
My life He brings back.
He leads me on pathways of justice
for His name’s sake.

-- Psalm 23:1-3

Maybe this beloved psalm of consolation isn't only that — a meditation...here. 

We do tend to have a fairly singular (and small) perspective of justice; one primarily focused on punishment for wrongdoing...especially for others. 

God’s perspective on justice is much bigger.  

“No Kings Day”: Toward a Pro-Democracy Movement

Think about it...here and here.

I saw a sign that read, “Democracy Doesn’t Fear Protests, Dictators Do.”

As our fore-fathers knew, the right to peacefully assemble seems critical to self-governance (perhaps this is why it was the very first amendment to our Constitution).  We all know there are abuses going on and that those benefiting from them don’t want to be called out — are we saying calling them out shouldn’t be allowed?  What if you are the object of that abuse of power personally?

 

 

 constitutionus.com

3 Observations & A Question

We have never been (or ever will be) good enough — but, that has never been the point after all.

 

Things will happen to you — most of which, you can actually do quite little about, especially in the moment.

 

Anything that happens from here is all gift — acknowledging that makes one realize that’s always been true.

 

If you want to know what you’re really trusting in, ask yourself about your fears about the future?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Macronutrients

Enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning are like the macro-nutrients of happiness.

-- Arthur C. Brooks

Head In The Sand

Don’t look only for confirmation of what you already think. On the other hand, recognize that you are not capable of being infinitely open.

So, what to do then?

Commit yourself to being alive. Be aware. 

Being alive is something that you will have to actively work at.  It, actually, isn’t easy.

It means that you know that you don’t live in isolation. That you have to do your part to cultivate good friendships. Neighbors are as good for you as you are for them — look out for and help each other. Love your family; not just in theory, but in specific ways.  

You don't always have to be nice, but be kind (including to yourself).  This enables the above more than we know (at the very least, the opposite is true).

Get outdoors.  Look around you, especially up.  What you see there is God.

Attend to your surroundings with care. 

Do physical work. Don’t eat too much crap. Get sleep.

And, stop doing things that you know deaden your aliveness.

Don’t forget that you also need to play, to laugh, and to feel the deep Yes of live music and art (these often say things for you that you don't know how to say otherwise).

By the way, just so you know, it isn’t nearly as important how well you do these things as it is that you do them.

The impact of all, especially in aggregate, will keep your head out of the sand.

Silence and Smile

Always remember:  Silence and smile are two very powerful tools.

-- Paulo Coelho

Instruments of Violence

We become instruments of violence precisely by trying to protect ourselves from it.

-- Jason Miller, When The World Breaks

Not What Presidents Do

I'm wondering...what we are doing as a society, when we elect (and continue to support) a President like this:

Heather Delaney Reese, The President Can’t Walk This One Back

Seriously — This is our President?

Speaking of character (because, in the end, I think that is, largely, what we are talking about here), if you haven't read about the kind of man Robert Mueller was, you need to (one option...here).  

It's a free country, so we all get to decide who we want to lead us to the future. 

He tends to be naive about how things can happen. If he says it and keeps saying it, there’s always a hope that what he says will come true. But that’s what kids do. It’s not what presidents do.

-- Leon Panetta

"Love Jesus"

We need to look at Jesus until we can look out at the world with his kind of eyes. The world no longer trusts Christians who “love Jesus”, but do not seem to love anything else.

-- Richard Rohr

 
Choosing Relationship, by Rachel Held Evans.

3 Observations & A Question

Sometimes we just don't want to see things.

Believe it or not, America, our highest good is not our productivity.

Our surroundings give us everything — we should treat them with respect and care.

What are we really trusting in?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

On The Lighter Side: Tighten The Screws

On the Lighter Side:

Wasn’t A Great Deal Of Serious Thought

 Heather Delaney Reese

Seriousness here is a pretense (at best):

...from the very beginning of this war, we got a sense that there wasn’t a great deal of serious thought put into it by the president of the United States about how it might end, what our objectives were, what needed to be done to protect Americans who are in the Middle East, what might happen to oil in the Strait of Hormuz.

-- E.J. Dionne, New York Times

"...has more plans for the ballroom he’s trying to build at the East Wing than anything he’s gonna do next in the Middle East"

A Top U.S. Counterterrorism Official Resigns, Citing the Iran War

Trump's 45 minute phone call exposed EVERYTHING

Trump Alone

 

GALLUP - Front Page

 
How much of all of this is simply about the pure, unadulterated aggregation of personal power...primarily for the purpose of accumulating unprecedented wealth (not to mention avoiding jail)?

Decisions

Decisions are best made by the people affected by them.

-- Gloria Steinem

Arguing With A Fool

Arguing with a fool doesn't change them; it changes you.

-- Shane Parrish

Choose To Let Go

I’ve noticed…that I have to choose to let go.

In other words, it doesn't happen automatically. 

Where Jesus Would Be

Love [people] even in [their] sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you have perceived it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love. 

-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov