Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. — Harry S. Truman President Truman’s somber warning issued in 1950 is prescient and chilling in 2025. (For information on the context for Truman’s comment, click here). That’s due to the fact that … [Read more...]

  Immediately upon his return to the White House Donald J. Trump went to war against DEI. On January 20 and January 21, President Trump signed three executive orders related to DEI. Two addressed DEI initiatives in the federal government. The third was directed at DEI initiatives in the private sector. In this blog, we examine the nature and impact of those executive orders and look at DEI in a broader context. DEI Elimination in the Government The governmentally focused executive … [Read more...]

  On his inauguration day of January 20, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He followed that up by signing a second executive order on February 9th, recognizing that day as Gulf of America Day. Truth be told, there was already a Gulf of America. It is the chasm between Americans with vastly different beliefs and belief systems. As we discussed in an earlier blog, this gulf was borne out of what academics have … [Read more...]

  In a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘holds office’; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve. — John F. Kennedy The American people have spoken. The political leader they chose for the nation in this past … [Read more...]

    In January, in our nation’s capital, there was a state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, and Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. Trump is very well known. Carter not so much. This raises the question: Who was Jimmy Carter? There was a flood of commentary answering this question after Carter died on December 29, 2024, through his state funeral and burial on January 9. Among other things, he was remembered as an … [Read more...]

  The federal government is under attack. That attack is not coming from a foreign government or enemy troops, but from those in this country who consider the federal government the deep state, or want it to do only their bidding. The attack is supported or approved of by some citizens who, for a variety of reasons, have issues with the federal government. There is no question that the federal government is not perfect and never will be. It is, however, not a deep state, nor should it be … [Read more...]

  On January 20, 2025 Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Eight years earlier on January 20, 2017, Trump was sworn in as the 45th president. In the period from that date until he left office on January 20, 2021, President Trump blew his trumpet improvisationally and idiosyncratically. He did that because he had no specific musical score to play and was not prepared for the job. That will not be the case this time around. Trump has a definite … [Read more...]

  Peace on earth has been a common request since the beginning of time. Luke, the apostle, said in Bible verse 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poet, in 1863 wrote: I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men! U-2, the rock band, in 2001 sang: Heaven on Earth We need it … [Read more...]

  This Thanksgiving we are thankful that the light of our American democracy still shines. That was the opening sentence of our Thanksgiving blog, written after the 2022 mid-term elections. Even though we are not happy with who won the presidency, it is the opening sentence for our Thanksgiving blog this 2024 election year as well. Here’s why. In 2022, we described the electoral environment as follows: Much of the media in the period from Labor Day in September until the … [Read more...]