This from an old friend, now a vascular surgeon practicing in Philadelphia, writing on the dangers of autocratic and rogue governments coming to dominance.
Recent article on China mentioned that with their economy in bad shape Xi is switching his overall goal from economic dominance to pure power.
With China, North Korea, Russia, Iran and also possibly India, Turkey and Brazil it looks like autocratic leadership is on the rise and it seems really very dangerous out there in the world. The evolution of weaponry also has made global involvement a fact rather than a choice. It seems like it was likely clearer and more straightforward when the world had the US and the Soviet Union squared off and both understanding that doing something really bad would have been very stupid. Now often stateless terrorist groups acting alone or sometimes acting as proxies for others, they seem to feel that there is no real need on their part for restraint.
Also, by economically isolating some of them we may be pushing them to work together in direct opposition to our goals.
Whether or not you believe in the bible and what it says about the Anti-Christ is immaterial. As my colleague Joe Spease says, Trump “checks the boxes.”
Every time I see people watching a football game on TV I’m reminded of this quote.
The planet is baking, a sociopathic criminal is leading in the polls to earn his party’s nomination for U.S. president, and the world is running full tilt towards genocide and authoritarianism.
But someone just ran for another first down and the fans are on their feet.
I listened to a podcast featuring the former CEO of Pepsico, Indra Nooyi, hoping to hear her thoughts on some of her brands that are particularly potent in destroying our lives.
Of course, the interviewer didn’t frame his questions so aggressively, so this was more about business that anything else.
She did mention that her team has three groupings of brands: fun, good, and better, where “fun” includes things like soda that have no positive value whatsoever.
The term “geoengineering” means applying some sort of technology aimed at helping the planet to better support life as global conditions change, especially as temperatures rise. (more…)
I’m sure there are many Americans who agree that, if we had our decisions re: lawn maintenance to make over again, we’d rather have built habitat for bees and rabbits than fashion our yards after the way suburban houses looked in the 1950s.
There is an argument being made, particularly in the Deep South, that our schools’ curricula should not include what academics sometimes call “critical race theory,” i.e., the set of facts surrounding black history in the United States. That means the telling of how the economy of the South was largely built on the backs of centuries of black slavery, but it also encompasses Jim Crow laws and the more subtle forms of exclusion of blacks from white society to persist to this day.
The author of the meme here seems to be suggesting that those opposing teaching these truths intend to prevent any progress for black people in American society, and, perhaps, would like to see various forms of regression into our terrible past.
As suggested in the meme here, the “kindness movement” has been a big deal in our culture. Mr. Roberts is well-remembered for what he taught our children about how to get along with one another.
Sadly, the concept of kindness hit upon hard times with the anti-wokeism MAGA crowd, but we hope that’s just a passing fad, and that human decency will once again form the bedrock of our society.