Predictions

Most get the Farmer’s Almanac to figure out what the weather will be the next year, but what about the stock market? What about property rates? What about street repairs? What about car repairs? What about that funny smell coming from your refrigerator? What about that ache you get when you roll out of bed? What about that phone call saying you owe the government? What about that fella parked for hours across the street? What about your daughter coming home later than expected?

As much as we try we cannot predict the future. We can write to-do list but the store might be closed or out of the product or the car breaks down or you never wake up.

We can look backwards because that has already been done. The memories might become clouded with time or forgotten, but history is recorded.

Tomorrow, if you are lucky enough to meet it, presents a vast array of options that can’t be foreseen or predicted. One must accept the inevitable.

If it rains and you thought it would be sunny, grab an umbrella. If snow falls, enjoy the view and stay at home. Every day we just deal with it.

We can’t predict when we will win the lottery. We can’t predict when we will fall in love. We can’t predict when the doctor tells us a bad diagnosis. We can’t predict the other driver being distracted on the phone plows into your car.

We can predict getting older will mean moving slower and aches and pains that were not there before. We can predict that casserole that has been in the refrigerator since Christmas is starting to get fuzzy and needs to go. We can predict after having all the family over for a week, the house will need to detoxify.

We can predict if we eat a plate of black eye peas and stewed tomatoes for the New Year, people should give some space. We can predict that many toast of champagne will blur your vision and ability to speak legibly. We can predict throwing up will be remembered as a cherished story posted on social media.

Tomorrow turn the page of the calendar and try to remember to write 2020 on your checks.

The Battlefield

It is a shame we still have wars for no reason. We are not conquering land or ridding the world of evil or transforming cultures. We are keeping the explosive industry busy. We are also keeping the gravediggers busy.

My town was never bombed or invaded, but was left in ruins. When the threat of an opposing army coming, fires were started during the evacuation. The president came into smoldering rubble of a former capitol.

When I arrived reconstruction had been complete with many new changes and ever growing expansion, but all around were battlefields.

My friends and I would ride our bikes out to a wooded area or an empty field and find rusty bayonets and mini balls. Some would find cannon balls and use them for doorstops. A belt bucket find was a treasure.

These were just items used or discarded by armies walking through the area. A few more inches down there might be bones?

My friends and I would play on hills used for gun emplacements now grown over without markers indicating who was pointing at whom. Fallen trees had rotted and new trees hid where kids our age hid vowing to protect their homes.

Today there are live time images of towns and villages and cities decimated by rockets and bombs. Destructive power my ancestors could not have imagined. These are the new battlefields.

The images on social media show the screams and the blood and everyone is glad it is not we.

Will the refugees wandering to save their families from the mayhem come back to reconstruct broken buildings, roads and infrastructure?

Will the next generation play in empty fields and find mini balls?

 

Congressional Holidays

Days in non-leap year: 365

Weekend days: 105

Federal holidays: 10

Recess/travel/state work days: 110

Days spent in D.C.: 140

The House was scheduled to meet for 113 days, compared to the 130 days it was scheduled to meet in 2019 and the 171 days it met in 2018.

The Senate was also scheduled to meet for fewer days in 2019 than 2018, with 168 days scheduled versus 186, but due to the uncertainty of January’s calendar it was unknown at the time of the schedule’s release whether the total number of days in session in 2020 will be greater or fewer than previous years

The compensation for most Senators, Representatives, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico is $174,000.

Most of the rest of us work the 9-5 jobs. We work 5 days a week, weekends off, Christmas Day and maybe July 4^th and if greedy a birthday holiday, plus 4 Day’s sick leave and two weeks vacation, all paid. That is around 240 days.

At minimum wage $15.00 an hour would be $120 a day or $600 a week without overtime. That would equal to around $30,000 a year.

If you’d noticed during the recent Impeachment hearings, the clock was running until the Christmas recess. Just like everyone else before a holiday or the weekend, we look at the clock wondering why it is going so slowly. Some bosses knowing productivity is dropping with the anxiety to leave, will shut down early. That just is another paid holiday and a good well treat from the boss.

Now our leaders don’t work 9-5 jobs. They spend there times talking to constituents, lobbyist, each other, the press, etc. There are constant committee meetings and reports and votes. There are bills to be drawn up and presented and constant persuasion efforts. Phone calls trying to get the numbers to agree with a proposal and the rallies to ask for money.

These men and woman have to do more than just apply with a resume for a job in the congress.

The folks work hard to make their names known to the general public with promises to solve all problems. They form phone banks, get folks to go door-to-door, get signs and posters printed, record or at least approve television and radio commercials, get social media pop-ups with approving comments and work to get interviews on morning news shows. This all cost money, so much of a congress want-to-be member has to do is beg for money. While each individual donation to a candidate helps, the bulk funds come from the loopholes in the campaign financing laws by groups buying future favors.

Once elected to Congress, there is a constant effort to stay relevant and aware to those with deep pockets for they have to be re-elected to maintain their position of power. Maybe every job should have try-outs after each year to keep the focus on the job.

 Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for representatives. Each representative must: (1) be at least twenty-five years old; (2) have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years; and (3) be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they represent.

Last year when the ‘government’ shutdown, congress representatives could go home, but ‘essential personnel’ had to keep on working. The planes still flew, the army still guarded Fort Knox, and someone still held his key for the nukes. Why no one ever attacked us at this moment of stupidity is beyond logic. Maybe next time?

While we have all been home with our families enjoying the season of downtime without worrying about sales or marketing or distribution or manufacturing or balancing books or hedge fund investments, the ‘essential personnel’ will fill in the gaps to keep things flowing.

So as the New Year appears, the long holiday will be over and just like any time off the gears will take some time to start rolling again. The lights will turn on, the dust on the desk will be brushed off and the unused toilets wait. Suits will replace tacky sweaters and people will start again to scurry down hallways trying frantically to appear busy.

Fear not, for if you have ever listened to any committee meetings or read a congressional report you know soon there will be another recess, just like elementary school.

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/congressional-record-index/114th-congress/2nd-session/special-days-and-holidays/234037

Out of Wedlock

Child born out of wedlock means a child begotten and born to a woman who was not married from the conception to the date of birth of the child, or a child that the court has determined to be a child born or conceived during a marriage, but not the issue of that marriage.

Was Joseph and Mary married before the Immaculate Conception?

According to ancient Jewish custom, Mary could have been betrothed at about 12.

Some apocryphal accounts state that at the time of her betrothal to Joseph, Mary was 12–14 years old, and he was ninety years old, but such accounts are unreliable. Newer theories places Joseph’s age at 18.

In Jewish weddings during Talmudic times (c.1st century BC – 6th century AD), the two ceremonies of betrothal (erusin) and wedding usually took place up to a year apart; the bride lived with her parents until the actual marriage ceremony (nissuin), which would take place in a room or tent that the groom had set up for her.

There are no marriage licenses to proof check when or if this ever happened.

Who was Jesus’ father?

He could be known as Joseph the Carpenter. He was probably Yoseph ben Yakob, or Joseph, son of Jacob, to most people. Legally, he was the son of Heli, Jacob’s brother, so some may have called him “son of Heli”.

In the Apocrypha, Joseph was the father of James, Joses, Jude, Simon, and at least two daughters.

While many Christians believe in the ‘virgin birth’ of Jesus, it is principally Roman Catholics who believe in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Conception occurs when a sperm cell from a fertile man swims up through the vagina and into the uterus of a woman and joins with the woman’s egg cell as it travels down one of the fallopian tubes from the ovary to the uterus.

For a woman with a regular period, conception typically occurs about 11-21 days after the first day of the last period. Most women do not know the exact date of conception because it can be challenging to know exactly when ovulation occurs.

Some women may notice symptoms as early as 5 DPO, although they won’t know for certain that they are pregnant until much later. Early signs and symptoms include implantation bleeding or cramps, which can occur 5–6 days after the sperm fertilizes the egg. Other early symptoms include breast tenderness and mood changes.

The Immaculate Conception is commonly confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, the latter saying that Jesus was conceived and born by his mother Mary without a human father.

In Roman Catholic Christian theology, the Immaculate Conception is the conception of the Virgin Mary free from ‘original sin’ by virtue of the merits of her son Jesus. The Catholic Church teaches that God acted upon Mary in the first moment of her conception, keeping her “immaculate”.

Although the belief that Mary was sinless, or conceived without ‘original sin’, has been widely held since Late Antiquity, the doctrine was not dogmatically defined in the Catholic Church until 1854 when Pope Pius IX, declared ex cathedra, i.e., using papal infallibility, in his papal bull Ineffabilis Deus, the Immaculate Conception to be doctrine. 

Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, illegitimacy (or bastardy) has been the status of a child born outside marriage, such a child being known as a bastard, love child or illegitimate when such a distinction has been made from other children.

The term ‘single mom’ is thrown around like so much wrapping paper these days. A burden placed on the mother and child being born out of wedlock. In some countries shunned by family or worse.

The theologians can transcribe and reinterpret ancient writings that were verbally passed down for generations. There are no photographs or legal documents declaring a date or time or participants, which leaves us to beliefs.

If Jesus or Mary or Joseph walked the earth cannot be verified but like other stories in ‘the book’ it is worth a read, fact or fiction.

To have a date put aside for all people, great and small, to be kind and give gifts to one another is a nice way to spend a winter day.

To pass people on the street wearing ugly sweaters and stocking caps smiling and saying “Merry Christmas” is unusual daily behavior. One of the most stressful days of the year with screaming children, relatives and friends barging in, we somehow can find the will to be kind to each other for one day.

Maybe we can have Christmas tomorrow too?

The Gift

Grand Illumination, Santa Parades, Tacky Lights, Tree Hunting, Wrapping Paper, Hallmark Cards, Gingerbread Cookies and Hot Cider, Tinsel, Nativity Scenes, Extension Cords, Ugly Sweaters, Big Mouth Billy Bass, Egg Nog, Charlie Brown cartoon classics, Cinnamon, Candles, Red, Stocking caps and long winter naps is Christmas.

While some will pause for a moment of kindness most are hoping for ill-gotten gains.

If the Jolly Old Elf had been following your online feeds, he’d never need to leave the ever-shrinking North Pole. What would you do with a lump of coal in your stocking?

Seriously, this day is about giving.

What was your favorite gift?

“I got a dolly” “ I got a bike” “I got a train set” “I got a vacuum cleaner”

Not what was the favorite gift you received, for after a few minutes, you’d forgotten who gave it or it broke or was put aside looking for more treasures.

What was your favorite gift?

I (like you) have gone through the ritual of pressing through the crowds looking for that special something to take home, badly wrap, put under the tree and in the morning wait for the surprise.

Anything placed in a box and covered in paper sealed with a ribbon and a bow is a surprise when it is opened.

Did the receiver understand the meaning of the effort purchasing the gift for them or was it just polite response before getting into the return line?

I’ve given many gifts. Some were expensive and some were just an obligation. I’ve given gifts at the office to strangers. I’ve given gifts to family members without any thought.

Do you remember the gifts you received under the Christmas tree when you were sixteen? Me neither, but we all went through the family tradition of tearing off the paper and opening the boxes and squealing like it was the most precocious act we could perform to satisfy our parents before the ball game.

There are moments when you actually think of the special day and how you can present a gift that will never be forgotten.

I’m not talking about conception for that gift has already been used, thus the reason for the holiday.

What about that special gift that made a difference? That special gift no matter how big or how small, how costly or inexpensive made time stop.

Was it worth the effort?

One Christmas season, we were looking through a retail business that was closing down. We’d frequented the store multiple times but now the stock was starting to dwindle. We walked by the jewelry case and she looked at the rings. I tried to divert her attention but she was fascinated with one. I suggested the price was too high and found another distraction, then sneakily went back and pointed to the ring. “Wrap it up”. I paid for it and shoved it into my pocket without being noticed.

Don’t remember whatever else we bought that day, but I had to figure the best way to make this a ‘gift’. A small box with a bow would give it away. A big box with a small box inside might work, well maybe?

It had been a chilly winter and we were regaling ourselves in warm clothing while refurbishing the closet.

So with the scarves and knit caps and sweaters and socks, there were gloves. Nice warm mittens and grey woolen gloves, but what was this?

Down deep in the glove was a little box.

The look of surprise was not photographed but will always be remembered.

That is what the gift of Christmas is about for me.

The Nativity

Now that the outside lights are up and the reindeer across the yard on the fake snow replacing the fake spider webs and the inflatable Santa with the speakers blaring Mannheim Steamroller to the parade of tacky light tour caroling gawkers stopping to pee on your lawn and unplugging one bulb, it is time to go inside and put up the tree, string the walls with garland, bring out the candles (and the Fire Extinguisher) then dig into the ancient delicate heirloom tree ornaments and tinsel to attract the cat.

As you pull the ugly sweaters and Santa hats out of mothballs there is a dusty box in the corner.

It is the nativity.

Most are the little open barn with the manger and the little baby Jesus surrounded by Joseph and Mary action figures. The good ones have the sheep and the donkey and an angle from up above (hung by a string to attract the cat). The really big sets have the wise men and camels and shepherds with tourist taking selfies. All carefully placed on green plastic straw or mulch from the garden, everyone can stand back and spiritually moved (until the cat arrives). A smart family will put the nativity in the middle of the circular miniature train set to keep the cat away.

If the nativity is on a table or desk, in the morning little baby Jesus will be missing. If you put the nativity up on a shelf you can’t see when the figures move when you are not watching. Sometimes you can hear them when you turn out the lights.

My wife wanted a nativity.

With seven cats and a dog, even the tree decoration tradition had been realized to be futile, but I would shop anyway.

There are the usual white dolls that are fashioned after the paintings in the Bible. There were unusual third world representations and even Avant Garde depictions of the holy scene. It was as difficult to decide as choosing pieces for a chess set.

As it was I never had to purchase another Christmas reminder but I still think about the nativity scenes when I pass by one.

Just like the star on top of the tree, the nativity will only be out until the 25^th, then shuttered away until next year. It will be a family tradition passed down through generations unless you add some Star War figures, a Barbie and GI Joe and a dinosaur or two.

I’ll leave the light on.

Books vs. Movies

How many times have you heard that the book was better than the movie?

Usually the book was written before the movie, but one requires the users imagination to visualize the words and the other is to just sit and watch what happens.

If you know the story from the book, there may be flaws in the movie while the movie might reaffirm the image in your mind.

So which is better?

A book is written by one or more people and edited and redefined and perhaps illustrated then pitched to a publisher to print (since most of us do not have a printing press and binders) then distributed and advertised to the public hopefully making a best selling list.

A movie requires a script and a cast of actors and a pile of equipment and crew and locations and permits and a deadline then editing and musical score and special effects within a budget to be distributed to certain venues with hopes of blockbuster ticket sales that will result in awards.

So which is better?

Radio is like listen to someone read a book but it is difficult to describe a painting or the smell of food. Listening to people eat just doesn’t satisfy the taste buds. Still it allows for the individuals to visualize in their own mind what is being said, like a conversation.

Television provides images in short snippets. It is radio with motion pictures. Unfortunately they are constantly interrupted by selling soap or motor vehicles or the latest gadget or gizmo.

All these methods are attempts to escape the reality of the cat fur ball in the corner or the stack of dishes in the sink or the constant calls from the bill collector.

For a few minutes we can slip away into a fantasy world of super heroes and children wizards.

They are all dreams while you are awake.

What’s In A Name?

When you come into this world, after the doctor beats you to get you crying, you are assigned a ‘blue’ or ‘pink’ blanket designated by your plumbing.

Next your father and mother are required to give you a ‘name’ to put on the birth certificate.

That word can be from family history or some current cultural popularity or some weird reference, but it is your given name.

As a kid, you are identified by your name. You do not have enough life experience to be referenced yet.

If you have a former name, it could be shorten to a single syllable.

Your first name identifies you and your last name gives your family ties, but what about a middle name?

There is a name for everything we see, touch, eat, do but the personal name follows like a face tattoo.

You will wear it to the grave.

Of course you can ‘legally’ change your name to re-identify yourself, then you have to transition into this new name.

If not you can get a ‘nickname’ like ‘Scooter’ or ‘Skid Mark’ and go through life being called.

I’m not good with names. A reason I never went into sales or politics. I can recognize a face but totally forget a name associated with it. To remember people I’d have to give them ‘pet names’ to remember.

Now name that tune?

The Pontifical Secret

After spending hours, yet days, yet weeks of our duly elected political officials on a constant hatred loop, I try to find some distractions.

Growing up, we had certain people we trusted.

Our parents were trusted because they fed us and gave us a place to sleep and provided enough direction to send us to some form of education so we wouldn’t grow up sleeping in a cardboard box. The extended family was trusted because we were family and all had the last name. Our teachers were trusted to tell us what we needed to know and then ask if we remembered any of it. Our police and fire folks were trusted because they wore uniforms like the military and kept us safe from bad things. Our coaches were trusted (and we see how that worked out). Our clergy was trusted since they gave us the instructions of faith.

All along there were these dark little secrets that no one talked about.

As sex abuse scandals rocked the Catholic Church over the last few decades, there’s been mounting criticism that pontifical secrecy was used to protect pedophiles, silence victims and prevent law enforcement from investigations.

The ‘pontifical secret’ or pontifical secrecy or papal secrecy is the code of confidentiality that, in accordance with the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, applies in matters that require greater than ordinary confidentiality:

Business of the Roman Curia at the service of the universal Church is officially covered by ordinary secrecy, the moral obligation of which is to be gauged in accordance with the instructions given by a superior or the nature and importance of the question. But some matters of major importance require a particular secrecy, called ‘pontifical secrecy’, and must be observed as a grave obligation.

It is also now time for the pope to mandate that crimes be reported to the police by bishops, religious superiors and others and to make documents and testimony public with the appropriate redactions of victims’ names.

Now the pope sounds like a swell guy.

The pope also known as the supreme pontiff (pontifex maximus) is the bishop of Rome, leader of the worldwide Catholic Church, and head of state representing the Holy See.

Since 1929, the pope has official residence in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City, the Holy See’s city-state enclave within Rome, Italy.

While his office is called ‘the papacy’, the jurisdiction of the Episcopal see is called the Holy See. It is the Holy See that is the sovereign entity by international law headquartered in the distinctively independent Vatican City State, established by the Lateran Treaty in 1929 between Italy and the Holy See to ensure its temporal, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. The primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, giving him the Keys of Heaven and the powers of “binding and loosing”, naming him as the “rock” upon which the church would be built.

The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history. In ancient times the popes helped spread Christianity, and intervened to find resolutions in various doctrinal disputes. In the middle ages, they played a role of secular importance in Western Europe, often acting as arbitrators between Christian monarchs.

Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, and the defense of human rights.

So the pope is sort of the mouthpiece of God?

‘Pontifical secrecy’ is the subject of the instruction Secreta continere of 4 February 1974 issued by the Secretariat of State. The text is published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1974, pages 89–92. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx challenged Pontifical secrecy in the Vatican’s 2019 Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church and the rule was subsequently abolished in respect of sexual abuse of minors.

It was imposed officially in 1974 as a way of trying to protect the name of both the accuser and the accused until the point at which there had been a firm judgment.

The pope has vowed two documents issued known as rescriptums, where the pope uses ‘his’ authority to rewrite specific articles of canon law or parts of previous papal documents.

Now, according to the pope…

“The person who files the report, the person who alleges to have been harmed and the witnesses shall not be bound by any obligation of silence with regard to matters involving the case.

The well being of children and young people must always come before any protection of a secret, even the ‘pontifical’ secret.

Transparency is now being implemented at the highest level.”

So sayeth the pope.

Well that takes care of that.

But that is only those naughty nuns and pedophile priest.

What about the Lutherans or the Methodist or the Presbyterians or those wild dancing Baptist? Let’s not forget the Quakers.

Maybe the Jews need a pope to speak for them?

Oh, that’s right, they had one.

Speaking of the Jews.

In the United States, an ‘executive order’ is a directive issued by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article two of the United States Constitution gives the president broad executive and enforcement authority to use their discretion to determine how to enforce the law or to otherwise manage the resources and staff of the executive branch. The ability to make such orders is also based on express or implied Acts of Congress that delegate to the president some degree of discretionary power (delegated legislation).

Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism

Issued on: December 11, 2019

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.  Policy.  My Administration is committed to combating the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and around the world.  Anti-Semitic incidents have increased since 2013, and students, in particular, continue to face anti Semitic harassment in schools and on university and college campuses.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq., prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance.  While Title VI does not cover discrimination based on religion, individuals who face discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin do not lose protection under Title VI for also being a member of a group that shares common religious practices.  Discrimination against Jews may give rise to a Title VI violation when the discrimination is based on an individual’s race, color, or national origin.

It shall be the policy of the executive branch to enforce Title VI against prohibited forms of discrimination rooted in anti-Semitism as vigorously as against all other forms of discrimination prohibited by Title VI.

Sec. 2.  Ensuring Robust Enforcement of Title VI.  (a)  In enforcing Title VI, and identifying evidence of discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, all executive departments and agencies (agencies) charged with enforcing Title VI shall consider the following:

(i)   the non-legally binding working definition of anti Semitism adopted on May 26, 2016, by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which states, “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.  Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities”; and

(ii)  the “Contemporary Examples of Anti-Semitism” identified by the IHRA, to the extent that any examples might be useful as evidence of discriminatory intent.

(b)  In considering the materials described in subsections (a)(i) and (a)(ii) of this section, agencies shall not diminish or infringe upon any right protected under Federal law or under the First Amendment.  As with all other Title VI complaints, the inquiry into whether a particular act constitutes discrimination prohibited by Title VI will require a detailed analysis of the allegations.

Sec. 3.  Additional Authorities Prohibiting Anti-Semitic Discrimination.  Within 120 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency charged with enforcing Title VI shall submit a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, identifying additional nondiscrimination authorities within its enforcement authority with respect to which the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism could be considered.

Sec. 4.  Rule of Construction.  Nothing in this order shall be construed to alter the evidentiary requirements pursuant to which an agency makes a determination that conduct, including harassment, amounts to actionable discrimination, or to diminish or infringe upon the rights protected under any other provision of law.

Sec. 5.  General Provisions.   (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

 DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 11, 2019.

News of President Trump’s recent executive order to combat ‘anti-Semitism’ on college campuses set off a firestorm online.

To use ‘Title VI of the Civil Rights Act’ to fight discrimination against Jews, Jews would have to be defined under that law as a nationality or a race, since Title VI does not address discrimination against religious groups.

But according to polls, the vast majority of Jews in the United States do not see themselves as a separate nationality or a race. In most polls, they describe their Jewishness as a cultural or religious identity, or simply as a matter of heritage, while their nationality is ‘American’.

Bias is prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

Bigotry is intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.

Synonyms: prejudice · bias · partiality · partisanship · sectarianism · discrimination · unfairness · injustice · intolerance · narrow-mindedness · fanaticism · dogmatism · racism · racialism · sexism · heterosexism · homophobia · chauvinism · anti-Semitism · jingoism · Jim Crowism

Yet it makes one wonders about Tiki torches and tweets?

First Amendment.

An amendment to the United States Constitution guaranteeing the rights of free expression and action that is fundamental to democratic government. These rights include freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech.

If you think about these Constitutional writings, one wonders.

Amendment XIII

Section 1.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

How has that worked out?

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. All were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by white Democratic-dominated state legislatures after the Reconstruction period. The laws were enforced until 1965.

In practice, Jim Crow laws mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former Confederate States of America and other states, starting in the 1870s and 1880s.

Jim Crow laws were upheld in 1896 in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, in which the U.S. Supreme Court laid out its “separate but equal” legal doctrine for facilities for African Americans. Moreover, public education had essentially been segregated since its establishment in most of the South after the Civil War (1861–65).

The legal principle of “separate but equal” racial segregation was extended to public facilities and transportation, including the coaches of interstate trains and buses. Facilities for African Americans and Native Americans were consistently inferior and underfunded compared to the facilities for white Americans; sometimes, there were no facilities for people of color. As a body of law, Jim Crow institutionalized economic, educational, and social disadvantages for African Americans and other people of color living in the South.

Jim Crow laws and Jim Crow state constitutional provisions mandated the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was already segregated. President Woodrow Wilson, a Southern Democrat, initiated the segregation of federal workplaces in 1913.

In 1954 segregation of public schools (state-sponsored) was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren in landmark case Brown v. Board of Education. In some states, it took many years to implement this decision, while the Warren Court continued to rule against the Jim Crow laws in other cases such as Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 overruled the remaining Jim Crow laws.

So now it is time to see the president impeached.

Just another day in ‘Just Another Life’.

Friend or Foe?

After the last World War, the winners started dividing up the spoils of war and decided to form a protective pact with one another.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on April 4, 1949.

NATO constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

Since it’s founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 29. The most recent member state to be added to NATO is Montenegro on June 5, 2017.

NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia and Ukraine as aspiring members.

An additional 21 countries participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs.

Ally comes from the Latin word alligare, meaning, “to bind to,” like nations who are allies in wartime — they will act together, and protect one another.

Ally is one united to another by treaty or league; — usually applied to sovereigns or states; a confederate or ally can be while enemy is someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else.

If you have an ally, you have someone who is on your side, like a more experienced teammate who is your ally in convincing the coach to give you more playing time.

Two of the defeated (Germany and Italy) became allies. Japan also became friends, but that is another story.

Today we line up with friends or foes. We call some nations adversaries, yet buy from them. There maybe philosophical or political or even spiritual differences, but you can’t get cheaper products than those manufactured in authoritarian countries.