“In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant”-Charles De Gaulle

“A politician is a person with whose politics you don’t agree; if you agree with him, he is a statesman”-David Lloyd George

“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he”-Karl Kraus

“Have you ever seen a candidate talking to a rich person on television?”-Art Buchwald

“I once said cynically of a politician, ‘He’ll double cross tht bridge when he comes to it”-Oscar Levant

In April 1939, just before Hitler invaded Poland “officially” beginning the Second World War, Franklin Roosevelt wrote a letter to Hitler making a case for peace. It was a good letter, written with sincerity but it was a waste of effort. Roosevelt felt that he could win over Hitler (as he later felt he could win over Stalin) with his charm, logic and reason. In the letter, Roosevelt wrote, “Are you willing to give assurance that your armed forces will not attack or invade the territory or possessions of the following independent nations: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, the Arabias, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Iran.“

The link below (copy it and put it in your browser) will provide you with the history, theory and realities of CRT. It seems to be racing across our nation despite parents in many communities fighting it at the local level with their school boards. But, it is becoming entrenched in the highest levels of our national government and amazingly, even in our military. It is a theory which as put into practice, denies and overturns the value and work of the individual and can only lead to a fragmented society at war with itself. https://www.city-journal.org/theoretical-roots-and-practical-consequences-of-critical-race-theory

This excellent article by George Friedman, founder of Geopolitical Futures, raises serious questions regarding the future relationship between the U.S. and Europe. He asks such questions as:

• Can the U.S. continue to provide the military muscle to protect Europe if Europe fails to meet its commitment for its own military?
• Should the U.S. continue to provide European security if the foreign policies of the U.S. and Europe are not aligned?
• Given the new Russian pipeline to Germany, has Russian outflanken NATO and would Germany who is so dependent on Russian gas be willing to fulfill its treaty obligations to countries such as Poland, Roumania, the Baltic nations, etc.?

The situation, in Mr. Friedman’s opinion is so serious, that he opined during an interview I heard, whether France and Germany would allow the passage of the U.S. military in case of Russian military action against eastern NATO members.

Please copy the link and put it on your browser; is it worth your time. https://geopoliticalfutures.com/what-does-it-mean-to-rejoin-europe/

After spending many hundreds of billions of dollars world wide, wind and solar still only provide about 3% of our energy needs and with the damage to the environment caused by massive wind and solar farms, even environmentalist groups are opposing new projects. This 5 minute video provides some startling facts that cannot be ignored. I hope it provides you with some food for thought. Feel free to skip the ads at the start of the video. https://youtu.be/RqppRC37OgI

To the average person, the atrocities outlined in the article by Nicholas Kristof are unimaginable. This is because we live in what is still fortunately, a society of rational laws. Totalitarian States however, are not guided by logic (unless you accept the unscientific logic of dialectical materialism); instead, they are guided by manmade rules based on a man- made ideology which has a basis in the misreading of history, misunderstanding of the human mind and in the end, an amazing ability for corruption. Can you imagine a law in the United States which forces women to use contraception in order to eliminate unwanted births? The Nazis did it, and now, China does it. Or, being sent to prison for an unauthorized pregnancy? Welcome to China. Be warned, if you follow the link, be prepared to be disgusted and repulsed by what you read and wonder what can be done to counter the new barbarians who control the lives and destinies of over a billion people. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/12/opinion/sunday/china-xinjiang-uyghur-muslims-genocide.html?searchResultPosition=1

As most Americans feeling and hoping that Covid is slipping into history, we find that more people have died from Covid this year than in all of 2020. Unfortunately, so many deaths are in third world countries among people who have so little. I like that the President is sending 500 million doses to mostly 3rd world countries; that will do more good for the US image than all of the foreign aid that we waste in so many areas. On the other hand, with these deaths in mind, is this really the time we want to set a 20 year record on illegal immigration? Illegals from 150 countries are welcomed and then shipped around the US. Have they been tested for Covid? If not, why not? The first duty of any is to protect the lives and well being of his/her citizens. If we see a new spike of Covid in those areas where illegals are sent, the administration will have to carry the weight, but we all shall pay the price. This is certainly not the time for putting forward a policy of open borders. https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-deaths-this-year-have-already-eclipsed-2020s-toll-11623350773

While there is no doubt that the internet, email, etc., can lead to great productivity, it can also lead to feelings of isolation, inferiority, a lack of discipline, be counter productive to concentration, etc. How many times during the day do you check your email, or are notified that you have a new email, tweet, etc., and how many times do you drop what you are working on in order to check out the new missive? When that happens, the random message to you becomes the most important item in your life since you have prioritized it by responding to it quickly. This excellent review of the new book, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload, will hopefully make you take a step back and restore some discipline regarding all the methods of electronic messenging . Perhaps we all need to have a timer on our desks so that we only look at electronic messages once an hour, or every two hours. Do you think you could do that? https://www.city-journal.org/tyranny-of-email

Born in the late 18^th century, Francois Eugene Vidocq began life poor and uneducated and spent many years in various types of petty crime.  He shunned violence and spent years as a pickpocket, army deserter, grifter and convict.  His numerous escapes from all sorts of prisons, attempted to lead a “straight” life but was always sucked back into the criminal life, sometimes by his own weakness, sometimes by circumstance. His fame among the underworld was turned to his advantage as he become first a police informer, responsible for the capture of dozens of his former associates, then as head of detectives.  Forming his own person group, he worked both sides of the street, moving against the worse criminals while hiring himself out to the growing middle class and upper classes as local businessmen and others attempted to gain advantage over rivals.

Balzac, Dumas and Victor Hugo freely borrowed from his memoirs to create many of their most famous characters, including Valjean in Les Miserables’ while Conan Doyle used Vidocq’s techniques to create the enemies of Holmes.  Other authors who used his exploits included Melville, Poe and Dickens.

An interesting look at the underworld of France at the time; a time of anarchy, corruption, brutality and a society in which class and circumstance cemented one into a life cycle that had little opportunity for self-improvement.

The election in Mexico this past Sunday appears to be a repudiation of the vision of President Obrador, better known as AMLO, by the middle class of Mexico. The link to the article below outlines President Obrador’s vision of a Mexico of the 1960s and 70s, with a one party rule, a meek Congress and an all powerful President. It is clear he prefers state run industries which have a proven record of failure, yet somehow he sees the failed policies as the hope for the future. Perhaps it is best summed up by Mr. Wood of the Woodrow Wilson Center, when he says that AMLO “..believes in the dignity of poverty.”. Perhaps he can take such as view as he has no bank account, no credit card and has all of his expenses paid by the State. With millions of Mexican citizens having fled to the U.S. over the years, apparently they do not see a largely agrarian, state run economy and poverty as glamorous as their President. https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-mexicos-president-a-threat-to-its-democracy-11622818830?page=1