Confessions of a Conservative Atheist
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From where the average American sits, the choice facing the leaders of Iran seems like no choice at all, but after Saturday’s peace negotiations failed to produce a deal, it clearly is to the remnants of the regime and no one really knows what they will choose, however much they may bloviate otherwise. Throughout the… Continue reading The choice facing Iran, and the reality that most of us aren’t all hawk or all dove all the time
It certainly isn’t pretty at times, but beyond death and taxes, there have been two certainties throughout my life, the Middle East was a strange and scary place from which terrorists launched attacks and communism was a creeping, insidious threat. Trump is finally addressing them both. At the risk of dating myself, I was born… Continue reading While much of the world is kicking and screaming, Trump is almost singlehandedly dragging us into the future
During the Cold War, the theory held that one country falling to communism led to another, but today Trump is toppling states allied with China and Russia in an inverted incarnation. In the aftermath of World War II, the world was roughly divided into two spheres of influence. Countries either lived under the protective umbrella… Continue reading Trump is running the “Domino Theory” in reverse
There doesn’t seem to be a single element of the status quo the President finds acceptable and whenever he happens to determine something is unacceptable, he has not hesitated to put his entire Presidency and its ultimately legacy on the line. In some other universe, Donald Trump retook office on January 20, 2025 and proceeded… Continue reading The ridiculous audacity of Donald Trump
If you don’t want more and aren’t worried about losing what you have, either you have nothing and aren’t aware there is anything, you have everything and there’s nothing left to achieve, or you’re dead. Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost.” So… Continue reading Reflections on turning 50, when you’re not exactly Dante from the Inferno in a dark wood
Our adversaries have only gotten more emboldened since Senator John Kerry declared the doctrine dead, making it difficult to see how announcing the United States would no longer oppose foreign meddling in Latin America didn’t encourage them to meddle even more. On December 2, 1823, President James Monroe, only the fifth person to occupy the… Continue reading The Monroe Doctrine is more important than ever, disavowing it in 2013 was a tragic mistake
If you aren’t willing to make adjustments, and you aren’t continually grinding it out, day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and year in, you are unlikely to achieve anything except blather. “We have a deal,” President Donald Trump declared after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping in… Continue reading Trump’s Asia triumph and the enduring, under appreciated art of constant dealmaking
When people ask what’s different about India, the sheer number of people is astounding. Boasting a population of over 1.4 billion and still undergoing massive economic development, hotels, restaurants, and service businesses tend to feature at least twice if not three times the number of employees as in the United States and automation is barely… Continue reading Living like a local: Reminisces and observations about my recent trip to India, part two
A negotiation over the price of sea shells reveals that value is in the eye of the beholder and as a colleague brilliantly put it when comparing the US to India in general: It doesn’t convert and we can be both different and the same. “Be honest. How bad does it smell there?” The question… Continue reading It does not convert: A few reminisces and observations on my recent trip to India, part one
In a country where we tax everything, tariffs have been singled out as uniquely disastrous, but why, when any argument applied to tariffs in particular can be applied to taxes in general? There will always be a potential upside – more revenue raised and/or a change in behavior – and a downside, namely an increase… Continue reading The truth about tariffs, the only tax the establishment doesn’t like
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 