This morning I realized that it has been since last Thanksgiving that I posted a column. For those of you who have missed seeing my column, I apologize. For those of you who were relieved… I don’t know what to tell you. As always, I do plan to ramble. None-the-less … onward.

Trump Derangement Syndrome is at an all-time high. That is one thing nobody needs to tell anyone. In fact, I was thinking that it is oh so obvious, why should I even add my 2-cents’ worth (a nickel’s worth if they get rid of the penny). Then something happened. Here it is.

I have mentioned in the past that I am a veteran, a combat veteran who flew helicopters in the Vietnam War. A life shaping event if there was one. If you are the least knowledgable about the Vietnam Era, you have some idea of how we veterans were looked upon, treated, (spat upon) called “Baby Killers,” not welcome on college campuses, nor in many a workplace etc. Not even by the VFW. And yes, despite the modern folklore being perpetrated by the likes of Jerry Lembcke, who wrote a book titled “Spitting Image,” in which he claims to have debunked this “myth” because there is “no evidence” of it ever happening: it did!

Really Professor Lembcke? You actually believe that people who perpetrated these acts are going to go on TV, radio or do live interviews to tout it? Brag about it? Tell you? Especially in this the “thank you for your service” condescending era? Sorry Jerry, I didn’t have my iPhone with me at the time. I mean really! What evidence is there that it did not happen? And what “evidence” should there have been? So, in the past, not only were we veterans called “baby killers,” now we are being called “liars.” To quote Little Orphan Annie: “It’s a Hard Knock Life.”

History repeats itself. Doesn’t it always? I’m conservative. I am a supporter of our 47th President. (Whom I will leave unnamed at this point to protect the innocent.) I believe my position is well grounded, extensively researched and, most of all, Biblically Based. The Bible is clear on most every issue confronting the planet today. From Trump Derangement Syndrome to immigration, to borders, welfare, EBT Cards, Medicaid, food, the Federal and Supreme Courts, (Read the book of Judges anyone?), DOGE, etc, everything is broken.

The problem as I see it; the Bible (the basis of our nation) has been shoved into some dark corner, called irrelevant (by people who never read it) and replaced with the burgeoning “DIY” spirit. “Yes we can,” and the hundreds of other dumb catch phrases than can be chanted like some religious mantra that Scripture also warns against. “LGBTQIA+ for Palestine?” Really? Need I go on. Funny how the world turns isn’t it? Go ahead, eat the fruit.

In my live, I have experienced many things. We all have… yes, I know. Our experiences and how we process them make us who we are. It is also said: hard times make strong men, good times make weak ones… I paraphrase. But you get the point… I hope. We are and have been in easy times here in the US. Air conditioning, cable TV, 24/7 streaming movies and video games. Food and every need delivered to you, at home, while we live in our pajamas. We are becoming complacent in so many ways. What is that next step? Weakness?

One of the “many things” I have experienced in my life was working with NGOs in several Third World Countries. I coordinated several small, rural education programs as an offshoot of my career in post-secondary education. Research. Many funded by, yes, you guessed it, USAID or WHO. Believe me, we do not want the management style I experienced in those countries coming here to the US of A. I speak truth. Yes, historically I actually agree with the liberal, leftist viewpoint on a couple of points. Several centuries were abusive. Heck, all of them. Colonial rule, Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire, the Crusades, World Wars, Hutus and Tutsis. Enslavement by and on every race on the planet. On every continent by every ethnicity. I will stipulate that. People suck, despite the claim that we are basically “good.” Let’s move on.

In hindsight however, I am beginning to think that while I was eagerly putting in the hours for our government’s “good will,” we “low on the totem-pole do-gooders” were a front for our government to study and learn the tricks of the trade from the very dictatorial rulers we were robustly ousting. But that’s another article for another day. There is no Utopia listed in world history maps. It’s “sin nature.” Face it, people are just not “basically good” as we are told to believe. Like dogs, we return to our own vomit. We are ruthless. It is very apparent today as we see the reenactment of the “Summer of Love” winding up again.

Nations are on purpose. Borders are on purpose. What is going on in several areas around the world is wrong. Obviously wrong. But blinded people can’t see. That’s why they are called “blind.” Scripture is explicit. The Bible is clear, we are told that we must keep our own house in order. Pretty clear if you ask me. I remember Michelle Obama using that line against Hillary back in the day. Something about Bill wasn’t it?

Interesting how we pick and choose what “logic” or “knowledge” we want to use and apply on any given day. Spinning reality so as to put us all into a virtual state of vertigo. Walking contradictions working against each other. Don’t we see this happening this very day? As I started to say a couple paragraphs ago, the history we share, globally, is often bad. We are humans and humans are not good by nature. We just aren’t, plain and simple.

So, I’ll take this moment to make a leap: unfettered immigration is not a solution. The problem is much deeper than that and is the very essence of human nature. Third World countries are third world because they are. Despite what may or may not have happened in past centuries, they are what they are now because they are. It’s what they do. They behave that way, from the top down, from the bottom up. Cartels, dictators, military coups, Dirty Little Wars… liberation theology…the list goes on. I say this having several decades of experience working, as I said, with large NGOs in Latin and Central America and Mexico. The problem is solvable, but we must admit that it is spiritual. The bottom line, study the Bible. Read it not “just” for your eternal salvation but for daily operating instructions. There is nothing new under the sun as Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us. Or in the words of those great philosophers Crosby Stills and Nash: “We have all been here before.” The truth has been told.

So we see violence in the streets of LA and spreading. I guess to complete the work those recent wildfires missed. Some ABC television network anchor recently described the LA Riots as “…some people just out having fun and watching car fires.” Maxine Waters said blowing up cars is not violent. Huh? Really? If you notice, many of these folks are masked, some in riot gear, and are waving the flags of the very nations they have allegedly fled due to oppression.

Really? I know bunches of people who go “home” often (to the countries they are allegedly “escaping”) for vacation. I do not see them improving the lives of their neighbors. Only themselves. If you are not a strong borders person, you are being duped. Fooled. Pay better attention to reality and less to emotion. I like the idea of reciprocal immigration policies between nations. Even in both directions. Equity, right? I wouldn’t mind living somewhere else perhaps. Like my friends down south with several live-in maids and gardeners and a concrete wall around my property with large chunks of broken glass adorning the top. (I wonder why?)

Years ago in my columns I wrote something about how the immigrants in my parents’ generation used the term “the old country” when speaking about where they had immigrated (legally) from. Now they use the term “my country.” A far different point of view in my book. Where is their loyalty? Look at your neighborhood kids’ ball games. What flags do you see? There is little if any assimilation. Growing up in Miami, FL I know this only too well. So, many will say “isn’t this great.” Salsa music all night, black beans and rice… flan. But it’s really not. They lost their homeland and I lost the town I grew up in. Walls with glass chards on top, bars over windows and doors: Miami. And, as in the example of the Bible being discarded by people who never read it, “many” means people who did not experience this. Second-hand knowledge at best.

We were all displaced if you think about it. Cuba is still “Cuba” and the Miami I knew is a thing of the past. Now they (the Cubans) commute bringing appliances and groceries there when they go. An interesting aside… the baggage counter at the airport. I’ve been to Cuba several times on education exchanges. Cuban immigrants of the1960s-‘70s will tell you they do not like the current culture of “refugees” who are coming here. “No work ethic.” I have been told. Third or fourth generation of living under communist rule. Here essentially for better free stuff perhaps?

With some 10-20 million folks recently here in the US illegally, (nearly twice the population of Tennessee) speaking hundreds of different languages: “Houston, we have a problem.” And, as I pointed out some months ago, they will not (are not) going to line up at the airports, hoping to get a window or isle seat to leave. We are recreating the Tower of Babble and God doesn’t have to lift a finger. Unlike Americans of today, these coming here are survivors. We have become a nation of,… well, “not survivors” to put it gently. Everyone is a victim… oppressed. Not a good operating model.

So, back to my original story: Having played rhythm and lead guitar in groups over the years, I decided to learn how to play the bass guitar. I am doing this at my local Vet Center. Well, last week, out of the clear blue sky, my instructor started on harping about President Trump. Assuming of course that I shared his, my instructor’s, opinions. Well, I don’t. So I responded that actually, “in full disclosure,” I said that I did support most of what the president is trying to achieve. I used an analogy.

I recently had a hip transplant. I likened this experience to the current national chaos and how I had to let my my hip become worse (the surgery and the aftermath) for some time in order for it to get better. Makes total sense to me. The pain of the surgery healing, the necessary exercise to strengthen myself to walk again… better than before. Like not eating too much in order to shed a few pounds. Doing without to save for something special. So many examples to share. But the conversation went south.

With less than half of the lesson completed, he (I guess “he” uses this pronoun) stormed out of the building, proclaiming that the lesson was over, yelling as he went through the parking lot about the 2020 election (Biden won), January 6, (murderous insurrectionists) etc. “The end of democracy” he/they call it. Speaking of course about the 2024 election in which both the popular and electoral vote for 47 were a majority. (The definition of democracy as I just looked it up.)

Of course, no need to even attempt to explain that we have a “Republic” and that’s different. Read the Constitution, not some NY Times of Washington Post editorial about the Constitution. Read the actual document. In fact, read other nation’s constitutions too. Interesting exercise.

As all Vietnam Veterans, I am pushing 80. My wife tells me that this event was elder abuse. Maybe it is. Disrespect if nothing else. Sin? Definitely. We all have opinions. This event really ruined my day though. My week. I am almost afraid to return for my final lesson later this week. But I will. But it is everywhere and spreading due to the fact that we, our nation, have been tricked into “compassion.” Empathy, Equity, Inclusion, Diversity. Emotion over logic. There is a balance somewhere isn’t there? Oh yeah, AI.

With AI, I guess there will ultimately be no real reason to have any skill or knowledge. AI will be there to jump in. We will just be bulk, filling slots and spaces. Ethnically balanced, sexually-preferenced, no body-shaming, come as you are, total bliss. Oh, and no SATs or honor rolls. Just pure joy. Utopia. To quote Eric Burton’s 1970 hit tune, “Spill the Wine:” There will be : “…long ones, tall ones, short ones, brown ones…”

My bass teacher told me that surely, this is not the country I fought for. I thought a moment. It is! In fact, it is… Can’t predict the future though.