Nothing quite manages to silence opposition and join people in the spirit of loyalty like a national crisis. When crises are real, people legitimately bond and work toward a common goal. The United States faced such crises on December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001.

Unfortunately, despots read history - at least for pointers on how either to seize, or to tighten hold on, power. Crises are right up some despots’ alleys.

Adolf Hitler took office as Chancellor of Germany on January…

The kids from the school in Florida, who have been brave and energetic enough to demand changes in policies in regard to gun violence, have used orange apparel to express the movement that way.  I sometimes wear a tie.  I wanted to find a non-for-profit from which I could buy an orange tie such that my expenditure would go to stopping gun violence.  I found some that sell other apparel, but none that sell the specific apparel I could wear. Therefore, I ordered five (5) orange neckties…

   Office holders in this country do not possess “rights” via that office. Governments - and, by extension, individuals who hold office in governments - hold power. People have rights. A government official has rights as a person, as do we all.

The current occupant of the Oval Office tweeted yesterday:

“As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending…

  Insider trading is against the law - and not “just because.” It is against the law because markets can be “gamed” artificially.

  Mortimer and Randolph Duke, the brothers in “Trading Places” who sought to scam the market on frozen orange juice futures, learned how playing on insider information can backfire. Their characters ended up on the street and broke.

  The current occupant of the Oval Office committed a faux pas this week. Well, he does that all the time, but this one…