Charles Blow, columnist at the NY Times, really would like to see Trump in jail for crimes against the nation including sedition, an attempted coup d’état. The January storming of the Capitol by a group of radical right wingers was a travesty, deserving of punishment and a stain on American history. But there was no chance that Trump would rise to the top like other famous authoritarians from the past. The threat to our democracy is being overstated to a great degree.

Nevertheless, I opposed Trump repeatedly before, during and after his tenure as president. His time in the Oval Office earned him “the worst president award,” in my opinion. And I just don’t believe that Trump has the support of enough Americans to make a credible attempt to be president again. Unfortunately, Fox News continues to prove they are no better than their liberal opposition. Too many of their talking heads think Trump deserves another chance to lead this country. I believe this is utter insanity.

Blow, and commentators of like mind, want to guillotine Trump to make sure he doesn’t become president. In a strange way, Biden is so incompetent and unprepared to be president that he gives a megalomaniac like Trump an opportunity. The bar is so low. Just because the last elections have pitted Trump against Clinton and Trump against Biden doesn’t mean that any of these people can be viable candidates.

Credible Republican candidates are frightened to face off against Trump. Why, because they are concerned, he actually has influence over many voters. I believe this is untrue. Dedicated Republicans want someone other than Trump to represent them, just like Democrats want someone other than Biden to represent them.

Back to Blow. A reasonable person should agree that Charles Blow wants Trump to be in jail so he cannot run for president. I appreciate his perspective, but he’s overstating Trump’s influence.

The January assault on the Capitol was nowhere near a successful takeover of our government. It was a protest gone out of control, just like ones perpetrated by radical liberals across the country. All violent participants should spend time in jail.

Blow is trying to convince some people that Trump represents Satan and will return to take over the Earth. For sure, Trump is evil, but to classify him as Beelzebub is a bit much. Trump will be lucky to not get indicted by the Justice Department. He has no magical powers that will help him, nor will anyone try to spring him from jail.

Blow’s op-ed is just another piece that talks about how bad a person Trump is. He learned from his mistakes and will be more evil next time if he wins. Trump can’t be held accountable if he’s president. He will use the presidency to make himself wealthier. He hates women, and so do his supporters. Trump is a sex maniac. And so on.

I admit, I want Trump out of the spotlight and not in government. If he’s in jail, he can’t run, so maybe that would be a good outcome. Trump and Biden are two hiccups in American history. Neither will win their party’s nomination.

Vladimir Putin, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Tayyip Erdogan are conducting a summit of rogue stooges.

Putin’s Russia and the Ayatollah’s Iran are scrambling to survive economically, as the West imposes significant economic sanctions that will impede Russia and Iran from generating revenues to stay solvent. Erdogan is mostly obsessed with the Kurdish presence in and around Turkey. All these countries are intimidated by the US and supportive of Bashar al-Assad of Syria who is responsible for horrendous human rights violations.

Russia is the easiest country to denigrate in this meeting of scoundrels. Putin is trying to reconstruct the former Soviet Union, after 30 years of independence of the former SSR’s. Some of the SSRs, in particular, Ukraine, have prospered after being released by Russia when the Cold War ended. The Russian invasion of the Ukraine is the first important step to bring together countries with long standing Russian culture and act  as a buffer between Europe and Russia- a pipe dream.

It’s obvious that Russia has made a number of bonehead decisions about its military advances in Ukraine. For one thing, the Russians were not trained properly to take on such a fight. The decisions by Putin and his generals seriously underestimated the resolve of the Ukraine people, and the response of the global international community.

With a great deal of assistance from the US and other sympathetic countries, Ukrainians have resisted Russian advances, even though defeat is likely. But Russia has experienced massive losses of soldiers and equipment. And most importantly, the West is doubting the military acumen and strength of Russia to do war against Europe with US support. Of course, all of this is contingent upon the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons Russia.

By soliciting the help of Iran and Turkey, it is questionable how Russia will improve its military situation or regain its status as a world leader. Iran is impoverished and mostly interested in dealing with its hated enemies, the Sunnis and Israel. Iran will be fortunate to avoid a regime change in the medium term by its citizens based upon its present course of actions.

Turkey derives safety from NATO, which is Europe’s principal military force. So, it is unlikely that Turkey will side with Russia and Iran militarily unless killing Kurds is part of the deal.

Iran has begun to make noises that a nuclear weapon is within its reach. It would not surprise many to see Israel taking more action against Iran, given the weakened state of the latter.

If it wasn’t such a sad state of affairs in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, it would be humorous that Putin can only find solace from the likes of Iran and Turkey. Both of the countries have far greater designs than assisting in the takeover of Ukraine. It’s highly unlikely that neither of the rogue nations will be helpful to Russia strategically or diplomatically.

Many analysts are impatiently awaiting some kind of massive event in Russia. Putin seems to be unbalanced and fighting for the sake of fighting, without any strategic goals. I’m surprised the Russian people are not revolting at this moment.

Nothing will come out of this three-country summit because each has a separate agenda.

What’s transpired during the last half century to make Washington D.C. such a hostile place? Why can’t our leaders and legislators agree on priorities that are good for our country? Why does every conversation turn into a blood bath of dueling ideas?

For sure, both major parties have played a great part in the current paralysis of our government. But isn’t it a simple case of one party in control and the other party resenting its subordinate position? If you disagree with the government’s priorities, try to elect someone who sees life as you do. Don’t burn down cities or attack those who disagree with you about specific issues.

Let’s analyze the universal hostility by first considering the most basic right of Americans. The primary and fundamental right of all Americans is free speech. If any citizen believes there is injustice in any aspect of their life, he or she may speak out, supposedly without peril, supposedly being the operative word.

The right of free speech has been bastardized in recent years. Some radical elements have denied other Americans the right to express their opinions by protesting violently or through various types of intimidation. In the 60s, Berkeley was the epicenter of free speech. Every person had free rein to express themselves without the risk of being assailed physically. Vehement objection to new ideas was permissible so long as violence did not accompany it.

Since the 60s, a truly anti-American trend has materialized. Berkeley, and most colleges and universities have made it more difficult for conservative ideas to be discussed. At some schools, violent protest prevents us from being able to debate both sides of critical issues, whether it be political conservatives, or others with opposing viewpoints.

Regretfully, Berkeley students destroyed the campus and the surrounding town to prevent a conservative talking head from making a speech at the school. It was a dark day when the greatest protector of free speech in the country censored free thought.

And then censorship spread to even younger people in high schools and elementary schools.

If you have any doubt that liberals are drowning out universities, read the newspapers or watch the news on TV. Teachers are force feeding their views about life to students in early grades at schools. I always thought sensitive subjects should be discussed only when children mature and with parental concurrence. Parents must now protect their young children from aggressive educators that are selling their own perspectives about sex, sexual preference, political preference, drugs and even religious and moral issues.

It’s an interesting phenomenon to observe our legislators doing battle on the floor of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Liberals are beside themselves that some of their colleagues want to be frugal with our tax money, are against free spending that drives up our national debt and inflation, are for the right of Americans to bear arms, want to ensure that our elections are fair, etc. For sure, the advocates of these perspectives frequently want too much: low taxes for the wealthy, a reduction in social programs, too many guns, etc. But why can’t we negotiate? Why can’t we meet in the middle?

Those that endorse conservative perspectives are excoriated by the press, which is, for the most part ultra-liberal. These people don’t want the other side of an issue to be considered. Journalists have all become columnists, feeling free to opine on every page of the newspaper. The generally accepted rule of journalism is that personal ideas are expressed in the opinion pages. This is a long-gone tradition.

Many Americans don’t appreciate the fact that our leaders and lawmakers are evenly split. There is a 50/50 deadlock in the Senate. One senator, Joe Manchin from West Virginia, a Democrat, has single handedly stopped Biden’s foolhardy and erroneous efforts in a number of areas. Biden can’t accomplish his agenda even though Democrats control both houses of Congress. The point is that if 51% of Americans support an issue and 49 object to it, there is no clear mandate. The minority should have some power. At a minimum both sides of a controversial issue deserve to be heard.

On the other side of the coin are the radical troublemakers that tear Americans apart. Donald Trump is a stain on our country, democracy and honor. The thugs that stormed the capital should be indicted and go to jail. Trump is poisonous to our beautiful country, and it befuddles me that any informed American would support him.

Nevertheless, Trump has an unalienable right to express himself, no matter how offensive his words are to others. Free speech only is meaningful if 100% of us are given the right to talk and protest WITHOUT VIOLENCE.

During the impending midterm elections and general election in 2024, Americans must unite and bring back our glory days. Times are tough, but together we can live in peace, negotiate in good faith and make our country a happy place with equal rights for all groups of people.

Here are some animal photos for your perusal. The wildlife we observed was stunning.