Israel/Palestine: The Attack
1. Parable of Israel and Palestine A man named Sky is on the second floor of a burning building. He opens a window and jumps out to escape the flames. He lands on and knocks ....
Category: Geography/Economics/Politics
A Visit to Arkansas
Why Arkansas? “To me, Passion Plays always seemed menacing. They make me picture peasants coming out of a Passion Play on Easter and chasing Jews down the street in a pogrom. But now that I ....
Can You Draw the United States?
Can you draw a map of the United States – showing all the states – without looking at a map for guidance? I feel like I should be able to. I remember copying a map ....
United States Annual Budget, Part II
The federal government spent about 6.4 trillion dollars ($6.4 T) in Fiscal Year 2022 (October 2021 to September 2022). That’s about a quarter of the United States’ 25 trillion-dollar GDP, or about $20,000 per person ....
United States Annual Budget, Part I
Some day I’d like to write an Owners’ Manual to the United States with a summary of how our country operates – things many of us know hazily but can get easily confused on the ....
Where Are Those Eight Billion People?
With the UN estimating that the world population reached eight billion people on 15 November 2022, now is a good time to look at where those people live. The World in 2020 First let’s look ....
States, Race, Politics, & Murder
When homicide rates spiked in 2020, Republicans and Democrats pointed fingers at each other. Republicans accused Democrats of being soft on crime, and Democrats pointed to high homicide rates in Republican-leaning states. I want to ....
Five Years of Recent History
So much has been going on lately in the news that I created a chart to keep track of all (that is: some) of it. Right before the election seemed like a good time to ....
Virginia Voters Face Clear Climate Choices in Congressional Races
The US is on the cusp of cleaning up our economy in order to avert dangerous levels of climate change, but the hour is late and what our political leaders do now is critical. As ....
What was Wrong with Samuel Alito’s Speech?
In July, 2022, U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito gave a speech at the Religious Liberty Summit in Rome, Italy. The speech received some media attention, much of which I believe missed the main noteworthy ....