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The Almighty Dollar: Abandoned Ship!

Once upon a time, the U.S. dollar reigned supreme in global finance. Today? Our once-glorious dreamboat is listing hard—on course for a spectacular shipwreck. The so-called “big, beautiful bill deal”—a phrase that sounds like it was brainstormed in a boardroom full of kindergartners—has backfired with flair. Tariffs, tantrums, and a dash of autocracy have turned the dollar into a global punching bag. Americans are now paying the price—not just in inflation and economic whiplash, but in awkward international encounters. We’ve ghosted allies, scared off tourists, and made immigrants wonder if they accidentally wandered onto the set of The Apprentice and got fired. Isolationism may be mind candy for MAGA, but it’s brain cancer for the economy. By 2026, $6.4 trillion in U.S. debt will come due. Foreign investors, once eager to hold our debt, are jumping ship. Treasury ownership has plunged from 34% in 2014 to just over 21% today. The leaking bucket has been handed off to U.S. banks, Wall S...

Rights and Responsibility

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Our righ ts are inseparable from our responsibilities—the ability to respond to what is right and what is wrong. Yet today, I find myself asking: what part of the Constitution do we no longer understand? Everyone has an opinion, but due process seems to have devolved into a “do-do” process. The principles that once anchored our democracy now feel muddied by confusion, privilege, and selective enforcement. Over time, I’ve watched elected officials—often people of means—speak passionately about freedom. Yet if you don’t have six figures in the bank, your ability to exercise certain rights is severely limited. Even understanding the Constitution and the Bill of Rights has become a polarizing debate. There’s irony in how individual rights, especially those protected under the First Amendment, play out in real life. They often hinge not on principle, but on access to competent legal representation. If you’re poor in this country, your odds of going to jail are far higher than if...

Cultivating Virtue: Exploring Oneness

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Years ago, a wise teacher named Greg Kramer introduced an exercise in cultivating virtue—an invitation to reflect on our kind and generous acts. That simple practice opened a doorway to something profound. To feel more unified, to experience a sense of oneness, I turn toward virtue. Selfless acts awaken a higher power within me and align my being with something greater than myself. The human brain, with its hundred billion cells, is divided into two hemispheres that constantly communicate. The left hemisphere concerns itself with the past and future. It thinks in lines, organizes details, and processes language through an inner voice that reminds us of tasks and responsibilities. It is the seat of calculating intelligence—the voice that insists, “I am separate.” But when I access the right hemisphere, I experience myself as a conscious presence—interconnected, inwardly attuned. I feel a deeper freedom when I connect with the greater whole. Yet too often, the left dominates,...

No Self

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The most difficult teaching in Buddhism, for me, has always been the concept of no self. You can call it the higher power, the Great Spirit, or being one with God. But this state—being fully present in the unified field—I’ve touched it many times, especially when I’m alone in the woods. No self is a meditation on impermanence. No fixed identity—nothing we can definitively point to and say, “This is me.” Doesn’t the self, paradoxically, deny its own existence? It challenges me to locate it in any one thing. So how do I navigate my world? By exercising my highest power. He’s always been a challenge—I call it my inner game. At times, a part of me lives in the ordinary, and a part of me dwells in this extraordinary field of awareness. I have a tremendous love affair with the wilderness. Being outside, surrounded by trees and silence, feels like coming home. But I grew up in an ego-driven society, where everyone’s chasing their own reflection. I got caught in the trap of overthi...

Best Practices for Managing Harmful Household Chemicals

Best Practices for Managing Harmful Household Chemicals https://share.google/Q91yhrb8RKGRipdyW

Jester Protester

https://www.dnronline.com/opinion/open_forum/open-forum-comedy-is-a-form-of-protest/article_efc1eddd-536f-53ce-9ff6-4f61c49126ff.html

Burning Trash

https://www.waste360.com/hazardous-waste/from-burn-pits-to-backyards-the-ongoing-threat-of-uncontrolled-incineration