Election time is near. How do I know? The ads tell me so. They are getting nastier and nastier. One ad shows an estranged mother discrediting her sexually abused daughter of not being worthy of a vote. Wow. Yep, it’s that time of the year when we vote like animals. November 3rd, Americans of all animal persuasions will be going to the polls to vote—Elephant Americans and Donkey Americans—to elect midterm leadership at the Congressional and the state level. Why midterm? U.S

This week, three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. This is the 36th shooting on K-12 school grounds across the United States this year. Among the victims is five-year-old Rhoam Summer. The depth of the sorrow that the parents of young Rhoam is experiencing has no boundary. “Today has been the worst day of my life. My son Rhoam was killed in a school shooting,” Kelik Summer, the father, wrote i

Lane Johnson could bench press 225 pounds 28 times. At 6'6" and 303 pounds, he was stronger than roughly three-quarters of offensive linemen in the NFL. He lead his team to two Super Bowls. This week, in mid-season, he excused himself from his career, citing mental health. He needed a reset. This week French Open tennis champion Coco Gauff suffered a surprising defeat at the China Open in straight sets citing heavy fatigue saying, “I have no energy …I can't see the ball…I f

When we think of killers, we think of serial killers with human body parts hidden in a refrigerator; or heads-of-state armed with weapons of mass destruction, or the mass shooters of schools, night clubs and synagogues. But what do we think of state-sponsored killers. This week, the state of Tennessee injected Christa Pike with two doses of lethal injection drugs. Something went wrong. Now Pike lies in a hospital in critical condition as that same state who tried to kill her

“Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong forever on the throne. Yet that scaffold sways the future. Behind the dim unknown stands God, Within the shadow keeping watch above his own.” ― James Russell Lowell Truth—hand in hand with freedom—were center stage this week in a crisis of confidence. Three news agencies were denied access to the Whitehouse, only to be reinstated by the courts. However, the tug of war between the executive branch and the fourth estate is not over. At the

This week we observed the 25td anniversary of 9/11. We saw again in our remembrances, planes taking down the twin towers; a plane setting ablaze the Pentagon, and a plane plowing up a Shanksville, Pennsylvania field in a cloud of terrorism and heroism. That day 2,977 died. The count of the loss grows. Studies reveal twice as many people have died from toxic exposure of the aftermath of 9/11. We may still ask of that eventful day: Where was God? Where is he today? The search f

Justice is difficult, to the point that it appears unreachable—a mistrial. This week a judge declared a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy for killing her three children. Her defense is she was suffering from postpartum depression. Was this case, one of premedication or psychosis? When it comes to the justice of men—of witnesses, attorneys, judges, and jurors—men have spoken. But their word—the word mistrial—is not the final wo

Consider the mindset of service of three enlisted men: a seaman, a CEO and a Son. Doris Miller enlisted in the Navy to serve his country. The Navy assigned him to serve tables in the mess hall on the USS West Virginia during a time when these kinds of jobs were relegated to negros in a segregated military. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Miller swept aside the pots and pans, carried wounded sailors to safety, then manned an anti-aircraft gun, and without training, shot down

1Peter 2:9, John 10:11-15 As we bask in the afterglow our 250th year of national independence, we celebrate, in a way, our personal freedoms that derive from it. The irony of true independence—to be true to the higher, bigger picture of independence—is this: All independence is rooted in the strategic dependence on others, especially good leaders. The right leaders raise their heads, face—not stealthily hide—from the enemy. They emerge at the right time, in the right place no

Recently, AI (Artificial Intelligence) showed itself for what it is: a precipice of opportunity for both giant problems and enormous, fruitful, possibilities. OpenAI reported that its GPT-5.6 Sol and a more capable pre-release model escaped a restricted testing sandbox. Dooms-day alarmists are raising the question: As exciting as the benefits of AI are, can these algorithm-driven systems become capable of exploiting our safeguards in ways humans may not anticipate? In a word:

We wear it in our noses, belly buttons, toes, around our necks, and in our ears. If it can’t be pierced in, then it’s tattooed and glued on. We burn it out of hate. We kneel at altars to it out of love. From Madonna to Mother Teresa, Tupoc to 50 Cent, rock stars and religious “whose-who”, to the greatest-of-all-time athletes who sport it at press conferences and clinch it in their teeth as they run triumphantly down the World Cup football pitch—it’s a part of their wardrobe

This week, national attention has turned to a tiny island off the coast of Mississippi. Four young men—black and white, just north of teen age years, who many called unmistakable friends, launched out on a Fourth of July fling to that island for some last chance at fun before the rigors of college prep was due. Only three of the boys returned alive. One was found dead. A dark fog of controversary shrouds this tragedy, and raises many unanswered questions, foremost, in my mind

There is a current movement to stiffen voter identification requirements, requiring voters to present photo ID at polling places and provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering for federal elections. Acceptable documents include a passport, birth certificate, military ID, or government-issued ID showing birthplace. Wow, pretty stiff-- all for the sake of authenticity to the exclusion of many. Is this level of stringency necessary? That is debatable. But wha

I had a conversation with a librarian. In our conversation, she asked me, “Why don’t black men take care of their children?”—another surprising question from a librarian. You’d expect that a person that is a gatekeeper of books would know better than to ask that question. Olin Fregia, Sr. (Bubba) If she knew my story, she’d know that black men take care of their children. She’d know—if she knew my story—that my father—Olin Fregia—became a widower with six kids under his car

High school boys--one stabbed to death; one sentenced to 35 years--each mourned by as a loss to their community and families; West Bank Palestinians vs. Middle East Israel; “MAGA America” vs. “Blue America”; conservative church vs. liberal denominations—the landscape of humanity is populated with division. But there is always One crying out in the wilderness for unity. “Can’t we all just get along.” How does that unity look? I saw glimpse of it in a video of two toddlers runn

Summit High School Principal Jason Mutterer is an “in-ee”. His tradition is in a tradition that deserves a letter. Every year, he personally writes heartfelt letters to each graduating senior, to encourage and inspire them in their future. They were personal reflections highlighting the good he saw within each student. Turnabout is fair play. This week, 500 of his students, on graduation day, instead of just receiving their diplomas, surprised him with handwritten letters of

The CIA couldn’t. The agency whose purpose is to collect secrets of foreign countries to protect the country couldn’t weed out one of their agents with a briefcase full of double-dealing secrets, the stuff of which a James Bond movies are made. A former senior government officer lied about his credentials as a graduate of a prestigious engineering school; lied he was a navy pilot; and lied that he needed funds to do his job and received 300 gold bars worth $40 million that he

Have you ever lost something—like a ring, a phone or a watch? Depending on its value, you did what it took to find it like the man who lost his wallet at a party. So, he stood on a chair and shouted, “Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just lost my wallet with over $500 in cash in it. To the person that finds it, I will give $50.” Then, a voice emerged from the back, “I will give $75.” We don’t know if the wallet owner countered with a bigger reward, but what we do kno

Kids can be mean and unforgiving sometimes. “Johnny hit me.” “So, I hit him back.” A kindergarten teacher noticed this as she watched them on the playground at recess. So, she resolved that for the good of the class, they needed a lesson in kindness. She told each child to bring to class a plastic bag and potatoes. She instructed them: “Put the name of your class mate who has done something bad to you on a potato. Use as many potatoes as you need. Then put the potatoes with t

Margie Fregia, born July 27, 1933, died August 15, 1965. This video is an expression of what a mother means to me. Will the real mother, please stand up. (so we can salute you)? Today is Mother’s Day—the day we recognize mothers who come in all kinds of names, shapes, form and figures: Madear, “Big Mama”, mothers-in laws, sisters—whoever you recognize with those “motherly” qualities who make you feel like none other, people who Maya Angelo describes as, “people who you may