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Sadly and tragically, 4 police officers in Houston have committed suicide in the past 6 weeks. These were people who had or were serving their community in a very difficult and dangerous job. No “bone spur” types here.

The overwhelming vast majority of officers serve with honour, integrity, skill and a true sense of purpose. Police work continues to be one of the most difficult and complex vocations one can have.

We all should salute these 4 officers for their invaluable service. This is a grim reminder of the significant challenges faced by officers every day.   

Irony can effectively illustrate numerous contradictory observations. Often it’s a profound, sad, ridiculous and therefore hilarious illustration. Take the indiscriminate widespread firing of thousands and thousands of federal employees currently underway. Many of those fired were very competent in performing their jobs. Some were high level experts and specialists in their fields.

So, where’s the irony? The firings were conducted by a ship of fools (hopefully a non-military ship). You have incompetent people filling major roles in the current administration under a severely compromised president and others with secret agendas like Elon Musk. You see, you don’t have to be any good at what you do; the number one qualification is blind loyalty to the president.

Self-compromised classified military chats, the mindless firing of the experts in charge of the nukes immediately spring to mind as examples of this administration’s incompetence.   

So, you think you’re saving big taxpayer dollars, but at what price? For example, who is going to stop unfettered businesses from using deadly substances like asbestos? I agree, you have to control spending. However, these nonsensical firings will come back to haunt us all to be sure.

The incompetent firing the competent, now that is irony.

The battle against climate change is over. The supposed tipping point has been reached. Humanity tried, but could not overcome itself to deal with it. Humanity’s greed, lust for power, arrogance and lack of foresight, the usual behavioural culprits, again ruled the day. And climate change is no longer the media darling it once was, pushed aside by current destructive seismic shifts in human activity. Human beings have the intellect to accomplish great things, but, our behaviour and emotions, still rule the day. To the good people on the planet, do not give up on goodness and hope, because humanity has the resilience to create a better world.               

Benevolent. Billionaires. Two words you rarely see together. Why? Because there are almost none of these critters in nature. Only exceptions that immediately come to mind are Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg. As for the rest, they are a very small numbered species of critters we definitely do not have to protect. It’s more like we need to be protected from them.

No matter how hard they try to say they care (and most don’t try very hard); no matter how much they try to distract you with their toys or with lifestyle (ever hear of travel points), they don’t give a rat’s butt about you. It’s all about money, money, money. Oh, and power. They want to rule the world so they can make even more money.

Yes, they are economic sociopathic and narcissistic AI style machines. They do not feel. They do not care about pain and suffering. They do not want to help you. They do not care about you or anyone. All they ever want is money, power and control so they can make even more money. Climate change? They will destroy the planet for a few dollars more (thought I heard a strain of spaghetti western music). There is no limit to their want and need for money, which, by the way, does not even exist. Money is nothing without the validation people give it in their minds. It is not tangible.

And then, there is the way they use debt to hold you prisoner but, I will leave that for another time. If we don’t start to stop them soon, it will be too late for everything you care about. Don’t be blinded by their lasers.   

Some people discover and create amazing things they then give to the world for free instead of monetizing their discoveries and creations.

In 1959, Swedish Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin developed the modern three-point seatbelt system. Volvo owned the patent for this new seatbelt system, but, decided to give this design to the world because of its invaluable importance to automotive and other moving vehicle safety. In doing this, Volvo gave up making a lot of money for the greater good.

Insulin is a wonder drug of the greatest magnitude. It has literally saved millions upon millions of lives since it’s formulation in 1921. It was discovered at the University of Toronto by the team of Sir Frederick G Banting, a Canadian surgeon; Charles H Best, a research student specializing in blood glucose measurement; and JJR Macleod, a leading professor at the same institution. Biochemist James Collip joined the team shortly thereafter to help purify the insulin.

In 1923 Banting, Collip and Best were awarded US patents for their discovery and they then sold the patents to the University of Toronto for just $1 each instead of monetizing it. Banting stated, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” Everyone would have access to it.

Further to this story, Banting and Macleod were jointly awarded a Nobel Prize in 1923. Banting split his half of the prize money with Best, and Macleod did the same with Collip.

For some people, money is truly not everything. Bravo!    

So, the brilliant strategic geniuses in the White House mistakenly shared imminent Yemen war plans with a journalist from The Atlantic during a confidential group chat. Splendid. Well, at least they were talking to a journalist not from Fox News.

Remember, these are the same geniuses that unwittingly fired a bunch of federal employees responsible for the American nuclear weapon arsenal and had to hurriedly reinstate them. It’s good to know America’s defense is in such capable hands. Speaking of “arsenal,” the first four letters spell it out accurately as it pertains to these geniuses.   

Food banks across the US, amidst a groundswell of those in need, say they will have less food to provide because of a $1 billion plus cut in federal funding. Thank goodness DOGE is on the ball saving us this money. There are much better things to spend taxpayer money on, like Tesla. Nice to see good prioritizing judgement like this.  

Inflation is nonsense. Yes, of course, it is real, but, it is unnecessary. It happens because of the way our ridiculous economic system is set up. Our system is geared to make the most money possible for the top echelon of society, who created the system. How? Because, if you continually push up prices in a way that creates a lag between the price increases and what you pay people, you make more money. If you keep this cycle going, it is highly profitable.

That’s why banks, for example, speak out of both sides of the mouth when it comes to debt. Out of one side you hear reduce debt, while out of the other side they are constantly flogging credit cards, loans and mortgages. Proof? Just turn on the television to see this constant flogging. It really doesn’t make sense.

Remember, out economic system is not scientific, even though the purveyors would like you to think otherwise, it is based upon emotion. Nothing has value unless we give it value. Inflation is a calculated part of this emotional system.

In watching the college basketball March Madness Tournament currently taking place in the United States, I had a reoccurrence of a thought. For almost all of the players, this will be the pinnacle of their sporting life and maybe even life in general. Almost all will not move on to professional sports. I put myself in their shoes and thought about how I might be affected if I reached the pinnacle of my life at age 21 in terms of noteworthy, broad-based achievement.

Ultimately, I think this could be a great launching point for the rest of one’s life. You do, of course, get an education. You can parlay your sporting success into a chosen career. It might even open doors for other, bigger achievements. Anything is still possible.

Bruce Springsteen sang about “Glory Days.” We all, to some extent, think back to those good times with some degree of longing for their return. But, for a 21 year old college grad, this is not the end of the journey, it is the beginning of a wonderful new journey in life with exciting hopes and limitless possibilities. And that’s a good thing.