In 1978, the great musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber launched another highly successful musical in London. Evita evolved out of a chance visit to Argentina by Lloyd Webber. There he encountered the story of Eva Duarte Peron. He said he first saw her captivating countenance on an Argentine postage stamp, and from there his interest rapidly grew. The rest is West End, Broadway, and world musical history. The lyricist for Lloyd Webber’s early productions was Tim Rice. Evita was their third major collaboration. When the vastly creative composer returned to London, he and Tim Rice worked out the story line for a new musical-as-opera, which is essentially what many of Lloyd Webber’s recent shows are. The plot of the musical is based on biographies of Eva and Juan Peron that were written shortly after Peron was removed from the power of the Argentine presidency.

The Hebrews (or Israelites or Jews) were the first nation or ethnic group in human history to become monotheists. There are many factors about the Jews which are unique, but that is one of the most important. How and when did they become monotheists? It is impossible to verify that with any certainty. Many scholars claim that Abraham, inspired by God, became the first monotheist. Other scholars say Abraham believed in only one God for himself, while not denying the existence of other gods. To complicate matters, still other scholars deny that Abraham or any of the other ancient Hebrew patriarchs even existed.

An 874-page biography of Ronald Reagan is something I normally would not purchase, especially when its list price is $35.00. But when I saw a copy of Dutch at our local library used book sales counter for two dollars (half price that day), which looked as though it had never been opened, let alone read, I couldn’t pass it up. “Deals which are steals” are in my blood; what can I say?

“Cherry-picking” has nothing to do with picking cherries. With respect to writers or writings (among many other categories), the term cherry-picking implies the selective affirmation of certain points of any writer to the exclusion of other points by the same writer. We like what we like, but we don’t like what we don’t like.

Dying isn’t what it used to be. Up until the mid-twentieth century, most people died fairly quickly, despite the best efforts of doctors to keep them alive. Now death has been scientifically held in abeyance by an ever more resourceful medical bag of tricks. Often it mercilessly continues mere existence when active life has long since vanished. In terms of dollars spent and increasing human suffering, death has been rendered inhumanely slow and terrible for countless people.

In the nearly seventy years that have passed since I was a paper boy, the newspaper business has changed dramatically. In medium-sized cities, like Madison, there used to be at least two competing newspapers, a morning one and an afternoon one. In large cities there were three or more competing papers. Now, in nearly every community large enough to sustain a daily newspaper, there is only one paper, which is half the size it used to be. It also has well less than half the number of subscribers it used to have. Perhaps there might be another small struggling competitor on life support.

Most people enjoy certain composers or performers or singers more than others. But most of us would be hard pressed to explain why. Are there particular musical or artistic reasons behind our preferences, or do we just prefer them?

It all started out so well, and so innocently. It was a means for people to use the internet to communicate with one another easily and quickly. They could say whatever they wanted to say to one another, and at no cost. They were already connected to the internet anyway.

The slowly growing number of anti-Trump Americans are deluding themselves into thinking that the Mueller investigation or other factors may lead to a Congressional impeachment trial in the near future. I opined then, and I opine again, that is a very dangerous position to adopt. It probably is best for the nation that Donald Trump finishes out his four-year term as President, and that the American electorate chose someone else to lead the nation beginning in 2021. However, if the American people and their elected representatives in Congress believe it is imperative to remove the President prior to January of 2021, then so much pressure must be brought to bear on Donald Trump that he himself will come to see that he has no other choice than resignation. For the time being, it is more important for all other Americans to realize the extreme delicacy of our political impasse than for our President to realize it. For the time being, he is incapable of understanding how chaotic America has become. And he is the primary culprit of the chaos.

Were there no England, there would be no United States of America. Were there no Britain or United Kingdom, there would be no USA. Were there no Europe, America as we know it could not exist. “America” (meaning in our usage, the USA) is a European invention.

History can be cruel. Sometimes it elevates charlatans, and it denounces people of great political courage and character. Inferior individuals win prestigious posts in government, while people of superior abilities who have complex and often inscrutable motives are thrown onto the ash heap of history. Three such men were the last white President of South Africa, one of the last communist party chairmen and premiers of the USSR, and the last leader of the Soviet Union prior to its collapse in 1991.

There are several related words in the dictionary that all begin with two letters: “c-i.” Among these words are city, citizenry, citizenship, civic, civics, civilian, civility, civilized, and civilization. Linguistically, they all derive from the same Middle English or Old French root: ci, from which the English word “city” comes (cite’ in French). By definition, a city is a place where many people and many kinds of people live. The citizenry of a city or region or nation consists of all the people who live there. A civilization is created when all the citizens of a geographic entity together move from a primitive every-person-for-himself-or-herself existence into a more refined, communal, civilized lifestyle.

Up until Charlottesville, the primary concern of a growing number of Americans was the increasingly erratic behavior and bizarre actions of President Donald Trump. After Charlottesville, the political landscape has changed dramatically. As if the President were not enough to concern us daily, now we have a wave of nationalistic, white supremacist racism which has thrust itself into American consciousness.

As the Trump presidency has continued to spiral downward, one large group of voters have stuck with Donald Trump, regardless of the magnitude of his multitude of missteps. They are the Hard-Core Trump Base. These voters can be classified as follows: 1) Immovable Ideological Republicans, 2) The Alt-Right, 3) The Disaffected Middle Class Unemployed 4) Reasonable Republicans, 5) People Who Are Stubbornly Unwilling to Admit They Were Wrong.

Here are some typical ministerial phrases I have heard through the years which I find extremely off-putting. Pastors will refer to “my church, my associate minister, my pulpit, my staff, my church officers, my governing board,” and so on. I find such phrases offensive, irritating, and prideful. How can any member of the clergy utter such foolish, self-centered words? ... It is the congregaton’s church, associate, pulpit, staff, and so on.

Mr. Trump is clearly so mentally debilitated that his continuation in office inevitably nourishes a rapidly-growing malignancy on the presidency. Our democracy simply shall not survive in its present form, because Mr. Trump is dismantling it far too quickly. His erratic behavior is undermining political structures that have taken decades or centuries to erect. For the healthy future of America, the President must resign, and soon as possible.