I just read that food delivery robots are supposed to come to the city of Sacramento. Watch what goes wrong.

I was speaking to a twenty-something college graduate the other day. We had a short debate. I’m an older guy who dropped out of high school, so I was at a distinct disadvantage. It didn’t take long for me to realize he knew a great deal more than I did, and a great deal less than he did.

I wish I could return to my twenties so I could, once again, be smarter than I was.

Gov. Ralph Northam has announced the removal of Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ name from an arch at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. Davis was held at the fort at the conclusion of the Civil War.

I understand the idea that the name of the president of the Confederacy is painful to some and I understand the idea that having his name displayed on the arch at the Jefferson Davis Memorial Park seems to glorify him or slavery. Perhaps this needs to be viewed through a more thoughtful, stoic eye. The Civil War wasn’t primarily fought over slavery. The North had slavery as well. The main cause of the conflict was secession.

Nevertheless, this is just another attempt to erase history. This has been done many times in the past and it’s never been a good idea. Why not change the names of the southern states? Shall we bulldoze Auschwitz and Dachau because they glorify Hitler and his Nazi terror?

History won’t change by painting over it or shuffling into some remote corner.

I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I don’t need any group of people to tell me how to think. Let me take a moment to explain my positions on certain issues.

Technology: I believe most (if not all) technology can be improved and that improvement should be a constant goal. I don’t believe that if something isn’t perfect it should be scrapped and replaced with a hope or wish or dream. That is not pragmatic and is generally doomed to failure.

Foreign Affairs: I believe the ability to communicate with foes is of utmost importance, because when lines of communication are severed, the only option is war. Did Russia attempt to influence U.S. elections? Of course. We do the same around the world on a regular basis. Radio Free Europe, during the cold war was a prime example. What we are doing in Venezuela today is no different. Should we protect our elections from outside meddling? What do you think?

Racism: Racism will disappear when it is no longer being promoted by all sides.

Abortion: An unborn human is human. Unless it deserves to die due to something illegal it has done, the purposeful killing of it is murder.

The Economy: There is no finite number of dollars available to be earned or spent. New wealth is constantly being created…and I mean created, not printed. The concept of the rich having more than their fair share is ridiculous. To have a share indicates there is a whole from which portions can be identified. There is no whole. There are no fair shares. There is only the wealth people have. They can increase that wealth or decrease it according to their talents, enthusiasm and ambitions. The Robin Hood idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor is robbery. The fictional Robin Hood was a misguided thief, pure and simple.

The Environment: I think it’s silly to believe mankind has no influence on the climate. When I see the number of cars on the roadways during rush hours and multiply that by years, it makes me think of how a simple volcanic eruption is no match for the pollution introduced into the atmosphere. Yet, one eruption can have a profound and lasting effect. I think it is stupid to send any species (with the exceptions of some disease causing viruses or bacteria) into extinction in an effort to benefit our own species. Homo Sapiens have overpopulated the planet beyond the point of sustainability (while this may be buried in the middle of this text, I believe it is PROBLEM # 1).

Immigration: To repeat…Homo Sapiens have overpopulated the planet beyond the point of sustainability. The U.S. is a geographical area of 100% immigrants (including those called native Americans). We are overfull. Extreme care must be taken to add more people attrition cannot balance.

The Military: Foes are never swayed by kindness. Overwhelming military might is what keeps the peace.

Guns/Firearms: I have the unalienable right to have a tool at hand to successfully defend my life, the lives of those I love or any other innocent person I choose to defend without waiting for police to arrive. Parallel Fire Logic: Just because someone might use a match to start a forest fire shouldn’t deny me matches to start my barbeque. I should be able to own a fire extinguisher without having to wait for the fire department to arrive.

Honor, Veracity, Faith: I believe our society is losing all of these essential societal mores. They will return. They always do; but only after great pain, misery and bloodshed.

As I wrote, I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I lean to the Right because the Left espouses the opposite of what I believe.

From where I sit, it appears more and more members of the adult population of the United States are becoming fed up with being treated by the government as though they are children. They don’t believe they need guidance and approval from on high. They believe they are fully capable of successfully managing their own lives without input from any public group or elected individual.

This has a bunch of politicians so confused and upset that diapers may be required.

There appears to have been a mass shooting at the garlic festival in Gilroy, California. According to reports, multiple shots were fired at about 5:30 p.m. local time at the 40th annual festival. Initial reports indicate three fatalities and at least eleven people wounded. Aside from one city councilman stating 3 fatalities, officials have released no information other than to alert citizens to stay out of the area due to it being an active crime scene.

It is now 9:12 p.m. Nearly four hours have passed without any official updates and all the while FOX News, MSNBC and CNN have been creating a non-stop circus of this event. They’ve been unable to deliver any confirmed facts and instead have been interviewing anyone and everyone who is willing to cry on camera, posit their theories or expose how law enforcement will run their multi-agency investigations.  Now , at 9:29 p.m. public figures are beginning to forward their deepest sympathies and horror over this event. It’s all wonderful theater and another example of exactly what NOT to do under the circumstances.

In a world with an exploding population, it’s hard for the “average Joe” to get noticed. Some people are willing to be noticed in an unhealthy way.The way the media outlets advertise these types of events reinforces the idea that a few cheap bullets fired into a crowd can really get a mentally ill person some time in the spotlight. And the media will do everything in its power to force the public to stand up and take notice.

It doesn’t take a master’s degree in psychology to know this type of coverage spurs copycat tragedies, yet the media continue on their irresponsible paths of not only refusing to acknowledge their moral complicities in these horrendous crimes, but to pretend the complicities don’t exist. How do they sleep at night?

Yes, cover the story. No, don’t sensationalize it. Just deliver the facts as they become available; otherwise continue with your relentless attacks on Trump.

Rational thought is a process through which we take an idea and thoughtfully proceed to its logical conclusion. We go from point “A” through point “Z”, without skipping any letters in between.

Rationalization is listing any number of facts and arriving at an illogical conclusion.

Are you walking on the moon right now? No. That is a fact. Are you in a deep water submersible scouting the Marianas Trench right now? No. That is a fact. Are you running through the streets of Pyongyang, North Korea screaming obscenities about Kim Jung Un at this moment? No. That is also a fact. If you are not on the moon, or scouting the Marianas Trench, or attempting to get yourself shot in Pyongyang right at this moment in time, you MUST BE SOMEWHERE ELSE. Conclusion: If you are somewhere else, you cannot, by definition, be where you are. This is also a fact, …and a completely illogical conclusion.

Rationalization is the process employed by many politicians and activists to advance agendas that make no earthly sense. Abortion advocates do this. Please follow how I believe rational thought addresses this issue.

A pregnancy occurs. This means a human (homo sapiens) egg is fertilized and what was once a cell begins to divide and then redivide. It grows. This growing thing is human as any DNA test will prove.

During the first 9 months of life, this human thing survives within the environment of its mother’s uterus. Then it is the expelled into the open air, where is breaths with its own lungs. The process continues through stages of development of physical growth and puberty, maturation, aging and finally expires naturally when the body’s organs fail.

At any time during this process from “A” through “Z”, the human thing’s life might cease. This can occur by way of natural causes such as accident or disease. Survival can also be terminated deliberately by way of homicide. The killing of a member of the species Homo Sapiens is called homicide.

There are two basic forms of homicide: Justifiable homicide (war, legal execution, legal suicide) and Unjustifiable homicide (murder, accident or illegal suicide). As we are discussing abortion, let’s remove suicide from this algorithm.

Homicides are logically justifiable when carried out during war because the purpose is to protect those who are considered innocent from being killed or ruled by a violent adversary. The same is true with capital punishment/ executions. In both cases, the purpose is to exterminate humans who are considered existentially offensive. These are people who have proven themselves to be dangerous and are subsequently deemed by a society to have committed horrible crimes against the people of that society.

Ending the lives of innocent humans is Unjustifiable homicide. When the death is caused intentionally and not by simple accident, we call it murder. The law gradates murder in degrees, however, all are criminal acts. Pro-abortion activists proffer the idea that abortion deviates from this concept in some way. How? By way of rationalization.

Now, assuming an embryo or fetus hasn’t purposely injured or endangered the woman who is carrying it in her womb, how can we determine its homicide (abortion) can be justifiable…there is a way. However, one must rationalize to get there.

If a woman is raped and that rape produces a pregnancy, wouldn’t the forced continuation of that pregnancy be forcing her to endure an ongoing crime? That argument makes some sense and is food for thought. What about the cases where carrying an unborn child to term threatens the woman’s own immediate survival? Again, an argument can be made. There are, however, women who believe the fact their pregnancy might screw up their college or vacation plans would make a homicide justifiable. They refuse to acknowledge the existence of another human as having any vested interest in the whole affair. I guess they rationalize the other human MUST BE SOMEWHERE ELSE.

I find “The Squad” of four females of color, freshmen members of Congress to be more entertaining than dangerous. They don’t represent the Democratic Party.

Folks like Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein still hold sway within the party.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz stands out as representing all that is dishonorable within the Democratic Party.

Sorry…I don’t have a joke here.

My wife asked me if her new dress made her look “fat”. I blamed it on the dog.

I went to see my primary care physician last week to have an abscess on my rear end lanced. Instead, the doc gave me a big long harangue about my smoking. I told her I wasn’t there to discuss my tobacco use. It didn’t matter; she did a live commercial for Chantix. She asked me if I knew smoking causes cancer. I said, “Yes.” She asked me if I was depressed and trying to hurt myself. I said, “No.” The whole episode made me so irritated, as soon as I got my throbbing butt outside, I lit up a cigarette.

The infection burst open a few hours later.

Kaiser’s catchword is: “THRIVE”. I guess it’s the thought that counts.