News

In California, wildfires continue to burn and destroy homes and property. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as strong winds and dry conditions fan fires to ever greater intensities. Planned blackouts, designed to reduce the risk of fire due to faulty electrical equipment, have also put millions of people in the dark.

The Western world exerts tremendous energy and spends huge amounts of money on political elections. It seems like the campaigning never stops. Since money is “the mother’s milk of politics,” there are endless fundraising events bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars or euros or pounds, or whatever is the national currency. All forms of media are used to promote the bid for office—and the power that goes with it. Inordinate sums of money are spent to win elections to offices that may have relatively modest pay.

According to interview data recently released by the PEW Research Center, the percentage of Americans labeling themselves as “Christian” has fallen significantly in the last ten years (October 17, 2019). In addition, significantly fewer attend church services regularly.

On October 14, thirteen state police officers in Mexico’s western state of Michoacán were ambushed and massacred by a fast-growing local drug cartel (The Guardian, November 5, 2019). The police were outnumbered, outgunned, and wore subpar protective gear.

In September, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Luxembourg to discuss Brexit strategy with his European counterparts. While there, he cancelled a press conference in order to avoid the jeers of an angry crowd. Luxembourg’s prime minister carried on the press conference anyway, with Johnson’s chair left empty, in a clear attempt to discredit Johnson (The Guardian, September 17, 2019). In response to the fiasco, U.S.