The average person in most Western countries will have heard of the Ten Commandments listed in the Christian Bible and would be able to name at least half of them. People on the street would probably recite “Thou shalt not steal” or “Thou shalt not lie.” Another one of those categorical rules that is often easy to remember is “Thou shalt not kill.” Few people would generally disagree that killing another human is wrong. The exception, however, appears to be when the state is doing it to a criminal convicted of murder. This is the government’s attempt to prove that murder is wrong. The justification for capital punishment is allegedly another Biblical principle: an eye for an eye (lex talionis). If the United States of America truly believed in the Sixth Commandment, it would not hesitate to devote all the resources necessary, including U.S. troops, to the country of Ukraine to put an end to the atrocities being committed there by Russian forces since February 24, 2022. Furthermor...

This article was intended for publication not long after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. When Russia began amassing troops on its border with Ukraine, the U.S. did precious little to discourage Vladimir Putin from sending more and more forces to surround its neighbor on three sides. This should have come as no surprise, considering how he basically waltzed into Crimea and encouraged separatists in the eastern part of the country in 2014 and suffered no major repercussions for his blatant disrespect for international law. Ever since Rootin’ Tootin’ Vladi Putin was handed the reins of power in 1999, he has been trying to reconstitute the Soviet Union, paving the road to that goal with decimated countries and dead bodies. For over 20 years, he has gotten away with countless murders and is hell-bent on committing more. From Chechnya to Georgia and now Ukraine, no territory that has ever been part of the Soviet empire is safe from Russian aggression. Since the fall of the USSR in 19...

When I used to work as a product review screener, I was constantly reminded of how poorly the average American writes. It was baffling and infuriating, especially when so much technology exists that can point out spelling and grammar mistakes on the fly. Nevertheless, barring any outright profanity or threats of violence, reviews resembling the one below were perfectly fine to approve for publication. If I were Master of the Internet, no content showing blatant ignorance of the rules of spelling and grammar would ever find their way onto the Web. I love this phone! The positives far outway the negatives! ok let me list the drawbacks, the  batter life could be better. However, if you use it only for the phones like features, it couls last three days (at least it did for me) but when I start using the APPS well that drains the hell out of it! keep a charger handy both at home and vehicle. Only other aspect is that its touch screen to your fingertips, and personally I have long nails...

John Ralston Alan Cox U.S. History 1302-003 19 September 2019 War or Peace: Two Approaches to Achieving Civil Rights Following the miserable failure of Reconstruction after the Civil War, America’s black population spent the next century striving for the civil rights that had been supposedly bestowed upon them by the 14 th and 15 th Amendments. A grassroots movement brought to the fore two strategies for attaining undeniable civil rights: nonviolent protest and black nationalism. Their respective proponents were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcom X. Even though Dr. King and Malcom X encouraged different paths in the struggle to overcome racial segregation and disenfranchisement, they did agree on two key points. First, blacks in the United States were not free, not even 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. In a second delivery of his fiery speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcom X proclaimed, “If you’re black, you were born in jail” (Detroit, Apr...

by John Ralston, ©2020   Throughout 2020, some Americans became concerned that people were “erasing” the country’s history. Social media pundits, i.e., the average Jack and Jill, posted and reposted copious amounts of information about the supposedly true identities of the Democratic and Republican Parties. The purpose of this historical survey is to restore what those purported history buffs think they have lost. This essay will elucidate the gradual shift of the Republican party from its stance against slavery to its support for racial segregation. Today’s Republican party is no longer the “party of Lincoln” and has forfeited any legitimate right to make that claim. Though highly general, this text covers a wide span of time. The best way for anyone to be certain whether history is somehow disappearing would be to read a history book or take a class. Those who are not fond of reading ought to question their devotion to history and the facts represented by historical events. Philo...