The Pro-Russian Nationalists Have Lost the Serbian Parliamentary Elections

 

    The autocratic nationalist far-right ruling party of Serbia has lost power after a student-led anti-corruption party won a majority of votes and seats in the Serbian parliamentary elections today.  As I have posted, Serbia has been pro-Russian, despite recognizing Ukrainian territorial integrity.  The opposition party is pro-European.  Like the defeat of the far-right authoritarian and corrupt ruling party in Hungary earlier this year, the Serbian election removes an ally for the Russian Federation and opens the door to integration with Europe, which leads to more political and economic liberty and less corruption.  It is hoped that the Serbian election results would also reduce tensions between ethnic Serbs and others in Bosnia and Kosovo, now that their nationalist sympathizer in Belgrade is leaving power.

Follow-Up on the Conservative Analysis of the 2026 Republican Primaries Across America

 

    Earlier this month, I posted my analysis of the 2026 Republican primary elections in Pennsylvania and across America.  I noted some instances when a pro-Trump Republican incumbent was successfully challenged by an even more Trumpist candidate because the incumbent mildly criticized Trump on one issue or took a different position or two.  I observed that some of these extreme Trumpist GOP nominees would have difficulty winning election in the 2026 General Election November 3.  

    But a post-primary political observation is worth making.  The Republican United States Representatives and Senators who were defeated in the primaries, like those who are not standing for reelection, no longer have anything to fear politically from Trump and his supporters.  Thus, they have been emboldened to follow their consciences and take more stands against Trump, on issues like the Russo-Ukrainian War and on various domestic matters.  With the two chambers of Congress closely divided and the Republican majority of only a handful of seats in each body, Trump and his GOP supporters in Congress cannot afford such defections, in addition to the handful of members who tend to have non-Trumpist views on various issues.  

    With the legislative session coming soon to an end, this block of non-Trumpists and those who had been targeted by Trump, or who no longer fear him politically ought to continue to use their leverage for good, not only for America, but even for the Republican Party as a matter of honor, as well as for the Legislative Branch as a more effective check on a Chief Executive with autocratic proclivities.  

Columbus Day and Migration

 

    At least like this year, the federal and state holiday of Columbus Day is sometimes observed on October 12, the date of the discovery of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus.  As I have observed, Washington’s Birthday, the federal holiday that most States call “Presidents’ Day” or something similar, is never observed on George Washington’s birthday.  But as I do every year, today is appropriate to reflect on the significance of this anniversary and holiday.    

    Columbus not only discovered a western and oceanic route to the Americas from the Eastern Hemisphere, but in the name of Spain founded a colony and began the permanent settlement of the Western Hemisphere by Europeans, unlike the temporary and limited settlement by previous Europeans, such as the Vikings on the island of Greenland.  Some of the Native Americans were friendly while others were hostile to the Spanish and other Europeans who later colonized the Americas.  The Europeans purchased or bartered for some of the Native Americans’ land rights in North America.  But there was some resistance to European migration and settlement, particularly among some of the Eastern Woodland Indigenous Peoples, which led to violent conflict between the Europeans and the Natives, who were fearful of losing their land or culture.  Most Indigenous People, especially outside of the eastern part of North America, still live where they have for millennia.  Many still speak their native languages, or at least maintain some degree of their cultural practices, except that they converted to Christianity and have been heavily influenced by Western European culture, like much of the world has.  

    Today in America, some of the descendants of the Europeans or of later immigrants are excessively fearful of immigrants, migrant workers and refugees from foreign lands around the globe, including from the Americas, and including Catholic and other Christians.  They even fear refugees fleeing the tyranny of Communism or Socialism, or Islamism who appreciate liberty more than those who have never been without it.  Nativists and xenophobes do not fear losing their land, but, like eugenicists, unreasonably fear population increase, despite a natural decline in population.  They especially fear a loss of culture, instead of being confident that Western values are attractive, or of economic or political power, despite the economic contribution of immigration and the embracing confidently the competition for votes for those immigrants who become naturalized citizens.  While many of these nativists hold up European colonizers and celebrate Columbus Day, they fail to see how they are as acting as intolerantly toward migrants as the Indigenous Americans they disrespect for being intolerant of migrants. 

    As I have posted, Columbus Day was established as a counter to nativists whohated Southern Europeans, Catholics and others, because it makes the obvious point that America would not even exist but for its discovery by Southern Europeans and Catholics.  The celebration of Columbus Day, therefore, is a celebration of immigration.

Conservative Analysis of the 2026 Republican Primaries in Pennsylvania and Across America

 

    Now that the general election season has begun in Pennsylvania and across America, some conservative analysis of the Republican primary elections is timely. 

    There were few candidates for the GOP nominations for public offices who were not Trumpist or at least who support Donald Trump or at least did not publicly reject him.  Many Trumpist candidates were endorsed by him or touted their support of him.  Because Trumpism (a populist blend of protectionism, nativism and isolationism in a context of authoritarianism, cruelty corruption and imperialism) and Trump is wholly unfit for public office, few Republican candidates are worthy of a vote, lest Trump and Trumpism become legitimized. 

    There were a few cases where at least the Republican primary candidate had voted for Trump’s impeachment in 2021 for attempting to overturn the valid election in 2020 of the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President, such as Senator Susan Collins of Maine, or at least who have split with Trump on enough issues to attract Trumpist primary challengers every two years, such as Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.  But there were no serious challengers contesting the nomination in these cases. 

    What was more common across America were contests between incumbents who were Trumpist and challengers who were even more Trumpist whom Trump backed because he thought the incumbent was not perfectly in lock step on every issue with him or who had expressed the mildest criticism of him.  The result was the nomination of even more extreme Trumpist candidates who are even less attractive to general election voters and less likely to be elected.  Unless and until Republicans take control of their party back from Trump and his family and return to their conservative principles, they will continue to have difficulty electing candidates of integrity and principle who can serve honorably and effectively.  And until then, I would continue to advise not to vote for Republican nominees, but instead to write in suitable Republican candidates or even to vote for independent or third-party candidates, to resist the legitimization of Trump and Trumpism, instead of accepting poor choices and being forced to vote for “the lesser of two evils.”

    Our Republican Legacy Our Republican Legacy | Republican Party is an organization founded by former Republican members of Congress and joined by former GOP Governors and Republican National Committee Chairmen. It has state chairmen in most States.  Its goal is to nominate a candidate for President in 2028 who shares Republican beliefs of reverence for the Constitution, and who supports fiscally sound policies, the free enterprise and peace through strength.  America needs at least one major party worthy of support for conservatives, if not the founding of a minor center-right party.  Restoring the Grand Old Party to principle should be a vital goal of conservatives.

Russian Plot to Assassinate Russian Exiles on American Soil Has Been Busted

 

    Five Russians were indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. last week for plotting to assassinate prominent Russian exiled dissidents on American and European soil.  As I have posted, the regime of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer who has ruled the Russian Federation for 26 years, has persecuted opposition leaders, human rights activists, journalists, whistleblowers and anyone critical of him, arresting and imprisoning them, driving them into exile, or killing them.  The Czar tolerates no criticism, even by Russians abroad.  Russian dissidents or whistleblowers have been targeted in attacks in Eastern and even Western Europe previously, some of which have been fatal.

Update on the Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak: 1,000 Cases and 5 Deaths

         

    There have been nearly 1,000 cases of measles in Pennsylvania’s worst outbreak in three decades, with five associated deaths also recorded.  As I have been posting, measles, the most contagious diseases, is a deadly virus that had been eradicated in America and in Europe but has returned because of vaccine hesitancy, even though the vaccine is effective and safe.  Lancaster County, where Anabaptists (Amish, Mennonite, etc.) are concentrated, is the main focal point of the outbreak, as the Anabaptists tend not to vaccinate.   The latest reported death was of a young Amish woman.  Although most cases are mild, measles can lead to hospitalization, organ failure, deafness (it was the leading cause of childhood deafness before immunization) and even death.  

American Troop Withdrawal from Iraq after a Successful Counterterrorism Mission

    

    The last American troops withdrew from Iraq last week, after a successful twelve-year mission against the Islamic State terrorists.  

    Most United States troops had withdrawn last year, but as I had posted, the last few hundred had remained in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, by demand of the Kurds, to continue counter-terrorism operations against the Islamic State, the offshoot of al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist organization responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America that killed nearly 3,000 people.  There had also been attacks targeting American troops in Iraq by Iranian-backed militias, which the U.S. has struck back at periodically.  The U.S. withdrawal eliminates the American troops as targets.  The mission began in 2014 by the invitation of Iraq after the Islamic State, based in Syria, had conquered large swaths of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a caliphate.  The U.S.-led international mission was successful against Islamic State.  As fewer American troops are needed, they are relocating to neighboring Jordan.  The withdrawal is thus on U.S. terms, not a defeat.  A normal bilateral security agreement would have to be negotiated between the U.S. and Iraq.  Iraq is purchasing U.S. and other weapons to defend Kurdistan from Iranian attacks.

    Most Iraqi militias have not disarmed, as the Iraqi government is demanding or at least asking them to place their heavy weapons under state control, particularly the Iranian-backed militias.  The militias in Iraq are nominally part of the Iraqi armed forces.

    The American-led mission in Iraq since 2014 was separate from the 2003 Liberation of Iraq, in which the tyrannical Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein, a serial aggressor and state sponsor of terrorism, was overthrown after repeated violations of the 1991 cease-fire after the Liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi aggression and United Nations resolutions against Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs.  The premature withdrawal of U.S.-led international forces from the Arab State in 2011 necessitated the return of American troops to Iraq in 2014, as the Islamic State took advantage of power vacuums in Iraq and Syria.  Iraq is an ally in the War on Terrorism.

The 2026 Russian Parliamentary Elections: Pre-Determined by Vladimir Putin

    The results of the 2026 Russian Parliamentary Elections last week were a foregone conclusion under tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer who has ruled the Russian Federation since 1999.  Putin’s party won a majority of the votes and seats as elections in Russia are not free and fair.  Basic freedoms are hardly tolerated and only parties that are not sharply critical of Putin are permitted to participate in the elections.  Opposition leaders, human rights advocates, critics, journalists, whistleblowers and anyone Putin feels threatened by are persecuted, imprisoned, driven into exile or murdered, either in Russia or abroad.  “Systemic opposition” parties that allow the Kremlin to make it appear as if Russia has competitive elections among multiple parties win votes and seats in the Russian Parliament, but never enough to threaten the regime.  Indeed, the two largest, the Communists and the ultra-nationalists serve the purpose of making Putin seem moderate by contrast.  There are smaller center-left and center-right parties, as well as other parties across the spectrum or single-issue parties, but they collectively only win a few seats, if any.  The main center-right systemic opposition party did gain in votes and seats, but it is regarded by the Russian opposition, which is mostly on the center right, as a spoiler.  

    Although opposition parties sometimes win local elections, there are no free and fair national elections in Russia and there will not be any as long as Czar Putin rules.

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America

     

    Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks by al-Qaeda Islamists on America that killed nearly 3,000 people.  We Americans pause on September 11, as I always post on this date, to remember the victims of the massacre, and to give thanks to the many who have helped prevent another attack on such a scale for a quarter century. 

      As I have posted, the September 11 attacks sparked the Global War on Terrorism, which although the name of the war has long fallen out of use, continues sporadically against al-Qaeda or its offshoot, the Islamic State, or other Islamist terrorists, on battlefields around the Islamic world, in addition to various other successful anti-terror methods that are still in use.  The first battlefield was Afghanistan because its de facto regime led by the Islamist Taliban militia had provided safe haven for al-Qaeda’s leadership that had planned the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia with hijacked civilian airliners, another of which was forced down by passengers in Pennsylvania.  The United States led an international coalition, joined by Afghan allies, to overthrow the Taliban, which fell by 2002, and against al-Qaeda, whose leadership was annihilated. 

    The Taliban returned to power in 2021 after a premature American withdrawal (the disastrous Trump-Biden withdrawal that I have posted about), but al-Qaeda, though still a threat in its various forms and global affiliates, has been seriously weakened and Afghanistan has not again become a safe haven for terrorists with a global reach.  The international community, which does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, would not allow Afghanistan to become again a threat to the world.  Because the lack of U.S. or allied military and intelligence organizational presence in Afghanistan hampers the ability to detect any reconstitution of al-Qaeda in the Central Asian State, continued vigilance is necessary.

    There continues to be armed resistance in various forms to the Taliban across Afghanistan, which the international community ought to support, at least morally, if not materially, and at least privately, if not officially.  The resistance, which favors a return to constitutional representative government and liberty for all, is growing in size and reach, while the Taliban have lost their only ally, Pakistan.  Although the overthrow of the repressive Taliban might be difficult to achieve, it would at least help weaken the Islamist militia to prevent them from becoming a regional threat, and represent a greater consistency in American foreign policy to stand for freedom and against Islamist rule.  But the rapid fall of the terrorist-sponsoring Baathist Assad regime of Syria in December 2024 suggests, even the most repressive dictatorships can suddenly collapse.  A second overthrow of the Taliban regime, whose leading Mullah al-Qaeda has sworn its personal loyalty to, would be another major victory in the War on Terrorism.

Blog and Personal Notes

    

    Blog Note: I was finally able to work around the glitch the last few years that prevented line-spacing and indentation in my posts to this blog.  It also prevented the insertion of hyperlinks.  I shall endeavor to update the previous posts the last few years for which the proper typesetting was precluded.  I apologize for any difficulty in reading those posts, which I tried to minimize in various ways.

    Thank you for visiting my blog.  Please continue to visit it regularly. 

    Personal Note: Meanwhile, I have completed my contributions to the history book for the 275th anniversary of my County.  I shall provide an update when it is published.

Extreme Nationalist Serbia and Ethnic Serbs Treat a War Criminal as a Hero

    Ratko Mladic, the ethnic Serb general known as the “Butcher of Bosnia” responsible for the policy of “ethnic cleansing,” for which he was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, died in prison last week.  The concerns I have posted about Serbian nationalism were validated by the treatment by him by ethnic Serbs in Bosnia and other States that became independent from Yugoslavia and by Serbia as a national hero. Serbia gave the war criminal a state funeral, ethnic Serbs outside Serbia praised him, and many thousands of Serbs paid respects to Mladic at his funeral. 

    Serbia, the dominant republic within the former Yugoslavia, was responsible for the bloody wars that resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia into each of its parts.  Serbia, which is Slavic and Orthodox, was led by a Communist dictator who fomented Serbian nationalism and hatred toward other ethnicities and religions to try to remain in power after the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1991, which caused independence movements across Yugoslavia to break away from Belgrade’s dominance.  Serbia fomented ethnic Serb minorities in the other parts of Yugoslavia, such as in Bosnia, where Bosnian Serb leaders, through Mladic, attacked ethnic Croats, who are Slavic and Catholic, and Bosniaks, who are Slavic and Muslim, in a bloody civil war from 1992 to 1995.  Mladic was arrested in 2011, convicted in 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and sentenced to life imprisonment.  Bosnia is divided into two main entities, one Serb and the other Croat and Bosniak.  

    Serbia, which has historically been friendly with Russia, continues to encourage ethnic divisions in Bosnia and Kosovo, where Albanians are the majority and Serbs a minority.  Serbia should not be allowed to join the European Union until it rejects extreme nationalism, accepts responsibility for its crimes, and clearly opposes Russian aggression and imperialism.

The Right-Wing Italian Government Has Set an Endurance Record

    Italian Prime Miniser Giorgia Meloni became the longest-serving premier in the history of the Italian Republic, which was formed in 1946, having served four years.  No Italian government has completed a five-year term.  But the significance of the record is exaggerated by the professional media, as is the usual reporting about Italy’s “instability” because hers is the 68th Government in its 80-year history.  Although Italy, which has always had a multi-party elective parliamentary system, has had many “governments,” which mean executives (i.e. administrations), it was stable in the sense that every government from 1946 to 1982 was led by the Christian Democratic Party, with only the coalitions with other parties changing.  The party returned to power later in the 1980s.  Often during their tenure as Prime Ministers, the same person has continued in office, with only a cabinet reshuffle.  Thus, some Premiers have served longer than Meloni consecutively, and others even longer when adding together their separate stints in office. 

    Meloni has tried to prove her party has rejected its neo-fascist past, but some party member or another regularly undermines her efforts.  She has led Italy’s most right-wing government in its republican history, with a relatively stable coalition between her right-wing party, the far-right Trumpist anti-migrant and pro-Russian League Party, and the center-right Forza Italia (Go Italy) party, which holds pro-European and American views and is conservative in the mold of Thatcher and Reagan. The opposition, which ranges from the center to the far left, is relatively divided.  Neither Meloni's coalition, nor the main center-left bloc of parties receive popular majority support, just as neither won a majority of votes or seats in the parliamentary elections, as her coalition benefited from a bonus awarded to the leading coalition.  Meloni’s government has enacted fiscal and other reforms required by the European Union to receive funds, reduced spending, kept taxes down, increased employment, cracked down on petty crimes, advocated for reforms of the EU, and backed Ukraine.  But without making any major reforms, Italy’s economic growth has been slow.  Meloni has violated human rights with her anti-migrant policies while Italy continues to suffer population loss.  She tried to parlay her similar views to Donald Trump and their personal friendship to benefit Italian-American relations, but her effort has ended in failure because Trump demands complete agreement on every issue.  

    Despite differences within her coalition, and an upstart neo-fascist party rising in the polls that is even more anti-migrant and openly pro-Russian, Meloni will probably continue to serve until her term ends while the opposition is unable to unite to gain majority support, which is more the reason for her stability than her mixed record.  Her government is proposing to amend the election law to favor her coalition in the parliamentary elections next year, which signals a lack of popularity and confidence in their chances. 

Foreign Digest: North Korea, Iran, Russia and Ukraine

North Korea: Donald Trump drastically reduced annual military exercises with South Korea, in part as punishment for the United States ally’s choice not to provide support against the Islamic Republic of Iran.  The exercises are critical for defense of South Korea against Communist North Korean aggression.  But what is worse even that Trump would compromise global security for a policy difference with an ally, is that he stated clearly that he was giving in to North Korean objections to the exercises as threatening and provocative, and that he is also influenced by personal overtures and flattery by its tyrannical regime.  Thus, unreasonable demands by dictators and their psychological influence determine American foreign policy and security under Trump, just as his own pecuniary considerations do, as foreign States conduct business with him, instead of what is in the best interest of the United States and global security.  Trump’s foreign policy is devoid of any moral principles, but is instead transactional, as if the U.S. has no interests.  Communist North Korea has sent thousands of troops in support of Russian aggression against Ukraine, among other support.  The Hermit Kingdom invaded its southern neighbor in 1950 and has attacked it from time to time ever since.  The U.S. led a successful United Nations mission to defend South Korea from North Korean and Communist Chinese aggression and has defended South Korea, which is an ally and major trading partner. 

Iran: Like some of his predecessors, Trump has continued to allow Iran to delay the destruction of its nuclear and missile program by making diplomatic offers.  The Islamic Republic, a theocratic tyranny, is the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism. 

Ukraine: Ukraine struck an Iranian military transport ship in the Caspian Sea last month.  The Islamic Republic has been supplying Russia militarily during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.  The Russian Federation invaded the former Soviet Republic in 2014, seizing Crimea, then fully in 2022, in violation of international law and Russian recognition of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as I have posted. Last week, the Russians engaged in a double-tap strike on a civilian target, to add to their myriad war crimes.  A double-tap strike is a second attack on a site, after first responders and other rescuers have arrived.  And as I have also posted, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China, along with handful of their allies, are what I call the Axis of Rogues.

Update: Two Dead in the Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak

    In my last post, I provided an update on Pennsylvania’s latest measles outbreak. Since then, two deaths have been reported, which are the first in America this year. Both were of people who were unvaccinated. The deaths from measles are the first reported in Pennsylvania in 35 years.

Update on the Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak

    The number of cases in the latest measles outbreak in Pennsylvania continues to grow. I noted in my July 12 post that the number of cases had exceeded 100. Now, the total number in two separate outbreaks in the State for the year had grown to nearly 380 by the end of last week, with a rapid increase recently, versus 16 for all of last year. Health officials believe the true number of cases is much higher. The start of the new school year will likely accelerate the spread. 

     Measles, a virus which was the leading cause of childhood deafness, can cause organ failure and even death, is the most contagious disease. It can be prevented by a safe and effective vaccine. Over half of Pennsylvania’s cases are in Lancaster County, which has a relatively low vaccination rate. It is the home to the largest concentration of Anabaptists, who tend not to vaccinate. All of the State’s cases are of unvaccinated people. Of Pennsylvania’s schoolchildrend, only 93% are vaccinated, which is short of the 95% needed to prevent spread. Other States in America are also continuing to experience measles outbreaks. 

    As I have posted, vaccine hesitancy has increased in recent years because of unfounded concerns about vaccine safety, spread by conspiracy theories on the far left and far right, exacerbated by libertarian opposition to vaccine mandates even for schoolchildren, and amplified by Russian disinformation.

Permanent Daylight Saving Time: The Wrong Solution for the Problem

    A bill to place America on Daylight Saving Time permanently has passed the United States House of Representatives with bipartisan support and the support of Donald Trump. But the proposal has attracted bipartisan opposition in the Senate, especially from northern States. 

    Congress is right to resolve the problem of having to change the clocks twice a year by switching back and forth from Daylight Saving Time, and the problems it causes, but it is the wrong solution. Springing ahead and falling back annually are unpopular. Not only are they inconvenient and commercially costly, but the loss of an hour of sleep when switching from Standard to Daylight Saving Time causes accidents and impairs physical and mental health, as I have posted. But permanently switching to Daylight Saving Time, instead of remaining permanently on Standard Time, as Hawaii and Arizona already do, would cause its own set of problems. It would be dark for an hour longer in the mornings in the wintertime, which is dangerous for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, and especially for schoolchildren walking to bus stops or school. 

    But the main problem, as I have posted, is that moving the time zone an hour back would adversely affect sleep because it would misalign our circadian rhythm, the body’s natural cycle that relies on sunlight cues for its wake response. Therefore, it would cause accidents and physical and mental health problems, such as exacerbating seasonal affect disorder. We can learn from history not to repeat this mistake. The U.S. switched to permanent Daylight Saving Time in 1974 to try to save energy during the oil crisis. The move at first was popular because of the extra hour of daylight in the afternoon, but soon became unpopular because of the safety problems for parents taking their children to school and schoolchildren walking to school. Congress repealed the law soon after. Switching permanently to Daylight Saving Time thus proved the law of unintended consequences. 

    Most of the rest of the world does not have any daylight saving time, and the international trend among those foreign States that do has been to eliminate it. Instead of permanent Daylight Saving Time, I urge Congress to consider the optimal solution for the problem it is rightly trying to solve: switch permanently to Standard Time.

Foreign Digest: Ukraine and Nicaragua

Ukraine: Ukraine formed a coalition with nine European States to defend against ballistic missiles. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden signed an agreement with Ukraine. The former Soviet Republic has been under Russian invasion since 2014. Ukraine has skillfully been developing defenses against Russia that it has increasingly been making available to friendly States. It had also negotiated security deals for drone and missile defense with several Arab States to defend against attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran which has targeted them during the terrorist-sponsoring theocracy's war with Israel and the United States, as I had posted. Iran is complicit in the Russian aggression against Ukraine, supplying the Russian Federation with missiles. 

Nicaragua: Nicaragua’s Marxist Sandinista dictatorship broke off diplomatic relations with Italy after the Italian Republic criticized the Central American State’s refusal to extradite a convicted Red Brigades militant who was part of the gang who kidnapped and murdered former Prime Minister and Christian Democratic Party leader Aldo Moro in 1978. The Communist Red Brigades terrorized Italy from the 1960s to 80s during the “Years of Lead,” when the Southern European State was plagued by political violence. As I have posted, Nicaragua has become increasingly authoritarian since electing former dictator Daniel Ortega, who had promised to respect liberty, but who has instead violently suppressed dissent, repressed all independent organizations, and prevented free and fair elections.

Follow Up on The Birthday of the United States of America versus Independence Day

    I write to follow up on my post from June 21, The Birthday of the United States of America versus Independence Day, in which I observed that many Americans have been referring to Independence Day as the “birthday” or “anniversary” “of the United States” or some similar expression, even though the U.S. was not formed until thirteen years later in 1789. 

    It is part of an overall pattern that stood out this year, of references to the birthday or anniversary of “the country,” or “nation,” even though America is neither a nation, nor a nation-state, but a union of States, none of which are nation-states, and not a country. These examples are part of a pattern of references to the birthday or anniversary or founding of “America,” as if the declaration of the independence of the thirteen British American Colonies was about the formation of some kind of political entity, instead of simply the change of status of the former Colonies as independent sovereign States. The Second Continental Congress, which had approved the resolution declaring the independence of the Colonies from the United Kingdom, some of which had already declared their independence, was no more a central government than before the declaration, or than the First Continental Congress in 1774, or the Stamp Act Congress of 1765. The States were only loosely tied together through the Congress, which was an interstate organization, much like the international organizations of today. It is only in some general sense that 1776 marked the beginning of “America” in the sense of American independence, i.e. of the several American States. 

    Americans today, as I noted, seem to view their origin through the lens of the federal Union of States formed by the Constitution. Furthermore, they wrongly regard States as administrative provinces of some superstate, instead of as the sovereign entities they are, albeit ones that have loaned some of their powers to the Union of States, known as the United States. The widespread ignorance of the basic meaning of independence and the purpose of the American Revolution, which was for equality, liberty and representative government, leaves Americans vulnerable to the threats to independence and freedom today. I urge Americans to learn more about the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Constitution.

Pope Leo XIV Is Awarded the Medal of Freedom for His Teaching on Freedom and Migrants

    The American-born Pope Leo XIV accepted the Medal of Freedom that is awarded annually by the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before Independence Day. The Bishop of Rome acknowledged through an online ceremony the promise of freedom expressed in the Declaration of Independence that 250 years ago explained the separation of the original Thirteen British Colonies in America from the United Kingdom and their declaration of independence as sovereign States. 

    Leo, a United States citizen descended from immigrants from several countries who was born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago Illinois, observed how liberty attracted people from around the world to America, whom Americans welcomed out of love for freedom, and who contributed to America. Leo, like his predecessor Francis, whose parents had emigrated from Italy to Argentina, has spoken out against the xenophobia prevalent in Europe and America that prejudges every migrant as a threat, including refugees fleeing persecution, war, terrorism, or disaster. The American Pontiff, instead of visiting the land of his birth for its semi-quincentennial of independence, at the anti-migrant Trump Administration’s invitation, visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, off the southern coast of Sicily, which is a hotspot for refugees and immigrants from nearby North Africa and beyond to emphasize pointedly his consistent teaching on the dignity of all human beings and the Christian duty to love and welcome refugees.

Over 100 cases of Measles in Pennsylvania's Latest Outbreak

    In the latest outbreak of measles in Pennsylvania, the total number of cases has exceeded 100. The outbreak is amongst the unvaccinated and is centered in Lancaster County. The County is the heart of “Pennsylvania Dutch (German) Country,” including the Anabaptists (Amish, Mennonite, etc.) who tend not to vaccinate, just like the outbreak in Texas over a year ago had spread from a Mennonite community from Mexico. That outbreak sickened well over a thousand Americans (not only Mennonites) across several States and killed two children. 

    As I have posted, measles, the most contagious disease, is a virus that was the leading cause of deafness and that can be deadly, but is preventable by safe and effective vaccines. It was eradicated across America by the early 2000s, but increased vaccine hesitancy has decreased the herd immunity necessary to prevent contagion from spreading, just as with other preventable diseases, especially because not everyone has a sufficient immune system to allow vaccination to be effective. Therefore, measles has been spreading in America and Europe. Far-left, far-right and extreme libertarian conspiracy theories, amplified by Russian disinformation, have contributed to vaccine hesitancy, despite numerous clinical studies disproving the alleged dangers of vaccination. 

    The rare risks of vaccination are far outweighed by the harms of the diseases they prevent or lessen the severity of. Americans should follow vaccine recommendations to prevent and eradicate preventable diseases like measles, mumps, diptheria, etc. to protect themselves and their children, in addition to helping to keep those who are immune compromised safe from dangerous illness.