Paul Luvera Journal

That was the title of a 1961 Broadway musical production that was later made into a movie.  Given local, national and world events it seems like an appropriate title for our present state of affairs. Locally, we have a “shooting war” going on in Tacoma and Seattle. Graffiti, homelessness and daylight robberies are daily events in these cities.  Nationally, the seat of our government was invaded by a mob determined to overthrow a valid election in Washington D.C. at the…

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A friend sent an article “The Bitter Heartland” by William Galston https://www.americanpurpose.com/articles/the-bitter-heartland/ who sees the dissent and protests of today due to a toxic class resentment. He writes: “They” see “us” as presiding over a long-term decline in their quality of life without lifting a finger to help. Blue-collar wages have stagnated for decades; good jobs for which they are qualified have evaporated. Their suffering went ignored by elites in both political parties until Donald Trump emerged as their champion. They…

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Associated Press writers Nooman Merchant, Lorne Cook and James LaPorta have written a revealing report about the loss of the war in Afghanistan. They write that in the last 20 years some $2 Trillion dollars of American taxpayer money has been spent in that country with a loss of 2448 American military deaths.  About $83 billion Dollars was spent on the Afghan forces in sustaining its army and police. That’s in addition to the $145 billion spent by the US…

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In Philadelphia,  Kimberlie Webb, a practicing Muslim, worked as a police officer. Although she had worked as a police officer since 1995, it wasn’t until years later that she requested permission to wear a religious headscarf or hijab while in uniform and on duty. The headscarf, or hijab, is a traditional head covering worn by Muslim women. The police department denied Webb’s request, but she showed up at work wearing the scarf anyway. Her supervisors told her to go home….

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From the time the pandemic began in March last year to the present time I have not been to Seattle until I recently had a doctors appointment in Seattle. Driving along the freeway, as we approached the outskirts of town,  I was shocked by the extensive garbage along the sides of the area next to the freeway and by litter from homeless camps.  There were homeless shelters and camps all along the freeway as we drove on I-5 to downtown…

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A documentary,  The Social Dilemma, was shown the Sundance film Festival some time ago. It describes how data is collected and used from Internet and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others. The documentary outlines the enormous quantity data and our personal use of it is being monitored and utilized. It also describes the intricate manipulation used to influence us. This manipulation of our human behavior and the collection of data is done for profit. The monitoring of…

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The news every hour of every day is political wrongdoing and conflict. The pandemic news is all about conflicting information and warnings about our future. The outside air is smoke and harmful to our lungs. And, I haven't even started on Seattle politics, graffiti, arson and looting. So, here's a change of subject. It's not very important, but it's better than the news. The Importance of Keeping Things in Proper Perspective In 1545 Duke Cosimo de Medici commissioned frescoes for…

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There is a virtual unlimited supply of nonsensical claims and arguments that have been made by president Trump, but two of the recent are truly noteworthy for being logically inconsistent and just plain absurd. One involves his recent attacks on mail in voting as fraught with the risk of fraud and manipulation.  His claim in a tweet, in capitals for emphasis, was: ""MAIL-IN VOTING WILL LEAD TO MASSIVE FRAUD AND ABUSE." He further claimed: "IT WILL ALSO LEAD TO THE…

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Mondays killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was another in a long list around the country of questionable killings by police officers of citizens, especially African American citizens. The death of George Floyd caused by police officer Derek Chauvin is particularly incriminating. It clearly shows an intentional and unnecessary killing of a citizen who was not armed nor resisting arrest. The video shows a man with his arms handcuffed behind his back while the police officer kneels on the man’s…

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In 1999 the World Trade Organization held a convention in Seattle. But, the convention meeting was quickly overshadowed by street violent protests outside the hotels and convention center. There was rioting, damage to buildings and violence from a crowd estimated at some 40,000 people. The event lasted over several days and became known as the "Battle of Seattle." Yesterday's Seattle riots resulted in more damage and destruction then the Battle of Seattle. The largely peaceful protests started at about noon…

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