NAMES MATTER – LABELS SHAPE PERCEPTION
When my autistic son, Hunter, was very young, he sometimes had explosive public meltdowns.
Like many bright children, he also learned quickly that those meltdowns got him attention and could be used as leverage.
One afternoon, we were leaving a shopping center after a long day. Hunter wanted to go into a toy store he spotted. I said no. There was no money, and everyone was worn out. So he threw himself onto the sidewalk.
I turned away, deliberately cutting off the attention that fed the behavior. But behind me, I heard his stepfather say, calmly but firmly, "You know what? You have a cool name — Hunter. When you act like this, you don’t deserve that cool name. Until you calm down and behave, your name is Zelbert.”
Hunter stopped immediately. He stood up, sniffed, and reached for his stepdad’s hand.
No force. No indulgence. No shaming. Just a withdrawal of unearned status. From that point forward, all it took was a look, and Hunter shaped up rather than risk being called Zelbert.
The lesson was simple and profound: Identity comes with expectations. A name is not a costume you wear while refusing the obligations it implies.
That principle applies far beyond parenting.




A cliff-top fishing village on the Italian Riviera? Nope, Azenhas (ah-zhane-yas) do Mar – Watermills of the Sea – is on the Portuguese Riviera. This is a magic place of fairy tale castles, thousand year-old fortresses, luxury boutique hotels, fabulous food, great wine, gorgeous beaches, and postcard-perfect scenery everywhere.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a night where lawmakers raised eyebrows by remaining glued to their seats throughout the president's State of the Union address, analysts later said the most shocking incident of the night was when Democrats refused to stand as Trump introduced Jesus.


[TTP: Mature audiences may not be aware of Nick Fuentes or his “Groypers,” but our kids and grandkids almost certainly are. It behooves us to make ourselves aware.]
[TTP: Mature audiences may not be aware of Nick Fuentes or his “Groypers,” but our kids and grandkids almost certainly are. It behooves us to make ourselves aware.]
You may only now be hearing about Kathryn Ruemmler because of her connections to Jeffrey Epstein — including reports that she referred to him as “Uncle Jeffrey” and accepted a $9,400 Hermes handbag from him — but you have seen her work. Those associations ultimately led to her recent resignation from Goldman Sachs, yet Ruemmler, Barack Obama’s White House counsel and often described as a political “fixer,” has been near some of the most consequential controversies of the past two decades.
Rarely is there a political issue like the SAVE America Act, which is extremely popular with the American people, but lacks support in the upper house of Congress. The SAVE America Act, if voted into law, would put an end to most vote fraud and election irregularities in America. About 80% of voters support the bill, yet it has less than 50% support from U.S. senators.
We’d all like to think we live in a just world. A world in which the strong take care of the weak, and where good ultimately triumphs.But if we’re being honest, we know that’s not the case. There is no shortage of injustice in the world or examples of rulers abusing their power.