It’s interesting that our liberal friends are all fainting this week because of the death of Renee Nicole Good on January 7 at the hands of an ICE agent during a “peaceful protest” where she was using her SUV to block ICE operations.

Almost exactly five years ago on January 6 our liberal friends had no problem with a Capitol police officer shooting Ashli Babbit as she climbed unarmed through a broken window into the Capitol in an “armed insurrection” against the United States government.

What is going on with our liberal friends training divorced mothers of three to engage in protest against ICE agents searching for illegal aliens as prescribed by law?

Let’s analyze the January 6 and January 7 narratives from the liberal point of view.

For our liberal friends the violent Capitol riots on January 6 were an existential threat to the System. OMG! What if the Senate had thrown out the official results of the 2020 election and considered alternate slates of Electors! It would have been the end of the world as we know it.

Er, no, dear liberal friends. But we might have got a look into the national problem of mail-in voting and ballot harvesting.

In an age where complexity is often mistaken for sophistication, it is easy to forget a principle that has guided human understanding for thousands of years: truth is usually simple.

Thomas Sowell captured this perfectly when he observed that people who pride themselves on complexity often overlook the fact that reality itself is not complicated -- what becomes complicated is the debate about reality.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the current national conversation surrounding biological sex, gender identity, and the question before the Supreme Court this week regarding transgender participation in women’s sports.

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on whether states may restrict biological males who identify as female from competing in women’s sports, the issue has been wrapped in layers of ideology, emotion, and political rhetoric. But when we strip away the noise and return to first principles -- biology, history, law, and common sense -- the truth becomes remarkably clear.

The Iranian uprising is one of the three most moving expressions of human defiance so far this century. If the regime is toppled, it will constitute a fulcrum in the history of the world. Yet the hypocritical response from the liberal establishment has been as nauseating as it has been infuriating.

From Keir Starmer to Tucker Carlson,  a startling number of our loudest “human rights” voices seem to be taking the words of the Persian mystic Rumi – “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there” – rather too literally.

Surely, if there was ever a moment not to go beyond “ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing”, now would be the time. Yet, armies of Western notables are either downplaying or simply ignoring this dramatic struggle for freedom.

These are the people that are passionate when their activism harms the West, but whose voices seem to desert them when the tyrant wears a turban.

[This Live Long & Prosper column is dedicated to TTP’s Skye – Durk Pearson.  I remember many a conversation with him on the epigenetic switches that turn  our DNA genes on and off---- JW]

We’ve been told that our genetic destiny is written in our DNA. However, research is gradually dismantling this fatalistic view.

Genetics may influence approximately 25 percent to 30 percent of how we age. The remaining portion is influenced by factors entirely within our control: what we eat, how we move, how we handle stress, others, and ourselves.

Dr. Lucia Aronica, who teaches epigenetics and nutrition at the Stanford University Medical School, embodies this balance of nature and nurture.

After 17 years of epigenetic research, she sat down for an interview with me, highlighting that: “You are not just a passive reader of your genetic code, but an active writer of your health story every day with every choice.”

Rewriting Your Software of Life

The prefix “epi” means “on top of,” referring to molecular switches that sit atop your genes, turning them on or off without altering the underlying code.

“Here’s the beautiful part: You can rewrite that software starting today,” Aronica said.

While woke squishes in America doubt whether America was ever great, there are clear signs of America’s greatness throughout Europe. There are several entire countries and many small towns still show gratitude to the Americans for liberating them during World War II to this day.

I had the privilege of meeting one of those liberators. Richard Brookins played Santa Claus for the citizens of the town of Wiltz, Luxembourg, after the U.S. Army’s 28th Division liberated the town from Nazi Germany’s occupation in 1944. Before the Nazis captured Wiltz, the residents always celebrated Saint Nicholas Day on December 6th. The Nazis, however, banned the celebration.

However, on December 6, 1944, the 28th Division, which was passing through, stopped the war for one day. That day, the troops celebrated by entertaining the people of Wiltz with their own Saint Nicholas Day.  Brookins was recruited to play St. Nick, complete with his Bishop’s mitre and staff. Although the whole affair lasted only a couple of hours, it left a lasting impression.

The people of Wiltz continue to celebrate American Saint Nick Day and have placed a statue of Brookins dressed as Saint Nicolas in the center of town. Brookins, of course, isn’t the only one who is remembered with such love and respect. Many towns in Europe still honor and are grateful for the sacrifice and empathy that the United States demonstrated to them during World War II.

November 11th, a single square on the calendar, carries three names and three lessons for the modern West.

Veterans Day, honoring those who fought for our Republic.

Armistice Day, marking the end of the First World War, so cataclysmic its survivors called it simply The Great War.

And St. Martin’s Day (or Martinmas), an ancient Christian feast commemorating Martin of Tours — the Roman soldier who laid down his sword for Christ and spent the rest of his life fighting a greater battle for souls.

Three observances. One date. One truth: civilization survives because virtuous men step forward to bear its burdens.

One of President Trump's achievements is his reshaping of the manner in which politics is conducted in D.C.

Once upon a time, shady deals were struck behind closed doors, but the communication was carefully curated. Irrespective of the nefarious intents and the catastrophic consequences, the sentences were beautifully constructed while the countenances appeared grave.

The Iraq War and ObamaCare were advocated by different parties, but the deceitful manner in which they were 'sold' was identical.

Politics was usually dreary, leading people to avoid the news. The powers in D.C. knew that if the presentation is dull, focusing on their nefarious actions is difficult, and this enables them to do as they please, without consequences.

Memoirs of leaders published decades after quitting politics reveal the meetings behind closed doors were frequently unruly and profane, and driven by petulance and pettiness.

However, they feigned 'normality' before the cameras. These acting abilities led to the quote that “politics is showbiz for ugly people.”

President Trump struck all that down with a sledgehammer.

One of the reasons for Trump's success in business is his skill as a negotiator and a strategic thinker.

So the focus of this piece is on the manner in which he effortlessly outmaneuvers his opponents, setting traps whose impact they comprehend only when they have stepped into them.

New Yorkers have handed America’s biggest and most famous city- the financial capital of the world- to a radical Muslim communist, who pals around with Jihadi terrorists, supports “global intifada,” wants to tax whites higher than minorities, and has never held a real job in his life.

New York City is now officially “Kabul on the Hudson.”

Or

“North Korea meets Sharia.”

Aren’t New Yorkers proud? What an achievement. All because the city that used to be known as “the greatest city on the planet” is now filled with a poisonous mixture of young jobless communists angry at living in their parents’ basement, and foreigners who hate the country they invaded, and want to turn us into the failed third world s***tholes they just escaped from.

So, I have an idea. “If you can’t beat them, give ‘em what they want.”

Here is how President Trump can win this battle for the soul of America. Stop fighting the communists and Muslim terrorist appeasers. Give them what they want….

President Trump should declare New York City is now a “ILLEGAL ALIEN FREE ZONE.”

Now many of you are probably thinking I’m planning a trap. Once gathered there, we can send ICE in and arrest them all. After they’ve all gathered in one place, it would be like rounding up and deporting fish in a barrel.

But no, that’s not my plan. Because…