Bruce Momjian: General Blog

Trump's Approach

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Donald Trump's unorthodox approach has baffled many. This article explains that Trump uses confidence to win arguments, even if the facts don't support his position. Trump gave an uncharacteristic commencement address (video) in 2025 at the University of Alabama. In it, he listed eleven keys to his success:

Do big things when you are young
Love what you do
Think big
Work hard
Don't lose your momentum
Have the courage to be an outsider
Trust your instincts
Believe in the American dream
Think of yourself as a winner
Be an original
Never, ever give up

The Original Star Trek

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Star Trek: The Original Series turns 60 this year. I have admired the show since the early 1970's, having attended Star Trek's Creation Con at that time in the The Statler Hilton (also known as the Hotel Pennsylvania). During one convention I rode in an elevator with James Doohan, who played Scotty in the show, and when someone in the elevator murmured "bridge," we all cracked up. During the Saturday Night Live skit with William Shatner, the host holds up a program from that 1975 conference.

More recently I attended a convention in New York state and toured a recreation of the Star Trek set. While there is a huge amount of Star Trek analysis and commentary available online, I found this video to be one of the best.

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Five Things Science Cannot Explain (but Theism Can)

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

In the past few centuries, science has exposed the underlying forces that allow the world to function — forces that had been hidden from humanity. There is a sense that science will continue to expose forces, going deeper and deeper. However, in recent decades, the limits of what science can explain have been exposed, and this article highlights those. Science cannot explain the

Origin of the universe
Origin of the fundamental laws of nature
Fine-tuning of the Universe
Origin of consciousness
Existence of moral, rational, and aesthetic objective laws and intrinsically valuable properties

No matter how hard scientific researchers try, these will remain elusive, promoting the acceptance of forces beyond scientific explanation that we will never fully understand.

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Lebanon's Ponzi Scheme

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

My wife was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and I know many people who live or used to there. Therefore I have always been interested in why it has been trapped in dysfunction for so long, and why recovery is illusive. This video explains that the dysfunctional sectarian government created a country-wide Ponzi scheme using the Lebanese central bank. The Banque du Liban offered high interest rates to Lebanese commercial banks for foreign currency deposits. This generated a large influx of foreign currency into the economy, which allowed Lebanon to prosper. However, the central bank's high interest rate was supported by government debt, and when the influx of foreign currency slowed, the debt spiked to unsustainable levels, causing Lebanon to default on its foreign debt. Commercial banks later limited the withdraw of deposits, causing further economic erosion.

With the Lebanese currency locked in banks, confidence in it further eroded, and the economy still has not recovered. Frankly, it is hard to see how recovery would even be achieved. Oddly, Lebanese food products are still well-stocked in U.S. ethnic grocery stores.

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The Africa GDP Gap

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

This is a table of the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) by continent:

                          GDP per
Rank    Continent       capita (USD)
1       North America     $58,947
2       Oceania           $44,152
3       Europe            $40,056
-       World             $14,613
4       South America     $11,258
5       Asia               $9,323
6       Africa             $2,606

When Charity is Part of the Problem

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

We instinctively want to help those in need, but that help can also be harmful by

increasing irresponsible behavior
preventing those closer to the problem from helping
avoiding addressing the cause of the need

This video uses an example of children drowning in a river to address this very complex issue. The focus is how to help people in a way that will benefit them long-term.

As an example, Apaches Travels was doing a video about an abandoned underground Philadelphia train line, and came upon a homeless man living in the tunnel. He went back and did a video about trying to help this man get a more stable living situation. Apaches certainly took the time to find out how he could best help.

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Roman Catholicism as Controlling

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Two years ago I wrote about how the Old Order Amish "use religion to manipulate and control others." Last year I attended a Catholic-focused conference and now see a parallel between the Old Order Amish and Roman Catholics in this area.

I am no stranger to Roman Catholicism, having attended many Catholic services, read many Catholic writings, taught in a Catholic school, and was an adult Catholic altar server. In watching this video contrasting Catholic teaching with biblical teaching, I realized that the same control used by the Old Order Amish is used by the Roman Catholic Church. In every case where Catholic teaching deviates to biblical teaching, the deviation gives the Catholic church more control:

Celibate priests
Papal infallibility
Baptism required for salvation
Confession to priests
Mass recreates the sacrifice required for salvation, transubstantiation
Mass only forgives past sins; future forgiveness requires a future mass, or last rites
Purgatory, whose membership the Catholic church can control
Apostolic succession

As a recent example, this video by a well-known Catholic priest says that the Roman Catholic Church controls everyone's access to heaven. It was depressing to again see the pattern of religious control.

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Submarines in Swedish Waters

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0400

I try to keep current on revelations in the spy world, but this one got by me, perhaps because it was more of a psychological operation (PSYOP) than a spy operation to collect secret information.

When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, he took a more aggressive approach to relations with the Soviet Union, which eventually lead to its collapse a decade later. The 2009 book Reagan's Secret War: The Untold Story of His Fight to Save the World from Nuclear Disaster outlines this policy.

In trying to put maximum pressure on the Soviet Union, Reagan wanted to use airfields in Sweden in the event of a war. However, Sweden's left-of-center prime minister Olof Palme wanted to steer a neutral course between NATO and the Soviet Union. Swedish popular opinion supported this approach, with only 6% perceiving the Soviet Union as a direct threat.

Touring Submarines

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0400

I have always been fascinated about how submarines work (video) and the history of their use. I have been fortunate to have visited the following submarines:

B-427, Los Angeles, California (closed)
Becuna, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cod, Cleveland, Ohio
Growler, New York City, New York
Lembit, Tallinn, Estonia
Nautilus, Groton, Connecticut
Pampanito, San Francisco, California
Torsk, Baltimore, Maryland
U-505, Chicago, Illinois

The USS Codd has the best set of videos.

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The Plastics Recycling Industry

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Last year I wrote about the falsities of plastics recycling. This new video talks more specifically about the politics of the plastics industry, and states, "they didn't really need it [recycling] to work; they needed people to believe that it was working." This report has many more details.

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