There has been a lot of lunacy lately with regard to the situation in the Middle East. It's basically been rinse-and-repeat my entire life. Some situations change, but the general tone over there is uncivil, to put it in the most diplomatic language possible.

Meanwhile, here on the homefront (for our American readers), we're back to the ol' "you're either with us or you're against us" chestnut. Bollocks.

While I loved Muhammad Ali as a fan of boxing and enjoyed him as an entertainer, I never cared much for the latter-day secular canonization of Muhammad Ali. The man was not a model for moral righteousness.

However, the courage Ali showed during the height of LBJ's escalation of the "conflict" in Viet Nam was quite remarkable. At 24, and at the height of his boxing genius, he refused to "serve" in the military and he famously said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong."

While his reasoning on religious grounds was dubious, the moral argument held and still does. And the fact that he wasn't a hippie who fled to Canada or overseas provided enormous power to his stance.

He lost his career for several years. From age 25 to nearly 29 no state allowed him a boxing license.

His popularity increased. Without even stepping into a ring.

Point is, there is a large part of the population that stands against war. It just takes someone with courage to stand up to the warmongers. Ali's example will live in American history.

In today's sporting landscape, there is no one with the cultural gravitas of Ali. And while the US of A is not in an active "hot war," our governmental betters have gotten "us" in a bunch of proxy wars all over the globe. They have their reasons—many of which most Americans reject.

But we are mere citizens, without power. Yet, a good portion of Americans feel the need to virtue-signal their support or oppositon for belligerents in these conflicts. Namely, the Russia-Ukraine goat-schtup and the "hostilities" between Hamas and Israel.

Flags in social media tend to be the most nauseating. Generally speaking, those people get a block or mute from me. I don't have much time for the nonsense. Why I have "time" for social media in general is another story and entirely my problem to deal with.

In this latest debacle in the Middle East, what really chaps me is the reflexive picking sides based on some identitarian preference. I hasten to call any of it "religious." Same with The Troubles in the north of Ireland. There are no theological points being discussed.

I kind of wish there were. But, alas, we are dealing with deeply secular people who may have some edifice of religiosity or ethnicity to cower behind.

As Walter Sobchack, a Viet Nam vet and one who once "dabbled in pacifism once," so eloquently explained to his bowling buddy, "No Donny, these men are cowards."

And the pseudo-religious fervor has taken many Americans for a ride. The eschatological beliefs of certain sects of American protestantism have them pitted firmly in the Israeli camp. South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham, said on Fox News that "we are in a religious war here, I am with Israel. Whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourselves. Level the place." The place being the Gaza Strip.

I certainly don't stand with Hamas, but to invoke religion as a means to wipe out a people just isn't right either.

The bizarre notion that Graham and his ilk have of the "Rapture" drives a bunch of this nonsense. If you lived on earth prior to the 18th century, this dispensationalist "theology" was absent. Entirely.

I do believe in one respect, however, in the Rapture. And I talk about it briefly on our latest episode of the Natural Order Podcast.

Specifically, I'm talking about being Caught up in the Rapture ... of love. Sung so beautifully by the great Anita Baker.

Check it out... it's one of our best episodes yet.

As always,

Brian