Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to everyone. I wish peace through the strength of the Maccabees to Israel in overcoming her enemies, and the peace of the Christ Child to Christians.

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My condolences go to the family of Sergio Mendez who was killed in the horrendous accident at Starbucks last week. It was an inexplicable incident, one of the worst I have covered in 23 years. I hope authorities are able to make sense of it.

Rest in Peace, Sergio.

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My apologies for my absent Realities last week – to those who may have noticed. Last minute computer problems did me in.

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I see Ron Paul has raised a bunch of money and is surging in the polls. I happen to be a conservative, not a libertarian like Paul. The more I learn about this contender for the job of president of the United States, the more frightening that possibility becomes.

Radio commentator and author Michael Medved, whose opinions I highly esteem, recently spoke of some of Paul’s character traits that I was unaware of. I do know his foreign policy would undermine the republic, and his defense stance would destroy our military at the most precarious time in American history.

But it is his anti-Semitic beliefs that are most reprehensible and least discussed. His popularity within Republican ranks could re-elect Obama, as would any third party attempt at the White House. It’s hard for me to understand why his squealing rants are so appealing to so many. Any one of the Republican candidates would make an excellent president, except for Paul. I’m beginning to understand why some refer to him as Dr. Demento.

***

Few Americans seem to understand the disaster that Iran has inflicted upon the US with the hacked-capture of our most sophisticated drone aircraft. Early on in this drama it was reported that President Obama had the time to take advantage of at least two defensive options – he could have ordered the craft destroyed from the air with another drone; he could have sent in special operations teams to destroy the craft. He took no action. Now Iran, China, Russia, and any other of our enemies, can reverse engineer this weapon and use it on us.

Why self-destruct mechanisms were not attached to the drone to provide for such emergencies is unknown. What is known is that Obama lacks the will to defend this country at critical times such as this. The loss of this drone is nightmarishly huge.