Some Aces You Can Hold.

As the title suggests, here are some cold hard truths you can deposit directly into your mental bank account. Why? Because numerical data stands before us like a mountain of irrefutable evidence, that even the most stubborn skeptics should recognize. My Truth comments of course range from silly myths to very important subjects that seem to be misunderstood. Nevertheless, the conclusions drawn from this analysis aren’t mere opinions, they are based on credible data.

On two serious subjects to begin the march toward truth, the cold, hard numbers don’t lie: fentanyl’s deadly grip on America has loosened significantly. The charts from the CDC reveal a precipitous 32% drop in overdose deaths compared to the blood-soaked statistics from just eighteen months ago. Secondly, the FBI’s meticulous quarterly crime report—a treasure trove of data compiled from 17,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide—shows violent crime plummeting like a stone in still water, with double-digit percentage drops in metropolitan areas once plagued by gunfire and sirens. As always, politicians will strut and preen, claiming credit for these seismic improvements like roosters taking credit for the sunrise. I won’t waste precious time connecting these statistical dots or manufacturing causation where correlation may suffice. However, the undeniable truth remains, something profound has shifted in America’s social landscape, and it falls to you, to determine why these grim metrics have suddenly, dramatically reversed course.

Now to climate change. It is real and always has been, like the ancient rhythms of Earth’s breath. What isn’t real are those apocalyptic, hand-wringing predictions of IMMINENT change that flood our news feeds. For example—and I remember this vividly—in 1993, one of the greatest drama queens in modern history, Al Gore. He graced us with his monotone voice and PowerPoint slides in the 90’s and made many doom-laden predictions. One particular foolish comment of his always stuck with me. The pristine, glittering snows of Kilimanjaro would vanish completely within a decade! Yet here we are, 30 years later, and those majestic white caps remain stubbornly present. Florida is still above water and I just watched 8 inches of thick, wet Kentucky snow blanket my Louisville front yard last week.

How could such a genius that so many foolishly believed be so wrong? Because he’s not! The hard, cold data clearly indicates that “variation” in our climate has always existed and will continue to exist, but the kind of dramatic, civilization-ending change that weather terrorists—with their colorful graphs and computer models—would have you believe is about as predictable as next month’s forecast.

Now for some silly truths. There is no Sasquatch lurking in the misty Pacific Northwest forests, no hulking Bigfoot leaving mysterious footprints in virgin snow, no red-eyed Mothman perched on West Virginia bridges, and no glistening, spiral-horned Unicorns prancing through enchanted meadows. Yet the so-called documentary media—which abandoned actual historical programming faster than teenagers fleeing a homework assignment—bombards us weekly with stupidly manufactured stories and grainy night-vision footage, accompanied by breathless “eyewitness” testimonials.

Oh and by the way, the fabled treasure on certain islands—like a waterlogged patch of Nova Scotian soil that’s been excavated more thoroughly than a dentist works on a molar—was found and retrieved by others long ago. Today’s silly tales are designed to manipulate gullible viewers into a delusional audience that believes European sailors, merchants, and explorers, (who we all were taught decades ago visited North America centuries earlier), somehow left behind glittering hoards of Spanish doubloons, ornate jewel-encrusted chalices, or even the Ark of the Covenant. Are we seriously expected to believe these seafarers buried their most precious possessions in elaborately booby-trapped pits, then sailed away without any intention of returning for their wealth?

Consider this irrefutable fact: in an era when crystal-clear smartphone cameras document every mundane breakfast plate and discovery technology no one could have ever dreamed of 500 years ago exists, not one convincing photograph exists of mythical creatures or hidden treasure on islands in Nov Scotia. With 8.3 billion humans carrying 6.5 billion cameras, and another 1.3 billion permanently mounted around the world, capturing everything from rare meteorological phenomena to celebrity wardrobe malfunctions, the complete absence of verifiable evidence isn’t merely suspicious—it’s hilariously damning. The blurry photos and shaky videos trotted out as “proof” of any manner of foolishness should insult the intelligence of anyone with a functioning frontal lobe.

Such is life.