USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving. Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free. I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these." "They just come with the table, man." They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner. This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat. I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared. "Did we…?" "Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless." Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined. My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude." Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man. I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy. Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived. I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most. Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.

The Lancet, one of the most important medical journals in the world, published a petition today calling for the suspension of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the World Medical Association (WMA). 1,150 professionals signed the petition because the IMA "failed to condemn the genocide of the Palestinians, the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, and the torture of detainees." The IMA has, in actuality, spent the entire war advocating for Gazans, petitioning the government to ensure medical supplies were entering Gaza, and demanding that hospitals in Gaza remain safe havens. But they're evil because they didn't use the word genocide? It doesn't matter what you do for Palestinians or how you fight for them if you don't use a certain word? What happened to "actions speak louder than words?"

Today in Rome, Italian patriots attacked Islam: "Muslims are pieces of shit!"

“Help me get back to America ASAP. I’m depressed in the UK.” What if we import grateful Brits and deport ungrateful liberals? 😅🇺🇸

We are in a Cold War with China Russia Iran Qatar North Korea. It’s bad & we are not ready for it.