October 26th, 2026

Dear Friends,

      My month long birthday plan has only been slightly successful. Frankly, spending too much time without having any structure has gotten me embroiled in some distasteful arguments about the condition of our nation. I do not preach politics, but I do insist on accuracy and I do fact check just about anything I read or post on social media. The ability to do this in one good thing that Artificial Intelligence has given us. People throw words and labels around as if they really know what they mean. Some of it is just to cast fear and some of it is just to whip up a crowd. Sadly, I had fallen prey to a bit of it. Because I am a teacher I always insist on knowing the meaning of words. My little lesson for today was to define the words that are behind much of the conflagration. 

CAPITALISM SOCIALISM COMMUNISM all three of these are different economic systems. They are the way that money is dispersed in a society. They regulate the flow of goods, services and currency.

DEMOCRACY TOTALITARIANISM FASCISM DICTATORSHIP THEOCRACY OLIGARCHY: all of these are forms of enforcing societal laws and regulations, and more importantly, determine how those rules are formulated….do they come from the people or the government….from the bottom up or the top down?

    After much consternation, I have decided to leave it right there. Anyone can look up the definitions of these words on their own and educate themselves BEFORE they use them to prove a point. As I’ve always told my staff, "you’ve got to know your song well, before you start singing". So, Instead of getting on the bandwagon, I’m just going to share some of pictures of my grandchildren. Friday was grandparent’s day at Saint Joseph’s Catholic school in Penfield where Rocco, Olive and Scarlet attend. We had a very good breakfast, they sang some religious and patriotic songs and then participated in the most important Catholic past time, bingo!

With peace,

John Bernunzio.