I'll post it here as well

I'm really trying - and actually being fairly successful at it - to stay out of the venomous tangles on Facebook. It's to the point where one feels the need for a shower after a quick scroll of the newsfeed.

But today I have seen some posts that were so unhinged I felt compelled to inject a little clarity.

You folks, being LITD readers and sharp people generally, already know the following, but in February 2017 it bears reiterating.

Here goes:

Time to go over some basic facts:

1.) Donald Trump is not a conservative. He has no ideological basis for the decisions he makes.

2.) He listens to sound advice on some matters, but has basic character flaws and personality issues that make actual conservatives wince.

3.) If this country ever really applied free-market economic principles, general prosperity would prevail for long periods of time.

4.) Western civilization (Judeo-Christian values and the representative-democracy model of government, along with the body of scientific and artistic achievement it has bestowed) has been a unique blessing to humankind.

5.) US foreign policy should be based on allies knowing we have their backs, adversaries respecting us, and enemies fearing us.

6.) There are at least four things to which it is impossible by definition to have a right: a job, health care, clean air & water, and not to be offended.