Gregory Lewis Web-Log

 Christmas Holiday 2024 Interfaith Message The Puritan Pilgrim Baptist Separatists of the 1600’s, of which I am a descendant, did not place much emphasis on Christmas celebrations. In fact, the Puritan Pilgrims believed the Christmas celebrations of Europe to be a pagan-inspired drunken revelry of debauchery and sin, and is at least in part, why they separated from the major religious institutions of their day and came to the New World. Nevertheless, Christians around the world will celebrate Christmas this month in their own way. Much of my professional IT experience has been in E-commerce, E-marketing, and online digital advertising. This is a very busy time of year for E-commerce. The recent Cyber Week 2024 was the biggest week for online sales, ever, with Adobe reporting $41.1 billion U.S. sales, and Salesforce reporting $314.9 billion in global sales, up 8.2% and 6% over 2023 sales, respectively. The most interesting aspect of E-commerce, however, is the technology in use is g...

 An Off-Grid Paradise I am a descendant of the 1620 Mayflower voyage and Plymouth Plantation. My ancestors came to the New World wilderness to work the land as settlers and farmers, and to hunt and fish wild-game free from religious oppression and tyranny. My Seneca Native American ancestors controlled most of the Shenandoah Valley following the Beaver Wars, then later sold their land rights to the Virginia Colony. Land and property ownership has always been an important part of what it means to be an American. Today, the United States is experiencing a housing shortage and affordability crisis, forcing many would-be home owners to live in sub-par properties or stay with extended family members. The current housing market affordability crisis is a political result of the 2008-2009 housing market recession and crisis. Many politicians in Washington D.C. believed if housing unit supply was artificially kept low or tight, then they could avoid another 2008-style housing market crisis....

 Show Me the Budget! The 2024 U.S. General Election is 2 days from today. The U.S. Government has been functioning under partial budgets and continuing resolution for several years. The $35 trillion debt-load and budget problems of Washington D.C. have caused a recent credit-rating downgrade and the ouster of the Speaker of the House. Whatever the political organization of the State might be, the annual or regular budget demonstrates the values of its People. Some rightly argue that all government is is the collection and disbursement of tax revenues. More importantly, if the State has an inability to collect tax revenues, or disburses those tax revenues in an unfair or unequal way, there is the very real possibility of a failed State. Here, I define a failed State as a government or political organization that cannot effectively collect or disburse tax revenues in any meaningful way. I have recently heard and watched many politicians, pundits, and others say “if there is a governm...

 The Apocalypse Continued It is October 2024. The November 2024 U.S. Presidential General Election is a few weeks away, the Nobel Prize Committee is currently selecting this year’s winners, football season is well underway, and many people are making his/her final decisions on which costume they might wear on Halloween. My personal thoughts have drifted towards the Apocalypse. Nearly four in ten Americans believe we are living in the “final days” or “end times”, according to a recent Pew Research Institute finding. I have two years of personal research on the Apocalypse, both from a religious view and a more practical disaster-preparedness perspective. I was always fascinated by how millions of people throughout history, separated by vast distances, could have very similar social and religious beliefs about civilization-ending catastrophic events. This fact could not be explained simply by claiming these peoples shared a similar mental psychosis or religious fanaticism. I am a Chri...

2024 November General Election We are in the final days of Summer 2024 and the November General Election is 50 days from now. Most Americans, including myself, are watching the election events with disbelief and disgust. Most voting Americans are very unhappy with the direction of the country, its leadership, and how both Political Parties have gone so far from where main-stream Americans are on most issues. Our political and government officials no longer serve the American people, but various fringe groups with bizarre political agendas. For me personally, I have 20 years remaining in my professional career. As a voting American and as a current resident of the greater Washington D.C. Metro area, the current debt-level of Washington D.C. and the issue of Qualified Immunity is top of my concern. Neither Political Party has addressed these issues. Furthermore, the main-stream media outlets have spent about 15 minutes total on these issues this past year. These issues will define our co...

Labor Day 2024 It is Labor Day 2024 here in the United States. Labor Day is a U.S. Federal Holiday celebrating the achievements of the organized labor movement. The service sector has overtaken today’s U.S. economy, placing less emphasis on the achievement of the 20th century labor movement. Nevertheless, it cannot be overstated the importance the labor movement had while the U.S. economy transitioned from an agrarian-based economy, to a manufacturing-based economy of the 20th century, to the service-based economy of today. Much has been written, discussed, and debated about work and labor. Labor is a very popular and important subject among theologians, philosophers, economists, politicians, lawyers, and anyone who wants to live in a just and free society while serving God or his/her respective faith tradition. Furthermore, it gets to the very heart of the subject of wealth and resource sharing and distribution. The topics of the 5 and 6-day work week, as presented in the Bible Old Te...

 Olympic Dreams The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have concluded. The many athletic competitions have been decided. The Olympic Medals have been awarded. The Olympiad Champions and their respective accomplishments have been recorded for history and posterity’s sake. The Olympic Flame in Paris has been extinguished until the next Olympic Games. There is inevitably some kind of controversy surrounding large international events, such as the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, It was a good games and will be remembered as a successful athletic event. The controversies pertaining to the Paris 2024 Olympics seems to be a growing problem within the athletic community and needs to be addressed to ensure fair and equitable sporting events. My opinion is that biological males should not be allowed to compete in female sports. Female athletes should not be forced or required to share training facilities, bathrooms, shower facilities, locker rooms, the awards stage, or scholarship monies with other non-f...