The first thing is to tame the rage so that you do not live in it all the time. Or worse, repressing it so often and so much that it calcifies into all-consuming despair. That won’t do. 

The next thing is to cultivate joy stubbornly and aggressively. You know, that “pursuit of happiness” business. It is not easy to do it in our madhouse of a country. You know it and I know it. 

If you’re looking for some non-alcoholic beverage ideas for your holiday guests,  here are some local ones to consider:

• Asheville Tea Company (Asheville NC) — look for their boxes of teas, particularly the seasonal blends.  

Question: Can drinking tart cherry juice help with my knee pain due to osteoarthritis?

Answer: While tart cherry juice isn’t harmful, the research proof of its efficacy to reduce pain or inflammation due to arthritis just is not there. 

The recent history of international relations is fraught with examples where the sanctity of law has been compromised for political expediency. Among the most troubling instances is the Trump Administration’s alarming approach to countering drug cartels — a response that not only skirts the boundaries of legality but also risks undermining the United States’ long-standing commitment to the rule of law on the global stage. 

To the Editor:

I was judged rather harshly for a letter, by no less than six people in three newspapers, for doubting the average American voter's capacity to distinguish fact from fiction, truth from falsehoods.

To the Editor:

Medicare and Social Security are programs that have always been priorities of the Democratic Party. Democrats started these programs and supported them ever since, and pretty much constantly over the constant objection of Republicans. 

Let’s not sugarcoat it anymore. To call it “misinformation” is, in itself, misinformation. Let’s just call it what it is — straight-up lies, of the sort that would earn you a whoopin’ by meemaw if you repeated them to her face instead of spreading them from behind a keyboard like a coward.