In a time of endless war and triumphant cynicism, I found myself the other day unexpectedly walking through the doors of perception. Yeah, those doors.

“You know the day destroys the night/Night divides the day/Tried to run/Tried to hide/ Break on through to the other side . . .”

The words, the music — the Doors, the voice of Jim Morrison — ignite not just the Summer of Love but a crazy something I don’t dare call hope, because those days of cultural and political revolution overdosed and imploded, didn’t they? War won. The Vietnam War dragged on, millions died (or thousands, if the only death toll that matters to you is that of U.S. soldiers), MLK and RFK were assassinated, the Cold War quietly morphed into the War on Terror and eventually the 911 attacks gave the military-industrialists the “new Pearl Harbor” they needed. Today’s military budget is securely bloated.

SHIP’S LOG, February 15, 2018 — How the Earthlings have survived is a mystery. Ever since the United States impeached and removed Donald Trump for accidentally live-streaming himself sexually assaulting a tourist (or was it really for refusing to bomb Moscow? unclear) events have spiraled out of control.

Trump is now residing on a private island, making offers by tweet of trillions of dollars to various nations in exchange for their willingness to bomb the United States. No nation is known to have yet accepted. Nor has anyone yet seen Trump’s tax returns. He may or may not have, or have access to, trillions of dollars.

Some of the earthlings believe the impeachment process drove Trump out of his mind, while others blame the water supply on his island abode. But 92% in a scientific survey conducted in 43 countries this week actually volunteered or wrote in: “When was he not out of his mind — WTF?”

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Pope Francis' first-ever visit by a Roman
Catholic pontiff to Buddhist-majority Myanmar which started on
November 27 will be closely watched for his reaction to the country's
bloody military campaign against more than one million ethnic Rohingya
Muslims.

Among the leaders he will meet during his four-day trip is Aung San
Suu Kyi whose silence about the suffering of the Rohingya sharply
contrasts with Francis' August statement lamenting the "persecution of
our Rohingya brothers and sisters."

The pope will also meet the military's Commander-in-Chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

If the Argentine-born pope mentions the Rohingya while in Myanmar, it
will embarrass and dismay his hosts.

But if he silences himself, many others will be deeply disappointed.

During the pope's November 27-30 visit, "he will speak for all
suffering people belonging to all groups present in Myanmar," Fr.
Carlo Velardo, an attache at The Holy See's Apostolic Nunciature or
embassy in Bangkok, said in an interview.