The war in Ukraine has taken a new and alarming turn.

North Korea, a nation with one of the largest armies in the world, has sent its ground troops to Russia’s aid. This is what Russia wanted. One must wonder what North Korea wants in exchange from Russia.

When the United States fails to project strength through effective leadership, the world is a less safe place. Peace comes through strength.

Election Day will determine America’s direction for the next four years. Both Trump’s supporters and Vice President Kamala Harris’s supporters cannot imagine why the race is so close. Both think it should be a blowout in favor of them. That could be the case, or whoever wins could prevail via a razor-thin victory as the polls – which have been wrong before – are projecting.

All Americans know what they have been experiencing from a financial perspective. The rich have gotten richer under Biden-Harris as Wall Street has been hitting record highs. But the vast majority of Americans living on Main Street are feeling the pain caused largely by inflation.

My favorite Christmas movie of all-time is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It is about a local banker who is so unhappy with his life over trivial things that he wishes he was never born. A guardian angel comes down from heaven to grant George Bailey his wish. Via a flashback, he saw just how bad his hometown would be had he never been born. He was able to appreciate and cherish his life because it was a wonderful life.

If we could flashback to Christmas 2020 America was far different than it is today.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, talk incessantly about abortion rights, something that Trump has promised not to change even if he could (the Supreme Court has ruled that it must be determined by the states). On a national level only a Constitutional Amendment could codify Roe vs. Wade, and Democrats know this.

This is not the first time Democrats have promised something they knew they could not deliver. Prior to the 2020 election they pandered to young people with a promise to eliminate student loan debt. In four years, that aim was never achieved because of the Constitution. The executive branch of our government simply cannot do this on its own.

One thing is certain, if we continue going in the wrong direction as 79% of Americans feel, we are not going to “self-correct.” The folks who cause the problems cannot be expected to know how to fix them. After all, they had years to do so and have failed.

Most importantly, we cannot bring back the lives lost due to the poor judgment and the bad decisions. This would include the botched Afghanistan departure, the smuggling of fentanyl over the Mexican border that killed over 100,000 Americans, and random acts of violence from illegal immigrants due to our porous borders with Mexico.

Harris has said that she was in the room for those decisions, and she has said she would not have done anything differently. In a normal America that would be enough to warrant her defeat. But we are not living in normal times.

Trump is hated so much that in a matter of weeks two different assassins attempted to kill him. One succeeded in wounding him. His bullet was a tiny fraction away from killing our 45th president.

In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” it was an angel that showed George Bailey the way.

Maybe Trump’s last-second twist of his head preventing his killing could have been God’s way of messaging us today.