This picture pretty much sums up Trump's visit to the G20 Summit.

Courtesy of CNN: 

World leaders at the G20 summit in Germany went into their final day of talks Saturday scratching their heads over what to do about a increasingly isolationist United States. 

Leaders appeared to be at an impasse over trade and climate change, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel making clear that the US' stance on the key issues were threatening to derail progress and that talks had been difficult. 

US President Donald Trump won the 2016 election on an "America First" platform that would pull the United States out of several multilateral trade deals and negotiations, as well as the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.

Merkel illustrated an everyone-versus-the-US scenario late Friday, and said leaders were considering how they could now present these markedly different stances in one communique.

Isolated, alone, hated by the majority of the American people, and even more of the Europeans. 

If it were not for his bestie Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump would seem a tragic figure.

But then you just have to remember that this is something that he is doing to himself, as well as to our country, and any feelings of sympathy simply die on the vine.

Important message for those newly liberated from the shackles of religion.

Courtesy of Syracuse.com:

The billboard going up Monday on North West Street at first glance looks like a church advertising for new members. 

The background is a heavenly blue sky with wispy clouds and the words "Don't believe in God?" A pair of hands on one side holds a sign "You're not alone!" It directs people to the website cnyhumanists.org. 

The billboard is an outreach to the community, said Corrina Allen, president of the CNY Humanist Association. 

"We want to let people in the area to know that if they're not religious, and they don't believe in God, they are not alone and there is a community available to them," she said.

It is really hard to explain how important it is to know that you are not alone when you first start questioning the existence of God.

The thing that churches, and temples, and synagogues do so well is to create a sense of community and to provide a comfortable environment for those who believe as they do.

But when you start to question the religious beliefs prominent in your community, you quickly feel the chill of being ostracized and seen as different, and even as a threat.

I remember the first time I felt that as a very young boy, around eight or nine years of age.

I started talking on the playground about there being no god, or Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus. And while the Santa Claus part really upset my peers, it was the part about god that convinced the teaching staff to have me stay inside and do other activities instead of being outside with the other students.

I learned fairly quickly to keep my questions and musings to myself and after awhile I was allowed to play on the monkey bars and swing on the swings just like my religiously indoctrinated peer group.

But the feeling of isolation is real, and feeling left out and different definitely shapes how you see the world, and how you see your place in it.

Worst case scenario it helps to turn you into a blogger who doggedly chases down stories that nobody else will dare to touch.