Category: Politics and Government

About The Week

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The Last Week Was Full of Noteworthy Topics. Some Highlights to Look At Closer

Russia and Ukraine: Good News, Bad News

First the bad news. Russia continues to make some progress in its aggression, now occupying about 20% of Ukraine’s Eastern sectors. And it continues a clear policy of terrorizing civilians and destroying communities. Bombing cities can be an acceptable if terrible thing in wars with much at stake, as WWII. But doing so in this conflict is clearly immoral. The list of war crimes and abuse gets ever longer.

But there is good news,

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Three Old Blog Posts Came Back to Haunt Me This Week

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Where Are We Heading? What Does July 4th Mean? The Key Questions Call Us Out

What Started This Blog in The First Place?

This little blog came to life in June of 2018. The first post raised the issue of how we could relate to each other going forward as fellow Americans:
Of Tribes, Truth, and Our Country –
 https://agentsofreason.com/of-tribes-truth-and-our-country/ .

This was followed the same week by a sobering reminder of what I saw on the ground in trips to the Middle East – Countries that had lost the ability to talk among themselves,

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The Week That Was

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A Few Less Obvious Reflections on the Past Week

Well, THAT was Quite a Week – We Were Deluged with News

We cannot say the past week was a boring one. A hastily schedule but powerfully executed January 6 Insurrection hearing. Important battlefield changes in Ukraine. A series of disastrous Supreme Court decisions. An historic NATO summit. And more, in every sector .

Today is the Fourth of July. We have much to think about, America. Somethings to celebrate, some things to regret. Let’s briefly observe some of the important side notes to some of these sagas.

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Mid Term Elections Unlike Any in Our History

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America Will Take a Big Leap to the Next Peak – or Into the Abyss

 This Will be One for the History Books – and the Rest of Our Lives

How many times have we have heard – or said – “This is the most important election…”? Yeah, they all seem to feel that way, and at the time, each met that criterion. Surely the presidential election of 2016 did. Elect Donald Trump? That would be a disaster. Thanks to the anachronism of the Electoral College, we blew it. The rest is,

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The Select Committee on the January 6 Insurrection

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One hearing Down, five to Go. How it is Going, What Stands Out

 

Some Very Quick Observations

The next hearing is this Monday morning- Today – 10 AM ET.

About everyone who has the means to do so has been writing about the hearings. That is mostly a good thing, but I don’t want to add to the long list. Besides, a lot of us watched it live (more on that shortly).

Therefore, some very short observations on the way forward and where we are.

First, the Historical Analogies –

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A Special Post – Watch the JAN 6 Committee Hearings – Starting Tonight

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Watergate Hearings Shaped Politics for a Generation – These Hearings are Even More Important

The House Select Committee examining the events of and leading up to the January 6 attempt to overthrow the government begins public hearings today. This after over 1,000 interviews and 140,000 documents reviewed.

They seem clearly focused on the importance of ensuring the public gets a complete and coherent presentation of what happened and who is responsible. Time will tell, but it seems they have done good work and know what needs to be done. The rest is up to us.

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The Gun Thing is Not Complicated

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It’s Surely Not Easy – But It Actually Is Uncomplicated – and Doable

 

 America and Guns

It has been my great privilege of living all over this country, have travelled through almost all of it, and have lived and traveled around the world. As will surprise no one, I can say definitively, there is no other country, certainly no other advanced country, with so demented a relationship with guns as the good old US of A.

I have spent time in other countries in which guns have a long history intermixed with society – France and Switzerland come to mind foremost.

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Ruminations at Large

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A Few Quick Notes on Assorted Items in the News

Trump’s Waning Influence

As the primaries conclude, one can take some encouragement from the results in terms of Trump’s impact. When he backed the best known candidate in a crowded field, he had some luck. But in a number of places, on both candidates and issues, he came up short.

This is not an end-state Happy Days just yet, and lots of infected people are asserting themselves and running for office across the country, but there are some hopeful signs. It is important to remember that these were Republican and conservative Independents in many places who said with their votes that they were tired of Trump,

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Reflections from a Poll Greeter

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Observations from the Front Lines During Primaries

The First Votes are In

Primary season is upon us, about wrapped up, actually. I think what I saw in working at the polls for a few days in my neighborhood likely reflects what others saw in many other areas. For the most part, more good news than bad, which was something of a pleasant surprise. Let’s hope the good things noted below carry through to the general election.

Primaries are important for many reasons, but they have unique characteristics that do not always carry forward to the general election,

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The Long Political Season is Upon Us

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Suggestions to Stay Informed, Yet Stay Sane

We Are Off to the Races

If you think you have already been awash in political news, arguments, and solicitations, stand by. This has only been the warmup. Both the pace and the volume are sure to pick up and be sustained at high levels for about the next six months – which will perhaps feel like an eternity as we deal with all that information and disinformation.

And the deluge will be coming from every imaginable outlet. From the internet, emails, snail mail, phone calls, text messages,

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