Category: Society

Whose Land Is This? Lessons from Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel – and the US

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Almost Every Place on Earth Has Had Previous “Owners”

What Conveys Whose Land This Is? It’s Tricky Applying Modern Standards to Historical Facts

I have a difficult time thinking of any sizeable piece of ground (or waterway) on this planet that does not come with multiple, conflicting claims of whose territory this is or should be. This disagreement has long been a leading cause of human conflict from our very beginnings as an identifiable species.

In the modern era (“modern era” being what we call the present time. Amusing to think about how others will call this ancient times before too long),

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The Power and Pleasure of Music

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Three Recent Examples Bring the Lessons Home Delightfully

What Is it About Music?

Music seems to almost magic in its power to motivate, activate, sooth, and inspire the human creature (and other creatures, too; more on that later). You get this observation from someone who does not play any instrument nor knows how to read music. Well, I did have a short musical interlude. I had an impromptu kazoo band that showed up uninvited at Pentagon ceremonies when I worked there. And I once attended a dulcimer workshop. At the end of that first session, the instructor and I agreed my future was in the audience.

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Water, Water Everywhere. And Yet, Not a Drop to Spare

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Nature is Kicking Our Butt Over Water, with Too Much and Not Enough. It’s Mostly Our Fault

The Term “Our Chickens Have Come to Roost” Sounds Right

I have been thinking about this posting for a few weeks. A good assortment of articles and reflections are being written about all this just now. Many are well worth your time to read, based on what I have been seeing

For our time together today, I thought we might reflect on the extreme opposites that are pounding the world and what their occurring at the same time mean for us all.

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Time to Declare War on the No Vaccines Crowd

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In Fact, It’s Way Past Time. These are Not Just Personal Decisions

Polio is Back. Can You Believe That?

Polio, which we defeated in this country in the 1950’s and which was only occurring naturally in two underdeveloped countries  in recent years has returned to the United States. Seems unimaginable. The vaccine is exceptionally effective, has absolute minimum risks, and widely available at little or no cost. Herd immunity across the US has further protected us all.

So, what happened? Anti-vaccine nonsense happened. It turns out that in some communities only about 30% of children,

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Anniversaries are a Fine Time for Reflection – and Celebration

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Sharing a Half Century+ of Good Fortune & Lessons Learned

A Moment to Pause, Reflect, Celebrate

Life tends to run along with a steady hum, the everyday sometimes drowning out the special with background noise. Anniversaries, like birthdays, provide a good prompt to stop for a moment, step back, reflect on what is/was/will be, and, hopefully, celebrate.

So it was recently in our household. My bride and I celebrated 55 years as a couple just a few days ago. After dealing with the shock of that number (“55?! How is that high a number possible?”),

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Good Days, Good News

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The Last Few Days Show Promise on Many Fronts

Public Perceptions Count

It seemed as though two thought patterns kind of ran through the country over the last few months.

One has been dissatisfaction with Biden, which in turn led to even worse than normal forecasts for the president’s party in the upcoming midterm elections. The other has been a general national grumpiness, post pandemic peak, which we have commented on in this space before. People, in their eagerness for normalcy, are in something of a bad mood generally, and that reflects back on politicians.

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Three BIG Problems – One Simple Solution

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Most of Us Ignored the First Two – Until the Third One Affected All of Us

Its All About People

We have had two long-running, serious – and interrelated problems for decades. The third one is a bit more recent. All three revolve around people – what people want and how people treat each other on a national and personal level.

Problem 1

The first of these is border security. Ignore the nonsense of the Trumpists; they actually made the problem worse, with their infantile focus on a mythical wall. But setting that aside,

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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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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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