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At a Loss
I am at a loss. Not for words, obviously, as I have plenty for you this morning. No, when this year began with the inauguration of Donald Trump to a second term in office as our president I made a decision, and that was to stop trying to work out what motivates him and explains…
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No World AIDS Day in the US
There was a time, when to hear the words “your test results came back positive for HIV” meant “you are going to die – soon.” In the western world, those days are part of the history of the AIDS pandemic, a history so recent that many of us alive today living with HIV can recall…
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Files
I am an adult survivor of childhood (teenage actually) sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic clergy member, a priest to use his more familiar description. Thanks to two years of very intense and emotionally painful EMDR Therapy with a very skilled therapist who specializes in post-traumatic stress, serving both civilians and combat veterans of the…
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A republic, if you can keep it
Donald Trump didn’t get the memo. After weeks of Republican complaints about violent political rhetoric on the Left in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, he fired off a Truth Social post with an AI-created video showing himself wearing a crown, flying a fighter jet emblazoned with the phrase “KING TRUMP” on it, and bombing…
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Show me the money
To be honest, I begin this post in somewhat of a quandary. I know where I want to get with it, but as I gave that some thought, it occurred to me that many people do not understand the difference between a “head of state” and a “head of government,” and so I should touch…
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The Reichstag is on fire!
February 27, 1933. Monday. It is exactly four weeks since the leader of Germany’s majority political party in the Reichstag (parliament), a man by the name of Adolf Hitler, was sworn in as Chancellor (prime minister) of Germany. It is important to remember Hitler was elected. In the beginning. And it’s not like his campaign…
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Late-night Wars
In the 90s, there was a late-night show on ABC called Politically Incorrect hosted by comic polemicist and smug contrarian Bill Maher. I wasn’t a regular viewer, but I did attend a live taping once because the drummer from a Canadian rock band I like was a guest. And one of the other guests that…
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“First they came for…”
Martin Niemöller, the German theologian and Lutheran pastor, is a complicated figure. You may not know his name, but you are, no doubt, familiar with his famous quote which begins “First they came for…”. The quote is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem. And through the years, it has been adapted and modified to…
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It just sounded better
On October 26, 1945, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9646, redesigning the presidential seal. Among other changes, he proposed that the eagle should face away from the arrows, signifying armed conflict, in its left talon, to demonstrate a desire to avoid war. The first President to have a seal was Woodrow Wilson. Prior to…
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Ice Ice Baby
Any cold war spy novel or movie worth your time will eventually mention East Germany’s secret police known as the Stasi, officially called the “Ministry for State Security” (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit in German), which operated from 1950 to 1990 and was among the most hated and feared institutions of any of the cold war communist…
Your mileage may vary.