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Political Change

  The 2024 elections are now less than four months away. I doubt that any of my Facebook or Twitter (I refuse to call it X) followers are unaware of my thoughts about what this election means or which candidates I support. I repost daily a number of political cartoons to call attention to the idea that at all levels, we elect people who support liberal ideas and policies: freedom of speech; freedom of religion (including all religions and protecting those who have no religious beliefs); freedom of the press; freedom of assembly; separation of church and state; and the right to due process and equality under law for all; ensuring the right to vote for all citizens. Government has evolved since 1789 and in the complicated world of today must be engaged with the economy, protecting private property while dealing with the inequality that has flowed from the underlying and continuing inequality we have lived with for centuries. I support Kamala Harris and whoever her running mate turns ...
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The death toll rises

  I am preparing a Current Events session for our group at MonteCedro on the continuing war in Gaza. We discussed this in the fall of last year when it started but it has become obvious that an update is (sadly) necessary. The death toll in Gaza has passed 32,000 but as the New York Times notes, it is likely much higher than that.   “ Gaza has become a 140-square-mile graveyard, each destroyed building another jagged tomb for those still buried within.” I have read through numerous accounts from a wide variety of news sources. The Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 was unprecedented, barbaric, and horrible: 1143 dead, 250+ hostages taken, rapes and sexual assaults. Israel’s response was predictable but equally horrible in its consequences. Dead: 32,000 and counting. Wounded: many, many thousands more. Gaza became a major humanitarian crisis overnight with forced evacuations from Gaza City to the south followed by an air and land assault of immense size. Famine looms, especially...
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Disease and drugs

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