The Truth in the Middle
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The Great Denial: Genocide in Real Time
From 50 miles away Israel’s air defense system sounds like fireworks coming from the next town over. After more than 30 years of volunteering in conflict zones, such ordnance wouldn’t normally raise concerns for my own safety, however, the Houhti’s in Yemen were targeting the Airport in Tel Aviv where I had a departing flight…
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Racial Threat, Social Decline and the Collapse of White Male America
Did we just witness White (Male) America in the throes of death? At a minimum, it certainly would appear to be suffering from collective depression. Likewise, it would seem President Trump is the equivalent of going to the bottle, a way to numb ourselves, avoid our failures, fears and inner demons. Whites can certainly make…
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Cooking In Your Compost Pile: Compost Roast
Every wonder what you could do with all that heat generated by your compost pile? Well, I’ve seen people do all kinds of creative things from heating hot tubs to small out buildings. Yet as a foodie with some food science experience, my wheels started turning when I encountered a market in the Bethlehem, Palestine…
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Is Trump Undermining our Military?
President Trump’s recent intervention in military due process procedures has shed some light on an experience I had in the 80’s while visiting a war crimes prison run by the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. I was doing research and had requested the opportunity to interview some Contras, members of an insurgent group seeking to undermine…
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I’m a Racist: Coming Out and Looking In
I’m a racist. Seriously. I really am a racist. Now you won’t see me driving around with confederate flags on my vehicle, denying the Holocaust or attending white nationalist rallies. I’m far more stealth, and therefore, dangerous. I could be sitting next to you at church, a board member of a local non-profit, or even…
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He Who Spits on the Grave of John McCain
I doubt I’ll ever understand how damaged one’s soul must be to spit on the grave of anyone, let alone John McCain. Nonetheless, our current President has proven time and again that he’s a damaged, soulless character who picks on the weakest, the dead, the powerless, and anyone standing firmly in, or seeking truth. His…
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Vaccinations: A Shot in the Dark?
The most recent outbreak of measles in the U.S. has reignited the vaccine debate, especially around the issue of whether medical decisions, historically left to parental consent, should be mandatory. Like most parents, my awareness peaked in the months before my first child was born. Because we were planning a home birth, outside of the…
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Do We Need a Museum of Ignorance?
The recent revelation regarding the destruction of the Mosul Museum struck me deeply. It wasn’t so much the devastating loss of cultural history as much as the realization that I’ve become numb to it. In most cases I feel some heartache, but by the time I’m dropping my kids off at the bus stop, I’m…
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Trump: Discussing Civil Discourse with My Kids
My 16-year-old called president-elect Trump a F_ _ ck-twit today. Our kids come by it honestly. When she was having dinner with her grandparents at the age of 3, she politely finished her meal, stood up, said “F _ _ck it,” and walked away. I have no idea where she learned that! We’ve always told…
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Hugging A Trump Supporter (Revisited)
Authors Note: This post is in response to something I posted a FaceBook shortly after the election suggesting that hugging a Trump supporter is preferable to attacking them. Who’s up for hugging a Trump supporter? I certainly understood that posing such a metaphor on social media so soon after the election was risky. The reaction…
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Timothy Fitzgerald Young 