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We are leaving our children behind in the mad rush for egotistic instant gratification. I speak to many teenagers on a regular basis and the recurring theme I hear is abuse and neglect. From their parents, sometimes from their teachers. A lot of antimasker parents are wilfully putting their children at risk of contracting coronavirus because they just don't care or don't want to hear something that threatens their worldview, and these same parents abuse the hell out of their kids in many other ways. Kids and teens aren't listened to enough, and most importantly they have little to no legal rights. CPS and the foster care system are an absolute joke too, and when they call the cops to try to get some help the cops tattle on them to their abusers. Children are legally speaking the legal property of their parents and the school system until they hit 18, and that is not even considered abnormal.

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The news reporters and organizations in each instance must qualify assertions as without evidence when the like of Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, and Josh Hawley express their assertions without proof. Everyone is entitled to express an opinion, but we should not equal an opinion as being newsworthy or truthful. One of the most effective means to limit their influence is not to repeat what these people say as "news", because they are propaganda not worthy of being considered as news.

We the people of the United States looked up to Journalists such as Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Roger Mudd because they were and are truthful. So, please news anchors, watch how you present the news.

The legal profession also needs to hold all practicing lawyers to professional and ethical standards. How are the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley not being examined by their respective law bars? State attorney generals and bar associations have registration requirements. Why are they not being held to their licensing requirements?

I support this forum as a useful avenue to express and obtain opinions from the public and Mr. Dan Rather.

Luthern64

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I worry that we are unable to see truth. The events of the sixth are the culmination of a steady diet of lies. How do we dig ourselves out?

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I totally agree with the comments about holding people accountable. On another topic, I think it might be useful if the media put some extra attention to the importance of wearing masks and following science. Perhaps showing the inside of a dying Covid patients room (with family permission of course) and show the agonizing end of life while also highlighting where they caught the virus while not wearing a mask. Just a thought as I see so many not wearing masks even though they are required here in Los Angeles County.

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I’m concerned that people will not be held accountable for their actions which will then pave the way for more of the same. It has been a traumatic and turbulent 4+ years. I pray I don’t see anything even remotely like it in the years to come. For now I’m exhaling a bit recouping from what was. Your words have helped steady me for years and for that I’m forever grateful.

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It seems this could be a good place to discover ways to action beyond rhetoric; to actually do something to bridge the gap that has so divided this country.

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My views and opinions, as with most, are colored by my past and personal perceptions. I was a young Airman temporarily stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines not long after the People Power Revolution (1986) that led to the downfall of President Ferdinand Marcos, and the accession of Corazon Aquino as president. In my youth and lack of worldly experience, I only knew of the Marcos by the reports of Imelda’s massive shoe collection and of the decadent lifestyle they enjoyed while their citizenry starved. The New People’s Army still conducted guerilla raids, especially when it came to targeting the US military, during the uncertainty that the change in leadership wrought. Without going into great detail, let’s just say that you never know how quickly you can move and take cover until an insurgent takes potshots at you from an undisclosed location. The events of January 6th brought those memories flooding back. Not the ones you might expect, but ones of conversations had with shopkeepers and bartenders that fervently believed Ferdinand Marcos was the rightful leader of the Philippines, and that, had it not been for Imelda, his wife, everything would have been okay. I could not understand then, just like now, how anyone could believe so fervently when the truth was so obvious; one need only look at the abject poverty all around them. The Cult of Personality is a tangible and very dangerous thing, and unfortunately, America is not immune to its trappings. History teaches us that the proverbial saying, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, is as accurate today as it was when first coined by Lord Acton in 1857. As a people/Nation, will we ever learn?

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What are the impacts of the mega-events of February 2020 through February 2021 on the generation coming-of-age to understand current events? The confluence of events in 12 months include: the pandemic as a epidemiological crisis to public health, the worldwide shutdown for social distancing, the Black Lives Matter movement, the boarded up windows across all major cities due to looting, the out-of-control wildfires in the western states due to climate change, relentless fake news and controversies challenging experts and evidence-based information, a president who set the example of wielding power through delusional manipulation/bullying/blaming/firing, and the assault on the United States Capitol by mobs of rebels without a legitimate cause. Most of these events effected the lives of young people and their families in very real ways. What will these young people takeaway from this "unprecedented" period? Don't trust anyone or anything? You shouldn't do everything that people in power want you to do? Or, you should do everything that people in power want you to do? Speak up as an independent-minded person to protect your "rights" and forget about the "greater good"? The list is long about the behavioral drama that our young people have witnessed, over many issues, over a long time. Adults cannot make sense of it all, how can they? So, how has all of this shaped them?

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...a little late to the party here, but will offer a few comments on recent news: 1. Important to hold former President DT accountable for his actions, specifically as relates to Jan. 6th at the Capitol and he was STILL officially in office at that time, so I see that as justifiable for the impeachment being legal, and most justified. 2. Loved hearing about Captain Sir Tom Moore (UK) - what a beautiful story of enduring service for the good of others. 3. SUCH a relief to see/hear respectful dialogue in the White House again, and to NOT be constantly bombarded with tweets from you-know-who; don't even want to say his name. And I'm so grateful that Jan. 20th was such a day of joy for me anyway, and I think many others - to see President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris sworn in. 4. I'm an American who has lived in Canada 35 years - about half my life; so interesting to see the perspective of events in the US over the past 4 years from Canadian viewpoint. 5. Important to hear of the incredible stories of compassion and bravery by so many during this pandemic; the death rate in the US is just astounding and it did NOT have to be this way. So tragic! Like Sean G. says - let's continue to wear a mask, stay socially distant, wash our hands - for the good of others, and may we get past this pandemic soon. Thank you, Dan, for this opportunity.

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Jobless in the Age of Covid

Finding a seat at the Employment Banquet

The American hiring system pulsates on a symbiotic parasite/host relationship between companies and recruiters who feast upon supersized portions of rejected resume carcasses that broke factitious rules about justifying left, preferred fonts, keywords, and the nuanced use of bold type.

I need a job. I want a job. I’m ready to work.

Sounds sort of simple, right? I want to work, and I have excellent credentials. I have 20+ years of experience.

I am not voluntarily “experiencing unemployment.” I love my work and my clients. Unfortunately, Covid-19 forced the unexpected cancellation of all of my consulting contracts, which led me to return to America after living and working abroad for several years.

I said goodbye to ex-pat life, and I landed cautiously optimistic and ready to re-engage the American lifestyle and job market. And yet, like so many of my fellow Americans, I have been unable to land a job for the past 6 months.

Wait. That’s incorrect.

In 6 months, I’ve only been able to secure 2 preliminary interviews, and neither has progressed into an offer. The numbers aren’t good. I am compelled to humbly and objectively assess my own strengths and weaknesses. I’ve paid professionals to share their tough-love to expose which bits of me are broken and require mending for the American job market.

I’ve invested (because that sounds more meaningful) a few thousand dollars working with “expert” resume writers, paying for resume algorithm scanning services, wholly rebuilding my website (rcpmg.com — shameless plug), subscribing to job boards, and investing in other “necessary” systems and services all to create the ultimate presentation of my skills.

Cross-functional global Creative Producer elevating content excellence to deliver original, audience-first experiences. A Senior Manager and conceptual thinker applying multicultural storytelling to create locally relevant stories that support global themes. An entrepreneurial, operational leader delivering innovation and international business acumen.

After weeks of collaboration, soul searching, coaching, and liberal use of wordhippo.com, I am told that those 3 sentences adequately reflect all of my unique experience and the requisite algorithm-proof words and phrases that are absolutely essential. I guess it doesn’t matter that it all sounds like a load of waffle.

#wafflesareforbreakfast

I redesigned my CV using one of the ten “acceptable fonts.”

I mastered #LinkedIn classes to learn how to best “optimize the platform.”

I “justified right” to please a recruiter only to be told to “center headlines” by another as if it was a make or break decision.

Headline: Justify left or center — my entire career hangs in the balance.

And yet, despite all of my efforts and the very “essential” and significant investments, “recruiters” call me to ask if I have any “I.T.” experience.

Let the record reflect — I DO NOT HAVE ANY I.T. EXPERIENCE. (Justify Left)

Let the record reflect — I DO NOT HAVE ANY I.T. EXPERIENCE. (Center/Bold)

The employment visionaries have my CV. They also have access to my #LinkedIn profile. There is no absence of career information. My expertise is not a tightly controlled secret. And yet, if I could afford a billboard right now, I’d have one.

I NEED A JOB.

I HAVE A BRAIN

I WORKED IN AMERICA AND OVERSEAS, AND THAT’S NOT A BAD THING (*I do not work in I.T.)

CALL ME

Something like that.

It’s starting to feel like I’m living in a scene straight out of Oliver Twist.

If Dickens were alive today, he might well develop a screenplay that reads,

Open on a wide, tracking shot of the dimly lit, smokey Great Hall, the haze of a million scorched resumes permeates the room.

Recruiters and Hiring Managers sit at the head table exchanging whispers and cackling as they clap their hands, watching the algorithms reject thousands of resumes per minute.

Our hero, Rebecca, wearing one of her “market” finds purchased while shooting a documentary amongst feisty rebels in an irrelevant part of Africa, is weary. Her mind is troubled.

She has endured the unceasing self-flagellation of job search ecosystems. Rebecca’s skin is cold having been ritually baptized in the chilly waters of professional humiliation for months.

And yet, somehow, #shepersists.

She walks ever closer to the head table, her eyes downcast, her body trembling having been traumatized by endless blows of rejection.

She stops and stands before the head table, her 100WPM seasoned hands, excellent communication skills, strong leadership, and attention to detail help her clutch her well-crafted, expensive CV, and she seeks an audience.

“Excuse me, please, may I please have an interview?” she pleads in tones slightly above a whisper.

They stop their feast long enough to peer down their noses at her resume. Silence fills the Great Hall. One of the “Senior Producers” (on the job for 3 years) and a Grand Purveyor of Opportunity stares straight through her tattered soul and asks:

“Can you schedule Zoom calls?”

The Pimps of Opportunity.

Today’s employment Flesh Peddlers do not even feign professional courtesy, acquainting themselves with my experience (and achievements). Rather, they protect their corpulent “expertise” well nurtured by several servings of W2's and benefits packages, forgetting that we all face uncertainty during our lives. They are engorged after feasting at the Shame Banquet expanding their stomachs as they devour the jobless plebes who falter off the cliff when asked inane questions like, “Kenya — is that South Africa?”

#passthetoothpicks

I’ve invested nearly 30 years of my life in the advertising/film/TV content industry. (Their pronouns constantly shifting.) It has not been easy. I worked for years without a real vacation, slogged through endless 70–100 work weeks, and survived the requisite sexual harassment and misogyny that still winds itself around the legs of the industry every day in every part of the world.

I’ve done the time. I’ve worked and lived in America and some more complicated (and wonderful) places outside of the United States. Life abroad does not mean that I am weak. I am not a “lesser executive” because my career has not been confined to North America.

Instead, my global experience means that I #ThinkDifferent.

And, yes, for the gluttons in the cheap seats — Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific are REAL markets. (Population 1 Billion, 578 Million, and 4,664,485,177) They are, in fact, rich, complicated, thriving markets. Delivering work for those audiences demanded I learn multicultural storytelling, in multiple languages, across cultural divides, on a massive scale across global regions.

I dare to believe that those markets are just as complex, fruitful, and, yes sophisticated, as North America.

#Blasphemy #lifebeyondnorthamerica

No. I wasn’t on vacation. I was a busy, successful entrepreneur creating multiple businesses, employing large teams of people, and collaborating with Fortune 100 clients.

But now I’m told that none of that matters.

My experience is irrelevant.

I don’t know anyone “here.”

I’m not invited to the feast.

I listened to the advice of recruiters, professional friends, and a senior resume writer and removed cities and countries from my CV because mentioning Kenya, Dubai, Egypt, and Singapore doesn’t “play well” with North American hiring managers. Apparently, I will “sprinkle” my actual whereabouts during the past 15 years of professional activity in a branded marketing strategy that conveys a tactical protocol expressing clear communication skills and attention to detail.

#iwasnowherebutiwaseverywhere

I removed all of the dates from my CV because my age was easy to guesstimate, and, at 50, I am “too old” for a role that requires 15 years of “senior” experience.

#youthfulseniorexperiencepreferred #millennialsareseniors

I remain jobless.

I don’t want to abandon my career. I’m proud of my journey. I have a lot to offer. But the future feels quite bleak, and I’m not sure that I can continue to engage the current system as it gorges on the remaining morsels of my hope and courage with each passing week.

I need to pay rent and settle.

I need to plant roots.

I need stability.

I recently expanded my search, hoping to better the odds. I am applying for opportunities as a C-Suite Executive Assistant, coordinator, and other roles that do not necessarily capture my work experience or passion. I wonder if I need to abandon my industry (and my career) entirely and step down a few rungs to become reacquainted with a new American workplace. I’m researching warehouse jobs that don’t pay enough to afford rent and put me into an environment that jeopardizes my health.

I’m not special. I get it. Millions of people are unemployed and facing the same complicated, scary choices.

And I don’t mind running the maze and jumping some hoops. But it’s starting to look like I may have picked the wrong game for the past 25 years because now no one wants me to join their team.

#noshirtsorskins

Friends and family remain enthusiastic and offer support telling me that I have “so much incredible experience.” I appreciate their enthusiasm and confidence, but I’m not sure that they understand the #LinkedIn society offering 500+ applicants for a single job post.

It’s difficult to savor my glorious, rich, expansive “a la carte” professional experience, allowing optimism to cleanse my palate when the daily menu offers a 5-course meal of cold, unseasoned rejection garnished with total silence.

I do not understand how to dance in this “developed” world perfectly adorned with the savory blend of experience, age, and font sizes to convince the Lords of the Employment Palace that I am worthy.

Dessert, anyone?

https://rebeccaechandler.medium.com/jobless-in-the-age-of-covid-15dc61b36ad3

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I think voter suppression needs more attention. I keep reading snippets here and there of this state or that state doing something concerning. I'm starting to feel like that will be the new way that the right wing agenda will try to gain control. I'd like for it to be covered more in the media in ways that gets through to those of us who are less experienced in seeing how it all works, but sincerely want to affect change and not allow our country to continue down the dangerous path we're on.

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I was rasised during WW II, did air raid drills,, saw the effects of a neighbor son''s death, and used ration stamps for gas and even certain foods. We collected newspaper and cardboard. We celebrated the end of the war, victorious. Virtually all Americans had developed a sense of unity from those experiences.

That sense of unity dissipated after the standoff war in Korea and the American war in Vietnam, ending with military failure coupled with the futile, grievous, loss of American lives. There were few events in those time frames which unified the American people. We drifted away from a common purpose and valiantly protested the Vietnam war driving a wedge between friends and neighbors..

Radical politics always existed in our country, However recent hyper radical polarization has driven any wedges between people unimagiably deeper. So, do we need another war? Hell no, I say, we need to find the common ground that rests beneath all our American feet. We need to undertsand what motivates protesters on all sides, and find ways to address those issues with means withing our Constitutional framework. We need honest debate, on topic, conducted respectfully. Violence serves no purpose in this search for concensus. There's much more which unites us rather then divides us

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I wish we were not all so centered on "local" happenings. Local could be state, country, allies, etc. We have seen the blue marble in the cosmos - we share this planet and are one species, are we not ...

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We’d all like to move on. However, unless bad actors are held to account, it will just keep happening, over and over and over. I’m not willing to leave that kind of legacy to my children and grand children.

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I feel that too many politicians around the country are not held accountable for their actions, like governors who didn’t implement mask mandates, and basically committed murder by pandemic. I can think of a few governors who belong in jail for this.

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I did 25 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. I was the best jailhouse lawyer in Ohio for over 20 years. The problems I found in our judicial system are laid out in my book. It tells you in no uncertain words what I think about our society.

It’s titled, “System Failure: A Critique of the Judicial System of the United States.” by James F. Love IV.

My Twitter account is the same name.

I know as an ex-con, and God forbid, a “jailhouse lawyer,” many question my credentials. So forgive me for blowing my own horn when I tell you I’m a former member of the Top One Percent Society with an IQ that ranks in the 99.4 percentile. The Foreword of my book was written by my attorney, William R. Gallagher of Cincinnati. Mr. Gallagher was awarded the Robert C. Heeney Award in 2011 by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

It’s available on Amazon, Apple Books and Barnes & Noble.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GCQYVNM/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_Z0WsFb5JR0Q23

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Only the future will tell whether the presidency of Trump was an anomaly or a trend. In earlier days, most republicans seemed to recoil from the dishonesty of Nixon, even including Barry Goldwater. But now, there appears to be a different perspective, perhaps best characterized by the policies of Sen. McConnell. Rep. Greene and her broad support is another symptom.

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First--thanks for asking! I would say the reflection of a decimation of our education system as reflected by the nearly fatal swarm of people believing in an alternate reality. Critical thinking, we need you! A downright dangerous flaw in our democracy is that it wasn't designed for whole groups of people to outright lie and debase reality-- on all levels of checks and balances. I have lived that flaw of double-standards as a woman, but not as thoroughly as perhaps whole communities of Color have, and other communities left out of the language and institution of equality. I'm very grateful and hopeful for the new administration (and if they could just reconstitute critical reasoning in all school systems we'd be set ;-) ). And Mr. Rather, I hugely enjoyed your podcast on The Axe Files (Episode 44, Dec 10, 2020). Looking forward to more of your uniquly wise distillation of our world.

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Someone explain this dum phrase it se cancel culture..which I think is an American myth.

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I grew up orphan in the USA. Lots of myths...lots truths too.tired of the rich getting away with crimes and sort of crimes .

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Biden's Pandemic Aid v Roosevelt's New Deal ?

There is a need for a Roosevelt type "new deal" but if President Biden throws trillions into the winds of chance, to land "freely" wherever they might land, that won't happen. Relying on "free enterprise" will definitely not produce the "new deal" that so badly needed. Instead it could prove wasteful, and it could even produce disastrous consequences. Roosevelt knew that arts and culture needed a big government hand to enable its future being realized, along with the very directed emphasis that the "new deal" gave to infrastructure, renewal of a desolate urban and agricultural landscape, and industry. Arts and culture still remained key, despite the massive nature of all the other needs. Not to mention that the "new deal" helped prepare America for carrying out its impending global responsibilities and challenges in defense of freedom.

Without that immense stimulus to arts and culture the "new deal" would have failed to prepare America for what was to come. Now America is very unprepared. What remains of culture in America will collapse, and the remains are already quite ugly, not pretty, after the desolation caused by a long period of steadily reduced per capita support and the fiscal meltdown of 2008. The cultural landscape has become remarkably similar to poisoned watering holes surrounded by the bones of the steadily growing numbers of victims of the steady decline in per capita support, percentage of national spend. Arts and culture have been under steady, adverse, pressure since the mid 1970s, and government has been very largely a big part of the blame. Though America's competitors saw arts and culture as their target, in terms of how they sought to level down America and reduce its global influence, as well as its domestic climate in terms of America's preparedness. We note that Winston Churchill claimed very emphatically that without the defense of arts and culture, the war against fascism would have been largely disabled.

The need for emphasis on arts and culture comes at a very challenging time when infrastructure, agricultural viability, urban quality of life, and industrial base are all weeping and crying out for unprecedented attention. Every area of productive industry plagued so largely by lack of investment into maintenance, upgrades and expansion to new capabilities. America is very "worn out", on every level. in every area of vital activity. It is run down, and worn out. The take has been so excessive to the give, for such a long time, that America has grown remarkably weak. Massive debt, instead of equity, is the common condition, sapping strength, and propping up potentially faltering markets. The idea of genuine value has become distorted, corrupted, and largely forgotten in favor of irrational quarrels about baseless and dangerous ideas. That too being a diversion, and that too is relevant to both hostile "competition" gaining ground and to the problem of the true role of arts and culture in the defense of freedoms and quality of life.

When I wrote, extensively, on the same subject, around the time of the 2008 "fiscal meltdown" I termed throwing money to the winds of chance as "weak stimulus", and effective government direction as to where and how money had to be used as "strong stimulus". Dollar for dollar the latter is always more effective, and the results more immediate. It also gives far less opportunity for the ever hostile "competition" taking the sorts of damaging advantage that they will always take where "weak stimulus" is involved. Everything I said on that subject, including what I said about debt, remains as true today as it was then, and perhaps even more so. We have come to the end of another economic cycle, and we cannot say that the problems of 2008 were entirely solved in the previous one. The dangers of a new cascade of debt, as to foreclosures, defaults and bankruptcies is very large on all horizons.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/arts/design/met-museum-considers-selling-art.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR1B08m8icpFuQQADDcRHhlljUT6JtwLm9eKUe7Gf9j2cEL7opTHppDvYxc

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Not sure if this was brought up in earlier replies (I tried to read as many as possible!). I would like to see more interviews and stories and opinions of the Biden/Harris supporters. Before, during, and after the election there has been so much focus on how Trump supporters felt or responded. What about getting the input, reactions, and opinions of Biden/Trump supporters. As the impeachment trial starts up next week, I'm anticipating the continued focus on Trump supporters (private citizens and public officials) responses - but what about the 81 million of us who voted for Biden/Harris and have grave concerns about accountability and our democracy. I've seen more former QAnon supporters interviewed on CNN lately than pro-democracy supporters.

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I have been out of touch and am just rejoining the discussion. I admit I have not read through all the comments, just scanned topics and a few thoughts. Dan, bless you if you read every single word that is written; you have to be a speed reader.

What has struck me these past few days is just how tenuous our hold on our republic is at this moment in history. We have survived an armed insurrection, yes, but trump is not going to be convicted, and thus will pay no penalty for his role in inciting an insurrection. Plus, there are five (six?) deaths for which he bears some responsiltiy.

Then, the response (lack of) to Covid: I have a friend who believes he should be convicted of manslaughter or murder, for knowingly sending tens of thousands of Americans to their deaths by his refusal to encourage the wearing of masks. He deliberately spread misinformation.

His followers are still his followers. Many are part of "militias" – not as the Founders envisioned militias, which was more akin to our National Guard – but private militias. They are still out there. And, alongside them/parallel and/or including them, are over a thousand hate groups in this country. Many were represented at the Capitol on January 6th.

I could go on, but you are smart people and get the point, and can fill in a myriad of other pieces I have omitted. I am aware of them, just not posting them.

Bottom line, I am concerned about this republic.

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I think we need to rehaul our government. It's not working for "us". Elected officials are supposed to be public servants but even the truly honest and best intentioned ones get sucked in and when you have held one of these seats for 10-12 years you are no longer working solely for the public but for yourself and your own wealth. I would like to see term limits. No one keeps their seat longer than two terms. If an elected official is allowed to build their own empire, they are going to do so. Term limits! And I am not sure Supreme Court judges should be appointed for life either...

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Who removed the security button from the Black senator's office prior to the riot?

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#1. The families separated at the border. Biden needs to put more resources into uniting the families. We have blogs about the people and families of tjose who died of COVID. Need the same for these families. #2. Disband ICE. They have been acting like their own independent national police force for the past 4 years, and are currently ignoiring Govt. orders on halting deportations. Put a huge spotlight on them, get rid of the far right extremists running many of their offices. Also make police departments more accountable. Get rid of some of the Teamster etc. unions. (My husband was a cop for 20 yrs, and in law enforcement for 40 yrs). #3 Change vaccine priorities so front line workers are higher in the queue, and people of color get priority, since Covid hits them hardest. I'm almost 70 and am immunocompromised, but would give my spot (not vaccinated yet) to either of the 2 groups above. #4. Finalize citizenship for dreamers, immigrant food, packing house, other undocumented workers. Citizenship for foreign/undocumented health care workers who have staffed the front lines in hospitals, nursing homes, care homes. #5 Raise the national minimum wage to at least $10 - 12/hr to start, then index it yearly to inflation, and pay food service workers reg min wage.

For those wanting more international news, the Economist is great, and is not only focused on economics. Plus their covers are priceless!

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Looking from the outside, but with relatives who are citizens of the USA, I really don't think Americans fully grasp the damage done to its credibility in the international community over the past 4 years under the Trump administration. It is incredulous that he was able to dube so many people with his lies. He has appealed to the worse of America and has deeply divided the country. The assault on democracy that took place at the capital, still has people around the world, me included horrified at what took place and find it unbelieveable that there are still a significant amount of Americans, including Republican elected officials who still do not grasp just how much damage was done to Americas standing globally.

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lI would like to see term limits revisited for senators and representatives. I feel that some in those positions should not be able to run over and over again and maintain their seats in Congress for life. I worked in college level education for 40 years and saw how tenure for some terrible professors made it impossible for them to be fired and students suffered for lack of action by their deans. Their excuse was always “they are tenured” and can’t be fired. So many good students lost faith in themselves under these professors, lost money to repeat classes for their majors due to unfair grading, favoritism, and down right laziness in teaching. Like these uncaring, overpaid, reckless professors, Congress men and women should be limited in term so ,we can weed out the bad and get fresh new perspectives on board say every 8 years.

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I like your ground rules. I found when teaching online college courses that the online seemed to make it easier for students to say insensitive things and even attack disparate ideas and opinions. Never has it been more important to have honest open communication, even knowing that honesty can cause pain. My hope for my six grandchildren is that they will inherit a better world than I did, and for this to happen there is a lot of work ahead of us. I believe we can help to usher in real change, the beginning, if you will, of a sea change. I am ready to work for this as long as I draw breath, which I hope will be for several more decades.

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I worry that Trump is gone, but his followers are not. LOOK at the GOP? He is still running them. They are so afraid to break with him or upset them because it is ALL about winning, not policy

I worry that PA, a state great at mitigation, sucks at vaccine distribution. We are a great country, why do we suck so bad at it? What is wrong? Why can we NOT create and deliver vaccines in a timely manner. Why do people in PA spend weeks trying to figure it out and log into crashing websites? It is hard to get any info on this. You are told to go here...and it does not work?

I worry for the mental health of my kids (18 and 20). Their lives have been robbed. But that is not a news problem, it's mine

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For the last 18 months or so my niece has been volunteering on the southern US border, working with refugees and asylum-seekers who are stuck in Mexico. She goes down for a week or two every three months or so and the stories she’s told me are horrific. The situation is not being covered in the press.

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I am sad, and with very good reason, I moved to the USA 37 years ago, a bold, strong, beautiful country where it was ok to agree that we all can disagree on some things that go on in this country, but in the events that led up to the past 4 years have hit me to my core, when Donald Trump was elected in 2016, it was an unfair election, it also had proof of outside interference during the process, nothing was done about it then which ultimately lead to the chaos of the 2020 election, (in 2018 I decided it was time for me to give up my rights in my own country to become an American citizen, so I could vote in the 2020 election) but when the so called patriots stormed the Capitol Hill building and watching the GOP I fear they will never be held accountable and I want them to prove me wrong, words have consequences, actions have consequences but I feel that only applies to a select group of people, when will this country ever be equal for all people? Will we as a nation, we the people ever get back to where we were, No!! But how can we fix this? I don’t live in fear, but I feel a great sadness of what has happened to the USA, I feel a great sadness for the people we lost because of gross negligence on handling the pandemic, I feel a great sadness that my granddaughter does not get to make friends in the playground of her first year of school. How can we fix this? How do we become undivided? How do we become WE THE PEOPLE again?

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This may be too simplistic or Pollyanna-ish, but I feel the press does not give enough attention to positive, uplifting stories. Why is "news" synonymous with negativity? Why must we slog through stories of death, corruption, shootings, crashes, sadness, evil, etc etc etc before finally getting a two second blurb about a child reunited with a long-absent military parent, or a community that helps an ill resident? Why can't the media focus more on positive stories of good? I think of 9\11. Yes, the reporting covered the planes, the hijackers, the death and destruction, but there was also a TON of coverage on how our country pulled together as a united front. People lined the streets in Manhattan giving food, water, and encouragement to first responders; flags bloomed everywhere; the incredible bravery of the passengers of Flight 93 was lauded ("Let's roll"). In the aftermath of so much terribleness came examples of beauty, grace, and empathy. So my question is relevant. Yes, I do believe we need to know what is going on in the world, warts and all, but it needs tempered with more positivity. Imagine the effect on our national psyche.

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The US Government entered into contracts with Pfizer and Moderna to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine before they received FDA approval. This was designed to allow immediate release upon approval. Has anyone done an inventory of what has been delivered by Pfizer and Moderna and how it has been distributed? Can we get a picture of where vaccines are available and when more will be coming?

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My Republican friends are good, honest, hardworking people, but they live in a totally different political reality because of Fox News and its ilk. I understand the first amendment and its importance, but shouldn't an organization that has "News" in its title be held to a higher code of ethics than the drunk on the street corner ranting to the north wind? We will continue to live in a divided nation as long as this pernicious problem persists.

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I want to better understand how a community/nation/people rebuild. Examples from history are not leaping from my memory. Often in history, we hear of the buildup to revolution or changes, the battles, the heroes and villains, etc. But I don't recall learning much about what happens after, how we rebuild and move forward. If anyone has any books on this topic or any thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Thank you Dan!

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I have to say, I've all but stopped watching most broadcast/cable news (I still watch 60 minutes and Sunday Morning, however). There's either almost no depth, or there is far too much "analysis" by a parade of talking heads. I get most of my news now from print media (I subscribe to several local and national publications). It allows me to stop and digest - or to put the paper down if I find the news too maddening for my blood pressure.

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While technology has helped advance our society in many ways, I am concerned that it has made us lose focus. We have become a society that it so quickly on to the next thing, that I don't think much of what has happened prior reaches a resolution. This can be seen from minor details of a person's day, to important issues affecting our world. We are constantly being hit with snippets of new information, spreading ourselves too thin to try and be a part of it all, all while losing connection, losing purpose, losing the ability to take on the long term battles. We have become reactionary beings. The course of our day, of our hour, of our minute can be changed with a simple notification from our phone. In some ways we are more connected than ever, in others we have become the very much disconnected.

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I’d like to see the press report on how our children are being educated, especially what our history books are teaching them. Seems way past time that these books should be rewritten, particularly in regards to our country’s history. Might need to revamp the section on our government’s checks and balances, too. They sure didn’t play out like I was taught in these last four years. (Also a piece on how deductive reasoning has been lost in our education system and replaced with rote learning and tests.)

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in my humble opinion we have been under psychological attack by an international enemy of life itself...and this enemy is like a Hydra, and it wants us to look at its many angry and smug faces, and stealing or striking arms, and be offended, and get upset, then go buy more weapons and cell phones and fight amongst ourselves... for us to keep on doing Business as if it was Usual. To just get Angry and become a Terrorist, or get really Terrified and vote in Facism Light. To keep on being Distracted and Spun, keep using the internet, keep burning fossil fuels and destroying the forests that make our breathable air! To keep on running old corroding nuke plants and buying new plastic "Green" Products... never stopping to have the great big *Human Family Meeting* that we need to have about what our collective Human Grandchildren are going to live like in the world we are leaving to them.

We The People *Need* to convene that family meeting. Dan, can you help call it? IMHO, we dont have much time left.

In My Humble Opinion...

I wonder, quite seriously :

What About clean Water, clean Air, Affordable Housing and edible & safe Foods?

I mean, did we give up on loving the children and decide to racist-civil-war our way out of open collective discourse and into deadly oblivion?

How do we stop being distracted by all the Hate Speech and Raging Propaganda?

We are wasting our time writing, scrolling, fighting and being manipulated on the internet ...we live in a virtual world many hours daily - but its use doesnt produce air, water or food!

This is a Polluting "space" man created. and it has been monitized... why dont we see its a Pacifier and controll channel of Panopticon, Total Observation, used to halt real world ACTION and be a stop gap digital Drug?

Worried. If an aging US coastal nuclear plant goes Fukushima, or the big CA earthquake or super volcano goes up, we wont ever have time to work on these things in this nation.

No Time Like the Present.

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I worry that we haven't learned lessons and that we will repeat patterns of collective behavior that have led to our current climate of distrust and disinformation. We can and must turn the message from hate and distrust back to honest disagreement and civil discourse. One way to start that will be to starve those who continue to promote hate and disinformation. You starve them by not giving them "air to breathe" or attention. Trump is a symptom of an underlying problem. He continues to suck the air from other stories the news should be covering. I look forward to the day when we will move past the impeachment (which I think was the right decision by the House) so that Trump's image and words will stop headlining the news. We must have more coverage of the insidious actions of other Republicans who are, as we speak, trying to pass state and local laws suppressing voting opportunities and voting rights. I know it will take time to turn the big ship of deceit on which we have been adrift for four years. But I'm standing on deck and I do see the faint images of sunrise ahead.

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Why do we have to complicate concepts like accountability, good faith, trust, responsibility, justice,truth, peace, and kindness. Whatever happened to "We The People..." ? And it was "We The People" ! Now, its yours or mine, but not ours. Whatever happened to community, sharing, giving without expectation of receiving,the golden rule- doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Selfishly, America has gotten away from simple faith and trust. Where did we go wrong? Was it a person, process, or machine that has allowed us to alienate ourselves not just from other countries but from our next door neighbors. All week long, I have talked with various people from family to work to even lyft or uber drivers about how we can't even share things with neighbors anymore or how smalltown America doesn't even exist where we could picnic with neighbors, go for a walk and talk with strangers as if they were your long lost friend. Even today at work, a coworker and I discussed something odd-how there are two different kinds of people in this world -(I know this is a bit nerdy) But there are Batmen and there are Supermen-both have "superpowers but Superman teaches us to be kind and nice while Batman goes out and protects not really caring about the consequences. I even to ask myself-am I looking out for myself or do I care enough to be kind to others? Dan, your project here has started to revise the way we should be thinking, not just on the homefront or national sense but on the international sense. We encounter all three every day, whether it be at work or in the grocery store or going out to eat. It is said that people fear what they don't understand, well maybe even through this project of yours, perhaps its time we start taking time to understand so that we can all come together and face bigger problems instead of being divided and bickering over what is best for ourselves but what is best for us all together.

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I wonder why I am not hearing more about the House GOP vote on Cheney regarding her impeachment vote. I am wrong in thinking this is against democracy if she was told she should have voted the way her party wanted her to vote. I fear this creates an atmosphere of just "two" votes" which is polarizing, separating and "no hope" of working together. Is this not as important as I see it to be??

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I agree with most people that holding people responsible and accountable for their actions is very important. Don’t we teach our kids that there are consequences of your actions? I do have another question - how do you define “press” - does Fox News count as press?

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I would like to see more emphasis on the younger generation - people in their early 20's. They have a more unbiased, less life hardened attitude on things, yet how do they view their life in the next 4- 8 years? What do they see for themselves when they see the election and legislative (or lack of) results? I am so impressed by the local youth in my small town, yet the press seems to only write of politics cynicism and negativity generated by older generations.

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I once had so much faith in the American people that they would always, in most cases, do what is right and morally sound. However, I did not realize just how much prejudice existed; call me naive, but I have been dismayed by the unleashing of so much hate and anger. Once it was deemed justified to fully express our feelings, the rage showed in force.

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I'd like to see the *good* news about the COVID pandemic, including the ramping up of vaccinations in many states.

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Three things come to mind:

1) I want to understand of the 75+ million Trump voters, how many truly believed his lies and how many did not but were undisturbed when they cast their vote. I think it would be help me comprehend what many of my fellow Americans think about the state of our nation.

2) While we see Covid death and dignoses statistics, what I want to know is how many people are experiencing a significant decline in health (both physical and mental) b/c they cannot easily get the treatment they need to be healthieer. As an example, my 79 year old father's health has declined sigficantly over the last year as he is unable to get the therapy he needs to mitigate his Parkinson's Disease. It's a combination of reluctance to go to the one class that has resumed (due to Covid) and the others that have been on pause. The virtual classes are no where near the same!

3) With a decline in small town newspapers, where are residents reading their news (national websites, regional papers, etc.)?

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I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

When I was a junior in high school (public school), my History teacher, along with his students, decided to study The Constitution. Also, in November 2019 one of my Dr friends gave me a copy of the Constitution. I had that just in time for the first impeachment of trump.

I believe that studying our constitution should be a requirement in our high schools.

People keep hollowing about their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, but do they even know what that means?

I’ll bet if you asked the people who stormed the capital what is in the Constitution, many would not know.

Did Donald Trump know? I highly doubt it coming from a person who doesn’t read.

We live in this country, but don’t know our laws.

Living by and for our Constitution is an oath. It’s an honor system. An understood set of rules that we need to follow. It’s all about Democracy. All the branches in this country take this oath. That is why any service men and women, police, government officials and the like take this oath. For instance, anyone serving our country, past and present who was involved in the January 6 insurrection is held accountable and cannot receive retirement benefits ever again.

I’m not really sure what a person needs to know to become a citizen, but I’ll bet it’s more than the average American knows and understands.

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This would make me happy! NO TAXES ON UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, AND TAX ABATEMENTS INCOME FOR 2020-2023.

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