83 Comments

Dan: I remember you reporting from Afghanistan in the early eighty's trying to give our administration a wake up call about our weak response to the Russian invasion. This was the Reagan administration which the Republicans beat their chests about. Reagan Didn't do much beyond boycotting the Olympics, to my knowledge. But a little known congressman, D- Charlie Wilson from Texas, provided the CIA with the necessary funding to carry out a winning covert war witch defeated the mighty Russian armed Forces. They abandoned. their invasion' That broke the back of the USSR.

The Berlin wall fell in 1989 followed by the USSR and the freedom of eastern Europe. Reagan took credit for these results although there is not much for me to reverse my opinion that Harry S. Truman (Marshall Plan, NATO, Berlin Air lift and the Truman Doctrine) and Charlie Wilson's War had more to do with the fall of the USSR. I think Reagan Diplomacy was responsible for the shift of Russia to a more Democratic form of government. It is a pity that it didn't last.

I don't know that your reporting had any thing to do with the changes that brought about Charlie Wilson's activity regarding Afghanistan. But I do think it was possible. We need your writings to go forward into the nations news outlets.

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I never thought of myself as a picky person. Yet at 91, I realize that picking, supporting, and choosing the technology, mediums, that interest me has its advantages. I never watched you on television news, so I am delighted that I enjoy your Steady posts and might even select some of your Television broadcasts in the future. So as a senior/senior I still have much to learn.

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From a personal perspective living in Florida, I know that one needs to be prepared for gaps in the distribution of food, water and medicine during hurricane season so one blocked canal having global impact was not a surprise.

More importantly, as a country, we need to look forward and determine what we need now and where we want to be in the future. If today belongs to our generation, tomorrow belongs to our children, and the future belongs to our grandchildren and their children and grandchildren. Where will the world be in 50 years and more importantly what do we do now to ensure its survival?

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Bang on Mr. Rather. Planning for the unforeseeable used to be one of the jobs of an effective civil service. I have seen that skill eroded over the last thirty years and it has led to policy by political opinion and not data and knowledge.

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WE are the ones who created all these technologies! Don’t you think we ARE smarter than the circumstances and results that come of them? You think and seems to me, overthink, the issues here. Sure, ALOT can go array, but surely man has thought and prepared beyond what is truly necessary! Overplanning and worrying about it doesn’t get end results. Thinking with only science and not with the heart, isn’t conscionable let alone, human. I think you are WAY off base giving technology this much dependance, connectedness and utilization. I’m not against technology, no not at all. But when it becomes the ONLY source of communication, knowledge, recreation, etc, then all is doomed. Because, eventually, all the world knows that nothing beats (no pun intended) a good old fashioned heart. God gave us a heart, not technologies and other “man-made” things. I suggest we think more with it, rather than with worries, regrets, and idling.

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The ability to think of the impact our decisions/inventions/policies will have years down the road is not something we value at this time. It's the immediate gratification era. If it makes life easier, better, affordable, then it must be good. Our policy makers have evolved into "in the moment" people. Driven by the "need" to raise big bucks for their party, independent thought is fading. Standing for what is right and cautioning about long term effects is the exception not the rule. I can't believe that this is new, yet it seems pervasive from where I sit at 70. So what's the answer? I wish I knew. Independent funding by mega foundations is one. I think of Bill Gates and his work for bringing science back into our political discussion. Yet there must be something individuals can do as well. I acknowledge all the grassroots organizations fighting for safe water, environmentally safe policies, but how do we translate that to impact on federal policy as well as world policy?

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Because the subject here is based upon the statement of being PREPARED. Earlier I submitted a post aimed directly at a root cause of the shared problems on our planet. No one took interest.

Most of the post here focus on trying to write nice comforting words which do little to address the hard truths which could lead to improving the world. We simply do nothing to find a stabilizing population. Select any room in your house and over fill it and and the fundamental and understandable problems occur and if you did not PREEPARE for this then you cannot solve it.

To understand the simple point being made here visit my state of Florida. We have ruined a place that once was a fantastic place to live. On top of that we use monies from what our visitors pay for overnight accommodations to advertise for more to come. We do this so we do not have to discipline ourselves with state income taxes - which attracts even more unnecessary people.

I use to drive north on I-75 and periodically there would be a cross road and it would have a service station and sometimes a fruit store. If you drove late at night both would be closed. You had to prepare. Well we certainly solved that little aggravation:: those cross roads now have cross roads of their own and yes the service stations and beer joints with girly shows are most all 24-7 situations.

We need to wake up and look around. Florida is not the only place with this kind of stupidity and/or refusal to PREPARE ourselves for a planet that has fixed territory. I have traveled much of the world.

Yes, go on and tell me about the greatness of living in the huge metro districts where people literally live on top of each other such as New York City and I will show you how I can walk less than 50 yards and introduce you to former NYC folks that worked hard to find a way out of there.

I could go on and on because the sadness of what we have done to Florida bothers me.

I will go on with one more example. Before the pandemic I drove about 20 miles on a highway to and from work. It had many red lights and the traffic was always bumper to bumper. For over 3 years we PREPARED this highway for the future. Many over passes were built to bypass the red lights, lanes were added. One day the last section was completed and it was nice, Hell! It was great. In less than 3 months the bumper to bumper situations began to occur and while you were sitting motionless in traffic it gave you the opportunity to glance around and see the new construction of high rise condos and apartments. More people living on top of each other. A deeper and tragic realization of what was at one time an enjoyable phrase from a baseball movie: "If you build it they will come." Well those high rises are complete. The people are here,

Please! If you want a safe harbor then use our human chore of managing animal life to include

humans,

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You mention electronic communications and yes we can send live events streaming around the world, even help a doctor communicate with a patient in the middle of Africa I'm told. At the same time we have forces working using the same technology to spread hate and lies and keep us divided, working against each other while they make more money. That's why the previous administration was so successful in creating a following, one that even seemed to think he was God's annointed One.Certain factions wove elaborate story webs of conspiracy to alienate Americans and many believe it still-the election was rigged, Hilary Clinton was involved iin child trafficking, the desperate immigrants at our border are a threat with their diseases and their gangs, so of course, we can separate them from their children, now that we've de-humanized them. We are losing our humanity, our compassion for one another, at a time when we need each other the most! During this pandemic we should be working together not fighting one another or we're letting the virus win.

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On being "prepared." My previous risk management company focused on delivering business risk assessments, IT disaster planning, business continuity planning, and pandemic planning. When selling our pandemic planning consulting to business executives, most but not all executive teams either balked at our service set, laughed us out of their offices or just kept their heads in the sand. It's so very sad to see that many businesses have and continue to pay a huge price for non-preparedness. Loss of life, customers, revenues, market share, and yes, their will be law suits too. Last minute tactical reactions to any global pandemic, data loss or systems breach is more of a band aid placed upon an open wound. Sadly, I couldn't acquire enough clients over a 10 year period to sustain our business model. I now pray and hope for better outcomes across all business sectors. For those clients that worked closely with my risk management team - thank you for keeping your people, processes and technology in the forefront of your contingency and pandemic planning efforts. And, "if you fail to plan your plan will fail." President & CEO, InfoSec Advisory.

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It’s far past time for each and every one of us to acknowledge that we need each other. Countries need other countries. The hate speech of not wanting to help immigrants at the border until all Americans have been helped is just that...hate speech. We need to get over our reluctance to understand that we are all humans. We all want the same things. We just have different ways to get there. Let’s put our collective minds together all over the world and start moving forward. The vaccine is a great example of people working together to solve a problem. We need each other.

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But wait, isn't the previous administration the one that pushed through and cut red tape to get us vaccines in record time?

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Great work Dan! Interesting topic. Thank you

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Being on solar DOES take maintenance and costs, sometimes a lot. Just like any piece of mechanical, electrical or computer driven equipment; it breaks down.

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Well said, Mr. Rather. Happy Easter to you.

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Thank you for keeping me informed about things I otherwise might miss! GOD bless you/Family! HAPPY and BLESSED RESURRECTION Sunday!

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Excellent description of how as Americans we are so intertwined with the rest of the world.

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