The notion that religion and science do not mix is belied in our day by the Informal Education Community Anchor award through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement. The Anchor designation, located within the NASA’s Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II) competitive funding program, was created in 2021 “in recognition that local institutions […]
Common good
Kabbalah and the Paranormal: Parallels around Consciousness
The mystical component of Judaism, often referred to as Kabbalah, is relatively little known to modern Westerners. Although developed during the Middle Ages, Kabbalah’s 20th-century practitioners who would have been able to carry on the tradition nearly all perished in the Holocaust (Cooper, 13). It is possible that up to 80 percent of religiously observant […]
America’s Continuing Low Democracy Score and the Urgency to Improve It
Americans should know about the Democracy Index if we do not know about it already. In the latest report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU), the US is described as a “flawed democracy” – for the fifth straight year, and lower than the 2020 score. The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) is a […]
Thoughts, Prayers and Activism
More gun violence in the United States of America – truly a public health epidemic. There are outcries from liberals and progressives for action – as there should be. There has also been criticism of the pat – almost routine – offering of “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of tragic, unbelievable mass shootings. What […]
Democratic Senate Candidates to Watch in 2022: The Vital Importance of the Midterms
Our nation remains fractured politically and divided on a wide range of issues. The Big Lie perpetrated by the disgraced, twice-impeached, one-term former President Donald Trump and his cronies – that the 2020 Election was fraudulent and illegitimately deprived Trump of a second term – still persists. Smaller lies that negatively impact Americans – such […]
September 11th, the Paranormal and the Power of Love
As we have recently commemorated the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, we have been reminded once again of the horror of that day, the lives tragically lost, and the aftermath of the attacks – psychologically, socially, politically, legally and with regard to health concerns of those who worked for months and […]
What’s New at the Department of Transportation?
Since Pete Buttigieg was confirmed as Secretary of Transportation and started his new job in early February, he has hit the ground running in promoting the Biden-Harris Administration’s agenda, not only in transportation but in combatting the coronavirus pandemic and racism, creating jobs, and mitigating climate change. While the Department of Transportation is not often […]
Tax-Talk 2021
In the United States, it’s tax season. While much can be said about taxes, taxation, why they’re necessary, what the rates are, who pays them and who doesn’t, and why we Americans complain about them, here we will focus on three issues: how simple some nations’ tax forms are compared to ours; how our tax […]
Lessons Learned by Surviving the Trump Era
We have been through an unprecedented and, frankly, horrifying time in our nation’s history. We have seen mobs of pro-Trump rioters storm the Capitol (at Trump’s instigation), cause the work of the Congress to grind to a halt, bring about injury and death to fellow Americans, the calling up of the National Guard, the second […]
Thanksgiving Takeaways: Honoring Traditions and Educating Ourselves with New Data and Insights
We in the United States have experienced one of the most unique Thanksgiving seasons ever. We are in the midst of a long, tragic pandemic, we have just come through most of our election season (!), and we have seen a reawakening of racial justice activism. What, in this challenging age, can we Americans preserve […]