Latest Columns

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The American Thanksgiving is likely to be different this year

Michael Lindell is a friend of mine.  I’m not talking about Minnesota’s Michael Lindell who is seen daily on TV promoting “My Pillow” – the one with the Giza cotton.  I’m talking about Michael Lindell, the Australian cartoonist, the one who signs his work “Mikko”....
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Berkman’s “lifequake” sent him on a mission to end prison slavery

Just when everything seems to be going smoothly, life sometimes hits you in the head with a brick: cancer, a heart attack or other life-threatening illness; the loss of a loved one; a business failure or financial crisis; a physical disability, depression or other mental...
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Nana time is the latest response to coronavirus disruptions

For those in their bonus years, the shift to retirement is one of the most important transitions they will make.  Especially today because ours is the first generation to reach its bonus years with the likelihood of living an additional 20-30 years – many to...
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Inter-generational signs of civility give hope for a future without demonizing

Image from West Virginia Gazette Mail Newspaper, July 2, 2020 Some years ago, I remember a Today Show interview with an age 60+ grandmother who loved to ride her Harley.  She and her husband had planned a motorcycle trip around America, but he passed unexpectedly,...
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From WWII island hopping and the A-bomb to surgeon, civic leader, centenarian

This article was originally published with the title "Phil Burgess: World War II vet says Truman’s decision to use A-bomb saved U.S. lives". Thursday marked the 75th anniversary of the first wartime use of an atomic weapon when, on August 6, 1945, the US bombed...
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The Navy and Rotary are bookends of a life serving others

Like many others in their bonus years, my K-12 years were marked by the Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union, which included a nuclear arms race and later the space race.  This stirred my interest in national security policy, which led...