iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

🗃️When Trump recently stood before the UN and threatened to "annihilate" the Iranian people and drive them "into hell with no chance of survival," it occurred to me that America desperately needs to re-visit the wisdom and guidance of Reinhold Niebuhr. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The Urgent Need for Reinhold Niebuhr

Time Magazine cover: Reinhold Niebuhr, March 8, 1948 There was once a time in America when philosophers, theologians, and public intellectu...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

🗃️The recently disclosed medical data on the prevalence of CTE among the men who play football has forced me to consider some uncomfortable truths, about American society’s love affair with football, and with my own admiration and draw to the sport. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The Football Dilemma

St. Augustine High School football, New Orleans, Louisiana No sport inspires the passions and loyalties of Americans more than football. Fro...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

🗃️For six years as Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern proved that common sense combined with kindness, sensitivity, and empathy are towering strengths. In this age of oligarchs and strongmen, we need more leaders like her. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/07/jaci...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Jacinda Ardern: Ordinary Woman, Extraordinary Leader

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Tufts University, April 2024 (Photo: Alonso Nichols, Tufts Now) As someone who studies an...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

🗃️As America celebrates 250, it is an appropriate time to examine where our principles and ideals have fallen short, both at home and abroad. Let us commit to our ongoing quest to achieve a “more Perfect union” and the promise that is America. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/07/seei...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Seeing America Through Other Eyes

As the United States commemorates its 250 th anniversary, it seems appropriate to reflect on what America represents, to us and the world, ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

This is a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the history of political violence in the US that refutes many common myths, misconceptions, and misguided conspiracy theories.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

🗃️When it comes to technology, I admittedly lag behind the times. But the AI revolution poses new and profound challenges for all of us. When do human beings stop thinking for themselves? At what point is the future utility of humanity at risk? ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/06/are-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Are We Outsourcing Humanity?

Image created by artificial intelligence (Google Gemini) When it comes to technology, I am frequently behind the times. To say I am a Luddit...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

🗃️Medical workers and volunteers treating Ebola patients in the DRC are true heroes, full of courage, compassion, grit, and kindness. Trump's dismantling of USAID was tragic and unconscionable. (Thanks to the NY Times for its brilliant reporting). ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/06/dr.h...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Profiles in Courage and Heroism in the DRC

Dr. Richard Lokuda, Director of Mongbwalu General Hospital (Photo: Arlette Bashizi, New York Times) Great journalism does not simply report ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

🗃️While traveling abroad recently, I reflected on the power of words to inspire a nation to reach for its better angels. There was a time when dignified public leadership was valued in this country. That is no longer true. It is time for a change. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The Power of Words and Duty to Country

Richard Goodwin (left), Jack Valenti, and President Johnson January 12, 1966 (The White House/AP Photo) Richard Goodwin, who was among the m...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

🗃️"Baseball as a Road to God" by John Sexton originated from a seminar Sexton taught at NYU on baseball and religion. While not literally contending baseball is an avenue to God, it offers interesting and humorous parallels between baseball and faith. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/04/on-g...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

On God and Baseball

The Cathedral of St. Louis (Busch Stadium for the uninitiated) Like Annie in the movie Bull Durham , I believe in the Church of Baseball. Re...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

🗃️Today, Fred Rogers would have been 98. The kindness and humanity he displayed every day of his life could not be more needed today. He appealed to the essence of our humanity. I wrote this during Trump's first term but it applies more than ever now. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2020/01/what...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

What Would Fred Rogers Do? The Devaluation of Human Kindness in American Society

I have previously written of the widening political and cultural divides in American society and the increasing sense of despair many ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

🗃️I fell in love with The Washington Post in 1982. For half a century, it was among the best all-around papers in the country. Jeff Bezos has destroyed a great American institution just when we most need good journalism to hold the powerful to account. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The Death of a Great American Newspaper

I began reading The Washington Post in the summer of 1982 when I moved to Washington, D.C., to attend law school. Ben Bradlee was then Exec...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

🗃️On a lighter note, this essay was inspired by my daughter's high school photography project 19 years ago. The "Field of Dreams" depiction notwithstanding, at least the reference to Moonlight Graham has historical significance. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/02/and-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

And Then Someday Was Yesterday

Around nineteen years ago, on a springlike day in early March, my daughter Jen, as part of a high school photography project, accompanied ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Nineteen years ago, my daughter took photos of me for a high school project inspired by a scene in "Field of Dreams". I keep a framed version of the photo collage on the wall to my study, but until now I had not reflected on its deeper meaning. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/02/and-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

And Then Someday Was Yesterday

Around nineteen years ago, on a springlike day in early March, my daughter Jen, as part of a high school photography project, accompanied ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

All Americans should watch and listen to these very wise words. If we fail to confront all aspects of our history, we will learn nothing and are destined to repeat the darkest moments.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

🗃️The life of Sigrid Schultz (thanks to historian Pamela Toler) is a testament to the power of good reporting to educate and inform. She exposed the truth about the rise of fascism in 1930's Germany and helped readers understand history as it occurred. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The First Rough Draft of History from Berlin: Appreciating Sigrid Schultz

Sigrid Schultz, Chicago Tribune reporter in pre-War Berlin Speaking with a group of foreign correspondents in London in 1963, Philip L. Gra...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

🗃️People want to be inspired. And when someone comes along who appeals to our "better angels," it is worth noting. Meet Texas State Rep. James Talarico, a progressive Democrat and Presbyterian seminarian who legislates with a moral conscience. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/01/poli...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Politics with a Moral Conscience

Texas State Rep. James Talarico on the Ezra Klein Show What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

🗃️The president’s lawless decision to go-it-alone in Venezuela, and his mafia-like threats against other nations of the region, including our friends and allies, is a return to the gun boat diplomacy of the Gilded Age, when the strong ruled the weak. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The Trump Doctrine: We Can Take Anything We Want

(Attribution: Times of India) Call it gunboat diplomacy. Call it imperialism. Call it bullying a weaker country within our “sphere of influe...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

🗃️In a personal year-end reflection inspired by my dad's letters from the final years of his life, I write of the lost art of letter writing that more thoughtfully documents our friendships, appreciation, and concerns over our lifetimes. Happy New Year! ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/12/on-l...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

On the Lost Art of Letter Writing

The First Snow of Winter, December 14, 2025 “Time moves slowly but passes quickly.” These words by Alice Walker are ever so prescient the ol...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

🗃️A nation’s leaders transmit values that influence its national character. It is not possible to separate policy making from moral character. Honor and character matter. Without leaders who exemplify these traits, the American project cannot survive. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-qu...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

A Question of Character and American Values

U.S. military strike of civilian boat off Venezuelan coast, October 3, 2025 When he ran for president in 2020, Joe Biden described the elect...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

🗃️To grasp the American Revolution is to understand the complexity and messiness of our history. As the magnificent PBS documentary shows, the American Revolution is an inspiring story. It is also a complicated, confusing, and deeply human one. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/11/nobl...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Noble Ideals and Complicated Truths: Understanding the American Revolution

To make sense of our present, we must understand our past. This is the essence of history. We are currently a divided nation. Individual sta...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

🗃️To examine the life of Frances Perkins is to learn just how important she was to ending child labor, improving workplace safety, and enacting social security, the minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and other enduring reforms of the New Deal. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-be...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

A Better Society: The Legacy of Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins, Time Magazine Cover, August 14, 1933 When I studied economics in college during the late 1970s, I learned about supply and ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

🗃️Ralph Branca threw the pitch that Bobby Thomson hit for a home run in 1951 to clinch the pennant for the NY Giants. This essay reflects on the other side of winning, and the disappointment and heartbreak that the losing side of every game endures. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/10/why-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

"Why Me?" Ralph Branca and the Lifelong Pain of Defeat

Ralph Branca, Brooklyn Dodgers, October 3, 1951 My father grew up in Jersey City during the 1930s and 1940s and developed an early attachmen...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Nice turnout and a peaceful, hopeful rally for No Kings Day in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania today.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

🗃️ Although he died in 1972, the world today urgently needs the prophetic voice of Abraham Joshua Heschel. He saw politics in moral terms and, amid anguish and despair, taught that the human capacity for goodness and love can repair a broken world. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/10/abra...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Abraham Joshua Heschel and a Life of Meaning

Abraham Joshua Heschel speaking at UCLA, May 25, 1963 I find it helpful in life to identify role models, people who inspire you to live with...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

My love of the Cardinals generally precludes me from praising other teams. Ask a passionate fan to look objectively at the opposition and you get disgruntled mumbling in return. So, it is with trepidation that I tip my hat to the Milwaukee Brewers. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-ti...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

A Tip of the Hat to the Milwaukee Brewers

It should come as no surprise to my faithful readers that I do not like the Milwaukee Brewers. Indeed, when it comes to baseball, I do not l...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

🗃️ I recently finished reading the Pulitzer Prize winning novel "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver. Although fiction, the book helped me connect to the common humanity all of us share and understand the challenges some in Appalachia must overcome. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/09/disc...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Discovering Appalachia Through Fiction

The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between. – Barbara Kingolver, Demon Copperhead ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

🗃️ The Great Society was a time of hope and optimism when the government sought to create a country where all could share in the abundance of America. If we truly believe in the promise of liberty and justice for all, we cannot let Trump destroy it. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The Age of Optimism: Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society

Lyndon Johnson at the University of Michigan, May 22, 1964 For most of my life, I have been optimistic about America. Born at the end of the...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

🗃️ Let's not forget that, only nine years ago, we had a president who was a genuine role model, one who elevated our national discourse on public affairs, was a thoughtful man of ideas with a good sense of humor, and inspired Americans to be better. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The President as Role Model: The Legacy of Barack Hussein Obama

I'm inspired by the people I meet in my travels--hearing their stories, seeing the hardships they overcome, their fundamental optimism an...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

🗃️ Trump’s war against science and universities is doing immense harm to the United States and the nation’s scientific-research capabilities. Indeed, this administration has put the future of the entire American research enterprise in jeopardy. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/08/is-g...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Is the Golden Age of American Science Ending?

Vannevar Bush - American scientist, inventor, and administrator “…basic research is the pacemaker of technological progress.” – Vannevar Bus...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

The American ideal of a nation that symbolizes freedom from tyranny and where the rule of law prevails has become a cruel lie under the Trump administration. We are no longer a welcoming nation when immigrants and refugees are treated as less than human. History will judge harshly those responsible.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

This is what real leadership looks like. No One Is Defying Trump Like Brazil’s President www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/w...

nytimes.com

No One Is Defying Trump Like Brazil’s President

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

🗃️ Benjamin Franklin credited increased reading among the colonists as one of the inspirations of the American Revolution. Bookstores are where ideas are hatched, democracy is born and nurtured, and the world is changed and transformed for the better. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/07/when...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

When Time Stands Still: The Joy of Bookstores

Old Rizzoli Bookstore, 57th Street, Manhattan (circa 2014) Whenever I journey to a new town or city, one of my special pleasures is finding ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

This is an excellent analysis of the most likely reasons for the administration’s handling of the Epstein issue. Any way it comes out is bad for Trump and his protectors. And it shows why Bondi’s lack of independence is a problem of constitutional dimensions.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

🗃️ Since our founding, immigrants have always enriched and strengthened American life. Demonizing immigrants devalues the very essence of what it is to be an American. Trump’s immigration policies represent the worst elements of our character. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-na...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

A Nation of Immigrants: Has America Lost Its Way?

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the hom...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Given the visual age in which we are living, I have begun to appreciate more deeply the magic of listening to a baseball game on the radio. This is a tribute to the many excellent sportscasters who have brought us the sounds of the game over the years. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

The Magic of Baseball on the Radio

Among my earliest baseball memories are listening to the radio on a warm summer evening, the smell of barbeque floating through the air as a...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Hendersonville, NC Great turnout for “No Kings”!

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

🗃️Today is the 81st anniversary of D-Day, a rare moment in history when Americans were united behind a single cause. I wrote this essay 16 years ago in honor of my Uncle Ted, whose B-24 fell over Austria in 1945. Even good wars are tragic. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-s...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

On Seizing the Day and Unfulfilled Dreams

How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses? In a rising wind the manic dust of my friends, those who fell along the way, bitte...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

🗃️ Today in 1968 America lost a rare unifying voice in a divided nation. Few politicians have demonstrated a larger capacity for personal growth than RFK. “History changed him, and, had time permitted, he might have changed history.” (Schlesinger) ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2018/03/idea...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Idealism Tempered by Reality: Robert Kennedy in the Shadow of JFK

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all ...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

🗃️Good Night and Good Luck is as relevant and necessary today as any time in history. Although set during the McCarthy era, it is a compelling indictment on the abuse and misuse of government power and the importance of truthful and ethical journalism. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/05/good...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Good Night and Good Luck - A Commentary on Our Times

George Clooney in Good Night and Good Luck , Winter Garden Theatre Once upon a time in America, the television news was brought to us by a g...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

The Broadway production of "Good Night and Good Luck" reminds us how important ethical and truthful journalism is to a vibrant democracy, and of how easily our freedoms are betrayed by government officials with no concern for fairness and due process. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/05/good...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

Good Night and Good Luck - A Commentary on Our Times

George Clooney in Good Night and Good Luck , Winter Garden Theatre Once upon a time in America, the television news was brought to us by a g...

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

This is a well-documented story by Pro Publica that provides an analysis of the 238 men sent to the Salvadoran gulag. Calling them “terrorists” and “rapists” does not make it so. Most have no criminal record. It is a repeat of McCarthyism and a threat to our liberty and freedom that we must resist.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

The cruelty and illegality of the administration’s actions are beyond comprehension. These are indeed very dark times in America.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

“Indiscriminate suspensions and the punishment of student journalists—even temporarily—for doing their jobs will inevitably stifle free press and expression on campus. A University thrives when its students feel safe asking questions and investigating the world around them.”

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Excellent Op-Ed by Michelle Goldberg, "The Trump Supporting Christians Accusing Jews of Antisemitism". Labeling as antisemitic or a "Hamas supporter" anyone (including liberal Jews) who criticize Israel's prosecution of the war in Gaza is but a smokescreen for MAGA suppression of free speech.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Thoughtful op-ed by Jay Michaelson. "Many morally certain pro-Palestine activists were and are wrong about Zionism, about Israel, and often about Jews. Many morally certain pro-Israel voices were and are wrong about Palestinians, about antisemitism, and...Jewish values." forward.com/opinion/7189...

forward.com

I supported Israel's actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore

Critics were wrong that Israel’s actions in October of 2023 met the definition of genocide — but they are right in 2025.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Public support for the humanities is essential to a free society and vibrant democracy. A humanities education develops well-rounded human beings with an ethical core and a moral compass, something desperately lacking in our current crop of leaders. ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-pl...

ehlersoneverything.blogspot.com

A Plea for the Humanities

The humanities help nurture connections within and between diverse societies, offering pathways for constructive engagement. Learning about ...

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Reposted by Mark Ehlers

Jennifer C @thejenniwren.teamlh.social · 28/04/2025

When Pete Buttigieg speaks this clearly about authoritarian behavior, it’s a reminder: this is not normal, and it’s not acceptable. Thanks to Jon Stewart and Pete for calling it out. Every American—left, right, and center—should be alarmed. Every American should protest.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Michelle Goldberg has written a compelling op-ed on why it is so important for Democrats to aggressively fight Trump on the unconstitutional, cruel, and inhumane treatment of immigrants, including highly vulnerable people like Hernandez Romero. Morality needs to override politics on this issue.

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Mark Ehlers @markehlers.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

"In a political environment where almost everyone is avoiding clarity, Abbas just offered some. Israel — and the international community — must stop treating the PA like the ghost of peace processes past, and start treating it as a building block of the future." forward.com/opinion/7147...

forward.com

A Palestinian leader just gave Trump an unprecedented opening to pursue peace

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas just spoke out against Hamas. President Trump should take note.

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