The Northcountry Chronicle

In Opposition to the Air Show

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On September 11th and 12th, the New Hampshire Air National Guard at Pease will host an aerial acrobatic display by the Air Forces’ “Thunderbirds” which consist of six F-16 Fighting Falcons. Moreover, visitors will be able to board the new transport and aerial fuel tanker, the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus. And, folks can view up close other planes such as F-35A Lightning II’s, F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-15C Eagles, A-10 Thunderbolts, and others! In addition, U.S. Special Ops Para Command teams will also be present to exhibit their skills. These include Army Rangers, Navy SEALS, and Marine Raiders. These trained experts in assassinations (see Jeremy Schahill’s book, …

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Wild and crazy thoughts to save the world

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by Jean Stimmell Today, we navigate through our lives, autonomous contestants in a national gameshow called free-market capitalism, where winners live in mansions and losers on the street. Community, ethics, and our non-human neighbors don’t matter much. How do we break out of this amusement park before it is too late? Let’s try by thinking outside the box. What if our thoughts and imagination don’t arise in us as individuals. What if thoughts are socially constructed. Rather than our thoughts arising out of our brain, what if we are receiving them from outside: From the web of all our acquaintances, books we have read, and …

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Delayed Recognition is Better Than None

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by Paul Nichols I read recently about the only battalion of Black women to serve in Europe during World War II, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. This all-female Army Corps unit was deployed on missions to England and France during 1945 under daunting conditions for the purpose of processing undelivered mail to U.S. troops and Red Cross workers. The importance of their work cannot be overstated. They toiled around the clock, straightening out an enormous backlog of mail piled in disorganized heaps. Within a three-month period, about 17 million pieces of mail were straightened out and sent on to intended destinations. Despite the important …

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Hope Lies in Our Entanglements

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by Jean Stimmell For most of human evolution, the cosmic forces of the universe were magical, beyond our feeble understanding. We were humble and kept our heads down, acutely aware that we were the lowest denominator in a vast galactic mystery. Unfortunately, over the last few hundred years, we humans have become smug and arrogant, thinking we are lords and masters of Planet Earth, which will be our downfall because of the climate crisis we are causing. Today I want to write about four entanglements that give me hope about how we might regain that sense of awe while avoiding environmental doom. Entanglement #1: Last …

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Beyond Politics

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by Jean Stimmell As Christianity’s hold on America has weakened, many pundits believed our politics would become more ecumenical and rational, less tempestuous and back-biting. But the opposite has happened: We are now more polarized: in danger of being torn apart by two diametrically opposed ideologies about what America represents. One party I will call “Woke;” the other, “Trumpy.” But this column is not about politics. It’s about an elementary force underlying our political food fight: Religion. And by that, I mean religion in the broadest sense: a belief in something bigger than the individual. As social animals, it is hardwired in us: we have …

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Whatever Happened to Chance?

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by Jean Stimmell Today nothing happens by chance: It’s always someone’s fault. Even illness is now seen as personal failure: We blame the victim, saying it is their fault because of what they ate or didn’t eat, the amount they drank, or whether or not they exercised. Absurdly, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the architects of the World Trade Buildings were threatened with lawsuits, alleging the design of their buildings was faulty because the occupants couldn’t get out safely. Legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen noted in the aftermath of that attack, “contemporary Americans, in particular, are not well equipped to deal with arbitrary threats …

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