With thanks to Tzeporah Berman who writes: Yes I do grieve for the carefree summers of the past.This piece by Rebecca Solnit is exactly how I have been feeling this summer as I watched in horror as the numbers of the dead due to heatwaves in Europe have climbed and feared for my son who... Continue Reading →
From the New York Times newsletter, April 8, 2026 NYT colleagues Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, who report on the White House, have uncovered new details about why, with little opposition from his closest aides, Trump attacked Iran. The pitch came from Israel — in the Situation Room. Netanyahu made an hourlong presentation to Trump... Continue Reading →
s Photo supplied by anonymous author who remains anonymous for obvious reasons [Anonymous opinion first published in The Guardian] I was at work last Saturday when I heard the blast. Since that moment, the world has been turned on its head. The school called asking me to come and pick up my child. I rushed... Continue Reading →
Schoolgirls in Iran (Photo by Paul Keller via Creative Commons license, edits by the Century) Article Mac Loftin in The Christian Century, March 9, 2026 The brief biblical account of Herod’s slaughter of the innocents raises the question of what faith demands when politics fails to stop the killing. The massacre of the innocents is... Continue Reading →
[Robert Reich] Friends, NATO is now involved. It has shot down an Iranian missile heading into Turkish airspace. Turkey is a NATO member housing a major U.S. military base where the U.S. has nuclear weapons, including B-61 thermonuclear bombs. NATO’s Article 5 says an attack on one member of the alliance is considered an attack... Continue Reading →
A Pastoral Letter from Archbishop Hosam Naoum, Primate of the Province of Jerusalem & the Middle East - 28 February 2026 Dear Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As you are all now painfully aware, in the early hours of this morning, February 28th, a coordinated and massive military assault was launched by the United... Continue Reading →
Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday placed restrictive conditions on the recognition of a Palestinian state, stressing the need to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the ongoing violations in the West Bank, while simultaneously rejecting any future Palestinian government that includes the Resistance movement Hamas,... Continue Reading →
[Reposted from Anne Lamott on Facebook] I said to the kitty as we were getting up this morning, “I wish I had better news for you.” I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I had to let the dog out. And I turned on the news: Shock and awe again, same old same... Continue Reading →
In a fit of adaptive ethical enthusiasm regarding Mark Zukerberg’s collusion with Donald Trump, our family decided to move our FamChat conversation from FB Messenger to a new platform, unknown to me at the time, Signal. We felt good about our decision. It worked well. So take that Zuck: We will communicate another way. Well... Continue Reading →
A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent for the congregation of St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BC — The Very Rev. Ken Gray I confess, I am a WORDLE addict. I begin each day with the immensely popular New York Times online game, a game I originally panned as a colossal waste of time... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 