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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Up until a couple decades ago, the local bigots had a limited reach to the likeminded, such as at their church or Lion’s club, etc. Now they can find validation from each other at an international level using
the internet. At their church, they might get some local policing by people with better emotional skills. Now, not so much. Even in the bluest of blue California, these folks are immediately available to grouse together on NextDoor.
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I drove back from Oregon today to the Bay Area through Northern California. Trump dominates these flyover areas. Giant signs with “Trump: A true national hero.” Another area around Lake Shasta has signs declaring the State of Jefferson. Eastern Oregon
is like this too.<br>
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Really hoping the machines can take over soon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From:
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Friam <friam-bounces@redfish.com> on behalf of Jochen Fromm <jofr@cas-group.net><br>
<b>Date: </b>Tuesday, December 26, 2023 at 1:40 AM<br>
<b>To: </b>The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com><br>
<b>Subject: </b>[FRIAM] The last Lighthouse Keeper in America<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Merry Christmas from Berlin! It must be Farolitos time now in Santa Fe, right? Here in Berlin we have plenty of Christmas markets where you get hot mulled wine. At Christmas Eve I was in the "American Church
of Berlin" which is over 120 years old. It was mostly empty though. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">While Donald Trump embodies the bad site of America - adultery, fraud, hate, lies, greed and the rest of the mortal sins - the church classically represents the good side of America: the selfless care for
others, Christian values and the feeling that everybody is welcome.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">It is sad to see churches slowly dying out like the old lighthouses at the coast which showed ships the right way for centuries but are now turning into mere tourist attractions. Will democracy die out together
with the churches too? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">This article about the last lighthouse keeper in the U.S. makes me wonder if president Biden will be the last keeper of democracy in America before the land falls into the darkness of a Trump dictatorship.
What do you think? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/the-last-lighthouse-keeper-in-america<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">-J.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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