All posts by Chuck Fager

Durham: Will Another Big Bruising Bathroom Bill Battle Bust Up Bull Durham’s Burgeoning Business Boom?

I Woke up this morning to find my (adopted) home town & state made the big-time news AGAIN over our 2024 state election campaign. Anybody who recalls the NC political scene in 2016 — especially business people and boosters — likely still feels twinges of trauma when the phrase “Bathroom bill” is mentioned. NC lost … Continue reading Durham: Will Another Big Bruising Bathroom Bill Battle Bust Up Bull Durham’s Burgeoning Business Boom? →

Flashbacks! I’m Having 1967 Anti-Draft Flashbacks! From Vietnam to Jerusalem

Sheesh! Did somebody slip one (or two) of those “new” cure-all psychedelic pills into my low-sodium tomato juice?? Must have, because I’m having wild and weird hallucinations from —I don’t know— 1967? They’re full of long-haired young men shouting slogans against the draft. I can tell they’re hallucinations because other than the hair, the protesters … Continue reading Flashbacks! I’m Having 1967 Anti-Draft Flashbacks! From Vietnam to Jerusalem →

AFSC: When the Slides Went Awry, And The Key Questions Weren’t Asked . . .

Last month I attended two presentations by the new AFSC Director of Quaker Engagement, Brian Blackmore, at Durham and Chapel Hill Meetings here in North Carolina. Blackmore, just a year in the job, is the successor to Lucy Duncan, a longtime AFSC staffer who was unceremoniously fired in early 2022 when she tried to start … Continue reading AFSC: When the Slides Went Awry, And The Key Questions Weren’t Asked . . . →

Could Drafting Ultra-OrthodoxYouth Bring Down Israel’s Government?

It’s a venerable Jewish joke: a Jew falls off a ship, in mid-ocean, and swims to an uninhabited island. Years later, his SOS signal is spotted. When rescuers arrive, they find he has managed to construct three small buildings from flotsam and jetsam: a small cabin, and two identical synagogues. “Why two?” He was asked. … Continue reading Could Drafting Ultra-OrthodoxYouth Bring Down Israel’s Government? →

Three Timely Reports from Gwynne Dyer, from Ireland, Sudan, Gaza, Haiti & England

Gwynne Dyer remains one of my go-to reporter/analysts on the international scene. Here he brings three recent, revealing and concise snapshots. Three famines: Gaza, Sudan, and Haiti Gwynne Dyer There are three incipient famines in the world today, and politics is at the root of all of them. That’s not unusual, actually: Famines are almost … Continue reading Three Timely Reports from Gwynne Dyer, from Ireland, Sudan, Gaza, Haiti & England →