Divided Americans playing with fire

The bodies of Confederate soldiers are strewn along Hagerstown Turnpike after the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. /Photo by Alexander Gardner

I am uniquely positioned to gaze into the maw of the gaping divide between the law enforcement community and the African American community.

My father, who I love very much, is a retired Marine and arch conservative. He is an unwavering supporter of law enforcement who views the Black Lives Matter movement with disdain and suspicion.

My wife, who I love very much, is is an African American and champion of racial equality. She has experienced racial injustice perpetrated by public officials including law enforcement officers. My wife views the police with disdain and suspicion.

The events of the past week--including the fatal police shootings of two black men and the equally barbaric fatal shootings of police officers in Dallas--reflect divisions in American society that are as deep and wide as they were in the years leading up to The Civil War. 

If America fails to address the legacies of racial injustice such as police brutality directed at people of color, the nation is at grave risk of unleashing a downward spiral into a level of countryman vs. countryman violence at a scale not seen since the Civil War. If America fails to address the country's gun violence problem, law enforcement officers fearing for their lives will continue to kill civilians in unjustified shootings. If Americans do not stand in unity with all of their countrymen regardless of race, gender, sexuality, political partisanship, religious beliefs and a host of other relatively petty sources of divisiveness compared to our essential role as citizens of a great democratic nation, we will have no one but ourselves to blame for the crumbling of our society.

The events of the past week are so sad.

The problems facing our country are so apparent.

But like so many Southerners and Northerners in the prelude to The Civil War, most Americans are blind to the bloody carnage that is threatening to explode in their faces as the country careens into the current perilous corner of the nation's history.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." -President Abraham Lincoln

Lax gun laws enable lone wolf terrorists

A shooting victim is carried away from the Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016. With 49 killed and more than 50 wounded, the Islamic-extremist terrorist attack in Orlando, Fla., is the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history.

People on U.S. terrorist watch lists can buy military-style assault rifles.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the most deadly Islamic-extremist terrorist incidents on U.S. soil have been carried out with semi-automatic firearms. These "lone wolf" attacks--including the mass shootings in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Fort Hood in Texas--have emerged as a the primary Islamic-extremist terrorist threat in the United States.

Unless there are commonsense limits on gun ownership, terrorist mass shootings and other gun violence carnage will continue to rage across the country.

Muhammad Ali: Great quotes from The Greatest

In 2002, legendary boxer Muhammad Ali visits Kabul, Afghanistan, as a peace ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Food Program. Ali died June 3 at a hospital in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 74. /Reuters photo by Radu Sigheti

Muhammad Ali is the greatest boxer of all time, but he also was a master of the English language. Here are some of his all-time greatest quotes:

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'"

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

"I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want."

"If you even dream of beating me you better wake up and apologize."

"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."

"Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are."

"Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change."

"I've made my share of mistakes along the way; but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven't lived in vain."

"To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them. This is the only way you will be truly rich."

"No one knows what to say in the loser's locker room."

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe."

"The man who has no imagination has no wings."

"I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent that I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others."

"My principles are more important than the money or my title."

"I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world."

Help Veterans With Mental Wounds of War

Six years ago, drinking alone late at night in his Hampton, N.H., apartment, Amy Spec. Christopher Journeau took his own life. He suffered from PTSD linked to his combat duty during the Iraq War. /Family photo

Help a veteran surmount the psychological impacts of war. Read the PTSD-tinged story of Army Spec. Christopher Journeau.

Call for help: 800-273-8255

Reminder of humanity's evolutionary infancy

More than a dozen skinned cats hang on hooks at the Yulin Meat Festival in China. The People's Republic also has a massive dog meat trade, with as many as 20 million canines slaughtered annually for human consumption. /Reuters image

On the timeline of human evolution, civilization has existed for the blink of an eye.

There may be no better illustration of humanity's relatively brief development of civilization than the Yulin Meat Festival. Humane Society International has documented this horrific celebration of the dog-and-cat meat trade in China. But if anyone wants to confirm the existence of this extreme barbarism in the 21st century, all they have to do is Google search images of the festival. Warning: These photographs are unbearable if you have a semblance of a conscience.

Depending on which distant ancestral species you pick for homo sapiens, the human brain is rooted in an evolutionary timeline about 3 million years deep. Humans have been developing the trappings of civilization such as written language for about 40,000 years, which is a figure that generously considers cave paintings as a form of written communication. In other words, humanity and its bipedal forebearers have spent 99 percent of their time on Earth as savages.

The mass slaughter of humans' primary animal companions in China--and the rest of humanity turning a blind eye to the practice--reflects who we are as a species. It is not a pretty picture.

Reminder of humanity's place in the universe

Astronomer Carl Sagan was one of the most influential scientists and teachers of the 20th century. Millions of people around the world gained insights about the universe, and their place in it, from his television series "Cosmos" on PBS. /NASA image

Genius, compassion and humility are the keys to survival for humanity in the Atomic Era.

Carl Sagan possessed these priceless qualities in enormous quantities. In 1990, he urged NASA to spin Voyager I around to capture an image of Earth before the spacecraft left our solar system. That image of the "pale blue dot" where humanity will stand or fall inspired Sagan's genius, compassion and humility to reach astronomical proportions.

Sagan's words in the three-minute video below pack more wisdom than most of us will accumulate in a lifetime.

Video adapted from "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey"

Trump vs. protesters: Playing with political fire

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump challenges protesters at a political rally in Kansas City, Mo., on March 12. /Image via Right Side Network

In America, violence and presidential politics make a volatile mixture that bodes ill for the party linked to the brutality, and the country.

The violent response to protesters at Donald Trump's campaign event yesterday in Chicago is a potential history-repeating-itself moment for the Republican presidential candidate. The last time political protesters in Chicago were beaten in front of a national television audience was during the 1968 Democratic Party presidential convention, when Mayor Richard J. Daley unleashed a police riot that injured at least 100 protesters and 100 officers.

In November 1968, Republican Richard Nixon narrowly defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey in the popular vote, 43 percent to 42 percent. Destined for impeachment and disgrace, Nixon posted a much more comfortable margin of victory in the decisive Electoral College vote, 55 percent to 35 percent.

Chicago police officers beat and detain political protesters during the 1968 Democratic Party presidential convention. /Image via unretiring.blogspot.com

Black Lagoon: Sudbury Reservoir tributary tainted

PHOTO GALLERY: The Black Lagoon is a contaminated man-made pond near the corner of Maple and Walker streets in Marlborough, Mass. For more than a century, petroleum-product spills have plagued properties on a mile-long stretch of Maple Street. Toxins from those spills now rest uneasily in The Black Lagoon, mingled in massive silt deposits that pose a threat to the nearby Sudbury Reservoir. Read MetroWest Daily News Special Report

MOTHER OF THE BLACK LAGOON: A state Department of Conservation and Recreation-owned pond along Maple and Framingham streets in Marlborough is filled with garbage and oil-tainted silt. This squalid swamp feeds another contaminated DCR pond about 1,000 feet downstream off Walker Street. /Allan Jung photo for MetroWest Daily News

PETROLEUM POLLUTION: An oily sheen floats on top of water in a drainage ditch at a culvert across from 299 Maple St. This ditch drains into a 6-foot-wide concrete aqueduct that flows to the DCR-owned pond off Walker Street. /Allan Jung photo for MetroWest Daily News

DOUBLE THREAT: Two DCR-owned ponds in the Maple Street neighborhood of Marlborough are filled with oil-tainted silt. The Sudbury Reservoir is about a quarter-mile downstream of The Black Lagoon, which is contained behind an aging concrete-and-earthen dam off Walker Street. /Google Earth image and bullworkofdemocracy illustration

NEIGHBORHOOD BLIGHT: Homeowners who live next to The Black Lagoon, including Dionysi McGowan of Walker Street, are calling for DCR to cleanup the pond. About three years ago, McGowan says he saw an alarming oil slick in the pond. "It was every color of the rainbow," he said. /Allan Jung photo for MetroWest Daily News

OIL SPILL LEGACY: An oily substance bleeds from a silt deposit in the center of The Black Lagoon. Most of the volume of the football-field-sized pond is filled with silt. /Christopher Cheney photo

SPILLWAY SPILL: Oil sludge oozes from The Black Lagoon dam's floodgate spillway into the dry floor of the main spillway. /Allan Jung photo for MetroWest Daily News

CONTAMINATION CONDUIT: A quarter-mile-long concrete aqueduct connects The Black Lagoon dam's main spillway to the Sudbury Reservoir. The terminus point of the main-spillway aqueduct pours into the reservoir in Southborough, Mass. /Christopher Cheney photos

TAINTED TERMINUS: The Black Lagoon dam's main-spillway aqueduct, left, and floodgate-spillway drainage stream converge at an inlet to the Sudbury Reservoir that is dotted with silt deposits. /Christopher Cheney photo

PROBLEMATIC PIPE: An oily sheen floats on water at an outflow pipe in the concrete aqueduct connecting The Black Lagoon to the Sudbury Reservoir, which is about 1,000 feet downstream. /Christopher Cheney photo 

POLLUTED RESOURCE: Garbage and other debris float in the Sudbury Reservoir. /Allan Jung photo for MetroWest Daily News

GOING WITH THE FLOW: For decades, tainted silt has been flowing into the Sudbury Reservoir from The Black Lagoon. /Google Earth image and bullworkofdemocracy illustration

Black Lagoon: Oil spill legacy lingers in MetroWest

SUNDAY METROWEST DAILY NEWS COVERAGE: Read tomorrow's investigative report on pollution from a century of oil spills along a mile stretch of commercial and residential properties in Marlborough, Mass. Toxins from those spills rest uneasily in a pair of state-owned ponds, mingled in massive silt deposits that pose a threat to the nearby Sudbury Reservoir.

AGING INFRASTRUCTURE: There are two state-owned Department of Conservation and Recreation ponds in the tributary to the Sudbury Reservoir that runs along Maple Street. A concrete-and-earthen dam, which was built more than a half-century ago, has a main spill way and floodgate spillway. /Christopher Cheney photo

An oily ooze was recently observed leaking from the dam's floodgate spillway to the dry floor of the main spillway. /Christopher Cheney photo

CONTAMINATION CONDUIT: A concrete aqueduct connects the dam's main spillway to the Sudbury Reservoir, which is a quarter-mile downstream of the dam. /Christopher Cheney photo

An outflow pipe in the dam's main spillway aqueduct spews an oily substance. /Christopher Cheney photo

TERMINUS POINT: The dam's aqueduct discharges into the Sudbury Reservoir in Southborough. /Christopher Cheney photo

Black Lagoon: Strain on damaged dam drained

BULLWORK OF DEMOCRACY EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE: The Black Lagoon is a contaminated man-made pond near the corner of Maple and Walker streets in Marlborough, Mass. For more than a century, petroleum-product spills have plagued properties on a mile-long stretch of Maple Street. Toxins from those spills now rest uneasily in The Black Lagoon, mingled in massive silt deposits that pose a threat to the nearby Sudbury Reservoir.

RELIEVING PRESSURE: The water level at The Black Lagoon has lowered at least a foot since state workers removed the floodgate from the putrid pond's damaged dam on Feb. 19. /Christopher Cheney photo

In a move apparently prompted by the dilapidated condition of The Black Lagoon's concrete-and earthen dam, state workers removed the floodgate from the damaged structure on Friday.

On Thursday, Bullwork of Democracy reported that an architect and an engineer believe natural forces and years of neglect have structurally compromised the dam. Also on Thursday, Bullwork Editor Christopher Cheney called the Office of Dam Safety at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the state agency responsible for maintaining the dam and surrounding property. A voice mail message, which raised concern about the condition of the dam and requested comment, was left at the safety office. The message was not returned, and DCR officials have not responded to several other requests for comment.

On Friday, two DCR trucks with at least five workers were at The Black Lagoon for about 30 minutes, a neighboring property owner said. The workers spent most of their time at the dam but also walked along the pond's shoreline, the homeowner said.

LET LOOSE: Water gushes over The Black Lagoon's floodgate on Feb. 20. /Christopher Cheney photo

The concrete portion of the dam shows several signs of wear and tear, including a destroyed wooden-plank gate in the floodgate's spillway as well as cracking and chipping of the main spillway dam, which is the largest concrete element of the structure. The structural integrity of the earthen portion of the dam is clearly in doubt.

In addition to heavy tree growth in the packed-earth portion of The Black Lagoon's dam, there is a washout at least four-feet-wide on the back side of the dam. The washout, which has exposed the top of the earthen dam's steel pilings, extends at least eight feet down the side of the dam's western stone-and-mortar abutment.

PHOTO GALLERY: Dam observations on Feb. 20 include washout on the earthen portion of the structure and oil slick in main spillway

EROSIVE FORCE: Water has evidently washed over the earthen portion of The Black Lagoon's dam in the past, eroding a gash in the back of the structure along the western abutment of the main spillway. Steel pilings at the center of the earthen dam's crown appear to have held off a more serious washout. "It could be catastrophic. It certainly needs to be addressed as soon as possible," says a longtime Connecticut highway engineer who reviewed these images. /Christopher Cheney photos and bullworkofdemocracy illustration

CONTAMINATION: With The Black Lagoon's floodgate removed, the main spillway is dry, with the exception of an oily ooze leaking from the floodgate spillway. /Christopher Cheney photos and bullworkofdemocracy illustration

PETROLEUM-BASED: In photo below, a six-foot-long slick of oily ooze flows down the middle of the main spillway at The Black Lagoon's dam.

INFILTRATED: The earthen portion of The Black Lagoon's dam is overrun with trees and brush on both sides of the structure. /Christopher Cheney photo