LOOSE ENDS: Is the era of cooperation gone?

I was with a friend recently and we ran into a small group of friends. Casual, light conversation was the name of the game until it wasn’t. The tension kept building before someone inadvertently inserted a remark that was on the edge of politics and religion. Discussing those subjects reasonably have never been easy. Their overlap in the public arena now means that half of our population is pitted against the other side of our population. …