It would be amusing if it weren’t so serious. Last weekend’s expressions of supposed free speech were almost universally called demonstrations by the media and “mostly peaceful” by some. In contrast, the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol was labeled an “insurrection” and “riot” by the media.

NHA TRANG, Vietnam - Rod Kjersten has returned to Vietnam for the first time since he was a nurse in the U.S. Air Force hospital in Cam Ranh Bay. Now 77, he recalls the precise date when he left - May 28, 1970. He served at the hospital for two years where he treated wounded American soldiers and saw many die. He says while he was initially "gung-ho" about the U.S. and South Vietnamese war efforts, he has since become "neutral." Asked why, he said it was after seeing the Ku Chi tunnels on this trip. These were some of the tunnels used by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers to hide and "pop up" to shoot at Americans.

While contemplating the horror of two young and soon-to-be-engaged Israeli Embassy employees who were gunned down by a man shouting "free Palestine" and "I did it for Gaza," outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., last week, I recalled the opening line to a song from the old off-Broadway musical "The Fantasticks" - "You wonder how these things begin." That song speaks to the love between a boy and a girl. Applied to the Washington shootings it makes you wonder how hate begins.