Category: politics
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War Over TikTok
The article caught my eye this morning: “US lawmakers vote 50-0 to force sale of TikTok despite angry calls from users” (ArsTechnica, 7 Mar 2024.). It highlights a proposed bill in the US House of Representatives which would require the Chinese government to entirely DIVEST (sell off) TikTok to non-Chinese owners. I have a few…
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Understanding Rising Populism, Warfare and Authoritarianism
We should not only be teaching “traditional courses” like history and social studies in our U.S. schools today, we should be explicitly studying warfare and the multitude of ways nation states as well as non-state actors wage war with each other across at least five dimensions: In extra-terrestrial space, in cyberspace, in the air, on…
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LISTEN Carefully to his Words
I’ve never previously recommended on my blog that anyone watch an official video from the National Rifle Association / NRA, but I am tonight. Today after school and following an evening school event, I watched the entirety of our 45th President’s recorded address this afternoon at the “NRA-IRL Leadership Forum.” He was the last speaker…
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Transcending Political Polarization
I’ve been paying for the “Plus” version of ChatGPT for several weeks, but haven’t really used it much. This evening, I experimented with some questions about how we might transcend our presently high levels of political polarization in the United States. ChatGPT 4’s answers are remarkably good. Here’s a transcript of our dialog. I’ve added…
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Learning About Russia
The Russian-initiated war in Ukraine is continuing into its second year, and it’s hard to believe not only the harsh and cruel realities of that conflict which are ongoing, but also the dismal prospects for both regional and global peace at this point in human history. (March 2023) It’s a good time for all of…
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Podcast479: Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy
This podcast features a presentation by Wesley Fryer at the ATLIS (Association of Technology Leaders of Independent Schools) 2022 Conference in Orlando, Florida, on May 3, 2022. The title of the session was, “Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy.” The official description was: Conspiracy theories are popular on social media and influence our local…
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1000 Starships to Mars Every 2 Years
Tonight Elon Musk and Chris Anderson have stretched my mind in some unexpected ways. Elon hopes we’ll see (and is working toward) a future within 10-20 years where SpaceX is launching 1000 Starships to Mars every two years, so we can establish a self-sustaining city of a million humans who will be able to carry…
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Putin and Christian Nationalism
Whether or not you are a follower of Jesus and publicly profess “Christianity” as your faith, it’s important to pay attention what many “Conservative Christians” have been saying and continue to say about Vladimir Putin and his cultural / political agenda. I want to recommend two recent articles and OpEds on these topics. First, check…
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10 Favorite Podcasts (December 2021)
It’s Christmas Day and 2021 is rapidly drawing to a close, so I’m doing a bit of reflecting on the past year as we look forward to 2022. In this post, I’ll share 10 of my favorite podcasts, which I’ve listened to often in 2021. I LOVE both listening to and creating podcasts, and continue…