Category: politics
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Glimpse the Future with Amy Webb @amywebb (Thanks @TWiT)
The last couple days I’ve been listening to the latest TWiT podcast, hosted by Leo LaPorte (@leolaporte) and featuring guests Amy Webb (@amywebb) and Greg Ferro (@etherealmind). Wow have I ever loved their conversation and the insights they shared on a variety of topics including AI, the ascendency of China, Amazon, EU anti-trust law, and…
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Understanding the Puerto Rican Blackout: Bank Regulation, Bureaucratic Inefficiency and Leadership
This afternoon I watched the outstanding PBS Frontline documentary, “Blackout in Puerto Rico.” The program unwraps the story of why it took 7 months to restore electrical power to most of the island of Puerto Rico, following the devastation wrought by hurricane Maria in September 2017, and the complicated reasons why the infrastructure of the island had…
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Arab Spring and the 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout
In this post, I’ll summarize a few key ideas I’ve been thinking about over in the past week as we’ve had the start of a populist uprising in our state reminiscent of other eras when activists have taken to the streets to change government, both here in the USA and in other countries. I pray…
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Pre-Reflections on the April 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout
This past Friday evening, my wife Shelly (@sfryer) and I attended the last half of an evening town hall meeting at Wilson Elementary in Oklahoma City Public Schools (@okcps). Speakers included Representative Cyndi Munson (@CyndiMunson85), Senator Kay Floyd (@KayFloydOK), and Representative Jason Dunningham (@jdunnington). In this post, written on March 31, 2018, I’ll share some reflections…
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Things I Learned Traveling to Egypt
The past few days I had an opportunity to travel to Cairo, Egypt, to present and participate in the 2017 EduForum Conference and also do a little sightseeing. Since sharing my second TEDx talk in November 2016, “Digital Citizenship in the Surveillance State,” I’ve continued to read and research about data privacy issues especially as…
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Reflections on Comancheria, Identity and Frontier Terrorism
I never thought much about my own family bloodlines and ancestry until we moved to Oklahoma in 2006. As I got to know teachers and school staff members in my role (at the time) working as an “education advocate” for AT&T, I learned that all public schools in Oklahoma have “Indian Education” programs and students…
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Rights and Responsibilities in an Age of Surveillance
As surveillance becomes more ubiquitous and “normalized” in our society, I’m wondering if the parable of the boiling frog may apply and how these dynamics should fit into conversations at school with students, teachers and parents about digital citizenship. I’m not arguing we should abandon all the trappings of 21st century modernity and head up to…
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Bernie Sanders Explains Progressivism in the new Democratic Party
The United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump is politically headed in the wrong direction. Rather than confronting potentially overwhelming and devastating issues like costly health care, climate change, and corruption in federal elections, our nation is poised to make bad situations even worse with misguided policies. I am hopeful the inquiry of…
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Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin Misunderstands Testing and School Quality
On May 4, 2017, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (@GovMaryFallin) was interviewed by NewsOK.com capitol reporter Dale Denwalt (@denwalt) about the current Oklahoma budget crisis. The full interview is 18.5 minutes long. Near the end of the interview, Dale asked Governor Fallin about her reasons for vetoing a bill which would have eliminated the U.S. history…