The United States faces several converging transitions which have come to a flash point culminating in the 2016 election of President Donald J. Trump. The United States faces demographic, political, economic, and social transitions each of which have the potential to cause major societal upheaval. In combination, the synergistic effect could have unpredictable global impacts…
Category: democracy
Ma Jian–The Dark Road
While returning from a trip to the UK for research, I committed to finishing Ma Jian’s The Dark Road. Not only was this book very, very dark, but it gave voice to faceless men and women whose individual stories we can never hope to know. Let me just say that, God knows their names. He…
Four More Years, Mr. President!
Tonight on msnbc.com I’m excited for the President. Despite some of my concerns on some of the social issues, I’m happy that we’ve got four more years of the Obama administration. Congratulations, Mr. President!
why are we asking the wrong questions about education?!?
[I’m warning you now, this is probably the longest blog post I’ve ever written, but my passion on the issue requires it…] The Chicago Teachers’ strike is compelling news to me for a number of reasons. [For example, why did the union not give parents and students more lead time that a strike might be…
A ‘Snowball’ of Disinformation [via @SSPPjournal]
Are we becoming poorer? That’s the question that comes to mind after reading an opinion published in SSPP today. This is the first set of economic crises I’m living through as an adult, so I have found these types of pieces (where the irreversible decline of America and the current generation is predicted) perplexing. I…
can “technology organization(s) with trucks” save us from ourselves?
while reading my feedly sources last night, a suggestion to follow a blog called Green OR popped up. “green” and “operations research” are two of my favorite terms, so of course i clicked on their timeline. you should definitely check out ian frommer’s blog when you can. the very first post up discusses the role…
i own this…
I took a detour on my way to work this morning by walking across the Capitol directly catch the Orange/Blue lines. [I don’t like crowds, and if you’ve been in Union Station with broken escalators between 7.45-8.45AM, you might sympathize.] Halfway to the station, I looked up and this is what I saw: I remember…
a democratic paradox
“Everybody was against us from the beginning, and now we have no choice but to fight,” [Ibrahim Hassan Addou] said. “What I don’t understand is why the whole world is trying to throw its weight behind a government that has been totally rejected by its own people.” This quote can be found on the story…
#36
so, yesterday i had the privilege of attending a carnegie mellon “speak your mind” discussion about environmental issues in china led by donald sutton, a professor of history at carnegie mellon. i enjoyed myself, and was even pleasantly surprised by the presence of food at an event where i was not expecting any food. i…
Catch-22 or Progress?
I haven’t gotten a chance to mention the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC), and I still can’t even choose words to express my pleasure in the fact that there are fair, democratic elections taking place all across Africa. Despite the fighting between incumbent Joseph Kabila’s and Jean-Pierre Bemba’s supporters, the fact that…