EP 816 The U.S. Senate Role to Advise and Consent Critical in this Moment

EP 816 The U.S. Senate Role to Advise and Consent Critical in this Moment

The U.S Senate has many important responsibilities.  Among them are making laws, ratifying justices to the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts and approving presidential nominees for key Cabinet positions.  For the newly re-elected Donald Trump Administration the latter responsibility is key to determining whether the chamber is ready to step up to its …

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EP 815 Can Elon and Vivek Make the Federal Government More Efficient?

EP 815 Can Elon and Vivek Make the Federal Government More Efficient?

The real question is whether that is even the goal and purpose of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  Or is it retaliation for Donald Trump’s inability to bring bureaucrats to heel in his first administration?  We will find out in short order because it’s a race against several clocks–the ‘mandate’ claim which gets smaller …

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EP 813 Some Red States Putting Religion Back in Schools

EP 813 Some Red States Putting Religion Back in Schools

But isn’t that unconstitutional?  That was the basis of my line of inquiry on this podcast with esteemed professor, Ira Lupu, George Washington Law Professor Emeritus and a nationally recognized scholar in constitutional law with an emphasis on the religion clauses of the 1st Amendment.  Legal or not, Oklahoma’s superintendent of schools, Ryan Walters, has …

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EP 812 What is Settler Colonialism and Why is it Catching On in Some Circles?

EP 812 What is Settler Colonialism and Why is it Catching On in Some Circles?

 Since Hamas’s attack on Israel last October 7,2023 the term “settler colonialism” has become central to public debate about Israel and the Palestinians, particularly in academic circles and among young people.  And while the concept may be new to most Americans, settler colonialism is shaping the way many people think about the history of the …

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EP 811 Benjamin Franklin: Lessons That Reverberate Centuries Later

EP 811 Benjamin Franklin: Lessons That Reverberate Centuries Later

  Benjamin’s Franklin’s contributions to his times, and our country, are too numerous to restate.  His greatest gift, however, may have been his philosophical approach to living a ‘useful’ life right until the very end. And while the self-help movement of our day has its own exemplars, going back and revisiting his 13 virtues and …

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EP 810 Global Warming’s Role in Heating Up Conflicts Around the Globe

EP 810 Global Warming’s Role in Heating Up Conflicts Around the Globe

 Our guest, Peter Schwartzstein, is a journalist on the climate security beat.  He’s immersed himself in some of the hot spots of the world, like Syria, for years during its civil war to unpack the story of how global warming is adding to, if not a key precipitant of, conflicts in many parts of the …

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EP 809 Can We Bridge Our Profound Differences?

EP 809 Can We Bridge Our Profound Differences?

 How polarized are we, really?  While the extremes in both ideological camps may be smaller in numbers than mainstream opinions their effect on our political dialogue and the conveyor belt of lies and distortions on social media amplify and accelerate those differences.  Thus, it feels like we are in a pitched battle for the soul …

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EP 808 We Are Not Alone

EP 808 We Are Not Alone

Longtime Defense researcher Luis Elizondo has become associated with reporting on the existence of UFOs(unidentified flying objects), now known as unidentified anomalous phenomena(UAPs).  He made headlines in 2017 when he resigned as a senior intelligence official running a Pentagon program investigating these objects in the sky and alerted the public to the fact that the …

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EP 807 Are Grades Failing Our Children?

EP 807 Are Grades Failing Our Children?

 What kind of question is that, you may ask?  We’ve always had grades.  How would we evaluate performance without them?  Is this just another ‘woke’ idea, like participation trophies for playing the game?  How will they learn to compete in this dog eat dog world awaiting our students?  Joshua Eyler, director of the Center for …

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