EP 506 To Raise a Boy in 21st Century America

EP 506 To Raise a Boy in 21st Century America

https://www.toraiseaboy.com/ Much attention has been paid to the plight of young girls in American society as we attempt to knock down barriers to their dreams and build more protections from predatory practices often visited upon them.  What about the boys?  Much research tells us that they are falling short in academic performance, suffering greater rates …

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EP 505 A Soldier Reflects on His Afghanistan Experience

EP 505 A Soldier Reflects on His Afghanistan Experience

https://survivingsonbook.com/about-the-author/ We all watched as America accomplished a very messy end to the twenty year Afghanistan War, the longest in our history.  So what was it like on the ground for those who fought in it and how did they view the withdrawal, given their sacrifice?  Was it all in vain?  Scott DeLuzio, author of …

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EP 504 Who Gets Assigned the Dirty Work in Our Society?

EP 504 Who Gets Assigned the Dirty Work in Our Society?

https://www.eyalpress.com/ It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it.  We are not talking about the third shift at a factory in this podcast  We are focusing on ethically challenging positions that many ‘respectable’ citizens will not do and yet avoid considering the consequences for those who, for one reason or another, are required …

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EP 503 Are College Scholarships for Athletes Really Enough?

EP 503 Are College Scholarships for Athletes Really Enough?

https://www.business.msstate.edu/faculty-research Thanks to an interim policy put forward by the NCAA, student athletes in college are now allowed to benefit financially from the use of their name, image and likeness.  The policy is shorthanded as NIL.  That’s appropriate, really, because its impact on most athletes in Division I, the large schools, will be almost that …

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EP 502 The Response to 9-11 Takes on a Permanent, Subtle Tone Throughout Government

EP 502 The Response to 9-11 Takes on a Permanent, Subtle Tone Throughout Government

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691215839/subtle-tools While we all can recall the fierce response America had to the horrific events of 9-11, 2001 in prosecuting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the passage of the Patriot Act, the development of the Homeland Security Department and the use of torture and black sites against those who came to be called enemy combatants.  …

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EP 501 Consensus Grows to Regulate Social Media Platforms–But For Different Reasons

EP 501 Consensus Grows to Regulate Social Media Platforms–But For Different Reasons

https://www.brookings.edu/experts/cameron-f-kerry/ Section 230 is part of a set of policies passed in 1996 to protect the internet and encourage innovation within its developing framework.  These 26 words of the Communications Decency Act paved the way for Facebook, Google and Twitter.  Section 230 states that internet platforms–considered ‘interactive computer services’ in the law-cannot be considered publishers …

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EP 500 Cuba and America Intertwined Through Time

EP 500 Cuba and America Intertwined Through Time

https://www.adaferrer.net/cuba-an-american-history In 1492, Columbus landed in…Cuba. Surprised?  There’s much about the island 90 miles to our south that ties its history to ours.  In recent years, we have been at odds with Cuba over its Communist regime.  In defiance of that regime we give Cuban immigrants the fastest track the government provides to citizenship status. …

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EP 499 Is It Worth Having a Discussion With a Science Denier?

EP 499 Is It Worth Having a Discussion With a Science Denier?

https://leemcintyrebooks.com/ While science denial is a precursor to reality denial on many fronts in our society, it can result in impacts as serious as life and death.  For instance, if enough people don’t get the COVID vaccine, allow it to hang around and mutate, even the vaccinated may be at great risk.  So, while philosopher …

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EP 498 How America Abandoned Peace and Reinvented the Concept of Humane War

EP 498 How America Abandoned Peace and Reinvented the Concept of Humane War

https://www.amazon.com/Humane-United-States-Abandoned-Reinvented/dp/0374173702 Since 9/11, America has found itself embroiled in endless war, little discussed and rarely debated, either in barrooms or Congress.  We just are.  It is interesting how little attention conflicts of various forms get given the trillions of dollars we spend on defense and the fact that we have Special Forces in more than …

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EP 497 Terror Threat in the Wake of Afghanistan Pull Out

EP 497 Terror Threat in the Wake of Afghanistan Pull Out

https://bencoes.com/ Will over the horizon technological responses cut it in places, like Afghanistan, where American boots on the ground have been replaced with eyes in the skies?  That’s the gist of the conversation we have with Ben Coes, author of ‘The Island’, a story of terror in Manhattan as seen through the imagination of a …

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