I realize I am not telling you anything new. We've been told this since the beginning of time, be kind to others. Generally I think we all strive to do this, to be kind to others. However, when it comes to politics, it seems more difficult than ever to meet people half way. Why is that? Why is it, that "the other side" must be defeated at all costs? Why even, are they "the other side"? In a recent episode of Hidden Brain, one of my favorite podcasts,...

What would happen if there were a meltdown in the 2020 election? Is the United States government prepared to handle this? And even if it were prepared, would the outcome be anything less than disastrous and more divisive? If the state of the union speech, and the subsequent crowing after his formal acquittal are any way to judge, I think we can expect a long-road ahead. Richard Hasen, a law professor at UC Irvine, proposes that we may be in more trouble than we can imagine if the...

More often than not, facts and truth are not mutually exclusive. Facts are those bits of information which on their own are true, while the truth is our interpretation of those facts (including some truths). It is how we remember facts that our brains use to construct the truth. Case in point, in this episode of Planet Money, the podcast talked about how many veterans tended to dislike the Red Cross. Their dislike originated from donuts, and the fact the Red Cross charged said veterans for them during...

The UK election, made up of 5 major parties, was largely won by the conservative party. With a majority, the leader of the party, Boris Johnson, will remain as PM and will now have the leverage and support to play hardball with the EU as they workout their divorce. Support for Brexit mimic the support for Trump in the US. The coasts and metropolitan areas were outnumbered by the rest of the nation. While places like London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles enjoy a relatively good...

A lot of us take a lot of things for granted. From the simple things in life like being able to breath clean air and depending on safe drinking water. We simply assume these things just happen. That's what the government is there to do. We often forget that while this is true, it is the government's job to make sure there are safety measures in place to avoid a catastrophe, it is us, the people, that put that government in place. Therefore, if we do not vote...

Call me late to the party, but I've just finished watching the debate between Harris and Peterson and the great moderation by Bret Weinstein. While this is only part 1 and over 2 hours long, I recommend you watch it for yourself and reach your own conclusion. Otherwise, here is my opinion on the debate. Both debaters are very well educated, and read. Peterson is of the belief that religion and God are necessary for humans to be able to distinguish right from wrong. While Harris believes those...

As humans, we have this notion that people generally wear their feelings on their sleeve. This is the idea that we, the observer, can infer the feelings of other people through their mannerisms, attitude and actions. If someone is smiling, we tend to believe they are enjoying themselves. If someone furrows their brow, we assume they either do not understand something, or are thinking of something to say. Of course, people are much more complex than this, and even my examples may not be 100% true to you,...

Earlier this month, I posted my opinion on how the Media is the issue and a catalyst to the current political climate in which we are now. It is the media that has provided our politicians with a platform to spread their propaganda; either by competing against each other and providing more unnecessary coverage, or by competing against social platforms, and in turn providing unnecessary additional coverage. I realize this has become common nowadays, but Twitter was never created as a way to spread serious ideas. Serious ideas,...

Few can call me a fan of our current President. And just as few can call him a good President. Earlier in the week we wrote about impeachment and how the pressure is mounting up. Today I wanted to write about how Trump is continuing to play the media as he squirms his way through questions and his explanations. The current strategy is to face the question of asking for help from a foreign government head on. Much like he did during the 2016 campaign, when he asked...

A few months back, when the impeachment rhetoric was loudest ('till that point), one of my colleagues wrote about how the whole process worked. In the article, Impeachment is heating up, but it is not the silver bullet folks think, Doug discussed the long and arduous process that impeachment is, and how being impeached is really just the first step. Trump and his advisers know this. They know the process is long, and riddled with opportunities for Trump and his surrogates to exploit it to their advantage. The...