Infrastructure Repair – What is the greatest return on investment? – April 18th – Thinking Allowed

Back in the 50’s and 60’s When America was great, we did great things. We helped rebuild Europe after the war with the Marshall plan. The GI bill provided affordable housing and education to our returning troops and that resulted in the middle class in the country. We built great dams and the interstate highway system. We went to the moon and people sent their kids to college to learn science and math and became engineers so they could create great things.

Hardwired or programmed? Differences between liberals and conservatives – April 4th

Differences in Conservative and Liberal Brains
20 peer-reviewed studies show liberals and conservatives physiologically different

In the 20 peer-reviewed scientific studies summarized below, researchers found that liberals and conservatives have different brain structures, different physiological responses to stimuli, and activate different neural mechanisms when confronted with similar situations.

A large body of political scientists and political psychologists now concur that liberals and conservatives disagree about politics in part because they are different people at the level of personality, psychology, and even traits like physiology and genetics.

Reducing Corruption by dispersing power – March 25th

Everyone knows Lord Acton’s old quote: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Now that Mueller has finished his investigation, we will soon have a very good example of what that quote is talking about. We are living in the most corrupt administration in the history of the country. If concentrating power results in corruption, what would dispersing power do?

Mental disorders- depression – suicides March 21st

“On Mental Disorders with High Suicide Rates” Every mental illness carries with it some risk of suicide. Sadly, most people have felt the sting of death as a loved one succumbs to their disorder, leaving them feeling helpless. However, with awareness and treatment, you don’t have to be helpless. If you or a loved one is suffering from a mental disorder, don’t withdraw. Engage, fight, seek treatment and don’t become a statistic, become a survivor.”

“Studies are showing that there is an extremely high risk of suicide among people with major psychiatric disorders. Among them, bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia to name a few. Below are six mental disorders with a high risk of suicide and how you can help prevent that outcome.”

Military Spending Thinking Allowed March 7th

 

 

Jack Trommer is going to be facilitating this one. Great topic. I hope you can make it. Here is something to read beforehand about foreign military bases.  https://www.thenation.com/article/the-united-states-probably-has-more-foreign-military-bases-than-any-other-people-nation-or-empire-in-history/  

Overpopulation Vs. Declining Birthrates – Feb. 25th –

In 1798 Thomas Malthus wrote an essay on population in which he argued that population increases faster than the food needed to sustain that population and that unless the population could be controlled there would be disastrous results.

Education reform, Common Core and free college

America has not been doing very well lately academically. Some states did much better on testing than others and all of them didn’t do too well compared to many other nations. The National Governors Association got together in 2009 to set educational standards for K-12 education to make America more competitive.

The National Debt and the Deficit – Feb 7th

A lot of people are confused about the difference between debt and deficit. I think the easiest way to understand this is to look at your own finances. If during the year you make $80,000 but you spend $100,000, you have a deficit for the year of $20,000. If you take out a loan to cover the difference your debt is $20,000 plus the interest on that loan. If you overspend each year (have a deficit of $20,000 each year and take out another loan each year) your total debt would be $100,000 plus the accumulated interest on those loans.

Why can’t we all just get along? – Jan. 28th

The government shutdown is finally over but the hyperpartisan political gridlock is still crippling the country. How is the Senate ever going to agree to what the House wants? And then there is the question of whether The President will agree to anything.

Part of the problem is that with only two viable political parties it becomes a zero sum game in which negative advertising and demonization of the opponents works, even if it is based on lies. When that happens people become entrenched in their tribalism and at worse it becomes moral dualism. At this stage it is no longer sufficient that the opponents are considered wrong, they are considered evil. Then everything is either black or white, good or bad. Compromise becomes a dirty word and cooperation becomes impossible. When that happens winning is more important than anything else.

Overfishing and Trawling – Jan. 17th

Maggie Summer gave an excellent presentation that covered overfishing and trawling. Her expertise is deepest in US West Coast groundfish (rockfish, flatfish, etc.) fisheries, including trawl and other gear types used in those fisheries. She also touched on some of the other West Coast fisheries (for example, tuna and highly migratory species) and their bycatch and conservation issues as well.  She used some videos to show fishing gear, bycatch excluders, etc., and some slides to illustrate the other key points, and plan on lots of great discussion and questions.