America, this is not a dream. The economy has nosedived. We are on the floor below the basement. Buying has become trying. Selling is at a standstill.
Browsing: Opinions
The Trump administration has issued a National Security Strategy (NSS) document that fundamentally transforms US relations with Europe. Traditional closeness is out; open hostility to liberal governments and alignment with far-right parties are in. Europe, says the document, is facing the “stark prospect of civilizational erasure” because of immigration and climate change policies.
Local officials have raised concerns about dangerously elevated nitrate levels in the community’s drinking water following the siting of a nearby Amazon data center. The investigation reports that the facility’s massive water consumption—up to five million gallons per day—may have accelerated nitrogen migration into the aquifer faster than natural filtration can occur. Amazon strongly denies any connection between its operations and these health problems.
For example, their aggressive policies toward Ukraine and Venezuela are remarkably similar. Putin began his takeover of Ukraine by charging that its government was controlled by “fascists” and, moreover, that its closer relations with Western Europe would irreparably damage Russian national security. Similarly, Trump has sought to overturn the Venezuelan government, arguing that it is controlled by drug traffickers and represents a significant menace to U.S. national security.
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On December 14,1995 leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and the former Yugoslavia signed the Dayton Peace Agreement, ending a ferocious three-and-a-half-year war that claimed around 100,000 lives, left thousands missing, and reduced entire communities to rubble.
Let me catch my breath, calm myself, wipe my face. The cutting edge is raw. A hundred deaths, a thousand deaths, quickly turn into “collateral damage.” But the killing of two desperate men, clinging to the wreckage of their boat in the Caribbean – their boat that has just been bombed – rips open the abstraction of military public relations. They’re just ordinary human beings – like you, like me, like our parents and our children – rather than . . . uh, narco-terrorists. And suddenly this new war the Trump administration has launched is more than just a videogame. Hey, Pete, this is not keeping us safe!
In the film, a statement by Hermann Goering, one of the most powerful leaders of Germany’s Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945, particularly struck me. He told the American psychologist whose job was to get to know him and keep him alive for the trial: “I am a prisoner because you won and we lost, not because you’re morally superior.” Goering suggested that if the Germans won the war, the Americans could have been brought to trial for dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan in August 1945.
Specifically, I was explaining amygdala hijacks – that emotion-filled moment in a cross-divide conversation when we lose our ability to think rationally. We start shouting in fury, go silent in disbelief, or do something else, shall we say, unhelpful.
Since Friday multiple people sent me this story, National parks cut free entry for MLK Day, add Trump’s birthday. I shared it on social media with a post explaining that I am not at all disturbed by this development and see that it could mark a turning point.
Authentic ignorance” is not mere lack of knowledge — it is the arrogant refusal to learn, combined with the reckless confidence to lead a nation while knowing nothing of consequence. When this condition infects an ordinary mind, it produces confusion. When it infects a President, it produces catastrophe. And yet, a chilling parallel emerges: Artificial Intelligence, if not regulated, will become even more dangerous than authentic ignorance — because it can replicate misinformation on a scale, without conscience, limits, or accountability.