1/4/2024
JRB,
You don’t have anything on your calendar today, so I’ll tell you what I’m up to. Top of mind is my syllabus for my doctoral seminar where we will be exploring the question, “In what ways do personal relationships affect students’ STEM learning?” We will be doing an exhaustive literature review to examine this question. It should be fascinating.
What line of inquiry is driving your activity these days? Is it “how do I get re-elected?” If so, redirect your energies. Do what you do best & make some kind of quiet deal that will make everyone look good.
I suggest you pursue the question “how do we end the bombing of Gaza?” According to WP’s Ramesh Ponnuru that plus “giv(ing) ground to Republicans on asylum reform & border control” will win you the election.
You may notice I used the word “bombing” rather than “war” in my question. As a researcher I have learned that terms used in a question require definition. “War” can be operationalized in a variety of ways & we can imagine that wars never really end. Some argue we are still fighting the Civil War in this country. Bombing civilians can & should end ASAP.
That’s true in Gaza, Ukraine & also in Burma. Some argue that Burma has been in a perpetual state of war since the British passed the Independence Act of Burma on this day in 1947. At the time, the Prime Minister reported that one of the most difficult problems in framing any constitution for Burma was the position of the tribes of the hill country, the Chins, the Kachins, the Shans, & the Karens. Those groups have been fighting for freedom since Jan 4, 1947. The first step to peace there & elsewhere is to stop bombing. So please work on that.
I have to run, but I wanted to get your take on the chilling quote I saw from General Valery Zaluzhny, in The Economist, where he provided an assessment of Russia as “a feudal state where the cheapest resource is human life. & for us [Ukraine] the most expensive thing we have is our people.”
WINTA!!!
BYBS,
