National Security, Politics, Religion, Social Justice and Critical Thinking

After two years the Special Counsel's report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election is complete. The report contains almost 400 pages therefore having the ability to search for specific names or subjects is very helpful. See the link to the left to download the report.

This is a continuation of an interview with Paul Greenberg conducted on August 22, 2018

Paul Greenberg's partial transcript.

"If you turn on your TV at night and you go to a cable station, you’re probably going to see somebody who is white more than you’ll see somebody who is black, or Latino, or Hispanic, or Asian, or whatever. We have a lot of different types of people in America, yet the people that are putting forth the information to all the people are generally white males. I see that as a real problem. I think that the networks are owned and operated by white males. I think the power base is among the white male population, and I think that these white males—particularly those that have been in the industry for a really long time— like the status quo. These days, media has changed so much and there are so many different kinds of media that some of the media organizations that may not be the major ones are owned and operated and produced by millennials. So that's a whole different story. So what we see 10 to 15 years from now might be quite different than what we are seeing now. But you’re still going to see a lot of white-haired white males on TV, right? If I am a black person in America, or an Asian, or Hispanic, or whatever, why do I constantly have to get my information from a white male? Where are the rest of the people? So, I see that as a real ethical problem." #culturaldiversity #diversityinmedia #questioneverything

Here is a sample of the transcript from Paul Greenberg's interview about ethics and bias in the media.

"Starting about 1980, that's when CNN went on the air, we had a 24-hour news cycle. When you have a 24-hour news cycle—if you can sort of fast-forward all these years later and you have all these different platforms in which the information can reach the audience—you have to fill up those 24 hours. So therein lies the reason that several years ago, the lines between entertainment and news blurred, and now they are fully blurred. So when the consumer tunes in to wherever they tune in to to get the news, they are expecting to be stimulated. We have to stimulate the consumer every minute and that means that sometimes some of what comes across is going to be more opinion. It's going to be more one-sided than it would've been, and that led to the rise of these networks that you mention, like FOX, for the sort of far- right group, and MSNBC for the far-left group. And now we are in a situation where people absolutely expect that. On the other hand, they really object to it. You hear people say journalism is dead. Journalism is not dead. Journalism is in transition." #mediabias #mediaethics #24hrnews

Retired Colonel, Ann Wright, is one of three persons in the U.S. State Department to resign in protest against the Iraq War. At the time, opposing the invasion of Iraq was considered to be anti-American. Today, experts widely recognize that the 2003 Iraq invasion contributed to the instability in the Middle East and fueled the rise of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS). Regarding political dissent, many people make the argument that we should simply listen to our leaders, without question. They maintain that our leaders have access to more information than we do and therefore, say that we should trust them. In this podcast, Colonel Wright shares her thoughts on the issue, grounded in her personal experience in the United States military and the U.S. State Department. #dissentinamerica #dissent

The American people are very resilient, and strong people. We got kicked, but we weren't knocked down. We were woken up. And I’ll tell you right now. If you don’t understand the difference between politics and national security, you’re going to be Putin’s best customer. Pull yourself out of your Republican mindset, pull yourself out of the Democratic mindset, that independent mindset, and put yourself in the American mindset. We are all in this together. If we can’t extract ourselves from politics and understand this is a legitimate, black operation and attack on United States values, then Putin wins and we lose. #TrumpRussia #RussianMeddling #RussianActiveMeasures