Scott Miller

At Steven K’s suggestion, we’ll discuss small modular reactors (SMRs) and their role in combatting climate change. He provided a YouTube link with a brief description of how these systems work and, if I recall correctly, some pros and cons. This particular link isn’t my favorite (I found the presenter distracting) but, through the magic of YouTube’s recommendation technology, there are lots of other SMR video choices available nearby. Here’s another possibility.

I assume we’ll also spend some time more broadly discussing the relative merits of nuclear vs. wind vs. solar power (and, maybe, hydro, etc.).

The Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States submitted its report to the President earlier this month. The Commission was formed in April 2021 to analyze the principal arguments for and against Supreme Court reform.

On Monday, we’ll discuss the report (all 294 pages, so think twice before hitting “Print”) and our own thoughts on the pros and cons of the various reform initiatives evaluated. Here’s a link to the whitehouse.gov page describing the Commission itself.

This Op-Ed piece in the New York Times prompted this week’s topic, which is something like:

Has the recent evolution of our political and cultural views changed our views on the role of “manliness” in American society? Assuming we think so, how so? What’s good about this evolution? What’s not so good?

The above NYT piece starts with a reference to an address by Senator Josh Hawley on “The Left’s Attack on Men in America” [video and transcript].

Here are links to three other articles on the Hawley speech (or related subject matter):

• Politico: “Why Republicans Can’t Stop Talking About Masculinity” [link, PDF]
• The Independent (UK): “Madison Cawthorn calls for mothers to raise ‘monster’ men in terrifying speech against ‘demasculation'” [link, PDF]
• Axios: “Sen. Josh Hawley defends speech on porn and video games” [link, PDF]