Beyond Labels

A 360° Discussion of Foreign, National and Local Policy Issues

Scott Miller

Biden’s Supreme Court Choice

January 30, 2022
1 Comment

With Stephen Breyer’s retirement, President Biden now has his first opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice. This has sparked a flurry of “news” about the perceived front-runners for the appointment, about how fast Biden should move (to avoid another Merrick Garland incident), about whether it’s appropriate to make (and fulfill) a campaign pledge to appoint a justice based on race and gender, among many other angles and considerations.

Here are some links (with PDFs available) provided by Peter S.

Racial Preference and Affirmative Action

NYT Opinion on Affirmative Action [PDF]

(And there have been a lot of other Affirmative Action op-eds in the last week, given the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the Students for Fair Admissions cases. Supply your favorite in the comments.)

What is “Black”?

A data point re: Barack Obama: His March 2008 speech at the Constitution Center (and a bonus musical celebration of his diversity)

One Candidate to Consider

Leondra Kruger

Maybe we’ll do “ethics” (government and business) again next week…

Jan 24: Demise of Local Newspapers

January 12, 2022
5 Comments

After taking a week off (the Library is closed for the MLK Federal holiday), we’ll discuss the implications of the declining number of local news outlets (newspapers, etc.) on our society.

Here’s an Atlantic article that brought the topic to the top of our “to do” list: A Secretive Hedge Fund is Gutting Newspapers. (It’s long! Don’t hit “print” unless you really mean to.)

We have almost two weeks to flesh out the topic.

Also: Here’s a link to the transcript/podcast that Marion promised us earlier this week. (She had encouraged us to listen to Ian Bremmer’s “Top Risks” report for 2020.)

Jan 3: Small Modular Reactors

January 2, 2022
2 Comments

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.).

  • Subscribe via Email

    Receive email notification of new posts/announcements about our weekly meeting.

    Join 244 other subscribers

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    • Copyright © 2013-2025 D. Scott Miller