A Nail-Biting Documentary About A Potential Event?

Meant to post this a while ago...

"A real-life political thriller set on January 6, 2025, War Game imagines a nation-wide insurrection in which members of the US military defect to support the losing Presidential candidate, while the winning candidate and his advisors—played by an all-star roster of senior officials from the last five administrations—war games the crisis in the White House situation room. They have 6 hours to save democracy as the country teeters on the brink of civil war." 

https://wargamefilm.com/

Vets Voice Foundation https://vvfnd.org/

It has solid reviews and ratings from Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_game_2024 

War Game was showing at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre as part of the Sedona Film Festival Last month. Vicky and I made an overnight trip to see it.

Before the show we dined at Creekside American Bistro https://creeksidesedona.com/

For breakfast we visited the Coffee Pot https://coffeepotsedona.com/

The Death of Expertise, and other problems...

The Death of Expertise explains a lot about our current social and political climate. Tom Nichols wrote this sobering book in 2017. Recent political discussions reminded me I'd always meant to read it. Wish I'd done so six years ago. It contains valuable lessons for the common person young and old, teachers and administrators in higher education, social media producers and consumers, journalist and their publishers, and of course experts who are not above mistake. An updated 2nd edition is due out in April 2024; I've pre-ordered my copy from our local bookseller. This copy is on the way to one of my favorite relatives...

Another Important Read

I recently purchased and read a copy of "Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present" by scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat  I've heard several interviews with her lately and believe she's on to something to which we all must pay careful attention. While many are drawing parallels between our current political climate and 1930s Germany, Ben-Ghiat makes a compelling case that 1920s Italy may be more instructive. 

PS I bought my copy from Peregrine Book Company. If we want local we must buy local.

Minding My Media Diet

We need to be careful to select a balanced selection of news from a variety of sources...

click on image to embiggen

I've been lazy about the news portion of my podcast feed and ended up with mostly NPR programming.  NPR news is highly rated as neutral and reliable, but bias runs from evident to annoying through their analysis programming.

Fresh Air

1A

On The Media

FiveThirtyEight The notorious Nate Silver and the gang are great fun to listen to, but once the Inauguration is complete their work is about done until the 2024 campaigns begin...

Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast Brian is about as out left as I care to go.  As soon his greatest fear - that Trump will steal the election - is put to rest I'll be retiring him.

I have decided to deliberately select some well-regarded conservative sources for listening. I'm looking for traditional conservatives who regard the aberrant Donald Trump presidency with something between disdainful tedium and Never Trump loathing.

The Editors, A National Review podcast is about as sensible as I hoped it might be.

The McCarthy Report, A National Review podcast is perhaps a little too indulgent of Trump campaign's legal hijinks, but the analysis is sharp.

The Reason Roundtable is populated by libertarians and would be anarchists. More amusing than thought-provoking so far. 

Many (too many) people I know seem to have selected news sources that make them the most comfortable in whatever bubble they have chosen to reside in.  If we're not at least a little uncomfortable with some things we hear we are probably playing it too safe by avoiding cognitive dissonance at all costs.

Good Advice

An important little book...

"Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now" by Jaron Lanier, is not a perfect book, but it is an important book. I recommend it, especially to those least likely to read it or heed its advice.