President Biden has made it official: He’s running again. And there is yet to be a serious challenger to Donald Trump. Is the upcoming race full of undesirable candidates?

Then, politicians seem to agree that that TikTok should be regulated or banned in the U.S. as concern increases over China using the app to spy on Americans. How serious is this threat, and how will people react if it’s prohibited? And music has an ability to bring us together, and country musician Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show takes it as his duty.

In 2005 for The Power Of Truth I first wrote “5 Minutes: On A Robot Becoming Self-aware.”

Now we would all smirk at the term “robot” because we’re all so sophisticated in our Internet technology and software programming.

A guidebook of methods to get people thinking your way.
Or, A checklist for manipulating your readers.
Or, propaganda 101.

It is hard to believe it has been 20 years since America invaded Iraq to depose an evil dictator. On anniversaries like these, you can count on the pundits to recount all the failures of the U.S. military effort without ever acknowledging the immense good our servicemembers accomplished for the Iraqi people. Most of these “armchair generals” have never worn the uniform and have not set foot in the Middle East. For the media, denigrating the war effort, and indirectly the hundreds of thousands of Americans who served there, is great sport. As they did daily during the war the press will breathlessly report even the hint of U.S. failure while completely ignoring the major triumphs of allied forces that continue to reshape the lives of ordinary Iraqis.