Free Speech on social media, religious liberty, NCAA, Obamacare, the Voting Rights Act, and warrantless searches in homes -- these are just a handful of cases from the Court's docket during its 2020-21 Term.
*********** Well, it's that time of the year again -- as the Court wraps up its 2020-21 Term, a series of important decisions will be handed down in the waning days.
As always, we'll be discussing these cases from a prism of political or public policy lenses. No prior legal experience, or a comprehensive understanding of the Constitution or the Supreme Court jurisprudence is required.
That being said, we'll discuss the following cases:
▨ Fulton v. Philadelphia Issue: Does the government violate the First Amendment by conditioning a religious agency’s ability to participate in the foster care system on taking actions and making statements that directly contradict the agency’s religious beliefs? (Yes)
For this meeting, we'll read and discuss the unclassified Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. A PDF copy of the report can be accessed here:
Based on the report, let's evaluate the following points:
• The origins of the Pentagon's covert Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF).
• Did you find the highly inconclusive nature of the report to be unsatisfactory and outright disappointing?
• Does the report raise more questions than answer them?
• What do you believe were the government's motive to release the report now?
**************** Although we typically shy away from speculations and we never engage in entertaining wild conspiracy theories, we'll allow some latitude for this meeting, to the extent it's directly related to the Preliminary Assessment report.
************** IMPORTANT: If you wish to attend the discussion, we strongly recommend that you complete the reading assignment. Given that this meetup is being announced well over a month in advance, we hope it will give you enough time to read and familiarize yourself with the book.
If using Zoom for the first time, please download the app. It's free and only takes a few minutes to complete.
You'll receive a link to the Zoom videoconference one day before the Meetup.
********************* We'll continue discussing the coronavirus pandemic. For the Eighth Session, we'll discuss whether this pandemic is a preview of what's to come if the current projections of climate change turns out to be true.
To that end, below is what we've discovered so far from the pandemic -- and these are the important questions that our society must rigorously examine:
• This pandemic has revealed the sobering reality of the true limits and vulnerabilities of human nature and our technology vs. the mightiness and dangers of the natural world.
• The potential reemergence of "prehistoric" plagues from rapid melting of the Arctic ice. This pandemic has revealed that our immune systems are highly vulnerable to any "novel" pathogens.
Based on the reading, here are some questions and themes for our discussion:
▨ The emergence of the Italian renaissance, its reigning rulers of the period, and the governing system.
▨ A brief biography of Machiavelli.
▨ The intended audience and meaning of The Prince.
▨ The analysis and interpretation of The Prince.
▨ The applicability of political principles and theories stemming from The Prince.
▨ The wide-ranging influence of The Prince -- from the revolutionaries, controversial theorists, dictators, to modern politicians.
IMPORTANT: If you wish to attend, it is strongly recommended that you read the text, as the discussion will primarily be based from the reading assignment. Many copies are available on line, including at the following link: https://www.constitut...
- A secret agreement reached between the governments of Britain, France and Israel, later to be known as the "Protocol of Sèvres" (https://en.wikipedia....)
"The NYC Political Forum"