Monthly Archives: September 2025

Desire, Happiness, and Recognition: The Characteristic Tensions in Natalie Imbruglia’s Songs

Abstract This essay explores the lyrical and thematic tensions in Natalie Imbruglia’s songs, particularly Wrong Impression (2002), Identify (1999), and Want (2009). These songs articulate the difficulties of reconciling three interlocking desires: wanting intimacy, wanting happiness (for self and other), … Continue reading

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White Paper: Tying Federal Funding of Public Transportation to Safety Performance

Executive Summary Proposal. Linking a portion of federal transit funding to safety benchmarks would create incentives for agencies to reduce violent crime on buses, subways, and light rail. Benchmarks. A comparative look at violent incidents per 1 million unlinked passenger … Continue reading

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White Paper: Implications of Using Interracial Crime Rates as Baselines for Federal Civil-Rights Case Examination

Executive Summary Hate-crime law is motive-driven. Federal civil-rights charges require proof of bias in a specific case. Rates can guide review capacity. Interracial crime rates (e.g., White-on-Black, Black-on-White) can be used as baselines to estimate how many cases merit federal … Continue reading

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White Paper: Consequences and Implications of Israel’s Sept. 9, 2025 Strike on Hamas Leadership in Doha, Qatar

Executive Summary On September 9, 2025, Israel carried out a strike in Doha targeting senior members of Hamas’s political leadership resident in Qatar. Qatar condemned the action as a violation of its sovereignty; early reporting indicated multiple fatalities among associates … Continue reading

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Satire as a Mirror to Ugly Truths: Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks, and the Fragile Power of Laughter

I. Introduction: Why Laughter Stings Satire has always occupied a dangerous space. It is at once a form of entertainment and an act of confrontation. From Aristophanes mocking Athenian politics to Jonathan Swift’s deadpan proposal to eat Irish children, satire … Continue reading

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White Paper: Venezuela’s External and Internal Vulnerabilities amid the Essequibo Crisis and U.S. “Narcoterrorism” Confrontation

Executive summary Venezuela faces a two-front strain. Externally, it is locked in a high-stakes territorial dispute with Guyana over the oil-rich Essequibo, where international law and regional diplomacy run against Caracas’s unilateral moves (including a 2024 law creating a Venezuelan … Continue reading

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White Paper: Space Exploration and Colonization as a Liminal Space for Human Civilization

Executive Summary Space exploration and colonization represent more than technological or scientific frontiers; they constitute a liminal space in the development of human civilization. Liminality—defined as the threshold between two states of being—captures the ambiguous, transitional quality of humanity’s current … Continue reading

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White Paper: The Dark Psychological Arts of Power: Trauma as a Tool of Control and Paths to Liberation

Executive Summary History and psychology alike show how powerful individuals often wield trauma as a weapon against those they consider beneath them. These dynamics span abusive workplaces, political regimes, cults of personality, and even family systems. This paper explores the … Continue reading

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White Paper: The Early Political Speeches of Abraham Lincoln: Foundations of Statesmanship

Executive Summary Abraham Lincoln’s early political speeches—delivered before his presidency—reveal the contours of his moral philosophy, political prudence, and rhetorical style. Among these, the Temperance Address (1842) and the Lyceum Address on the Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions (1838) stand … Continue reading

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White Paper: The End Node Problem: Implications for Life and Security

Executive Summary The “end node problem” describes the inherent vulnerability that arises at the terminal points of systems—whether technological, organizational, or human. In networks, end nodes represent the last link where abstract systems interface with concrete actors. This paper argues … Continue reading

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