If “all the world’s a stage,” the last thing we need is more drama.
A community for the civil exchange of ideas and opinions.
No trolls, no bots, no comments section.
Just thought-provoking questions and thoughtful answers.
What’s up with the icons? How each generation consumed music as young adults serves an indicator of their “location” in the flow of recent history. Rather than labeling a contributor “GenX or Millennial,” the icons provide context without distracting from the comments… Read more
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Q: HEV or EV?
“People are finally seeing reality.”
– Akio Toyoda, Toyota Chairman
Toyota has been roundly criticized for its go-slow EV strategy emphasizing Hybrid models over EV models. EV sales have slowed significantly after an initial burst of interest in EV cars. EV charging infrastructure challenges, higher pricing, and questions challenging how green are EVs have contributed to the decline in sales.
Moreover, major auto companies are cutting back production of EVs and Electric Trucks and increasing production of hybrids. In 2023, HEVs accounted for 8.3% of U.S. car sales, and EVs accounted for 6.9% of U.S. car sales. The Biden administration is pushing with regulatory changes to get more EVs on the road as soon as possible.
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Q: Two, Three, or More Candidates for 2024?
“Which one of the three candidates would you want your daughter to marry?”
– Ross Perot
1992 was the last presidential election with a significant third candidate challenge for the White House. In the end, Ross Perot received 18.9% of the popular vote, over 19 million votes, but no electoral college votes. Bill Clinton won with over 44 million votes and 370 electoral votes over George Bush.
For the 2024 election, independent, third-party, and primary challengers are lined up to run for the United States Presidency. According to Pew, support for more political parties is higher among voters under 50.
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Q: 2024? Phillips v. Haley
“If not us, who? If not now, when?”
– John F. Kennedy
According to a Pew Research analysis, 49% of Americans want a president in their 50s. Dean Phillips is 54, and Nikki Haley is 51. Respectively, they each have two children. Respectively, Biden and Trump have seven and ten grandchildren.
Nikki Haley served as governor of South Carolina for six years and as the Ambassador to the United Nations for one year. Dean Phillips has served in the U.S. House for four years and has voted with Biden 100 percent of the time.
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Q: Community Colleges – Not Appreciated?
“I wanted to race cars…[but]…I decided to take education more seriously and go to a community college”
– George Lucas
Over one thousand public and private community colleges in the United States enroll over six million credit-seeking students. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, of the six million students, 27 percent are Hispanic, 12 percent are Black, and 45 percent are White. They are an essential gateway to a four-year college and higher-paying professional careers.
Good news just out this week: community college enrollment grew 4.4% this past year and accounted for 58.9% of the increase in all undergraduates. This cut against the declining enrollment trend of community colleges before the pandemic, when community colleges saw a 14.4% decline between 2010 and 2017.
…READ MOREIllustration by Shannon Bodeau/Aragon Outlook
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Q: Prioritize Major Donors or Free Speech?
“You can’t have a university without having free speech.”
– Donna Shalala, President University of Miami, 2001-2015
Recent events in Israel have put America’s elite universities – and the price of free speech on campus – under a spotlight.
High-profile donors have recently announced that they are no longer donating to universities like Harvard and UPenn, citing inadequate support for Israel, inadequate public condemnation of Hamas, and/or tacit support of pro-Palestinian student groups after the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel.
…READ MOREPhoto by Vitaly Taranov
I have to drive over 75 miles each way to work. Where I live, there are very few charging stations. I cannot rely on finding one when I have to get to work on time and get back to pick up my kids. I’ll keep my regular car.
Hybrids are great! I don’t have to worry about a charging station, and I almost never go to the gas station. How great is that? We should all move to hybrids before we go to electric. EVs are for rich people who have more than one car.
I’m never going to buy an EV. I just rented one. Actually, I was forced to rent one. It was a horrible experience. I couldn’t find charging stations, and when I did, it took forever for me to get back on the road. I’ll wait until everyone else has worked out the problems.