Gongol.com Archives: July 2018

Brian Gongol


July 3, 2018

Threats and Hazards Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that Russia really did try to influence the 2016 election

There's no (reasonably) denying Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. There's no (reasonably) denying they're trying the same in 2018. And 2020. And 2022. There's no (reasonably) denying that other states and non-state actors are trying, too.

News Boring politics are good politics

The three key attributes of a good political leader: Curiosity, competence, and humility. (It's that third one that keeps things the right degree of boring.)

News Syrian government wants 5.6 million refugees to come back

To go back would take an act of extraordinary faith in a government that hasn't earned it

News Why are people torching their credibility?

Commentators like Brit Hume are seeking to argue that certain principled conservatives who stood against the election of Donald Trump are now "standing on a shrinking sliver of ground". After Charlottesville, family separations, and a nascent trade war with Canada...if you still think that people like Tim Miller are the problem, then you're the one missing the point.

Threats and Hazards A heart-wrenching attack in Idaho

A refugee child was killed at her own birthday party. As one resident put it, "I felt how defenseless those kids were, and how their parents felt they couldn't protect them in those moments."

Threats and Hazards China is trying to drive a wedge between the US and Europe

The Chinese government is making opportunistic use of President Trump's indefensible trade aggression to try to wedge the US away from historic allies in Europe. It's an opportunistic tactic in service of a very long-term strategy. As Dwight Eisenhower put it: "So we are persuaded by necessity and by belief that the strength of all free peoples lies in unity; their danger, in discord."

Science and Technology Technology is only as good as the people using it

Nebraska State Patrol uses FLIR technology to find and rescue a man who got lost and disoriented in a corn field

Iowa Most photos of fireworks are overrated, but not this one

A spectacular shot of downtown Des Moines


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