1) Project Apollo cost ~$300 billion in today’s US dollars. Was putting a man on the moon worth the expense?
The race to the moon was “a contest of political ideologies” between the US and the USSR (source: NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine). Was this expensive advertising campaign worth it? Were the impressive collateral technological benefits worth it? Would spending those funds directly on needed technologies, like most corporations do, been more efficient? Would a similar expense today (eg, putting a man on Mars before China does) gather sufficient public support?
2) Low voter turnout in both US and Canada
Why is it that voter turnout in Canada is even below the level for the United States, placing both countries far below European levels? (See reports of Pew Research Center, of which the following should lead to a list of several)
November 3rd:
A) Should Social Media Companies Pay for Outbound News Links?
After Canada and Australia imposed a news link tax, Meta banned news links in Canada (coming soon to Australia and potentially other countries like France, Germany, etc). Canadian news companies have faced declines in online traffic, engagement, and revenue. Newspapers could've stopped this industry disruption started by Craiglist in 1995, but they greedily valued short term profits over long term survival.
B) Why Is It Important to Preserve Traditional Handcrafts / Artisanry?
Time was, a small group could produce most of their needs for daily life -- food, clothing, tools, transportation. That era is gone -- so why preserve our ancestors' skills? What's in it for us? From fly-tying to breadmaking to carpentry to lace-making: how to preserve traditional artisanry? What's your contribution?
C) Should Foodbanks Provide for 1st Year International Students?
“The Greater Vancouver Food Bank says they are not providing food to international students in their first year, which is awful,” said Jaskaran Singh, an international student activist with Team We Care Canada. He says the policy makes life harder for students new to the country who may lack resources and support. “If we want to help international students, this is the one thing we can get rid of,” he said. City of Vancouver Coun. Adrian Carr says the policy is problematic. “The Vancouver Food Bank has this policy saying, well, they are supposed to have some money saved, so we are not going to give them or allow them to get food for a year,” she said. According to federal guidelines, international students applying for a study permit this year have to show they have access to just over $20,000 to qualify.
D) Will MAGA Republicans Cheat?
How Republicans win presidential elections, according to the factual record: They cheat. This has been true in most elections in recent American history, as I’ll detail below. But let’s start with a few examples from this election. Last week, young voters in Wisconsin (it’s not known how many) received a text message that read: “WARNING: Violating WI Statutes 12.13 & 6.18 may result in fines up to $10,000 or 3.5 years in prison. Don’t vote in a state where you’re not eligible.” Those are sections of Wisconsin law that refer to absentee voting and the consequences of election fraud, but they could have been about jaywalking.
E) Should Elon Musk Actually Go to Jail?
Wondering whether or not Elon Musk’s little election giveaway stunt—wherein the richest man in the world has pledged to give $1 million a day to petition-signing registered voters, as part his attempt to get Donald Trump elected—is legal? Wonder no longer! It very likely is not, according to the Department of Justice, which got in touch with Musk this week. In a letter sent days after he announced the sweepstakes, Robert Heberle, the head of the DOJ’s election crimes branch, told Musk that offering anything of monetary value to influence voters violates federal law. (The letter was first reported by the “24sight” newsletter and has been confirmed by other news outlets.) The letter reportedly “did not specify any immediate legal action” but “did spell out the penalties for breaking US voting laws, including possible imprisonment of up to five years.”
F) Do negative outcomes prove current discrimination?
Eg, in the US, Black people are killed by police at a higher rate than other groups. E.g., the Issues4Life Foundation, a faith-based organization that works with African-American leaders toward achieving the goal of "zero African-American lives lost to abortion or biotechnology" wrote to the Congressional Black Caucus to denounce Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its "racist and eugenic goals." The group blamed PPFA and abortion providers in general for the high abortion rate in the African-American community—deeming the situation the "Da[r]fur of America"—and called on Congress to withdraw federal family planning funds from all PPFA affiliates.