Tag Archives: Political Conflict

Fox’s Sizzling Bazookas

Dominion Voting Systems’s filings for its motion for summary judgment included incredible smoking gun evidence that Fox News and its parent, Fox Corporation, knowingly published false statements with wild allegations about Dominion’s supposed role in promoting voter fraud in the 2020 election. The court’s ruling on the motion last week was much more damning than Dominion’s … Continue reading Fox’s Sizzling Bazookas

AI, ADR, and Anxiety

This post started as a response to Jen Reynolds’s comment about my Avatar Mediation post.  It has grown into this new post about AI generally, growing anxiety about it and the state of the world, and how we can manage this anxiety. AI Risks . . . and Potential Benefits Jen wrote, “I hope that … Continue reading AI, ADR, and Anxiety

Fox’s Smoking Gun

Black’s Law Dictionary definition of “smoking gun” could be Dominion Voting System’s brief supporting its motion for summary judgment against Fox “News.” Dominion’s argument is summed up in a Washington Post headline, “Fox News feared losing viewers by airing truth about election, documents show.  ‘Everything at stake here,’ billionaire founder Rupert Murdoch wrote to a … Continue reading Fox’s Smoking Gun

How Can We Reduce Hyper-Polarization?

Heidi and Guy Burgess have long focused on how society – and our field – can deal with intractable conflicts.  They publish a newsletter, Beyond Intractability, that includes lots of thoughtful articles about this. The latest issue features an article they co-authored with Sanda Kaufman, Applying Conflict Resolution Insights to the Hyper-Polarized, Society-Wide Conflicts Threatening … Continue reading How Can We Reduce Hyper-Polarization?

A Long, Hard Road to “Yes”

Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $392 billion of federal investments in energy and climate policies, reflects a complex political evolution over recent decades, as described in this Washington Post article. Multiple Political Changes The bill was adopted on a purely party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans opposed. … Continue reading A Long, Hard Road to “Yes”

Case Study of Negotiations with Honey and Vinegar, Carrots and Sticks

Last week, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi completed an impressive campaign of negotiations to be elected speaker of the House of Representatives. This post provides an account of this campaign, synthesized from news accounts listed at the end. One of the articles described Ms. Pelosi’s approach as being like honey, compared with President Trump’s vinegar strategy.  … Continue reading Case Study of Negotiations with Honey and Vinegar, Carrots and Sticks

Bernie Mayer’s Great Blog – Staying with Conflict During this Crazy Election

GFOI Bernie Mayer has a wonderful blog, Staying with Conflict – the Election Edition 2016. Our political discourse is a far cry from what we learned in high school civics class.  Past elections have displayed serious problems of misrepresentation, fearmongering, and evasion of serious discussion of critical issues.  But it is so much worse this … Continue reading Bernie Mayer’s Great Blog – Staying with Conflict During this Crazy Election