DARE TO KNOW! Podcast, Philosophy of Immanuel Kant Series, ##1-7.

#7: “Kant and the Foundations of Analytic Philosophy” (with Robert Hanna)—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgvje1et2BQ

#6: “Kant on Religion & Rational Faith” (with Lawrence Pasternack)—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvzOuIfE1WM

#5: “Business Ethics: A Kantian Perspective” (with Norman Bowie)—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGfHHaSR0U0

#4: “Kant on Reason, Authority, & Autonomy” (with Onora O'Neill)—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zzt8lVNVcE

#3: “Kant on Anthropology, Human Nature, & Education” (with Robert Louden)—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vcL70fReG8

#2: “Kant’s ‘Sensibility First’ Approach & The Affect of Reason” (with Robert Hanna)-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_etgTmp-wc

#1: “Interpreting Kant & the Three Faces of Kant” (with Robert Hanna)-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inv84W0GOZA

Robert Hanna

Director, The Contemporary Kantian Philosophy Project: HERE

Editor, Contemporary Studies in Kantian Philosophy: HERE

Independent philosopher:

http://colorado.academia.edu/RobertHanna

Honor JOHN LEWIS by restoring the Voting Rights Act. PATRICK LEAHY.

My wife Marcelle and I were in tears when we heard the news about Congressman John Lewis' passing.

He was a dear friend and mentor -- but not just to me. He was an American hero and a lodestar to us all.

It was an honor to work alongside John Lewis for so many years in Congress, especially on issues close to both of our hearts. I am the author and chief sponsor of the Voting Rights Advancement Act (the Senate's leading bill to restore the Voting Rights Act), and John was a leading supporter of the House's counterpart bill.

In honor of John Lewis' exceptional life and legacy, we must pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore the Voting Rights Act, crucial legislation that John Lewis fought to pass. Add your name here now to urge the Senate to take a vote on and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

ADD YOUR NAME »

It's long past time that we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The House bill H.R. 4 passed the House in December, and because of Mitch McConnell, it has sat untouched, gathering dust in the Senate since then.

I appreciate the kind words Senator McConnell has shared about John Lewis, but it isn't even close to enough. The only action worthy of John Lewis' life of service is to pass the reauthorization.

Recently, I reintroduced the Voting Rights Advancement Act and named it the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act after John, who was my partner in restoring the Voting Rights Act for many years.

Please add your name next to mine to urge Mitch McConnell to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in honor of Congressman John Lewis and his lifelong commitment to combating voter suppression.

Thank you for signing on to support my friend, my colleague, and my hero John Lewis.

Sincerely,

Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senator

ADD YOUR NAME »

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION: Calls for Proposals: The AAPT-APA Teaching Hub at the 2021 Central Division meeting.

Dear DAVID, The APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP) and the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) invite proposals for Teaching Hub sessions at the 2021 Central Division meeting in New Orleans, LA, February 24–27. Note: Currently, all three APA divisions are planning to hold in-person meetings in 2021. At the same time, we are also considering alternative formats, such as virtual meetings, as contingencies in the case that our usual meeting format becomes impossible. Though external forces like the ongoing pandemic affect and inform our plans, your participation is the most critical input for planning any meeting. If you are considering submitting a proposal, we encourage you to do so. The AAPT-APA Teaching Hub is a series of interactive workshops and conversations designed specifically for philosophers and created to celebrate teaching within the context of the APA divisional meetings. Jointly organized by the CTP and the AAPT, the Teaching Hub aims to offer a range of high-quality and inclusive development opportunities that address the teaching of philosophy at all levels, pre-college through graduate school. Please consider submitting a proposal for one of more of the following sessions at the 2021 Central Division meeting by September 1: Antiracist Pedagogies: Black Lives Matter in the Classroom This session will explore the teaching of philosophy in this time of nationwide protests against police brutality and extra-legal state violence, in which a novel pandemic virus has brought to mainstream attention the 400-year-old pandemic of structural racism in the United States. Collaborative Assignments and Community in Online Classes This session will be an interactive workshop on methods to bring about learning communities and collaborative work in online course environments. Graduate Voices in Teaching Philosophy This session will focus on ways to transform the current practices surrounding being a Teaching Assistant. Teaching Existentialism Today This session will explore unique ways to approach existentialism through incorporating existentialist texts at all levels of philosophical instruction. The complete calls for proposals are available on the APA website. Teaching Hub Poster Sessions Each Teaching Hub includes a poster session and reception featuring both independent work by undergraduate students and innovative work in the teaching of philosophy by faculty and graduate students. If you have something of your own to share with your colleagues—a new teaching technique, course proposal, assessment strategy, in-class activity, or SoTL research finding—please consider submitting an abstract to one of the Teaching Hub poster sessions by August 15. Please also encourage undergraduates who have completed independent work in philosophy this past academic year and undergraduates who are working on summer research projects in philosophy currently to submit an abstract to one of the Teaching Hub poster sessions by November 15. For general information about the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub, please visit the AAPT website and the CTP webpage. For specific information about the Teaching Hub at the 2021 Central Division meeting in New Orleans, LA, please contact Claire Lockard (clockard@luc.edu). We look forward to receiving your proposals. All the best, David W. Concepción Chair, APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy P.S. Please note that all APA meeting participants are required to register for each meeting they attend.

The American Philosophical Association University of Delaware 31 Amstel Avenue, Newark, DE 19716

REMEMBERING TRUMPS DISGRACE: ARTICLES AND POSTS FROM HIS IMPEACHMENT. BREAKING DOWN THE MUELLER REPORT...EXONERATES NO ONE, ANSWERS NOTHING. PT 2.

The introduction addresses the nature of the RUSSIAN INVOLVEMENT, AND POSSIBLE "COLLUSION" WITH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN.

TEXT FROM THE REPORT:
"As set forth in detail in this report, the Special Counsel's investigation established that Russia interfere~ in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."
END TEXT.

How can we make sense of this? At one point, the report comments about the contacts between the TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AND THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT: "The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign."
Yet, at another point, it seems to exonerate the TRUMP CAMPAIGN with the following: "...the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

Further Down, we see the reasoning used in evaluating any CRIMINAL LIABILITY THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN MAY HAVE, INVOLVING THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS ACTIVITIES TO INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. IT IS HERE THAT WE FIND OUT HOW MUCH OF A "WITCH HUNT" THIS INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN. THE TRUTH MAY SUPRISE YOU. 

TEXT FROM THE REPORT.
1) "In evaluating whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of "collusion." In so doing, the Office recognized that the word "collud[ e ]" was used in communications with the Acting Attorney General confirming certain aspects of the investigation's scope and that the term has frequently been invoked in public reporting about the investigation. 2) But collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law. For those reasons, the Office's focus in analyzing questions of joint criminal liability was on conspiracy as defined in federal law. In connection with that analysis, 3) we addressed the factual question whether members of the Trump Campaign "coordinat[ ed]"-a term that appears in the appointment order-with Russian election interference activities. Like collusion,4) "coordination" does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. We understood "coordination" to require an agreement-tacit or express- between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference. 
5) That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests. We applied the term coordination in that sense when stating in the report that the investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." 

END TEXT.

THE NUMBERS 1-5 ABOVE CORRESPOND WITH THOSE BELOW, IN GIVING A BASIC INTERPRETATION OF THE MEANING OF THE ABOVE TEXT.

1) THE POPULAR TERM "COLLUSION" HAS NO BASIS IN LAW, THE LAW REGARDING "CONSPIRACY" WAS USED.

 2) JOINT CRIMINAL LIABILITY WAS DETERMINED BY THE FEDERAL LAW REGARDING "CONSPIRACY."

3) DETERMINED WHETHER OR NOT MEMBERS OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN "COORDINATED" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS INTERFERENCE ACTIVITIES.

4) THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL COUNCEL DECIDED THAT TO ACCUSE THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN OF "COORDINATING" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN BOTH BODIES, "TACIT OR EXPRESS." 

5)"That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests."

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? A MEMBER OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COULD HAVE ENGAGED IN "CONSPIRITORIAL CONDUCT" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AND/OR AFFILIATED INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS, BUT IF IT WAS NOT DONE AT THE EXPRESS ORDER OF THE CAMPAIGN ITSELF, with the approval of the Russian Government, NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED.

CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE, HERE IS WHAT IT MEANS: THAT NO ONE IN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN IS EXONERATED. BY THIS VERY NARROW DEFINITION, ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP IN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COULD HAVE "CONSPIRED" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, OR ANYONE WORKING ON BEHALF OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, AND AS LONG AS THERE WAS NO EXPRESS AGREEMENT AMONG BOTH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, THE FINDING WOULD BE THAT OF NO "COLLUSION" OR NO "CONSPIRACY."

THIS IS A TRAVESTY. IT LITERALLY GIVES INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS A FREE PASS TO HAVE COMMITTED ELECTION FRAUD, AS LONG AS THE "LEADERSHIP" DID NOT FORMALLY APPROVE IT.