Oscar Winner Jon Voight Recreates Benjamin Franklin's "Prayer Speech"

Very recommendable! Rarely in history was there ever such a meeting of great minds than in 1776 or in 1787 in Philadelphia!

(256) Oscar Winner Jon Voight Recreates Ben Franklin's "Prayer Speech" | The White House Founders Museum - YouTube

How the Ukraine is driving the advances in drone/robot warfare with a very young defense minister

Food for thought!

What are ABC weapons? Actually, the acronym should be now AABC weapons. Atomic, autonomous, biological and chemical weapons!

The defense minister of the Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov is only 35 years old! He promotes the "war of the machines"! The President of the Ukraine Volodymyr Selensky is a comedian, his wife Olena Zelenska is a screenwriter. What a historical meeting of the minds!

"Ukraine’s 35-year-old defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov is pushing the military to adopt AI-powered autonomous weapons as leverage to force Russia toward settlement. The tech entrepreneur, four months into the role after leading government digitization, believes warfare should be progressively offloaded to machines: “autonomous weapons are the new nuclear weapons.”

AI currently assists with drone target recognition; Fedorov envisions unmanned systems fighting entirely without soldiers in the kill zone.

His strategy—Air, Land, Economy—aims to intercept 95 percent of incoming Russian strikes, attrit Russian forces faster than they can be replaced, and cripple the Russian economy.

Traditional commanders have pushed back, questioning whether the vision disconnects from battlefield reality, though frontline brigades have largely embraced the technology.

Fedorov is also monetizing Ukraine’s war data, including over five million annotated drone videos, through Avenger Labs, licensing it to allied companies to train AI models on the condition that Ukraine receives the resulting systems. ..."

Data Points: Anthropic passes OpenAI in business adoption

Enter the Killer Robots: The Ukrainian Forging the Future of Warfare (behind paywall)

Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov (Source)

The Kings College Alum Who Helped Write the Declaration of Independence

What a rare meeting of great minds it was about 250 years ago!

"On June 11, 1776, with the American Revolution raging, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia and appointed five men to draft a statement declaring a break from Great Britain. This group, known as the Committee of Five, comprised lawyer and lead author Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia; lawyer John Adams, of Massachusetts; Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania; judge Roger Sherman, of Connecticut; and lawyer Robert Livingston 1765KC, of New York.

Though only twenty-nine, four years younger than even the rising star Jefferson, Livingston was chosen for his legal acumen. His insights informed the document’s litany of abuses charged to King George III and its conclusion that “a Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” The colonies adopted the text, soon to be known as the Declaration of Independence, on July 4, and fifty-six delegates signed it.

But Livingston, recalled to New York to draft the state constitution with his law partner, John Jay 1764KC, and his friend Gouverneur Morris 1768KC, missed the signing ceremony, and his name does not appear on the parchment. ..."

The Columbia-Educated Lawyer Who Helped Write the Declaration of Independence | Columbia Magazine "Robert Livingston 1765KC may have missed the document’s official signing, but his anti-tyranny legal philosophy still resonates today."

Declaration of Independence authors Adams, Sherman, Livingston, Jefferson, and Franklin.

Margaret Thatcher at 100 | Honoring the Iron Lady and Her Friendship with Ronald Reagan

This was indeed a very special relationship! Plus there was the Polish Pope John Paul II. It was a rare meeting of great minds! It was an episode in human history of great accomplishments like none other in recent memory!

Peace with Syria’s jihadist regime is dangerous, Israel must reject it - opinion. Really!

Yes, Israel attempts at peace were betrayed several times by extremist Arab terrorists over many decades!

However, great moments in history or meetings of great minds are rare! We may just be witnessing a deep transformation of the Middle East towards a more lasting peace and cooperation between Arabs and Israelis. See also my today's blog post on this subject here, here.

The new (temporary?) leader of Syria deserves a chance! It is an opportunity to good to pass up with too much pessimism!

The naysayers come out of the woodwork! The author of this opinion piece is the "CEO of 12Tribe Films Foundation". Perhaps, he needs to review his tribal instincts!

Peace with Syria’s jihadist regime is dangerous, Israel must reject it | The Jerusalem Post (by Avi Abelow) "Why Israel should not trust Syria’s new leadership, or the peace being promised - opinion, Every time Israel has traded land for peace with enemies still committed to our destruction, we have paid in blood."

The author Avi Abelow

John Dickinson: An American Liberal and Founding Father

Recommendable! One of the lesser known Founding Fathers and Mothers!

Rarely in history do you find such a great meeting of the minds like during the founding of the United States!

It is Memorial Day weekend!

John Dickinson: An American Liberal Deep in History | Acton Institute

Honi soit qui mal y pense!

An Evening with President Lech Walesa - Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Former President of Poland

He is a hero! Age 81!

Rarely in history you have such a meeting of great and courageous minds like Lech Walesa, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher (the Iron Lady), and Pope John Paul II (the Polish Pope).

An Evening with President Lech Walesa - Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Former President of Poland

The strong positive influence of social media on teenagers like feeling more connected to friends and to express creativity

Social media are a digital meeting place of minds!

As almost always it is about individual choices and responsibility! The earlier teenagers learn about this, the better.

As usual, the many warnings, alarmism, and hysteria about social media are exaggerated! More superstition than anything else!

"While the government tries to pass legislation aiming to change teens’ experience online, a new study from Pew Research shows that some teens find social media to be a positive influence. According to the study, 74% of U.S. teens said social media makes them feel more connected to their friends, and 63% said that online platforms give them a place to express their creativity."

Techcrunch newsletter

Social media is not wholly terrible for teen mental health, study says

Teens, Social Media and Mental Health "Most teens credit social media with feeling more connected to friends. Still, roughly 1 in 5 say social media sites hurt their mental health, and growing shares think they harm people their age"

When two famous business leaders, one from India, the other one from Japan, met in 1893

Great history unfolds during meetings of the minds!

"It was in 2014 when Indian business tycoon Ratan Tata, who recently passed away at the age of 86, wrote for Nikkei's long-running autobiographical series. While those stories unfortunately are no longer available online, I found them in old newspaper archives and noted with great interest how the arc of his life, both in private and business circles, was closely tied to the development of the Indian economy.

While reading the series, I was fascinated to learn that the Tata Group, founded in 1868, the first year of Japan's Meiji era, has deep historical ties with Japan. Tata's founder, Ratan's great-grandfather [Jamshedji Tata

], known as the father of Indian industry, met with Eiichi Shibusawa, the father of Japanese capitalism [and a great philanthropist] (and now featured on Japan's 10,000 yen note), in 1893 to establish the first regular shipping routes between the two countries. ..."

History lessons from leaders

Jamshedji Tata (1839-1904)

Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931) "Visiting the Yoiku-in, a welfare center in Tokyo, the Yoiku-in was dedicated to helping the sick and in need." (Source)

Poles remember saint Pope John Paul II

Without him there would have been no Solidarność or it would have been less effective! Without him, President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher the Cold War and the Soviet Union empire would have lasted longer. One of those rare moments in history were a meeting of the minds has profound positive consequences.

President Reagan and Friends: Pope John Paul II

Recommendable!
These are rare moments in history when great minds meet and think alike! But with President Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Prime Minister Thatcher, and Lech Walesa such a moment was witnessed and human progress was advanced!

Thought Travels Far

Zeebrugge In Belgium

My Wife and I were recently having dinner at a chain restaurant in our neighborhood here in Phoenix, Arizona. We had never dinner at this place before. During our dinner I noticed old posters decorating the walls of the restaurant.

One poster in particular caught my attention. It was a 1920s advertisement for the beach resort Zeebrugge in Belgium. I was thinking to myself why on earth would be such non spectacular poster of a Belgium see resort being shown in an American chain restaurant. If I am not mistaken, Zeebrugge is not even famous as a beach resort.

Nieuwpoort In Belgium

A day after my birthday, an old friend in Germany called me on the phone to congratulate me and told me that he and his wife just came back from a two day trip to Brussels and Nieuwpoort. My friend had never told or mentioned to me before about their trip. I believe this was also their first or may be second trip ever to Belgium. It so happens that Nieuwpoort is located almost on the coast of Belgium.

A Meeting Of The Minds Thousands Of Miles Apart

What a coincidence! My friend and I were separated by thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, but we both met at Belgium see resorts.