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[thewordenreport]

Call Me by Your Name

The medium of film has the potential to render the brass tacks of the human condition transparent--such depth is possible! Even romance (and gender!) can be transcended, as evinced in the father-son dialogue in "Call Me by Your Name." https://thewordenreport-film.blogspot.com/2026/06/call-me-by-your-name.html

[thewordenreport]

On the Politics of International Real-Estate Projects: The Case of Albania

The Kushner-based luxury resort planned in Albania dwarfs Kushner's role in turning Gaza into a resort-area devoid of Palestinians, yet the most vocal protests are oriented to the former! This itself is unethical. https://thewordenreportinternationalrelations.blogspot.com/2026/06/on-politics-of-international-real.html

[thewordenreport]

The E.U.’s Immigration “ICE”: The Pros and Cons of State Implementation

Imagine if Congress had left immigration enforcement, and thus ICE, up to the state governments? Some states would jump at the chance, while others would ignore the federal law and refuse to implement it. The EU may have such a law. https://thewordenreport-governmentandmarkets.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-eus-immigration-ice-pros-and-cons.html

[thewordenreport]

Police Enforcing Texas School Policies with Violence: Policy as Law?

Proto-fascist police in school hallways body-slamming students for violating school policies in Texas even though the rationale for police there is to protect students from external threats. Policies as law? https://thewordenreport-governmentandmarkets.blogspot.com/2026/05/police-enforcing-texas-school-policies.html

[thewordenreport]

California and Florida: Different Political Cultures in the U.S.

On the very day that California's Newsom announced a proposed 100% tax on payouts in California of Trump's "de-weaponization" fund, Florida's DeSantis announced a proposed increase in the exemption on property taxes. Two different countries within the U.S.: https://thewordenreport-governmentandmarkets.blogspot.com/2026/05/california-and-florida-different.html

[thewordenreport]

The E.U. as Mediator between Russia and Ukraine: A Conflict of Interest

As Ukraine's Zelensky was looking to the E.U. for help, the E.U.'s Kallas was insisting that the E.U. could not mediate because the Union was on Ukraine's side. But the E.U. still needed a foreign policy to counter Russia in Ukraine. https://thewordenreportinternationalrelations.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-eu-as-mediator-between-russia-and.html

[thewordenreport]

Pope Leo on the Ethical Dangers of AI

Speaking on the ethical dangers of AI, Pope Leo risked reducing theology to ethics, and thus Augustine's heavenly city to the earthly city. Missing: What would a distinctly theological critique of AI look like? https://thewordenreport-religion.blogspot.com/2026/05/pope-leo-on-ethical-dangers-of-ai.html

[thewordenreport]

Magnifica Humanitas: On Leo the Lion-Hearted

Pope Leo the Lion-Hearted has pontificated on AI as a threat to humanity, but is such a threat, or any threat here in this earthly city, of soteriological, or salvific, significance (i.e., regarding a person's relation to God, as distinctly religio, binding a person back to a transcendent source)? https://thewordenreport-religion.blogspot.com/2026/05/magnifica-humanitas-on-leo-lion-hearted.html

[thewordenreport]

On Religion and Public Policy: Pope Leo on Dumping

Pope Leo recently spoke out against pollution (dumping) in southern Italy. Is the kingdom of God so easily put in terms of public policy? What then is distinct about the domain of religion? https://thewordenreport-religion.blogspot.com/2026/05/on-religion-and-public-policy-pope-leo.html

[thewordenreport]

Fifty Shades of Grey

In the film, "Fifty Shades of Grey," a liturature student falls for a billionaire sadist even though the student is not a masochist. She willingly enters his sexual world so she can be his girlfriend. What would Nietzsche say of this? https://thewordenreport-film.blogspot.com/2026/05/fifty-shades-of-grey.html

[thewordenreport]

An EU Envoy to Russia

Should the E.U. appoint an envoy to negotiate with Russia's President Putin? Would the appointment change much, given the veto-power of the E.U.'s states on E.U. foreign policy? https://thewordenreportinternationalrelations.blogspot.com/2026/05/an-eu-envoy-to-russia.html

[thewordenreport]

Nietzsche on Free Will and Moral Responsibility

Nietzsche wrote on free-will and moral responsibility in a way that shatters moral custom and yet excoriates promise-breakers and liars, including untrustworthy romantic partners. Can humans be trusted or is marriage ill-fitting and thus artificial to our nature? https://thewordenreport-businessandsociety.blogspot.com/2026/05/nietzsche-on-free-will-and-moral.html

[thewordenreport]

Regulatory Capture and the Public Interest: The Case of the FDA Commissioner

That Pharma execs were right in getting FDA Com. Makary fired does not mean that the industry should capture the agency that regulates it. The interest of the part is not always aligned with that of the whole. https://thewordenreport-governmentandmarkets.blogspot.com/2026/05/regulatory-capture-and-public-interest.html

[thewordenreport]

Regulatory Capture and the Public Interest: The Case of the FDA Commissioner

The retail sector in San Francisco is rife with intimidation-tactics applied to customers en mass by means of sub-contracted security employees whose very number and instinctual urge to dominate are excessive and counter-productive. Even bartenders abuse their power with impunity. https://thewordenreport-mycorner.blogspot.com/2026/03/passive-aggression-in-american-retail.html

[thewordenreport]

On Russia Erasing Ukrainian Children

In erasing the Ukrainian ethnicity from 35,000 abducted children, Russia is arguably violating not only the human rights of the kids, but also Ukraine itself, whose government has a legitimate interest in preserving the Ukrainian ethnicity. https://thewordenreportinternationalrelations.blogspot.com/2026/05/on-russia-erasing-ukrainian-children.html

[thewordenreport]

Vendetta Violence: Israeli Settlers Sanctioned by the E.U.

The E.U. has sanctioned Israeli settlers for attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. Is this the best that international law can do, though? Law without even an enforcement mechanism hardly constitutes law. https://thewordenreportinternationalrelations.blogspot.com/2026/05/vendetta-violence-israeli-settlers.html

[thewordenreport]

Organizational Man: A Nietzschean Critique

In 1922, Sinclair Lewis's "Babbit" came out. A novel of a vacuous organizational man. Today, that type is ubiquitous and well-ensconced. What would Nietzsche have to say about this? https://thewordenreport-businessandsociety.blogspot.com/2026/05/organizational-man-refined-or-repressed.html