This week guest host Dan Hugger is joined by Dan Churchwell and Emily Zanotti.

The panel begins by discussing the recent death of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny in prison. How should the international community respond? Will this tragedy cause Americans on the extreme left and right develop a more critical attitude toward Vladimir Putin? Next, recent discoveries of rare-earth minerals in Wyoming promise to give the U.S. a geopolitical and economic edge, but what tradeoffs are involved in the extraction of natural resources? Then—what does OpenAI’s plans for investment in chip production mean for our world and our home? 

Finally, the gang reflects on the penitential season of Lent. What’s behind its increasingly ecumenical appeal? It’s cultural, political, and theological dimensions are explored before the panelists share their spiritual practices for the season.

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Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in Arctic Circle jail, says Russia (bbc.com)

Russian Exceptionalism | New York Review of Books

Wyoming Hits the Rare-Earth Mother Lode | WSJ

Rare Earths Discovery Near Wheatland So Big It Could Be World Leader | Your Wyoming News Source (cowboystatedaily.com)

Sam Altman Seeks Trillions of Dollars to Reshape Business of Chips and AI | WSJ

‘The astonishing Jensen Huang of Nvidia talks about the future of AI. Sovereign AI is the future and more valuable than oil or gold’| Twitter (X) 

More Work For Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave 

The Harried Leisure Class | Marginal Revolution 

2024 Lent Project | Biola University Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts

Tuna Fish and Tollhouse Cookies | Emily Zanotti (substack.com)

Catechism of the Catholic Church