Artificial intelligence(AI) is the use of “computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind,” according to IBM. [1] 

The idea of AI goes back at least 2,700 years. As Adrienne Mayor, research scholar, folklorist, and science historian at Stanford University, explained: “Our ability to imagine artificial intelligence goes back to the ancient times. Long before technological advances made self-moving devices possible, ideas about creating artificial life and robots were explored in ancient myths.” [2]

Court packing is increasing the number of seats on a court to change the ideological makeup of the court. [1] The US Constitutiondoes not dictate the number of justices on the Supreme Court, but states only: “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

Cancel culture, also known as callout culture, is the removal (“canceling”) of support for individuals and their work due to an opinion or action on their part deemed objectionable to the parties “calling” them out.   [1] 

An estimated 60,000-80,000 US troops were stationed throughout the Middle East as of Jan. 2020, including 20,000 troops sent in 2019 and early 2020 in response to an escalating conflict with Iran.

45% of Americans believe the US military should remain in the Middle East at current levels, while 29% believe troop numbers should be increased. 24% of Americans would like troop levels to decrease.

In July 2018, the Trump administration imposed tariffs (essentially taxes on a certain type of import or export) on industrial components and technology products from China. Beijing reacted with higher tariffs on US farm goods, which caused the Trump administration to enact and threaten to enact even more tariffs, which would affect most Chinese imports to the United States by 2020. The first round of tariffs in July and Aug 2018 included $50 billion of Chinese products including semiconductors, industrial components, and machinery. Tariffs were expanded and increased in Sep.

Since the 1960s, the United States has imposed an embargo against Cuba, the Communist island nation 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The embargo, known among Cubans as “el bloqueo” or “the blockade,” consists of economic sanctions against Cuba and restrictions on Cuban travel and commerce for all people and companies under US jurisdiction.

Amid the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020, calls to “defund the police” began to populate protest signs and social media posts.

Since 1977, one year after the Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the death penalty, more than 1,480 people have been executed, primarily by means of lethal injection. Most death penalty cases involve the execution of murderers although capital punishment can also be applied for treason, espionage, and other crimes.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, a branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a 2001-2002 legislative memo titled “Rockefeller Drug Laws,” posted on its website, that: