Principles and Paradox

Principles are guidelines that can help us determine the best way to think and act in both our personal and professional lives. They should instruct us but not control us. We should be dedicated to the ideals attached to a principle, not the words that describe it. Principles are never accurate all the time, including the one I just stated. Absolutes should always be avoided, including my statement about absolutes.

For many years, I have offered the following two principles in my speeches, books, and weekly columns: “Never make a decision until you have to” and “Not making a decision is a decision.”

One principle encourages us to delay all decisions, while the other encourages us to decide now. Principles are truths that have been given to us by wise people. They have to be used with judgment and discretion. With respect to when we should make a decision, we can embrace the principle that we will not make a final decision until we are forced to do so, as we are constantly gaining more information and perspective. On the other hand, we cannot delay the decision beyond the point and time when our options begin to diminish or even disappear.

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NASA Solar Event in Broken Bow

The Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education (OAIRE) is partnering with NASA scientists and the Choctaw Nation to host a solar eclipse event on April 8 in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. 

The eclipse’s totality lasts from 1:45-1:50 p.m., within the broader range of 12:25-3 p.m. The event is open to the public, with eclipse glasses provided. Attendees can engage in STEM activities while researchers conduct a full-scale balloon flight campaign in preparation.

At sites along the eclipse path, Oklahoma State University student teams in the engineering track use innovative larger balloon systems to livestream video to the NASA eclipse website, observe in situ perturbations in atmospheric phenomena, and conduct individually designed experiments. Atmospheric science track teams make frequent observations by launching hourly radiosondes on helium-filled weather balloons. Student participants work with atmospheric science experts throughout the project.

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Safe City Proposal Trashed by Media

Updated: The leftist-fan-boy Tulsa World Editorial Board in an unsigned editorial today, attacked the recent “Safe City” proposal and ignored procedural gymnastics of a City Council majority to defeat it, asserting that it “would only instill fear in all immigrants, divide residents and make our city more intolerant.” Who says we are intolerant?

The rejection of Dist. 9 Councilor and Mayoral Candidate Jayme Fowler’s Safe City ordinance, “which sought to prevent City dollars from being used to fund illegal immigrants, was voted down and denied a final reading by a council vote of 6-2. This unusual procedure waved both Council and City Charter rules. Said another way, the majority of Tulsa City Councilors are now lawbreakers,” as this publican covered March 14 here.

We must assume from their pompous pontification that the Tulsa World Editorial Board supports tragic death, enslavement, rape, torture, and profiteering by criminal cartels on America’s Southern Border as President Joe Biden imports more uneducated, sickly and unskilled welfare clients willing to vote for socialist policies and drug traffickers, thus insuring the complete destruction of the United States as we know it. How sad the Editorial Board doesn’t understand the difference between legal immigrants and criminal invaders.

Mayoral Candidate Fowler said, “Our services, shelters, and tax dollars are meant for Tulsans and should be safeguarded. You don’t wait until a fire is raging to install smoke detectors. This migrant crisis is spreading from city to city, and this ordinance would ensure Tulsa is shielded from it.”

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Prison for Coercion & Enticement

Today, U.S. District Judge John D. Russell sentenced Caleb Lee Giles, 24, of Afton to 210 months imprisonment for Sexual Abuse of a Minor in Indian Country and Coercion and Enticement of a Minor according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney Northern District of Oklahoma. Upon his release, Giles will be supervised for life and will also be required to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents, in September 2020, Giles began communicating and aggressively pursuing a romantic relationship with the 13-year-old victim. Giles requested the victim to send him nude photos through a social media application. They began having a sexual relationship in May 2021 when Giles knew the victim was only 14 years old. Giles then started to communicate with a second victim who was only 12 years old. He began requesting nude photos. After bringing alcohol to the 12-year-old, he sexually abused her as well.

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TPS Conversations Continue

Editor’s Note: In a recent opinion piece “Exposing TPS Special Interest Agenda” Jared Buswell wrote critically of the Tulsa Public School District. In response, Rachel, answered in the comment section beginning, “This article could not be more out of touch. I am a TPS parent and the majority board members do speak for me, they are working towards a public school system for ALL children.” This important community conversation should continue and here Buswell responds.

Opinion: Rachel, I am elated that your daughter is graduating from TPS with 36 college credits – what an achievement! 

I can relate to the work you’ve accomplished as a family and how thankful you must feel, as I was in a similar situation – as the student. The K-12 public education afforded me by caring teachers and public school supporters provided me opportunities to complete AP courses and enroll in the local university to finish Calculus 3 and Differential Equations – even back in the 90s when these pathways were less common. When I enrolled at Oral Roberts University, they awarded me exactly 36 college credits from work done in high school. I am forever grateful for my parents, administrators, and teachers who were flexible and generous enough to go out of their way to give me an education I didn’t know I needed.

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