Ep 290 Peacewarts Lab  7/18/26 - Always Disallow Foolishness: A Rule for Peace

Ep 290 Peacewarts Lab  7/18/26 - Always Disallow Foolishness: A Rule for Peace Peacewarts Labs are casual review sessions where we dig into the homework from the Peacewarts classes. In this lab, Avis Kalfsbeek walks through some of the assignments from Episodes 287, 288, and 289. Here's what we look up: The "Oakland Unified Restorative Justice" model — and the three classic circle questions used to work through a conflict. The 2003 Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace — and one specific tactic they used to keep Christian and Muslim women united around a shared goal. Nelson Mandela's first meeting with President P.W. Botha — and one small detail (about the tea, or the greeting) that Mandela used to protect Botha's dignity. Shakespeare Sherpa Club: Just to keep her nerd credentials intact, Avis gives a shout-out to her Shakespeare Sherpa Club. Grab the free downloadable character bookmarks at www.AvisKalfsbeek.com/shakespearesherpa. Always Disallow Foolishness: Avis talks about the track 10 Laws by East Forest, which features the spoken voice of Court Johnson reading the ten explicit laws he lives by. She zeroes in on one of them — Always Disallow Foolishness — and how it connects to global peace. Media Bias Detectors: Avis rounds up some tools for figuring out the bias in the news we take in. Ground News (groundnews.org) — A data-driven platform that lays out the ownership, factual reliability, and political lean (left, center, right) of news stories from around the world. Runs about $60/year. Want to get similar insights without paying? Here are the best free alternatives: AllSides (allsides.com) — Probably the go-to free option for bias tracking. Its "Headline Roundups" put left, center, and right coverage of the same story side by side, so you can see how each side frames it. Free, no ads. Ad Fontes Media (adfontesmedia.com) — The folks behind the interactive Media Bias Chart. Great for seeing where an outlet lands on a two-axis grid measuring both political bias and journalistic reliability. Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com) — An independent directory where you can search a specific outlet and check its track record on factual reporting and political lean. NewsGuard (newsguardtech.com) — Focuses on credibility over ideology, scoring sites 0–100 for trustworthiness based on standard journalistic criteria. RSS Readers (feedly.com or inoreader.com) — Free tools that let you build your own diverse news feed from independent sources, breaking out of the algorithm's echo chamber by putting you back in control. Topics this episode: Homework Review, Shakespeare Sherpa, East Forest's 10 Laws & Disallowing Foolishness, Media Bias Metrics Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com Shakespeare Sherpa Bookmarks: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com/shakespearesherpa Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez, "Dalai Lama Riding a Bike" — https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com/