Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for Pucky Misfits and Problem Solvers. I'm your host Andrew Heaton.

This last weekend was my 20th high school reunion. I didn't go because I didn't find out about it until about a month ago

and I'm not presently in the same country and it was too late to make any travel

decisions at that point. I would have liked to have

gone. So all the same I did some self-reflection on where I am now, where I was 20 years

ago and also I carefully compared my hairline and waistline to a bunch of dudes

on Facebook to make sure I am decomposing at an appropriate rate.

But enough about me, and my rock-solid hairline, I want you to think about your senior year,

think back to your senior year of high school. What were the biggest concerns facing you personally?

What were the biggest concerns facing your community?

Recently I made friends with someone who is approximately my age,

but whereas I grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma,

they grew up in Iraq, the Tishamengo of the Middle East, same time period, but radically different lives,

radically different childhood and early adolescence.

As a high school student, my guest today's hometown got invaded. The government collapsed and he lived in a lawless state.

A short while after living in an authoritarian state flooded with Saddam Hussein propaganda

surveilled by Bathist thought-control agents that would even meet him at his school.

And I thought, what the hell is that like?

What's it like growing up in a country

where telling jokes can get you sent to prison,

where education and the news are permeated with propaganda,

and where culture is built around a cult of personality.

...