DOHA, Qatar--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 3, 2025--
Qatar Foundation’s Doha Debates continues its flagship debate series with a new episode that examines how modern entertainment shapes our attention, creativity, and everyday well-being. Moderated by Dareen Abughaida, the debate brings together three influential thinkers to ask whether today’s entertainment landscape is enriching us—or overwhelming us.
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This week’s debate features Marya Bangee, Senior Advisor at the Pop Culture Collaborative; Dr. Anna Lembke, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and author of Dopamine Nation; and Nicholas Carr, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Shallows.
For Bangee, the power of entertainment lies in storytelling that reflects lived human experience and fosters empathy. “I think entertainment today is pervasive. It’s something that shapes each person and society. The question is how are we going to make sure we are shaping it back.”
Lembke brings a clinical and human-centered lens to the discussion, warning that the design of modern entertainment often overwhelms our brain’s reward pathways. “Modern entertainment is not better for us because it hijacks our brain reward pathway. Now we need more pleasure to feel any pleasure at all.”
Carr widens the frame further, examining how technology-driven entertainment affects our ability to think deeply and act collectively. “We’ve assumed that having more topics, choices and information is always a good thing. Going forward we really need to pay much attention to the drawbacks.”
Students add their own reflections. Sara Akbar, 22, from the University of Doha for Science and Technology, shares: “Between 16 to 28, we are all trying to escape reality because of everything happening in the world. And it really affects how we live our lives. Why can’t we live a second without Instagram?” From Georgetown University in Qatar, Ameer Saadi, 18, adds: “With entertainment, the responsibility here is not to make you a better person but to genuinely try to express some form of the human experience.”
Together, their voices deepen a debate that goes beyond preference or taste, reflecting Doha Debates’ commitment to truth-seeking, open inquiry, and conversations that bridge perspectives rather than divide them.
The episode is now available on the Doha Debates website and YouTube channel. Viewers can also explore previous episodes on childhood in the age of social media and on the meaning of love today.
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About Doha Debates
Doha Debates engages a vanguard of intellectually curious truth-seekers to constructively debate differences in order to build a better future. We emphasize unity over division, encouraging conversations that bring us together rather than drive us apart.
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Doha Debates examines how entertainment shapes us today in a new episode, leading thinkers and students debate whether today’s entertainment elevates us or pulls us into distraction. (Photo: AETOSWire)
President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to invoke the Insurrection Act to justify deploying troops as protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement persist in Minneapolis.
Trump made the threat to “quickly put an end to the travesty” after a federal officer shot a man in the leg while being attacked with a shovel and broom handle on Wednesday. The incident further heightened the sense of fear and anger radiating across the city a week after an immigration agent fatally shot a woman in the head.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the rarely used federal law to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.
The Latest:
Keith Ellison, who sued the federal government on Monday to try to end the ICE enforcement surge, said he’s ready to go to court again if the president invokes the Insurrection Act to justify sending in the military as well.
“Donald Trump is clearly trying to create an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act, but none exists,” Ellison said in a statement. “Even after the Trump Administration deployed thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents to brutalize Minnesotans, people are responding by protesting peacefully, by organizing their communities, and by looking out for their neighbors.”
The Democratic attorney general also called on Minnesota Republicans to set aside partisan politics and speak out “against this dire threat of escalation from the federal government.”
The U.S. is imposing new sanctions on Iranian officials accused of repressing protests against Iran’s theocratic government.
The Treasury Department on Thursday targeted the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security for allegedly calling for violence against protesters. The sanctions also affect 18 people and companies involved in a shadow banking network linked to Iranian financial institutions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the U.S. supports the Iranian people’s call for freedom and justice. The sanctions block access to U.S. assets and business, but they are mostly symbolic, as many targets lack U.S. funds.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he wants to move forward with redrawing the state’s congressional map and have the Democratic-controlled legislature vote on it.
Gov. Wes Moore, who appointed a commission to review potential maps that could soon recommend one, told The Associated Press that he believes the General Assembly “has not just the authority, but the responsibility to be able to then have a vote on the recommendations of the commission.”
Democrats in Maryland outnumber Republicans 2-1, and the party already holds a 7-1 edge over Republicans in the state’s U.S. House delegation. His push has some Democrats concerned that mid-decade redistricting could backfire and cost the party a seat instead of gaining it one.
Moore said during the interview on Wednesday as Maryland’s legislature opened its 90-day session that if other states redraw their maps, Maryland leaders shouldn’t “sit on their hands.”
But Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, has said a remap aimed at flipping the seat held by Republican Rep. Andy Harris could jeopardize at least one seat and potentially two that now are held by Democrats..
The Marine Corps general tapped to lead the U.S. Southern Command says he stands ready to lead America’s expanded military presence in South America, but doesn’t know how long that enhanced focus will last.
Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan told Senate lawmakers Thursday that he has not received any indications about the Trump administration’s long-term military plans for the region where U.S. troops have deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, attacked dozens of alleged drug cartel boats and seized sanctioned oil tankers.
Donovan now serves as vice commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command. Democrats asked him during a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing Thursday if he knows what Trump is planning for U.S. forces in the region.
“You do not have any indication?” asked Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island.
“No sir, I do not,” Donovan responded.
The governor of Maine and the mayors of its two largest cities acknowledged widespread speculation that ICE enforcement actions are imminent in the state, which is home to large immigrant communities from Somalia and other African nations.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said aggressive enforcement actions that undermine civil rights are “not welcome” in the state. Mills, the mayors of Portland and Lewiston and Maine’s largest school district all acknowledged that the possibility of ICE enforcement has created a nervous atmosphere in Maine.
“But if they come here, I want any federal agents — and the president of the United States — to know what this state stands for: We stand for the rule of law. We oppose violence. We stand for peaceful protest. We stand for compassion, for integrity and justice,” Mills said in video released Wednesday.
Democrats across the country are proposing state law changes to rein in federal immigration officers and protect the public following the shooting death of a protester in Minneapolis and the wounding of two people in Portland, Oregon.
Many of the measures have been proposed in some form for years in Democratic-led states, but their momentum is growing as legislatures return to work amid President Donald Trump’s national immigration crackdown following the killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. Republicans are pushing back, blaming protesters for impeding enforcement of immigration laws.
When Trump entered office, immigration was among his strongest issues. An AP-NORC Poll published Thursday suggests that it has since faded, a troubling sign for Trump who campaigned on crackdowns to illegal immigration.
Just 38% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling immigration, down from 49% at the start of his second term. The most recent poll was conducted January 8-11, shortly after the death of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
There are still signs that Americans give Trump some leeway on immigration issues. Nearly half of Americans — 45% — say Trump has “helped” immigration and border security in his second term.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote Thursday on social media, “Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
The Veronica is the sixth tanker seized by U.S. forces as the Trump administration moves to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products, and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
Noem wrote that the raid was carried out with “close coordination with our colleagues” in the military as well as the State and Justice departments.
“Our heroic Coast Guard men and women once again ensured a flawlessly executed operation, in accordance with international law,” Noem added.
The Associated Press has reached out to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for comment on Trump’s latest threat to invoke the Insurrection Act.
During a televised speech before the latest shooting, Walz described Minnesota as being in chaos, saying what’s happening in the state “defies belief.”
“Let’s be very, very clear, this long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement,” he said. “Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”
Threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act and send troops to Minneapolis, Trump noted that presidents have used the 19th century law many times. This is true — but they haven’t necessarily done it in the circumstances found in Minneapolis, where the tensions have arisen from Trump already sending federal authorities into the city.
In modern times, the act has been used to mobilize troops to help local authorities or to ensure a federal court order is carried out.
The law was last used in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to help quell riots in Los Angeles after local officials asked for the assistance. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson all invoked it during the Civil Rights Movement to help enforce desegregation orders in Southern states where state and local governments were resisting.
A 1964 Justice Department memo said the act can apply in three circumstances: when a state requests help, when deployment is needed to enforce a federal court order, or when “state and local law enforcement have completely broken down.”
In a statement describing the events that led to Wednesday’s shooting, Homeland Security said federal law enforcement officers stopped a person from Venezuela who was in the U.S. illegally. The person drove away and crashed into a parked car before taking off on foot, DHS said.
After officers reached the person, two other people arrived from a nearby apartment and all three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said.
The two people who came out of the apartment are in custody, it said.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara’s account of what happened largely echoed that of Homeland Security. O’Hara said the man shot was in the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury.
Jacob Frey spoke Wednesday night after federal officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd while protesters threw rocks and shot fireworks.
“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order,” he said.
Frey described a federal force that is five times as big as the city’s 600-officer police force and has “invaded” the city, scaring and angering residents, some of whom want the officers to “fight ICE agents.”
The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down.
Trump made the threat Thursday after a federal officer trying to make an arrest shot a man in the leg Wednesday after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle. The incident further heightened the sense of fear and anger radiating across the city a week after an immigration agent fatally shot a woman in the head.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the rarely used federal law to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump said in social media post.
▶ Read more about Trump’s latest threats to Minnesota
An AP-NORC poll from January found that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump’s performance as president. That’s virtually unchanged from March 2025, shortly after he took office for the second time.
The new poll also shows subtle signs of vulnerability for Trump, mainly regarding the economy and immigration.
Two senators from opposite parties are joining forces in a renewed push to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, an effort that has broad public support but has repeatedly stalled on Capitol Hill.
Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Republican Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida on Thursday plan to introduce legislation, first shared with The Associated Press, that would bar lawmakers and their immediate family members from trading or owning individual stocks.
It’s the latest in a flurry of proposals in the House and the Senate to limit stock trading in Congress, lending bipartisan momentum to the issue. But the sheer number of proposals has clouded the path forward. Republican leaders in the House are pushing their own bill on stock ownership, an alternative that critics have dismissed as watered down.
▶ Read more about the cross-party effort
Senate Republicans voted to dismiss a war powers resolution Wednesday that would have limited Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks on Venezuela after two GOP senators reversed course on supporting the legislation.
Trump put intense pressure on five Republican senators who joined with Democrats to advance the resolution last week and ultimately prevailed in heading off passage of the legislation. Two of the Republicans — Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana — flipped under the pressure.
Vice President JD Vance had to break the 50-50 deadlock in the Senate on a Republican motion to dismiss the bill.
The outcome of the high-profile vote demonstrated how Trump still has command over much of the Republican conference, yet the razor-thin vote tally also showed the growing concern on Capitol Hill over the president’s aggressive foreign policy ambitions.
▶ Read more about the war powers vote
While President Donald Trump says he’ll take action on Greenland whether its people “ like it or not, ” his newly handpicked U.S. special envoy is setting off on his own approach.
Gov. Jeff Landry, appointed as envoy in December, said he is not interested in meeting diplomats. The Republican has not visited the Arctic island and did not attend Wednesday’s meeting at the White House that included Danish officials, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, the governor was scheduled to travel to Washington on Thursday and Friday for meetings that include the topic of Greenland, Landry’s spokesperson Kate Kelly said.
▶ Read more about Landry 's new role
Law enforcement officers at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
FILE - President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
