@OPINION & MUSINGS – BIZCATALYST 360°: Recent Episodes

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If you’re like many people, then your knowledge is limited to the nightly news. While I enjoy watching NBC’s Nightly News I’ve come to understand it’s limits.

First, NBC is owned by Comcast, ABC is owned by Disney and CBS is owned by Paramount Global. The stockholders of these firms bought stock because they expect to profit from their investment. As a result, stories are created to attract and maintain your interest so you’re still watching when the commercials come on.

Second, Fear is a large part of many news stories. Author and entrepreneur, James Altucher, in his book, I Was Blind But Now I See, suggests that, the best thing you can do is avoid all news. Altucher has worked for over a dozen media companies, written for newspapers, TV shows and been a pundit on TV shows.

He told how he was backstage at a news show when the producer told him:

Don’t fool yourself – all of this is just filler in between advertisements.

Altucher shared this story,

Every week, a newsroom gets all of their best reporters and editors together on a Monday morning. Then the top guy says,“Ok, what have you got?” And the reporters have to respond with items that are designed to induce more and more terror. When the top guy thinks the terror is sufficient to beat out the competition, he says, “Ok, let’s go with it.”(I)

It’s easy to see what Altucher is talking about when you read headlines like these:

How many jobs will AI replace by 2030?

Will your kids join the thousands who die from fentanyl every year?

Is your daughter joining ISIS?

Third, time is another issue. Since news shows are limited in the time they can devote to any story, we’re frequently given sound bites that grab our attention but do little to explain what really happened. The Great Recession generated a lot of headlines, but it wasn’t until I read former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s book, Stress Test, that I fully understood what happened.

Personal Note: Da Vinci said, “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding,” and I’m right there with him. I’m what you’d call a Current Events / History Nerd. I’ve always sought the full story. I’ve always sought to understand complex issues.

(I) Altucher, James. I Was Blind But Now I See. New York: CreateSpace. 2011. p. 35

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Among the many magazines that come to our home for Anne, because she’s a designer and decorator, is one called, Architectural Products. A recent edition ran an article called, “The Smartest Building in Austin” (starting at page 28 in the print edition, page 30 in the digital edition). I don’t remember if Big Brother was identified as the architect of the building. But I do know he’s involved somehow.

I know that because the article said this, in part:

Sensors — approximately 6,000 of them — are attached to the spine. These connect to an automation system that allow[s] ownership and management to understand how people move within the structure and how the various spaces get utilized, such as conference rooms and parking. This data, along with the building’s integrated technology allows for optimization of the user’s experience and a highly personalized and responsive environment for comfort, health, and security … Smart Entry/Exit Stations with license plate recognition (LPR) cameras [are] … Designed to be completely touchless from the time a person pulls into the parking garage until arriving at the individual’s desk.

A few of the terms, phrases, and clauses in that paragraph had my Spidey Sense at DEFCON 1.

Shades of Orwell

Here are the terms that lit me up, along with my translational commentary:

1. The spine. According to HPE Aruba Networking, “A spine-leaf architecture is data center network topology that consists of two switching layers — a spine and leaf. The leaf layer consists of access switches that aggregate traffic from servers and connect directly into the spine or network core. Spine switches interconnect all leaf switches in a full-mesh topology.” Guess who controls and has access to the full-mesh topology. Hint: It’s not the folks who work in the building.
2. Allow[s] ownership and management to understand how people move within the structure. See #1.
3. Optimization of the user’s experience. If you’re not sure who gets to define optimized, see #1 and #2.
4. A highly personalized and responsive environment for comfort, health, and security. If you’re not sure whose comfort, health, and security are assured here, see #1, #2, and #3.
5. Smart Entry/Exit Stations with license plate recognition (LPR) cameras. The cameras, of course feed into the spine. From there, see #1, #2, #3, and #4.
6. From the time a person pulls into the parking garage until arriving at the individual’s desk. If you’re not sure to whom it’s important to monitor said person (who turns into an individual on the way to its desk), see #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5.

In addition to 1984, all that terminological obfuscation puts me in mind of this quote from Albert Camus:

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.

George Orwell’s 1984, of course, is about a totalitarian regime, INGSOC (English Socialism), which exercises total control over every aspect of its citizens’ lives through physical and mental manipulation, surveillance, and propaganda. (It uses violence, too. I don’t know if the folks in the smartest building in Austin are prepared to go that far. Let’s hope not.)

Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsIt makes you wonder what the limits of the smartest building in Austin’s control might be if the spine is run with AI. It’s shades of HAL in 2001. And if it gets that far, it’ll be easy enough to imagine a person getting through all the security checkpoints, turning into an individual arriving at its desk, hitting the power switch on a computer, and hearing this.

After all, if we’re controlling lives, controlling computers, and requiring bioscans, we’re flirting with totalitarianism, are we not? And let’s not forget, totalitarianism is dictatorial and utopian. More specifically, it’s able to become dictatorial precisely because it’s ostensibly utopian. It’s Fred Sanford’s statement, “Promise ‘em the elevator and give ‘em the shaft,” writ large. And while we’ve managed to get 24 years into the 21st century, let’s not forget the 20th century totalitarian state was the greatest intellectual justification for mass murder in history. Just sayin’.

From there, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine the smartest building in Austin and its architects creating a logo for their own regime, something that couches their desire to exercise total control over every aspect of the building’s occupants’ lives in some seemingly positive but nevertheless transparently euphemistic language. The logo and its tagline might be something like this:

Cut the Cards

Mr. Dooley (or Martin J. Dooley) was a fictional Irish immigrant bartender created by and appearing in many columns written by the American journalist and humorist, Finley Peter Dunne, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mr. Dooley was famous for the expression, “Trust everybody, but cut the cards.” That’s invaluably sound advice, more pertinent today than it was when it was written, that should be universally applied. To put it another way, question everything. Always. Without fail.

And be absolutely sure of this: The bigger the organization, the institution, the bureaucracy, or the government that promises what it will do for you will be necessarily good for you, question it all the more. Hidden agendas and unintended consequences are certain to follow any such promises. How do we know that? It’s in the history we ignore so blithely and consistently. It’s why we are where we are.

If you don’t believe that’s true, there’s a building in Austin you’re gonna love.

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Author’s Note: May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I offer this post as a means of sharing my experience, even as I grant I’m more fortunate than many. If you or a loved one struggle with mental health, call the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text “HelpLine” to 62640, or email helpline@nami.org. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or experiencing a mental health crisis, dial or text 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There’s more help available in the world than you might think — and more people in the world willing to help than you could ever imagine. You are not and don’t have to be alone.

I have a confession: I play Angry Birds 2.

I started playing to keep myself occupied while waiting for people to respond to instant messages (which, much like the Express Lanes in grocery-store checkouts, are anything but instant), waiting in line at the DMV, waiting for doctor or dentist appointments, waiting at railroad crossings, or keeping my wife company on the couch while she watches Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, Love It or Li$t It, Windy City Rehab, Home Town, Good Bones, Flip or Flop, House Hunters Renovation, This Old House, Grand Designs, and Dr. Pimple Popper.

But after playing for a while (say, roughly 350 levels or so) something revelatory and quite unexpected happened: In the face of what seemed like insurmountable frustration at having to replay every room in every level, sometimes innumerably, only to be unable to reach — or to be unable to conquer — the Boss Pig (or the King Pig, or the Chef Pig, or the Foreman Pig, or any other of his myriad manifestations), I learned patience.

Boss Pig
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Perseverance

First, Angry Birds 2 taught me the patience to study. The game can be a series of mindlessly distracting tactical moves (which attracted my initial interest), or it can be a strategic, fully engaging, and relentless pursuit of a singular goal (which attracts my abiding interest): Blast the Boss Pig to Hell, move on to other levels and, in some instances, to other worlds entirely. Wow!

Second, Angry Birds 2 taught me to persist, to endure, to recognize the temporary nature of frustration, and to realize the conquering power of tenacity. By its addictive nature (or mine), the game compels players to keep coming back, regardless of the seemingly impossible adversity — to think, to examine, to analyze, and to find a way to move on.

To find a way to move on. Think about that. Moving on, determining to move on, finding a way to move on, settling for nothing less than moving on is the modus operandi for a rewarding life. It’s the remedy for procrastination. It’s the antidote for anxiety. It’s the defeat of paralyzing depression. It’s the answer to the age-old philosophical question: Why are we here?

To move on. Period.

Birds of a Feather

Finally, Angry Birds 2 is of a piece with two other things that have always helped me move on. The first is a quote from Mikal Gilmore, from his book, Shot in the Heart. I read the book in the late ’90s, during a bout of crippling depression characterized by stark, unrelenting terror.

The book recounts the Gilmore family’s dark history, leading to the execution of Mikal’s older brother, Gary, in 1977, by a Utah firing squad. (Gary’s last words: “Let’s do it.” Gary’s execution is also the subject or Norman Mailer’s book, The Executioner’s Song.) The book’s unremitting bleakness had me wondering at every turn of the page why I continued to read it while experiencing my own period of darkness. It felt masochistic.

But there, on page 374, I found my answer.

Gilmore wrote:

Depression is a hard experience to communicate, and perhaps a hard one to understand, but once you’ve had it you don’t forget it. It makes you look on the rest of the world with a bit more compassion, and it also causes you to watch the corners of your life more closely, so you can spot the darkness rapidly if it begins to creep back in.

Reading that gave me no instant relief. But I was in the care of a psychiatrist, whom I still see every six months, and I was surrounded by friends who’d also experienced depression. They told me I wasn’t myself — but I would be again. They were right. And Gilmore’s words assured me they were right.

Even more, Gilmore’s words eventually led me to see the depression I’d experienced as a gift. It taught me the temporary nature of misery. It taught me much about what I can and cannot control. It helped me to understand my capacity to overcome affliction and misfortune. It did make me more compassionate. It did teach me to watch the corners of my life ever more acutely. And it helped me to realize all I was capable of achieving if I mustered the resolve and the energy to just … keep … moving … on.

Failure Is Not an Option

The other thing that never loses its ability to help me move on is this quote from the brilliant inventor, accomplished businessman, technological pioneer, and ardent player of Angry Birds 2, Thomas Edison:

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Give up? Not a chance. Giving up is a Boss Pig in a poke.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back in the game.

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For generations, college students have been encouraged to participate in civic engagement and express their views about causes they care about. Student protest is a proud democratic tradition on our campuses. Many people view it as an integral part of the college experience.

Freedom of opinion and expression are, indeed, cornerstones of human rights and pillars of free and democratic societies. Instilling constitutional values — in particular, the value of free expression — should be a core mission of any college or university.

The current anti-Israel/pro-Palestine protests on college campuses have fired up both sides of the issue – calls for a cease fire and divestment versus calls for police intervention and arrests. But at what point does free speech become hate speech?

At Cornell University, in New York, anonymous threats flooded an online message board: “If you see a Jewish ‘person’ on campus, follow them home and slit their throats,” said one.

Don’t forget the viral video recorded by Khymani James, the Columbia University student protest organizer who said, “…fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live, Zionists, they shouldn’t live in this world,” adding, “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”

Not to be outdone by James’s fellow Columbia protesters screaming at a group of Jewish students, “Remember the 7th of October? That will happen not one more time, not five more times…but 10,000 more times. The 7th of October is about to be every fucking day for you. You ready?”

These are just a few examples of the 843 incidents of antisemitism on college campuses that Hillel International has tracked since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023 – a 700% increase over the same time period last year.

“As a Jew, I’m scared for the first time in my life. After Oct. 7, Jewish persecution is no longer just a part of history.” Congressman Dan Goldman

To be clear, criticism of Israel is not antisemitic. However, when anti-Zionists call for the end of the Jewish state, when Jews are verbally or physically harassed and threatened, that is no longer criticism of Israeli policy. That is antisemitism.

While these comments and others like them have ignited vehement debates about whether they are protected under the First Amendment, most agree that they are alarming and dangerous.

Freedom of speech is fundamental, but it is not absolute. Public universities are bound by the First Amendment, but all students have the right to a learning environment that is physically and psychologically safe.

Threatening the lives of Jews with vitriol that echoes the rhetoric of terrorist and Nazi ideology, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, far exceeds First Amendment protection. Yet, under the guise of “free speech,” these protests have become fertile ground for extremists to propagate hate.

This devastating conflict – the death, destruction, and humanitarian crisis – should compel us all to speak out. But before we praise these protesters for their civic engagement, we should have a clear picture of the hateful rhetoric that is being defended as “free speech” and stoking violence.

• Pamphlets declaring “Death to America” were shared at a growing anti-Israel encampment at the University of Michigan this week.
• At the University of Maryland, the words “Holocaust 2.0” were chalked onto campus sidewalks.
• One Jewish Columbia University student was repeatedly kicked in the stomach as protesters told her to “kill yourself.”
• US-designated terror group flags and flyers are popping up at protests from California State Polytechnic to Princeton.
• Students at the University of Pennsylvania gathered chanting ‘We want Jewish genocide’ and ‘there is only 1 solution’ in reference to the Nazis ‘final solution’.

Many protesters will tell you they are not extremists. They are simply advocating for human rights. But the most common refrains at these events are frighteningly reminiscent of the Nazi worldview. Calling for people around the world to “rise up” against Jews (“Globalize the Intifada”), justifying the kidnapping, torture, and murder of innocent people (“by any means necessary”), and clamoring for the eradication of Israel (“From the river to the sea”) is the antithesis of advocating for human rights.

“There is only one solution, intifada revolution!” is the ideology of Hitler. There is a reason Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups are showing up in growing numbers across the country. It’s not because they care about the Palestinians, but because the hatred of Jews is their unifying animus. This is a golden opportunity for them to foment extremist views and violence.

Historically, Jews have been accused of being alarmists. Today, the threats they face are nothing less than alarming. The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism recorded more antisemitic acts in the first three months after October 7 than normally seen in an entire year. As the violence on our campuses escalates, a direct manifestation of “freedom of speech,” so does the permeation of the hate and antisemitism.

There has possibly never been a more dangerous time to be Jewish in America.

We all want a cease fire. We all hope the hostages are released and the suffering stops – for both Israelis and Palestinians. But hope is not the message at these protests. Hate is the message.

When fomenting hate and the violence it breeds is inculcated as a “right,” it should alarm us all.

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The landscape of American manufacturing has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past several decades. Once the powerhouse of global production, the United States has seen a significant portion of its manufacturing sector move overseas, with the brunt of the impact felt by both blue-collar workers and local economies.

The Human SideBehind the statistics on industrial output lies the human toll of a nation striving to redefine itself. People’s livelihoods have been affected, shifting populations as work dried up in once-prosperous manufacturing hubs. The blue-collar workers of these areas—many of whom poured their lifetimes into these jobs—have witnessed the erosion of a way of life.

With layoffs, employees and their families lost.

• Wages
• Medical benefits
• Life insurance
• Dental and vision benefits
• Their homes

They were unable to buy food, pay for vehicles and rent/mortgage and support their children’s school activities. The ability to move for another opportunity is diminished due to the inability to sell their homes in a jobless community and being re-educated at 100,000’s for a 4-year degree was out of site.

Today the disaster is no different from the past for American workers, but the success remains the same for American political environment of profitability.

History is important.

The political disaster for Americans started along time ago but let’s begin in 1977.

1977

Black Monday in the Steel Valley (from Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio eastward toward Pittsburgh). Youngstown Sheet and Tube abruptly furloughed 5,000 workers in one day.

Political madness was controlled by.

• — President Jimmy Carter.
• — Vice President Walter F. Mondale.
• — Congress both chambers retained a Democratic majority.
• — Governor James Allen Rhodes, Republican.
• — Governor Richard F. Celeste, Democrat.

The bleeding has never stopped.

2024

It’s an election year and politicians once again will take center stage to perform.

Ohio’s Senator Race

• — President Joe Biden takes a tougher stance on trade with China. After 50+ years in politics he has finally realized that Chaina exists.
• — Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno have both criticized unfair Chinese trade practices. Since 2007, Brown seemed to be missing from the conversion.
• — Brown wants a ban on Chinese imports of electric vehicles. Why? The scam of electric vehicles should be over.

After the 2024 political performances nothing will change. Hopefully, voters don’t continue to believe in the political spin. However, manufacturing is stirring the pot for voters in Ohio.

There have been too many manufacturing losses to list in Ohio over the decades which continue today. Listed below are some of the most recent layoffs that the 2024 election will be focused on and a review of a few from a historical perspective.

2003

160,000 factory jobs lost in three years in Ohio.

2.7 million manufacturing jobs were lost nationwide in the same three years.

Political responsibility.

• President Bill Clinton, Democrat
• Vice President Al Gore, Democrat
• Governor Nancy Hollister, Republican
• Both chambers of the state legislature, Republican, 2000/1999
• President George W. Bush, Republican
• Vice President Dick Cheney, Republican
• Governor Robert Alphonso Taft III, Republican
• Both chambers of the state legislature, Republican, 2001/2002

2011

3,500 factories over the last 10 years.

“While I believe Ohioans deserve a level playing field when it comes to trade with China, I oppose this legislation because it will hurt our economy and result in fewer jobs for Ohioans,” U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R, 2011.

2019

• — GM, Lordstown plant – 1,600 employees.

2021

• — Fiesta Tableware Company – 59 employees.

2023

• — Whitehouse aluminum can plant.
• — The W.H. Sammis coal power plant – 140 employees.
• — Honeywell – 66 employees.
• — Honeywell, Intelligrated facility, West Chester – 223 employees.
• — Sherwin Williams – 50 employees.
• — Tenneco – 597 employees.

2024

• — Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs – 900 employees.
• — Honeywell, Fairfield facility, 66 employees (by the end of 2024)
• — VS Direct Fulfillment LLC, Victoria’s Secret call center – 120 employees.
• — Bernard Soap Company, a subsidiary of Procter and Gamble – 118 employees.
• — Post Holdings – 200 employees.
• — Linamar Structures USA – 100 employees.
• — Nestlé – 216 workers.
• — Chillicothe manufacturer – 79 employees.
• — Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. – 900 employees. The organization states it can’t compete with tariffs.

“We worked very closely with our partners at the USW on this solution to save Weirton, and together fought tirelessly for its survival. In what was our final effort to maintain tinplate production here in America, we proved that we are forced to operate on an uneven playing field, and that the deck was stacked in favor of the importers. Despite the Department of Commerce finding evidence of dumping and subsidization from respondent countries, the ITC shockingly ruled against imposition of tariffs, keeping the uneven playing field in place and making it impossible for us to viably produce tinplate.” Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

2025

• — Honeywell, Intelligrated manufacturing London facility – 98 employees (May 2025).

How Does Ohio Survive?Today, 14% of good paying jobs with benefits in Ohio are in manufacturing out of a population of 11.76 million (2022). Beside the few people that work in manufacturing, the top three job categories and average pay in 2022 included.

• Fast food and counter workers – $11.94 per hour. Soon to be replaced with technology.
• Registered nurses – $36.93 per hour.
• Stock and order fillers – $16.60 per hour. Soon to be replaced with technology.
• General and operations managers – $36.93 per hour. Soon to experience employee downsizing due to technology.

The sell out of manufacturing and the creation of low pay service industry jobs has affected the entire nation, especially Ohio. The results have caused 13.9% poverty, 80% of Ohioans struggling to survive and average cost of a house according Bank Rate is $275,461, 2023, indicating most people in Ohio can’t afford a middle-class standard of living.

Ohio’s current political madness.

• — Governor Mike DeWine, Republican.
• — Governor Jon Husted, Republican.
• — Both chambers of the state legislature, Republican.
• — President Biden, Democrat.
• — Vice President Harris, Democrat.

Votes Matter.

The Illusion of AffiliationAt the heart of every election, voters are urged to pick a side, to wear their party affiliation like a badge of honor, and to cast their ballots often in line with the well-defined narratives of ‘left’ and ‘right’. But what does party loyalty truly signify amid a complex issue like immigration or fair trading, where candidates often cherry-pick talking points that resonate within their party base rather than pursuing comprehensive solutions?

Additionally, congressional members worried TikTok because of the Chinese organization security issues of American information, the same information the US government tracks violating Americans privacy, vs. debating decades of shipping American jobs to China and other parts of the world.

What does party loyalty have to do with arguing politicians over a social media platform vs. fair trade policy?

Nothing.

Votes don’t matter without accountability.

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When I was growing up, our next-door neighbors had some … uh … peculiar notions about housecleaning. As sons of a Marine, my younger brother, Keith, and I would walk into their living room and be astounded at the volume of clutter, the nature of the clutter, and the general lack of order or cleanliness.

One day, Keith, who’s always been the smarter and sharper-witted of the two of us, said, “Holy shit. If aliens ever came down and landed in their living room, the aliens would open the door of their spaceship, look around, and say, “What the hell?!”

To this day, the idea that extraterrestrials would necessarily have that point of earthly reference makes me laugh out loud.

Different Strokes

I understand one man’s pig pen can be another man’s paradise. I get that tastes, styles, tolerances, preference, and priorities differ. It could also be a sign of having too much stuff, making it difficult to organize and maintain a clean environment. Or as George Carlin put it:

Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff? God! And you say, “Get that shit offa there and let me put my stuff down! (Thank you, Mac Bogert.)

On a more serious note, failure to keep one’s home clean can have negative effects on physical and mental health, lead to feelings of stress, anxiety, lack of control, and even depression. But it’s hard to tell, and we shouldn’t be quick to judge, regardless of what extraterrestrials might have to say about it.

That Was Then

In case you haven’t noticed, things have gotten significantly worse since then. And I don’t mean at that next-door neighbors’ house. I mean with the world. The world’s house is in disorder. We’re letting ourselves be divided, be pandered to. We’re devolving into lesser versions of ourselves. We’re judging, fearing, hating, and killing each other. And by and large, we’re acting as if that’s okay.

It’s reminiscent of the philosophical/psychological question of whether fish know they’re in water. It’s likely fish have no conscious awareness of being in water. They’ve adapted to their aquatic environment, thrive in it, and lack the cognitive ability to conceive of their being in water, to imagine any other environment, or to perceive water as a medium with which they interact. They probably experience water as an integral part of their environment, inseparable from it, perhaps in the same way we experience air as invisible, largely intangible, and as much a part of us as we are of it.

Maybe we’ve lived in an environment of corruption for so long — divided, pandered to, devolving into lesser versions of ourselves, judging, fearing, hating, and killing each other — that corruption is like water to the fish. It’s undiscernible to us, and we’re inseparable from it. If that’s the case, it’s as sad as it is wasteful and dangerous.

Plan B

Maybe we can start to recognize and free ourselves from the divided, pandered, devolving versions of ourselves in which we judge, fear, hate, and kill each other by taking personal responsibility for keeping our houses clean. In so doing, maybe we can free ourselves from the negative effects on our physical and mental health like feelings of stress, anxiety, lack of control, and even depression. The fact is I don’t know. But I do know, unless we try, none of us will ever know. We all have to share this third stone from the sun. We don’t have to expose extraterrestrials to the distress we’re inflicting on ourselves.

And we don’t have to compel them to ask, “What the hell?!”

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If you’re anything like me, you don’t believe in indecision.

In an earlier post, I wrote about self-faith and our inner genius. Consistent with what I wrote, I typically assess the situation requiring a decision, trust my senses, apply my intelligence (such as it is), and decide. If my decision turns out to have been wrong — and presuming it wasn’t fatally so — I assess the implications of my first decision and make a different one. Since my stethoscope tells me I’m still among the living, I have to conclude that approach has worked pretty well, so far.

Nevertheless, I do understand the complex, contradictory aspects of human psychology. What I don’t understand is why we pay so little attention to them, why we examine and question them so infrequently, if at all. I don’t know if there’s any necessarily ordinal sequence or priority to any of those complex, contradictory aspects. But here are a few:

We have to allow for genetic predispositions, which affect our brain chemistry and our physiological responses to situational stimuli and, so, influence our psychological responses. Hello, serotonin and dopamine. Those chemicals and/or lacks thereof can affect mood and emotional responses. We also have to allow for the extents to which our experiences and the outcomes of those experiences influence our responses to circumstances in the present. If we associate mistakes with lowered booms , we’re likely to live our lives in defensive postures on precarious psychological edges.

Factor in conditioned thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, interpretations, biases, and ideological predispositions, and we start to start to perceive the thickness of the psychological stews in which we live. Add social and cultural norms, traditions, routines, expectations, and pressures — along with whatever independent, empirical perceptions we might have of any of those things — and, voilà! Instant cognitive dissonance.

Another aspect of human psychology, emotional regulation, is related to everything that precedes it here. Our ability to regulate and manage our emotions influences (and, if left unexamined may predetermine) our psychological responses. Throw in varying degrees of goodies like extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness, self-awareness, courage, vulnerability, agreeability, skin thickness, et al., and we have the entire scale from peaceability to volatility.

I don’t give much credence to environmental factors like weather, lighting, spatial configurations, and noise levels; although, I readily admit to hating loud noises. And I suspect if I were locked in a dungeon for any period of time, I might tend to be a tad disagreeable. At the same time — since I’m the poster boy for the fact that wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age — I tend to discount aspects of our psychology like age and developmental stages. But I do recognize (hope) children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly likely have different cognitive abilities, coping mechanisms, and emotional regulation techniques.

Certain Uncertainties

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy. (Jean-Baptiste and Ben used to fly kites together.) The letter read, in part, “Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” Close but no cigar. Had Ben given that a few more moments’ thought, he surely would have realized the only thing more certain than death and taxes is uncertainty. Given the fact that Jean-Baptiste was struck by lightning while flying kites with Ben, I’ll bet he knew that.

I’ll leave you with two perspectives. The first is from the noted physicist, Richard Feynman, who said:

I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here. I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.

The second is from Woody Allen. He wrote:

I took a test in Existentialism. I left all the answers blank and got 100.

If you can’t decide which one of them is correct, make peace with the uncertainty.

It’s the best we can do with our friend, psychology.

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The Marshall Tucker Band released its self-titled debut album on Phil Walden’s Capricorn Records in 1973. As soon as my buddies and I heard “Take the Highway” and “Can’t You See”, we were instant fans. In 1977, the band released its sixth album, Carolina Dreams, which was certified platinum in the same year and was their most commercially successful album. It contained the track, “Heard it in a Love Song”, that reached No. 14 on the Billboard charts.

“Heard it in a Love Song” provoked philosophical debate that endures to this day. The controversy is about the last two lines of the concluding verse. Here they are:

Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
I was born a wrangler and a rambler and I guess I always will.

Those lines have produced four distinct interpretational camps:

• Camp One holds that the word, will, at the end of the last line isn’t a verb. Rather, it’s a noun. The song’s writer, the late Toy Caldwell, intended it to invoke the free will of the narrator (singer, Doug Gray), to bail out on his lover and to blame his infidelity on his being a wrangler and a rambler. This view is typically held by Aristotelians. Nietzscheans, on the other hand, tend to see it as a reflection of the fact that being a wrangler and a rambler causes the narrator to experience feelings of guilt; although, he beats feet, nevertheless.
• Camp Two wonders if the last line was Toy Caldwell’s version of the age-old philosophical question: Why are we? That, of course, sends the existentialists into a complete tailspin because without more specificity — why are we what? — they can’t determine meaning or purpose. And without that same specificity, the teleologists have no phenomena — no purpose or design — to direct them toward some ostensible end.
• Camp Three wonders, “Always will what?” Toy Caldwell wasn’t known to be a mystery writer or a practical joker. So, the answer to that question remains perpetually elusive. But it doesn’t bother philosophers that much. The only ones who really worry about it are the grammar snobs and the syntax freaks. They want the same kind of specificity the existentialist and the teleologists want. But the grammar snobs and syntax freaks don’t want it because they’re curious. They want it because they’re perfectionists.
• Camp Four believes Toy Caldwell just didn’t give a damn. Ironically, while not everyone buys that, it’s the one explanation that could satisfy the Aristotelians, the Nietzscheans, the existentialists, the teleologists, the grammar snobs, and the syntax freaks. Go figure.

Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful song and yet another indication of the talent — to say nothing of the enigmatic intellectual acuity — Toy took with him at the tender age of 45.

Plan B

As a public service — particularly for cover-band artists who also happen to be freakish about philosophy, grammar, and syntax — I offer a few modest alternatives to the last two lines of the song. No credit or recompense need be given to me; although, I have set up an account for voluntary donations. In any event, here are the alternatives:

• Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
  I was born a wrangler and a rambler and I guess I’ll hang at will.
• Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
  I was born a wrangler and a rambler, so I guess I’ll hang with Will.
• Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
  I was born a wrangler and a rambler, so I don’t have time to kill.
• Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
  I was born a wrangler and a rambler, so I guess I’ll take a pill.
• Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
  I was born a wrangler and a rambler ‘cause I fought at Bunker Hill.
• Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
  I was born a wrangler and a rambler and, Babe, this ain’t no drill.
• Always something greener on the other side of that hill.
  I was born a wrangler and a rambler and I’ve been on Doctor Phil.

No Pressure

As I suggested, there’s no obligation to give me credit or to pay royalties for using any of these lyrical gems. But if the spirit moves you to make a donation to the voluntary fund, please have your credit card ready and call 1-800-BAD-POET. Operators are standing by.

And if anyone ever asks where you got any of those clever lines, just say you heard it in a love song.

Cain’t be wrong.

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In a weekly gathering called, The Friendship Bench, there’s frequent conversation about arriving, belonging, connection, comfort, courage, and vulnerability. On the Bench — and because of it — deep, trusting human connections have been and continue to be forged. Since I’m one of the people who’s forged and benefited from those profound human connections, they caused me to recall a conversation from a literature course I took as the late-blooming college student I was.

In that course, the name of which escapes me, we were required to read Frankenstein. (Everyone should be required to read Frankenstein. If you haven’t read it, it’s not what you think it is.) One day in class, the professor asked, “Why do we consider Victor Frankenstein’s creature to be a monster?”

Since I was the oldest student in the room, I got lost in thought for a little while: “Hmm … I’m likely the only one here who remembers the 1931 film. And I’m almost certainly the only one who has any idea who Boris Karloff was. So, the answer can’t be about bolts in his neck or scars on his head.”

As I was ruminating, other students were offering suggestions:

“He’s ugly.”

“He’s homicidal.”

“He’s built from spare parts.”

“He’s more than eight feet tall.”

“He probably doesn’t use deodorant.” (Okay. I made that one up.)

Finally, the professor said, “We consider Victor Frankenstein’s creature to be monstrous because he has no human connections and no possibility of ever establishing any.”

He was right, of course. Abandoned by his creator, who’d refused to create a mate for him, the creature experienced rejection, isolation, loneliness, and cruelty, causing him to become bitter and murderously vengeful. Because the creature’s capacity for goodness and kindness went unacknowledged and unreciprocated, the creature became a tragic manifestation of evil and a foil for societal inhumanity.

Oddly enough, in the contemplation of my connections from The Friendship Bench and elsewhere, the professor’s comments about the monster came back to me. And the creature’s embodiment of the potential for inhumanity that resides in all of us made me think of Victor.

It’s Alive!

Today, thanks to the DSM 5 and its penchant for creating mental maladies we’re supposed to believe can and should be treated pharmacologically, we’d call Victor’s excessive ambition and hubris — his letting his obsessive compulsion to create life despite the warnings of his teachers and at the expensive of his relationship with Elizabeth — narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). It renders him unable to see the moral and ethical implications of his actions, unwilling to take responsibility for what he’s done, and quite willing to abandon his creature after bringing it to life (to say nothing of wanting to destroy it).

We might argue Victor is monstrous because he has no interest in human interaction. He has no possibility of seeing through his arrogant self-righteousness, of getting beyond his impenetrable ego, of mitigating his incorrigible pomposity, or of toning down his imperious sense of superiority. He has no humility. And he has no sense of wonder, other than to marvel at himself in all his blind self-absorption.

Mirror, Mirror ….

I know a duck-hunting joke that ends with a punchline that contains the phrase, more [I’ll tell you the joke sometime] than you can shake a [bad word here] stick at. I bring that up here because Victor Frankenstein has more traits of NPD than you can shake a stick at. Here’s the shortlist, which is known in the biz as the Egotistical Eight:

1. Grandiosity? Check.
2. A constant need for admiration? Check.
3. Lack of empathy? Check.
4. Inflated sense of self-importance? Check.
5. An exaggerated belief in his own abilities and achievements? Check.
6. A tendency exploit or manipulate others to achieve his own goals? Check.
7. A sense of entitlement? Check.
8. Envy and arrogance? Check.

Two things come to mind. Both are from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The first is spoken by the Ghost of Christmas Present as he and Ebenezer Scrooge observe Tiny Tim Cratchett: “It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child.”

The second is spoken by the ghost of Joseph Marley when he visits Scrooge to foretell the coming of the spirits that will visit Scrooge that night:

It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world — oh, woe is me! — and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness … Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!

Required Reading

Victor only traveled far and wide — through Europe, north into Russia, then to the Arctic Ocean, and on towards the North Pole — in pursuit of his creature. And he didn’t pursue the creature in spirits of charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence. Rather, as close as Victor got to what might be argued was the common welfare, was his futile determination to kill the creature he created — perhaps, metaphorically interpreting the story, to kill his own narcissism.

Frankenstein should be required reading because it reminds us we have to live with the monsters we create — even if we’re the monsters — and why our human connections are so singularly, irreplaceably valuable.

Not all monsters are narcissists. But all narcissists are monstrous.

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I was recently in a conversation with a client. We’ll call her Petunia (not her real name; although, I wish it were). Petunia happens to work in a very large (as in global), very dysfunctional (as in no responsibility or accountability) company that has her beyond frustrated. Part of her frustration is that she’s very responsible and very willing to be accountable. But her responsibility and accountability aren’t acknowledged, rewarded, or reciprocated. During the conversation, I asked a question it had never occurred to me to ask before:

Do companies like that breed irresponsibility and unaccountability, or do they attract it? To put that question another way, are they incubators or magnets?

I don’t know the answer. But I do know about bureaucracies. Bureaucracies are where initiative, creativity, ambition, and fulfillment (other than power-hunger) go to die.

I can’t decide what’s worse about bureaucracies — that they compel us to toil in rote, anonymous invisibility (unless we’re power-hungry) or that effecting change in them is the rough equivalent of turning an aircraft carrier by sticking your hand in the water: You might be able to do it, but it’ll take a hell of a long time. And what is it about bureaucracies that saps our souls such that we become their willing (if unwitting) agents? How is it that they can make us demean ourselves in the act of demeaning others?

One of the things that damaged my chances of bureaucratic success in my corporate days was my refusal to go to strip clubs with my co-workers. My response to such suggestions was standard: “I spend all day watching people degrade themselves for salary plus bonus. Why would I pay to watch people degrade themselves for hourly wages plus tips?”

The Nature of the Beast

Because the only things bureaucracies want to do is grow and sustain themselves, they manifest uniform characteristics. They love complexity and red tape because that makes them unfathomable and unfixable. With ever more layers of hierarchy; ever-growing volumes of rules, regulations, policies, and procedures; and ever-proliferating degrees of inefficiency, delays, dysfunction, and unresponsiveness, they ensure their survival because no one has the vaguest inkling how to dismantle them.

With all those rules, regulations, policies, and procedures is it any surprise bureaucracies tend to be rigid and to resist change? Intentionally adaptable? Not so much. Nimbly adept at responding to emerging challenges? Nope. Conducive or receptive to creative thinking or deliberate innovation? Fuhgeddaboudit. And if bureaucracies were ever intended to be flexible, fluidly functional, openly communicative, smoothly coordinated, and committedly collaborative organizations, why do they build more silos than grain farms do?

As for accountability, try diffusing responsibilities across and through multiple layers of hierarchy. Then try determining where the buck stops. It’s like squeezing a water balloon: Whatever you squeeze here is just going to pop out there, ad infinitum. And if you think politics has anything to do with that, trust your judgment. As long as the chief concern of people in the organization is for the people on the next rungs above them on the ladder, sycophancy and ass-covering become the rule of the day.

Full Circle

So, here we are. Back to square one: Do bureaucracies breed torpor, complacence, silence, invisibility, anonymity, or compliance? Or do they attract those things? Does it matter? The effect is the same.

If you doubt that — and while it’s not a company, per se — there’s a city on the Potomac River between Alexandria, Virginia, and Annapolis, Maryland, you ought to take a look at. Nothing of coherent substance has been accomplished there for quite a while now. The only thing it does is grow more unwieldy (and expensive), more oppressive, and less penetrable every year, continuing to crank out blatant pandering tactics or attempts at blatant pandering tactics. (Anyone for unintended consequences?)

In contemplating the question — do bureaucracies breed torpor, complacence, silence, invisibility, anonymity, or compliance, or do they attract those things? — let’s remember this: Whether we’re talking about business or government, bureaucracies of any kind, we don’t have to be torpid or complacent. We don’t have to be silent, invisible, anonymous, or compliant. Those are choices. If those choices don’t suit us, we can make different ones.

And speaking of chickens, eggs, and making different choices, thank God it’s 2024.

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. (George Eliot)

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Leaders at every level – family, workplace, community, and nation – should never tolerate the misleadership that presides over the long-standing crises of economic mismanagement, political corruption, corporate malfeasance, family breakdown, poverty, drug abuse, crime, social dysfunction, mental illness, healthcare, state schooling, and geopolitical adventurism that afflict the West at large.

It is naïve to scoff at suggestions that Western society is in a perilous position. Consider Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, who predicts a future in which ten to fifteen percent of the population will enjoy a life of wealth and ease scarcely imaginable, while the rest of the population will suffer poverty and social dysfunction. His suggestion for policy-makers is the construction of massive favelas with cheap rents and free internet. Bread and circuses anyone?

The breakdown of communal ties in the West has been dramatic. The scourge of loneliness worsens by the day, and the sense of community is splintering, with membership in clubs, associations, and churches declining precipitously in recent decades. A 2018 survey found that 50 percent of Americans have no meaningful personal interactions on a daily basis. The tsunami of social dysfunction and the burgeoning mental health crisis are hardly surprising

No wonder ordinary people are cynical. Who thinks open borders will do any good for anyone outside the establishment? Who thinks the universal basic income will promote genuine human flourishing? Who thinks the already out-of-control drug abuse epidemic will be resolved without a societal restoration of personal and communal virtue?

A leader at any level would recognise the danger, and know that history proves that socialism offers no solution, only much greater suffering. The libertarian option is likewise bankrupt. Oligarchs, conservative or progressive, and conservatives unable to articulate a cogent vision, also have soiled hands in the mess in which we find ourselves.

Modern political programs, left and right, fail because they are all rooted in the problem itself: Modernity’s elevation of the autonomous self and individual choice over the genuine community. Selfishness prevails only by means of power, and is only controlled by means of power; that is why so soon after the totalitarian nightmares of the last century, western nations have succumbed to suffocating bureaucratic control and brazen oligarchic manipulation.

Yet Aristotle offers another option. The advantage of his approach is that it is not ideological, and can be applied in republican regimes, constitutional monarchies, liberal democracies, and even oligarchies where the necessary bona fides is present.

Human beings are ‘dependent, rational animals’. From cradle to grave we are dependent on others for our flourishing. Our relationships shape our attitudes, desires, choices, and behaviour at every turn. At the same time, we are rational animals, gifted with the power of abstract reasoning, free will, and language, and the need to give expression to our individuality. Any system designed to promote human flourishing must take these realities into account.

Aristotle’s approach involves three common sense concepts: subsidiarity, solidarity, and the Common Good. Subsidiarity is the principle that says the function of a central authority should be subsidiary, managing only those tasks that cannot be dealt with at a local level. Families, local communities, and local institutions should be left to manage their own affairs without bureaucratic and legislative interference from a heavy-handed central government.

Solidarity is the principle of promoting the well-being of all people, recognising the bond of our common humanity.

It is not vague compassion or shallow sentimentality, but a firm commitment to securing justice, social, economic, and political for all human beings. Solidarity expresses the essence of humanity, the goodwill that always seeks to help others.

The Common Good entails respect for the rights and responsibilities of all people. Mutual interests, like justice, security, freedom, national integrity, sovereignty, and shared natural resources can only be enjoyed through individuals working together to protect them. Justice is the basis of the Common Good, because human nature is selfish, and individuals and groups tend to favour their own interests at the expense of others.

And there’s the rub: Aristotle’s approach can only be built on virtue. Representative institutions demand virtuous citizens; limited government depends on virtuous citizens; the free market needs virtuous citizens; the growth and application of capital is undermined when virtue is missing; the Rule of Law requires virtuous citizens; and sound mental health in each and every one of us relies on our living virtuously.

Sadly, a virtuous society will never be established in a culture characterised by nihilism, narcissism, pleonexia, and hedonism. Technocratic systems and processes cannot save us; our culture has to be cured first. The challenge confronting us is not physical, to be solved by science and technology; it is metaphysical, requiring a rigorous understanding of our moral responsibilities and our transcendental affinities.

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Are we witnessing the beginning of Catholic resurrection in the West?Just a morning Eurika: are Catholic countries in Europe & Latin America, with a strong cultural affiliation to tradition (despite being secular) going to see a resurgence in positive migration into them from Protestant places that succumbed to multiculturism & wokery?

When one looks at the current situation in Europe for example, despite the EU, ECHR, etc, many countries are actively rethinking and changing immigration & welfare laws – France, Italy, etc. However, the immigration issue is already a problem there. But that’s not the case in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, and other East European countries that stood their ground on the refugee quotas. Moreover, the other common denominator to all those places is the unwavering pride in their religious and cultural traditions, which they do not wish to sacrifice for social fads like progressive wokery.

And that brings me to another observation – these countries in Europe, similarly to some other in Latin America are Catholic, with regard to their religious tradition. And each place bears unique fundamentals, not all are backward swamps of economic failure. Can one think of the Czech Republic or Poland as failed states?

The refugee issue cannot be viewed separately from the underlying decades-long social engineering which raised at least 2 generations in imaginary luxury values, some of them totally devoid of the hard facts of science. We are practically full circle back to the Medieval Church’s teachings about the correct conjugal positions so that men will not get pregnant. Guess what, after a millennia, according to the ‘new science’ men can get pregnant and even nurse babies. This contempt and deliberate disregard of biology goes hand in hand with the detached views of the people who flood into the West.

The supernatural, actually magical, belief in the power of an individual opinion to transform physical reality has brought us to the brink of disintegration and demographic cliffs.

Back to Catholicism. There has been a lot of talk over the last 50 years on the global crisis of Christianity and empty churches. The Catholic church has been singled out in particular for a special criticism of its alleged inability to reform and step with the times and new social mores. However, since Pope John Paul II (the Polish Karol Józef Wojtyła), the Vatican seems to have quietly embarked on reforming the ‘creed’. Without much public declarations and funfairs, it ratified contraceptives, married couples who wish to ascend to the priesthood are accepted (UK), divorces are tolerated, and much more. That without losing the pride in its tradition and culture.

As the full scale of ginormous immigration and social crises unfolds in Europe, with people rising and marching to openly protest their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, I see a trickle of migration within the Continent and outside it, with the trend being into the Catholic countries from the Protestant ones: be it Portugal, Poland or Czechia, to crossing the ocean to Latin America. Can it be that Swedes, Dutch, Germans, and Brits overdid it with their ‘progressive’ laissez-faire?

Or most importantly will the churches be full again in the Catholic world?

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We live in a horse race. Two nags, Gluefoot and Gimpy, are neck-and-neck coming down the stretch, and we have no idea which horse will cross the finish line first. Gluefoot represents the uncertainty of whether we’ll persist in our belief that we can control (because we’ll be blamed for) everything. Gimpy represents the uncertainty of whether we’ll come to realize we’re insignificant and ineffectual beyond the ability of our imaginations and our egos to comprehend such a thing.

Exhibit A is climate change.

I came across an article in The New Yorker entitled, “What a Major Solar Storm Could Do to Our Planet”. While we’re sitting down here thinking we have anything at all to do with the planet’s climate and, even more absurd, that we can fix it, there’s a bomb ticking some 93 million miles from Earth, give or take a few yards. We’re not terribly concerned with the incomprehensible power of that bomb, largely because we’re preoccupied with misguided notions of our own power. But consider just this one example of the limits of our power (to say nothing of our knowledge), from the article:

During the Vietnam War, the United States started sowing the waters outside North Vietnamese seaports with mines that had magnetic sensors, to trigger explosions when steel-hulled vessels passed overhead. Three months after that program began, many of those mines—four thousand of them, according to one contemporaneous source—detonated almost simultaneously. An investigation determined that the plan had been compromised not by Hanoi but by a newly discovered solar phenomenon called a coronal mass ejection.

The potential for phenomena like that, of course, is why God invented the Law of Unintended Consequences. He thought it would make us think about things more, think longer before we made any assumptions or engaged in any boneheaded shit. He thought it might remind us to look before we leap and to be more mindful of the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know. But we didn’t do any of that. We still don’t.

Diametric Opposites

We’ve forsaken the middle ground and made camp on opposing fringes. Maybe that indicates the extent to which we’ve been successfully politically polarized. I don’t know. But I do know we’ve abandoned that middle ground, along with common sense, empiricism, and — especially as it pertains to politics — our sense of irony.

I came across Exhibit B in the same New Yorker article:

In our private lives, we tend to focus on the high consequences: your nine-year-old will almost certainly not be kidnapped while playing alone at the local playground, but you don’t let him do so, because the potential cost is too devastating. By contrast, corporations and nations tend to focus on the low odds and therefore wave away the possible consequences. “I’m working with people and they’ll say, ‘Why do I need to spend a cent on this issue? I’ve been here for forty years and I’ve never seen a problem.’”

Think about that. As Grandpa O’Brien loved to say, “We’re chasing the mice while the elephants are running down the street.” We’re refusing to let our kids be kids and grow up, even as we’re ignoring all manner of legitimate risks and threats. And all the while, in between the two extremes posed by Exhibit B, we continue to persist in our thinking that we can control Earth’s climate. Wow! You really can’t make that up.

The older I get, the more I believe people who don’t believe God has a sense of humor were never born. If they were born, they’re just not paying attention.

Man, it’s astounding to be human.

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Through the last few years, I’ve figured something out. People want “an elevator pitch.” They want to ask the question “what do you do,” and within a few sentences, they want you to be able to regurgitate a “pitch” telling them exactly what your “value” contribution is in the whole wide world of “things that get done.”

Humans simply do not understand “being.”

When I was younger, I rejected the “what do you do” question. It started because of a guy I was sleeping with when I studied in London during my undergraduate years. I kept asking him “what do you do,” and I was always met with some semblance of “what does it matter?” Eventually, tired of my prying, he pointed out to me that the question was uniquely American. Feeling seen and inadequately programmed, I decided he was right; the question didn’t matter, and, to be quite honest, I feared it was making me less attractive to him.

After undergrad, and through the next twelve years of primarily working in hospitality, the question irked me for different reasons. Saying what I “did” for a living made people discount my abilities, my intelligence, and my divine power. When I’d tell people what I “did” they’d seemingly stick me into a box that was labeled “incapable,” so I started avoiding the question. These beliefs are probably not inclusive to all people, but they were fueled by my mother, who often called my work “menial.” Before her input about how I lived life, I was rarely plagued with “not enough.” I have since flushed it from my system, but that’s another story.

Since 2020, I have feverishly and prolifically created a new life for myself. I’ve taught myself a new profession, built a brand and business, learned countless skills, taken on clients, made good money, and created an entire world around me that did not exist before.

I now have what I believe the “doers” of the world respect… And… yet… that is not what I believe gives me value.

I’ve found that my gift in this world is simply my existence. And yet, when I give that to people as an explanation of who I am, it’s rarely enough, or understood by them.

“But what are you doing? Who are you? What would you like to DO here? What would you like to GET out of this?”

I was asked these questions this week by a variety of people, all of them seemingly wanting an elevator pitch.

Even when I say I am a writer, people follow it with “but WHAT do you write? What is it?”

They want to hear some sort of tangibility to it. They want to know what my writing’s purpose is.

“Is it copyrighting? Scripts? Movies? Books? WHAT is it? WHAT?! WHAT DOES IT DOOOOOOO IN THE WORLD? TELL ME WHAT YOU DOOOOO I AM SO CONFUSED!”
…

And yet, the writing… has no purpose, except to exist. I go into the world, live my life, and then I write about it. The writing doesn’t “earn me money” (save for about a thousand bucks from Substack and whatever clients I’ve acquired from it.) It doesn’t serve any “goal.” I don’t sit down with an “objective.” I go into the world, exist, and then write about it.

My value in the world is my existence, and that existence is one where I don’t do very much.

A few months ago, I read an article on BizCatalyst 360° by David Ford entitled “They All Have a Name.”

It was short, so I’ll quote the entire piece here:

“The next time you are in a store, gas station, or some other place of business, take a moment to notice the name of the person across the counter from you. Make eye contact and greet them.

They are not invisible people. They are fellow human beings. They are someone’s son, daughter, sister, brother, wife, or husband and we have no idea of what they are dealing with that day.

They face joy, sadness, and struggles in life just like us and they have hopes of a better day and better tomorrow just like us.

The simple act of acknowledging them and saying their name can go a long way to make them feel appreciated.”

David, I get it. I feel your intentions and they’re pure and loving, but respectfully, I’ve done this work my entire life. I even do it now, on weekends. I promise you, knowing my name is the last thing I need, want, or desire. Often, it makes things irritating and awkward. Also, there’s a highly spiritual reason for my not wanting people to know it.

I am content to be an “it” because I am not insistent on holding an identity in that space.

(If you’d like to read more about the difference between “I-It,” “I-You,” and “I-Thou” relationships, google the work of Martin Buber.)

Maybe my being content to be an “it” is not true of every service industry professional, but for me it’s of the highest service. If you can get your little self out of the way for a few moments, and just exist, you’ll see how special and sacred your being really is.

As an example, Saturday night, a woman came in and at the end of her stay, without provocation, told me her husband died eight weeks ago. Within about 240 seconds I heard about death, confusion, loss, hospice, abuse, disconnection from body, wandering nomadically, and various degrees of displacement…

I asked, “Are you OK with touch?”

She said she was, but wasn’t always.

I asked, “Do you want to hold my hand?”

She took it, held it, and cried. As she held it, not really looking at me, she said “I can’t believe this is happening. This is the kindest thing anyone has ever done.”

I didn’t do anything. I was just there. You might say I did, even believe I did, but… it wasn’t me. This was just one of a thousand moments that have happened like this, all because I’m content to be no one. No part of “Andrea” or “Andee” was in that room. Just open space.

I don’t do anything. Like Tao, through me, all things are done. The energy I put into the space gives people permission to exist in their naked truths, safely. I don’t have to be anyone, because “I am.”

I write this because this week, I’ve been once again confronted with trying to tell people what I bring to the table. Usually, that involves the elevator pitch desire on their end, and this week was no different.

I felt I came up short in delivering that pitch.

What I said was that I enter spaces and I exist there. I am content to be myself, and I notice as I spend time in spaces, others become more content to be themselves. I have a power and gift in voice, and communication. When I exist in a space, other people feel more comfortable using their voices, and communicating.

That’s being, as I do nothing to make this happen. It happens on its own.

My BEing does not call for aggressive action. I’m not going to be a CEO who starts a company. I don’t say this as a call-to-action for a bunch of well-meaning readers to jump in here and tell me I don’t believe in myself. I am a powerful leader, and I believe in myself more than anyone or anything in the world.

I am simply 2nd trumpet in the orchestra, I don’t lead the melody with soloistic notes, but rather I’m the wingman, the accompaniment, making the entire piece of music sound amazing. I make the music richer.

It’s enough to be the wingman. It’s enough to just be a body in a room on a Saturday night, and have humans come in… and be… with me. I’m not on a quest for more, bigger, better. There’s sacred in my every moment.

I’m not here to do anything and I don’t have some sort of pitch about how that’s going to happen. I’m here to sit next to you. That is my function in this world. I’m here to exist. I want nothing more than that.

I don’t know why this is so hard for people to make peace with, but it’s all I have ever desired.

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I was going to excerpt portions of President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union remarks and annotate them with snide comments. But four things happened:

1. I realized snark is indistinguishable from truth at this point, and snark doesn’t sit well in some circles. Neither does truth. And here we are.
2. I wouldn’t have enough time to peel the onion sufficiently enough to respond to all the delusional falsities in Uncle Joe’s remarks and still have time for everything else in my life.
3. I found this post in The Federalist that highlights 30 of the lowlights. So, I decided to let it go at that.
4. I found this transcript of the special counsel’s interview with Uncle Joe. If you still think he should be in charge of anything, we’re in much deeper trouble than I can imagine.

P.S. From a post by Ted Hulick: “This man has never had a private sector job in his life — and he’s like a wrecking ball to our economy — he doesn’t seem to understand that billionaires don’t pay a high percentage of tax because they invest in assets that appreciate and they don’t have a lot of liquidity (cash, etc.).”

P.P.S. If you wonder what hypocrisy looks like, wonder no more.

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Americans have seen a gradual decline in family, youth, and neighborhood health and safety. Years ago, many citizens decided they didn’t need a loving God to help guide their lives or the lives of their children.

Today’s statistics are alarming and costly.

• Taxpayers spend $220 million a DAY on child abuse and neglect. (Prevent Child Abuse)
• We spend $655 Billion a year on gangs. (youth.gov)
• 1.2 million high school students drop out of school, which can lead to teen parenthood, unemployment, victimization, drug and alcohol abuse, petty violence, juvenile conviction, and incarceration. (Wikipedia)
• One in five teens will develop a severe mental health disorder. The American Rescue Plan Act passed in 2021 included $170 Billion in school funding to hire mental health workers, including psychologists. (American Psychological Association)

It will not be politicians who fix these problems. It will be “We the people” who create change.

What can Americans do to take back their power and support children?

We are living in dangerous times for children. The internet, cell phones, and tablets are not safe for children. Wherever children go on the internet, predators are waiting to befriend them and lure them into sexual pictures and Sextortion. Predators and misguided teenagers can bully youth, sell them pills (fentanyl), and make them feel worthless. Or, tell them they are amazing and deserve the finest jewelry, clothes, and the best restaurants to make a potential victim feel good and exploit children for their sick desires. We are in a battle between good and evil!

What adults can do to protect children?

Empower your children! It is up to parents to guide children so they know how to take charge of their inner spirit and give them the tools to handle their emotions to stay spiritually centered so they can develop the 3Cs: courage, character, and a self-protective conscience.

Create a community around children so they learn how to get along and work with others. Get to know all your neighbors and work together to keep kids safe. Get children involved in team sports and group activities. Churches and synagogues also offer support for families.

For more information on how to empower youth which can keep them safe so they make good choices, go to www.safekidsnow.com

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Who am I and where do I belong are perhaps the most primal questions of human existence. We are all inherently, seekers of truth. In the practice of asking these questions, we naturally align our answers along agreeable proximities. This brings a sense of comfort and safety as we find validation in our shared versions of truth. It is extremely difficult for anyone regardless of education or empathy level, to fully comprehend or relate to events beyond a certain geographical scope. Distance supports misconceptions.

EDITOR’S NOTE: SEE PART I HERE

The geographical reality of “Over-There” for all our intents and purposes does indeed characterize another world. The list of reasons we adopt to support our divisions is formidable; religion, geography, race, gender, politics, and/or personal causes. These become the foundations of our personal truths. Truths we use to frame and define our lives, families, and communities.

Adhering to these beliefs is based on our own sense and human need for survival. However, sometimes we can struggle to recognize and accept that these same affirmations cementing our lives can be manipulated, weaponized, and used as catalysts for conflict and war. Perhaps this is the real crime of politics, to use our best selves against us.

In a rapidly changing world, the definition and practice of war is expanding beyond clear borders or local politics. Human progress is creating scenarios previously reserved for science fiction movies.

We are living in a Jetsons’ cartoon world, with edges of cut glass.

Historically, war is a system of overt violence through militarized movements and associated destructions. Chequered patterns of pushing and grabbing. Violent competition is a recurring and permanent theme throughout our presence on this planet. Relentless waves of; destroy, rebuild, destroy, and re-construct. Ceaseless variations of people fighting and dying across centuries. There are very few places on earth left unstained by the blood of human conflicts.

We survived our distant histories and recently, WW I and WWII. Archived library shelves buckle under the weight of proofs documenting our human perseverance. War memorials are scattered across all countries attesting to our survival as a species. Aesthetic reminders of vaguely remembered and acrimonious rivalries. We are soothed by our histories. We draw breath in recognition that; “This too shall pass”, again. Benignly, we confer comforting promises of a future “better place” to those deemed less fortunate. We remain enamoured with the concept of life’s natural and eternal flow.

Below our history lies another story. It weaves silently throughout humanity, obscurely twisting through the histories of our complex relationships with nature. Our societies are burdened by the perpetual acceptance of its unassailability. Nature is the mute victim of human patterns we refuse to break. We are addicted to both our conveniences and divided beliefs. Nature once unassailable in its ability to resurrect is being pushed beyond all exhausted defences, fading before our eyes.

We turn away from this unacceptable truth, it is too hard to accept.

Increasingly apoplectic social media conspiracies and extremist politicians support distractive agendas. They are adamant we believe our societies are under attack, determined to rally us into defending ourselves against un-nameable masses. We tremble more from anonymous fears that the war machines lining our mutual borders. Machines assuring us of our equality in destruction.

Distance supports a sense of our own safety. It is not here, it is “Over- There”. In our geographical privilege we continue living our normal lives. Our human inability to fully relate to the “Over There” is shaded with feelings of manageability. We can expand government budgets supporting “protective” measures of military and humanitarian aid. We drop penny donations to favourite charities goaded by photos of weeping and broken children. Our busy lives allow only limited engagement. We may be slightly inconvenienced but not terribly bothered. Apart from this, we have our own problems.

These are the beliefs of our disconnected societies, but they are not the reality of our connected world. Science tells us that for every action there is a re-action. Equally, for every non-action, there is a consequence.

Each and every conflict or war carries devasting effects that extend far beyond immediate human casualties or geographically specific destruction. Their toxic legacies linger long after the fighting ceases, scarring communities and spreading poisons throughout ecosystems for generations. The nature of land and water neither recognize nor are bound by the changing lines of human maps. They are simply the foundations of our shared planet.

War has become a highway supporting the overexploitation and re-direction of natural resources for corporate and military needs. Forests are cut, mountains mined, water aquifers drained at unsustainable rates, and rivers diverted (disrupting vital hydrological cycles). Regions are left barren, made vulnerable to further degradation of droughts and floods. Ironically, we have named agendas of immediate destruction as, “scorched earth” without considering the impact these policies carry into our own futures. After all, it’s happening “over there” , not here.

Additional conflict costs of collateral damage can include essential machinery and water infrastructure which falters or ceases completely during wartime. This causes further damage that can take years and significant resources to rectify. The falling domino effects leave local communities displaced or grappling with contaminated soils and unreliable water supplies long after politicians officially declare a conflict is -over.

War does not solve problems, it creates more. Violent conflicts are direct factors for generational cycles of poverty and hardship.

Issues that incite wider, expanded conflicts both political and military. Devastated populations unable to survive in their native lands seek safety and life elsewhere. They have borne the cost of our beliefs. We cannot turn away from recognizing our actions as a source of their misery.

Today, there are over 23 violent global conflicts with a steadily growing list of “areas of tension”. Multitudes of migrants flow across the planet like waves crashing across seawalls. A river runs dry in Italy, a sinkhole expands in Texas. Strange and disconnected events are scattered across the world. Events that seemingly lack any visible link or relationship.

Rising extremist politics churn supportive platforms of division like magicians producing endless rabbits out of empty hats. They offer us dark assurances of protective, enforced borders to keep us safe. As if the bogeyman of our childhood lurks just outside our humanly mapped borders.

Our attention and emotions are dramatically focused on newly perceived, immediate threats to our cultures and communities from criminal elements and illegals infiltrating our countries.

In a struggling economy, we must protect our families, communities and, jobs. We are swiftly corralled into accepting and adopting conflict wording; to “defend” our own against “attack”.

Vaguely uncomfortable, we must still manage the difficulties of our own daily lives. Whatever may be happening “Over-There” causing them to flee their own homelands is not our personal problem. Any larger truth is simply too overwhelming. We have children to feed, mortgages to pay, and insecure jobs.

Media brutally applies politically aligned pro and con arguments to accelerate wars “Over-There”. It is exhausting, leaving us little desire for any deeper understanding. Issues are so competitively focused that anything lacking alignment with an immediate political agenda lies deliberately ignored or worse, hidden. We pull out credit cards seeking to purchase brief moments of ice cream joy. We will pay later.

However, scratching the surface ever so slightly across global economics reveals very clear links. They are found, operating throughout the dark, global, financial web. A silent but deadly competition is being fought with corporate money and government policies. WWIII is not about politics, religion, or defending freedom. It is about the buying and selling of precious, finite natural resources. It is about, water.

For over 15 years, countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, China, and the US have been quietly investing and buying up agricultural lands in 3rd world countries like; Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Of course, if your country is a designated desert this seems like a fair exchange of resources. But is that what is really happening here?

As selective, geographical populations continue to rise, securing permanent access to fertile land and reliable freshwater has become a critical and global issue. This has led to a surge in massive foreign land acquisitions, often referred to as “land grabs,”. They are primarily funded by large corporations and investors seeking to secure food supplies through the purchasing of viable agricultural lands from local farmers. Yes, those same farmers blocking the road to work these past months. Your farmers.

Initially, these purchases were promoted as mutually beneficial partnerships between the local communities and foreign investors. Oddly, these land deals often come paired with a more sinister directive that includes the “grabbing” and control of freshwater reserves.

The global “land trade” has seen a significant rise since the 2007 food price crisis and the financial crash of 2008 prompted further concerns about potential future resource shortages. Statistics show that competitive “land grabbing” between wealthy countries rapidly accelerated. First-world countries and their corporations quietly adjusted military positions to protect supply lines while equally cementing possession of the vital resources they needed. WWIII was already set in place through global financial boardrooms.

Countries including the US, China, and Saudi Arabia rapidly increased their spending to acquire valuable farmland abroad, motivated by a desire to ensure their own food security while reducing reliance on water-intensive agriculture within their own borders. A “keep-ours-untouched” policy while raiding and maximizing the use of natural resources acquired through foreign “land grab” purchases. Observers who seek to raise concerns around the ethical implications of these land grabs, (particularly in cases where local populations are displaced or coerced into selling their land without fair compensation) are largely ignored with voices lost in the intersecting streams of financial profits.

Clarity on the connections between “land grabs” and “water grabbing” is crucial to not only understanding global politics and wars, but for recognizing the deep and connecting links between “Over-There” and, over here. To name it for what it is. A global water war. In essence, land-grabs often directly translate to acquiring all of the freshwater resources associated with it. It’s like buying a pregnant pig. You pay for the pig with a bonus of piglets. Once the pig has been sold, the farmer loses all access.

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On The Scale of Self-Deceit and Frivolity Unto Extinction, there are points well beyond first-world problems. They indicate the extent to which life in the United States is luxurious enough that we can afford to make shit up to worry about. They also confirm the point made by Bill Maher that Americans are a silly people. Consider this item, which was brought to my attention most recently:

On February 9, 2024, The Virginian-Pilot newspaper ran an article with the headline, ”PETA wants carousel maker to stop creating rides with animal figures”. Not animals. Animal figures. At the very least, that indicates the folks at PETA (the Professionally Emptyheaded Troublemaking Association) are in desperate need of hobbies or would benefit from something considerably more substantial to worry about. But no. These folks are as serious as a wide-open southern border. Get a load of this:

PETA, the animal rights organization based in Norfolk, appealed to a Kansas-based manufacturer of carousels and other amusement park rides to stop using images of animals in its designs. The organization sent a letter Tuesday to Aaron Landrum, president and CEO of Wichita-based Chance Rides, stating animal-themed carousels “reinforce the notion that these sentient beings are simply here for our entertainment.”

Sentient beings? No. They’re not. They’re inanimate, unthinking, unfeeling objects, just like the folks at PETA.

Think of how stupid the average person is and realize half of them are stupider than that.” (George Carlin)

Follow the Bouncing Ball

What the hell are we doing? It seems as if I ask that question with disarming frequency. But another one occurs to me: Have we lost sight of the fact that more and more of what we’re doing is frivolous and meaningless because we (think we) don’t have more important things to worry about? I think that’s possible. I also think its possible we’ve become so carelessly apathetic because the government has convinced us (or we’ve assumed) it will take care of everything. It won’t. All it will do is grow and exert more control, even as it becomes more and more bureaucratically dysfunctional.

According to USAFacts, 2.95 million people were employed by the federal government as of last September. If you were never curious about anything else, have you ever wondered what they all do? And check this out: As of 2016, based on the latest data I found, “Compensation for Federal Workforce Costs the Government $1 Million Per Minute.” And since we’re borrowing money like drunken gamblers playing with loaded dice, we’re the functional equivalents of our own loan sharks.

We’re paying for a war in Ukraine and financing the defense of Israel at the same time at which we’re letting hordes of illegal aliens stream across our southern border and subsidizing their existences. We don’t have a humanitarian crisis. We have a crisis of priorities and common sense. We have a dereliction of duty by the federal government to protect its citizens. And we worry about images of animals on carousels? Good grief.

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. (George Carlin)

Since You Asked …

People often say to me, “OB, you don’t seem to lack for criticism. But you seem to come up short in the Alternative Suggestions Department.” Point taken. Accordingly, here are an even 14 suggestions we might adopt to straighten this mess out:

1. In very general terms, let’s cut the shit. Let’s stop indulging all the first-world nitwits and woke crybabies until AFTER we’ve secured the border, stanched the fiscal hemorrhage, and restored a modicum of integrity to our elections.
2. Let’s go to dictionary.com, look up sovereignty, and close our borders. We can’t afford to (or won’t) take care of our citizenry as it is. Why would we choose to pay for illegal aliens?
3. Let’s take just half of the money we spend to support other people’s wars and give it to our military veterans, so they can take care of themselves. Then we can axe the Veteran’s Administration (VA), which is sucking wind anyway.
4. Let’s cut the budget of the National Education Association (NEA) in half and give the other half to parents who want to send their children to private schools, rather than sending them to public indoctrination centers. Then we can axe the NEA, which is sucking wind anyway.
5. Let’s cut the green, net-zero, wind-turbine, solar crap, go nuclear for sustainable energy, and cut subsidies to the green-energy frauds whose failures we continue to underwrite. Then we can axe the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is sucking wind anyway.
6. Let’s recognize, in the words of Adrian Rogers, “You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
7. Consistent with #6, let’s ban the words revenue and investment from the taxonomy of government. Revenue is the money generated from normal business operations, calculated as the average sales price times the number of units sold. It is not taxes levied or tax dollars collected by the government. An investment is an asset or item acquired with the goal of generating income or appreciation … an increase in the value of an asset over time. It is not the allocation of tax dollars from which there is no income or appreciation generated, unless you count re-election as income or appreciation.
8. Let’s recognize that if we don’t take responsibility for ourselves, we don’t have any right to expect anyone else — especially the government — to take care of us.
9. Let’s stop calling voter ID laws discriminatory. If having to show a valid ID is discriminatory, then I’m discriminated against every time I go to the liquor store or get pulled over by a cop for drinking what I just bought in the liquor store while I’m driving. And I’m an identity-card-carrying member of the white-privileged, Western-Europe-derived, oppressive patriarchy. In what Bizarro World does that make even the slightest bit of sense, for God’s sake?
10. Let’s insist the people we elect to public office pass an exam on the same Constitution they fraudulently swear to uphold.
11. Let’s abide by the suggestions of the Constitution, send Representatives to Washington for two years, send Senators to Washington for six years, and send their asses back home to support themselves in the private sector.
12. Let’s make the U.S. government the first bureaucracy in history to get smaller and the people we send to Congress the first to say, “No,” to anything — or to at least stop making promises that won’t get them re-elected anyway because of #7 and #11.
13. Let’s trust our senses and give ourselves credit for recognizing the reality that if something doesn’t look good or smell right, it’s probably rotten.
14. Let’s stop listening to the career politicians whose careers we haven’t yet nuked and their lackeys in the mainstream media, think for ourselves, and question everything we see and hear.

The news media are not independent; they are a sort of bulletin board and public relations firm for the ruling class — the people who run things. Those who decide what news you will or will not hear are paid by, and tolerated purely at the whim of, those who hold economic power. If the parent corporation doesn’t want you to know something, it won’t be on the news. Period. Or, at the very least, it will be slanted to suit them and then rarely followed up. (George Carlin)

Life is About Choices

If you think we should ban animal images on carousels; surrender our national sovereignty by leaving the border open; ignore our veterans, our school children, and our energy needs; impose higher taxes on the rich while half the population pays none; abdicate personal responsibility; let people vote without proof of identity (failure to show ID is a crime in a growing number of states, even if you’re not trying to vote); leave politicians in office for life as corruption and bureaucratic dysfunction grow; ignore our own senses; and do what the ruling elite tell us without question, you likely haven’t read this far. You’re also not likely to do anything about any of it.

The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly. (George Carlin)

But if you fear, as I do, that we’re on the Highway to Hell, let’s get busy. If you’re not sure what to do, start here. Shut off the news. Let the people you sent to Congress know you’re mad as hell, and you’re not going to take this anymore. Vote. Write. Stand up. Speak up. Ask questions. Don’t back down. And if you have any other ideas, call 1-800-GET-REAL. Operators are standing by to put your ideas on petitions.

Maybe if we do all those things, we can stop being a silly people.

The country we save could be our own.

Please don’t confuse my point of view with cynicism; the real cynics are the ones who tell you everything’s gonna be all right. (George Carlin)

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We believe what we believe. As humans and culturally directed beings, we feel entitled to our personal opinions and choices. We define our worlds through the political and religious frames we are most familiar with. Conflicts escalate from the competing tensions fuelled by perceived fears and incursions. War unfolds as a highly charged, emotional response to those anticipated threats.

In the grey realms of conflict, wars serve as formidable forces of disruption, causing indiscriminate destruction across multiple facets of life—infrastructure, human populations, animals, and entire ecosystems. The direct consequences of bombings and military operations extend beyond immediate casualties, leading to oil spills, toxic chemical leaks, and the devastation of essential infrastructure. In turn, this results in the contamination of rivers and lakes, and other natural resources. The pervasive idea of war as a solution to problems obscures the harsh reality that it is, in fact, the root cause of numerous environmental issues.

In addition, population displacement due to conflict exerts additional pressures on resources including water supplies, often resulting in devastating over-extraction and irreparable depletion.

Furthermore, the deployment of weapons and explosives disrupts agricultural soil, causing irreversible erosion and sedimentation that negatively impacts water quality in natural water systems. The cumulative environmental impact of war, particularly on crucial resources, is an enduring crisis with far-reaching consequences.

As a global community, we are confronting the reality that the future of humanity is at a critical crossroads. The facts are laid before us and we face the uncomfortable need to acknowledge that all our actions are inextricably linked.

Scientific evidence has repeatably emphasized the current and future catastrophic consequences of greenhouse gas emissions and ongoing ecosystems destruction in our interconnected global environment. Regardless of political borders or cultural differences, the fate of humanity is permanently entangled, rendering distance from the origin of destruction irrelevant. War is not a sustainable solution to resolving inequalities, it is a dangerous contributory to the climate crisis.

In conjunction with government economic initiatives, international law plays a pivotal role in both understanding and regulating the enduring impacts on environments held in public trust. No longer can agendas aligned with political and corporate profit dictate the use and control of natural resources without clear boundaries and robust enforcement measures.

Protection of the environment is not a new concept. However, the conversation is mired in the cultural and legal taboos framed by war. In the patriotic defence of ideals or countries we reject accepting responsibility for the full scope of destruction it entails. We cling to the conception of “winning” without calculating the costs supporting the belief.

In a historical context, the use of “Agent Orange” during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) triggered the first discussions demanding specific environmental protections during conflicts. Agent Orange effectively destroyed the vegetation that hid guerrilla troops, a military advantage designed to save American lives. But, it also caused deep ecological damage to the country while exposing thousands of people to deadly toxic chemicals that resulted in serious and fatal health issues.

Over 2 million civilians were killed in addition to military casualties on both sides; an estimated 250,000 S. Vietnamese soldiers and 58,200 Americans. Vietnam would eventually emerge from the war as a potential new military power in SE Asia. However, the damage caused to its agricultural industries and the natural environment was catastrophic. Sections of the country were deeply scarred by the combination of intense bombing and land mines. Defoliation and toxins from chemicals left farmlands and water sources contaminated. Waves of desperate, displaced refugees fled to neighbouring countries seeking sanctuary from a destroyed country.

The Vietnam War illustrates the indisputable fact that armed conflicts inflict severe and lasting environmental damages while leaving detrimental impacts on ecosystems and natural resources.

Another poignant example is the 1991 Gulf War. The deliberate release of oil into the Persian Gulf by Iraq led to an environmental catastrophe. Approximately 240 to 520 million gallons of crude oil were discharged. Additionally, the intentional oil well fires released enormous amounts of toxic, black smoke into the atmosphere, creating noxious clouds that affected air quality for many miles away.

The environmental consequences were considerable, impacting terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The oil spills contaminated the desert soil, making it difficult for vegetation to flourish while disrupting the delicate balance of the desert ecosystem. Oil then seeped through the sand into the groundwater, affecting the water quality and posing health risks to both humans and animals. It flowed into nearby natural water systems quickly poisoning both natural flora and aquatic life. Local villages were abandoned as unliveable, creating a circle of poverty by displacement that many families would never recover from.

The damage of wars can extend years beyond the immediate consequences. These are facts. Science estimates that ecosystem recovery alone from these events can take more than a decade. This does not include the increase of poverty, health issues and human trafficking experienced by displaced populations. Estimates that must now be re-calculated and adjusted to a global climate crisis.

With facts in hand and hindsight, we must ask ourselves how we define “victory” and at what cost. This is a conversation we can no longer avoid either as individuals or, as countries.

These two, selected examples in a history of human conflict illustrate the profound, enduring damages inflicted by wars and conflicts. They further emphasize an urgent need for collaborative efforts to prevent both the environmental consequences of military conflicts and the weaponization of natural resources.

It is an elementary understanding that water is, life. This is a premise we all accept without argument. We falter in discussions of water as a messenger of death.

Throughout our human history water has been utilized as a tactical weapon in conflicts and warfare. The manipulation and/or destruction of water resources for political or military purposes clearly illustrates that water is both a strategic resource and a tactical weapon. M. Zeitoun and Daoudy characterized the weaponization of water as “a military tool of domination, legitimacy, or a target and goal to instill fear and enforce cooperation among civilians”.

A scarcity of clean water poses significant challenges to both public health and supporting agriculture. Polluted water is both a prominent factor in infant mortality and a primary conduit for disease transmission. Denial or restriction of clean water access is a lethal sentence undermining a society’s fundamental source of sustenance. In view of this, it is critical not to underestimate equally the value and hazards associated with controlling water resources.

When coupled with aggressive intent, water can be unleashed as a military weapon with devastating results, destroying villages and farmlands in its path. “Hydraulic warfare” is both a historical and actively utilized weapon in military arsenals. In WWII the British utilized it to target and destroy the Ruhr Dam, an effort seeking to damage German war manufacturing. It failed its primary objective, but the flooding caused an estimated civilian 1, 300 deaths.

In 1938 China’s Nationalist forces deliberately breached the Yellow River levees in an effort to stop advancing Japanese armies. The concept of “winning” again becomes a difficult and controversial topic. The Japanese army was temporarily halted but at the cost of thousands of Chinese civilian lives.

In June 2023, Ukraine’s “Nova Kakhovka Dam” was destroyed by a suspected, deliberate and internal explosion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded a war crimes investigation of ecocide, calling it “an environmental bomb of mass destruction”.

The military tactic of flooding historically is a minor influence in determining a “win” in war. However, it does create immediate civilian death and environmental destruction leading to long-term devastation.

To date, international law does not categorically prohibit or define “hydraulic warfare” as a weapon. Research on the nexus between war and the intentional weaponization of water is notably limited. The subject is wreathed with political taboos. Existing studies focus instead on the geographical and political ecology aspects related to the greyly defined arena of “looting water” as a natural resource. Despite the increasing incidences and gravity of international water conflicts, public attention is directed toward pollution and recovery concerns, not the effects related to war. Comprehensive studies and a lack of data leading to an understanding of the intricate relationships between armed conflicts and environmental damage remain hindered by political agendas. The deliberate use of water both as an environmental target and weapon of war remains under-examined and inadequately discussed.

It’s time that changed.

Despite the existence of four Geneva Conventions and three Additional Protocols regulating military conduct, there are no laws explicitly addressing the issues related to war and the destruction of natural environments. Why?

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Tolerance is a positive attitude towards life, which translates into trust, listening, courage, and creativity. It is not a subjective concept or an unchangeable aspect but a conscious approach, the starting point for building a set of qualities that can increasingly make a difference.

Respect, dialogue, and cooperation between cultures, peoples, and individuals are indispensable principles for the protection of human rights and peaceful coexistence.

Tolerance is openness to reciprocity, harmony in difference, and recognition of the complex identity of people, groups, and states.

To be tolerant it is essential to start from the idea that each of us is different in appearance, language, opinions, behavior, and values and that this “difference” generates respect, acceptance, and esteem, instead of denial, rejection, and hatred. From this perspective, tolerance is therefore not an innate characteristic in people, but a mental attitude, an emotional feeling, which can (and must) be trained and strengthened.

Tolerance is curiosity towards the coexistence of opinions, attitudes, ideas, and lifestyles different from one’s own, and acceptance of one’s own and others’ uniqueness.

When the individual recognizes the other, he demonstrates cognitive flexibility and a propensity towards mutual compromise. It creates the conditions so that relationships can be nourished not only by agreement but also by disagreement and diversity.

Practicing tolerance represents a conscious action, that arises from mutual recognition, mutual exchange, and being in a relationship with someone other than oneself. Being tolerant means being people-in-relationships, being on a journey towards each other, mutually recognizing one’s own and others’ differences, individuality, opinions and beliefs, to create a bridge that encourages dialogue and allows everyone to be himself with the other.

I don’t mean to say that conflicts are always avoidable. Instead, they are inevitable and, as such, must not and cannot be ignored or opposed. What we can do is transform conflicts in a generative way, learning to mend bonds wounded by hostilities.

What is possible is to take care of interpersonal relationships by promoting mutual knowledge and respect, thus creating fertile ground for collaboration and personal growth and that of the entire context.

The world would be better if everyone committed to tolerance, equal opportunity, and inclusion. This intention must be rooted in the values and culture of countries, workplaces, and in individuals.

Institutions, company boards of directors, and managers have the particular responsibility to set an example by creating a climate of respectful, fair, and inclusive relationships

As I already said when wishing everyone a New Year on LinkedIn, the awareness that peaceful coexistence is possible and the improvement of the quality of life for everyone can facilitate this process.

Tolerance is a key to this process.

If people and countries respect each other and think about coexisting rather than dominating or insulting each other, the world is big enough for everyone.

We can live in peace, without having anything imposed on us by others and without imposing ourselves with violence. Without interventionism disguised as ideological crusades. Wars end when it is decided that peace is worth more than victory, and the problems do not end with massacres: they are resolved with politics, dialogue, good will, and respect toward others.

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Americans can win the spiritual battle between love and hate, good and evil. People in free nations choose to believe in a loving God, a controlling God, or no God! A loving God empowers, a controlling God dictates behavior, and no God creates spiritual ignorance. Without any spiritual understanding of self, anger and hate can become self-destructive. Americans have the freedom to choose how to live their lives.

The power of hate:

• In cultures where dictators are in power, they control speech and behavior.
• Rules must be obeyed.
• Women lack education and are told how to act and dress.
• Children are taught to hate people who don’t believe the way they do.
• Everyone bows down to their leaders.

In Israel, It was easy to see hate as controlled men attacked free people at a peace festival and in their homes. Women were raped, babies beheaded, and men were slaughtered. The October 6th attack was an unmistakable picture of hate, but “spinners” persuaded American students that the killers were oppressed, not controlled. The question should be asked: why didn’t college students see hate from Palestinian leaders and Hamas, and why were American youth so easily influenced?

After World War 11, Americans saw the power of hate when we liberated Nazi concentration camps. We saw gas chambers, emaciated human beings, and piles of naked dead bodies. Everyone was horrified by man’s inhumanity to their fellow human beings. Americans assumed that would never happen again.

So why was it so easy for college students to become radicalized? Did families become weakened by the good life in America? Did we take freedom for granted? Did we expect government schools to educate children about the power of love? What went wrong?

Politicians and money can not solve this problem; this is a spiritual crisis. Many American youth are spiritually immature because they grew up without any spiritual understanding of themselves. I saw adults more concerned about how they look and feel than how they behave. As a crime and violence prevention specialist, I observed spiritually unaware parents abusing and neglecting their children, using drugs, and abusing each other as gangs formed to create family and community.

We gradually became a nation that didn’t understand the power of love. As a result, many of today’s young people are angry, feel entitled, and are self-absorbed. Gangs of young people band together to loot, carjack, abuse innocent people, and destroy property. We also see juveniles taking drugs, dying from Fentanyl, and suicide at an all-time high. Child abuse and neglect cost taxpayers $220 million a day as “‘we the people” ignore American children. Americans are paying a high price.

The power of love: Why did we assume Biblical teachings of “Love God and Love Others” were no longer critical for youth? Every newborn is a spiritual being who needs to grow and learn from an involved, supportive family with caring neighbors. If this spiritual crisis continues, we will destroy ourselves and our freedoms.

The time is now for caring adults in our churches and synagogues to demonstrate “Love thy neighbor” and unite Americans as we take back neighborhood involvement and support. COVID proved that social isolation creates mental health problems for young and old alike. We all have a role to play if we are going to remain free people.

How we treat each other, forgive, guide, and support children will determine our future. The power of love can transform America! We must become proactive!

For those who do not believe in God, watch movies about redemption. Netflix movie “I Can Only Imagine” tells the true story of an abusive father who turned his life around and his victim, his son, found peace. We can change and live peaceful lives.

A call to Action: The first step is to connect with your God for a spiritual understanding of self. Prayer or meditation can bring inner peace and should be on everyone’s bucket list. Ask for guidance, wisdom, and a mission. We have a forgiving God who can direct our path. Consider reaching out and bringing neighbors together to end the social isolation that allows criminal behavior to flourish. This is a gradual process, so be patient with yourself, and you will be rewarded.

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In all of history, our society has never been more divisive. Whether it is politically, socially, or ideologically, people just can’t seem to even want to try and agree. Not even want to try and see another person’s point of view .”Can’t we all be friends”?

Many years ago, famed UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden coined the phrase,” disagree, but don’t be disagreeable.” Being a big John Wooden fan, that phrase has resonated with me for many years. Everyone may have their interpretation of Coach Wooden’s now-famous phrase, and I am no different. Coach Wooden was a master at taking student-athletes from different backgrounds and blending them into championship basketball teams. Coach Wooden took basic social mores, Christian values, and common sense and melded them into a precept for everyone to be respectful, listen to another person’s point of view, and have positive dialogue. He saw this as a means where athletic teams, politicians, families, etc., could all celebrate their different points of view and co-exist. Not only co-exist but thrive and be successful.

Another phrase coined over a number of years, with an unknown origin, is “reach across the aisle.” With this phrase, the word aisle is symbolic of the divide between people of different political beliefs. In this case, Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, etc.

“Disagree, but don’t be disagreeable,” “Reach across the aisle,” or “Can’t we all just be friends,” these phrases offer a sign of hope. A sign of cooperation, respect, and willingness to put our agendas aside for the betterment of the greater good.

Aren’t these phrases merely a return to the lessons our parents and grandparents tried to teach us?

Respect your elders, be polite, don’t interrupt, etc. In my Life Coaching practice, I commonly ask how a 10-year-old would solve this problem. How would a 10-year-old solve the problem of divisiveness? Most likely, they merely say, ” Can’t we all be friends”?

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Last week I wrote about the lethal peril to which we find ourselves subject as the result of anthropogenic climate change and two of its perniciously wayward children, bomb cyclones and weather whiplash. Well, just when you thought it was safe …

Last week, the Washington Post ran a story — “This weather phenomenon on Lake Michigan stunned meteorologists Friday” — that’s sure to keep us on Red Alert until the vernal equinox, at the very least. Get a load of this:

An extremely localized but intense band of lake-effect snow … [dropped] nearly three feet of snow in a narrow swath only a few miles wide. Travel was halted as roadways became buried, with near whiteout conditions. But there was something a little special with this particular snow band — it was made up of more than a dozen wintry whirlwinds. These whirlwinds are known as mesovortexes (spelled mesovortices in academic literature). They are small eddies about 10 or 20 miles wide and akin to tiny low pressure systems. Each one locally intensified snowfall and was separated by a small moat or cutoff.

Meteorologists were baffled at first as to the cause of these mesovertices. But instead of blaming all of humanity for causing this climate-change phenomenon, a group of intrepid authorities managed to trace the cause to two men — Wilbur Pilkingbush and Herman Scroggins — who were cooking Coho Salmon they’d caught ice fishing on Lake Michigan over a wood-burning campfire out on Big Sable Point near Ludington State Park.

According to Ernest Grimlak of the Michigan Division of Forestry and Wildlife, “Them two dudes had a fire so big it threw off enough CO2 to sustain photosynthesis in the entire Huron-Manitee National Forests. Man, we can’t have that. We gotta spend millions of taxpayer dollars to build CO2 recovery plants and put that shit back in the ground so it can make more coal. The last thing we should do is trust nature to take care of itself, right?”

And that, of course, brings us to the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Weather or Not

While it hasn’t been definitively attributed to mesovertices, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American freighter that went down in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, taking the lives of all 29 men on board. Gordon Lightfoot wrote the commemorative song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, in December of that year. The record label, Reprise, released the song in August of 1976. It hit number 1 in Canada. In the United States, it reached number 1 in Cashbox and was number 2 for two weeks in the Billboard Hot 100. Nevertheless, there were some factual inaccuracies in the lyrics of the song, particularly here:

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral.
The church bell chimed till it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Historians and scholars of ecclesiastical architecture pointed out no Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral exists. More troubling, though, was this: The church bell chimed till it rang 29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald. If the church bell had chimed 29 times for each man, it would have chimed 841 times [29 x 29 = 841]. Grammarians and linguists were inclined to write that off as a slip of the tongue … well … pen, an oversight, an inadvertent overlooking of the arithmetic, or — less likely — some degree of illiteracy on the part of Gordon Lightfoot. For what it’s worth, I don’t buy the illiteracy theory. Lightfoot was much too accomplished a student of language and music to be judged illiterate.

Metallurgists and physicists, however, had more significant issues with the physical reality of the lyrics due to the potential effects of fractal vibrations. According to the Journal of Sound and Vibration:

A wide class of systems in nature and engineering consists of self-similar fractal structures, where each cell repeats the structure of the previous one on a certain scale. However, the well-known B. Mandelbrot’s fractals that use the scaling of geometric parameters do not reflect the dynamic properties of the system well enough. Therefore, when studying the system dynamics, it is suggested [but no one knows by whom] that structures which have a scaling of dynamic, parameters, should be considered as a special class of vibratory system. Such class of structures where stiffness and inertial parameters change with the same scale factor from cell to cell can be called dynamic fractals. Research has shown that such structures have a number of specific wave and vibrational properties. Thus, the dynamic fractal is equivalent in terms of frequency to a certain periodic structure, which is a band-pass filter. It has been also shown [but no one knows by whom] that the dynamic fractal having a scale factor greater than one with increasing magnitudes of stiffness and inertial parameters along its length has good vibroisolation properties. The main advantage of such a lattice is intensive vibration attenuation in all frequency ranges including in resonant modes of the lattice, which favorably compares with periodic lattices. On the contrary, the dynamic fractal having a scale factor less than one with decreasing magnitudes of stiffness and inertial parameters along its length has the properties of amplifying the incoming signal along the structure, which can be used in control systems.

In layman’s terms, that means were the bell to have been the same age as the nonexistent building in which it was hung, it would have been subject to fractal vibrations so deleterious they would have shattered had it been rung more than ten times, let alone 841. The metallurgists and physicists who studied the bell were bummed. But when Al Gore and the IPCC assured them if fractal vibrations hadn’t caused the bell to shatter climate change would have, they felt instantly better.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Here’s the deal, kids: No matter what happens, no matter the nature of the disaster, the calamity, the aberrant phenomenon, or the accident — and notwithstanding the plausible, practical explanations for any of that shit — attribute it to climate change. If we do that, if we stay unfailing allegiant to the narrative, the good news is we’ll be good. The bad news is we’ll be enslaved by the globalists.

But what the hell. It’s only life, and we only live once. We might as well be gullible and subservient.

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In the northeastern United States, where I happen to live, there’s an annual climate-change event. It’s called winter. During this event, the temperatures fall, as do little white flakes the natives call snow. We’ve already had seven or eight inches of the stuff fall this month. And there’s more to come:

After a mostly calm and mild December across much of the U.S., Mother Nature is making up for it with a stormy and cold January, and there’s more wild weather on the way. The deadly storm that’s raking the eastern U.S. this week is the opening act for what’s to come over the next week: A potential “bomb cyclone” blizzard for the Midwest, an arctic blast courtesy of the polar vortex, and possibly the first real East Coast snowstorm in years.

In case you’re not aware, a bomb cyclone is a storm blown hideously out of proportion by climate-change hysterics and their pals in the narrative-peddling mainstream media. That’s why, as soon as the first flakes fly, there’s a panicked run on milk, bread, and eggs, toilet paper, solar panels, and wind turbines. Vegans, of course, don’t buy eggs out of concern for the hens’ asses. (Who needs all that protein, lecithin, biotin, zinc, iron, phosphorus, folate, iodine, selenium, choline, and vitamins B2, B5, B12, A, D, and E from a single source anyway?) And some of them won’t eat anything that has a brain, which is why there’s no chance of their ever cannibalizing each other. Solar panels are useless because the sun doesn’t shine during snowstorms. And wind turbines have to be shut down once the temperature drops below a certain point because the blades will break. But all that pales in comparison to the lunatic alarm induced by bomb cyclones.

I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of snow. After it falls, it has to be cleared from roadways, walkways, steps, and other areas of vehicle and pedestrian traffic. And I’m not a skier, a snowboarder, or a fan of frostbite. But to be fair, I have to say it’s wondrously beautiful when it’s falling.

During the winter of 1971, when I was younger and even crazier, a high-school friend, Tommy Roberts, and I went to the home of another friend, Floyd Bennet, on a Friday night to listen to music and do what high-school students did in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. (I’d specify what that was, but I don’t remember.) At some point during the evening — I also don’t remember if it was before or after Tommy and I got to Floyd’s house — we each dropped a barrel of Orange Sunshine.

I only have two clear recollections from the time we spent in Floyd’s room: One was listening to the Traffic album, The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys. (The title song still makes me feel like I’m tripping, even though I’m not that young or crazy anymore.) The other is pulling up the blinds in Floyd’s room as we were preparing to leave and looking outside to discover a blizzard in full force. (We didn’t have bomb cyclones in those days.) The bad news was Tommy and I had no idea a storm was coming, so we didn’t dress for it. The good news was, in our altered state of consciousness, we didn’t care about much of anything, let alone the weather.

I was going to sleep at Tommy’s house on Barberry Lane that night, which was a cross-lots walk of about a mile or so from Floyd’s house on Pasture Lane. We set off in snow that was already almost knee-deep, undaunted by the cold, the wind, the snow, and our ill-advised state of under-dress. Somewhere along the way, before we got to the field adjacent to the dead-end street at the end of which Tommy lived, we came to believe we could hear the snow falling. We were convinced we could hear it better if we got below the wind. And we decided to take off the shirts and the light jackets we were wearing and lie in the snow, the better to hear the flakes falling on each other.

Among the winter wonders of that night were the facts that (A) Tommy’s mother was asleep when we finally arrived at his house, and (B) neither Tommy nor I got so much as a sniffle from our psychedelic adventure.

Pick Your Hallucination

As I write this, we’re in the midst of our annual climate-change event. The temperature’s in the low single digits. But that’s about to change, apparently, because of a weather whiplash. In case you’re not aware, a weather whiplash is a change of temperature blown hideously out of proportion by climate-change hysterics and their pals in the narrative-peddling mainstream media. That’s why, as soon as the thermometer starts to rise, there’s a panicked run on milk, bread, eggs, toilet paper, shorts, t-shirts, swimwear, sandals, and sunscreen.

In this enlightened age, of course, it’s politically incorrect to refer to winter snowstorms and temperature changes in terms of climate. To sustain the anthropogenic climate-change narrative, we’re encouraged — at the risk of otherwise being canceled, banned, shirked, ridiculed, vilified, and called names like denier — to refer to snowstorms, temperature changes, and other atmospheric and meteorological phenomena as weather. And weather, according to the narrative, is unrelated to climate as is, to use USA Today’s term, Mother Nature. If that makes the slightest bit of sense to you, it’s a safe bet you’re firmly bought into the climate-change narrative. And you’re probably a vegan, too. If so, God bless you.

I know Tommy’s still around because he recently worked for the construction company that employs my brother, Keith. I’d guess that if Tommy and I were young and crazy again, our response to all this climate fraud would be to drop some Orange Sunshine, go to Floyd’s house, listen to The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, and laugh our asses off at the first-world, globalist lunacy for which so many have fallen so far. When we left Floyd’s, we wouldn’t care if it were snowing or not.

If it were, we wouldn’t call it climate change. And we’d probably think bomb cyclone was a drug we hadn’t tried yet.

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As you may be aware, the 2023 climate summit was conducted in December in Dubai. As you may also be aware, it was hailed for milestone achievements such as … uh … well, one of the members called for … oh, what was that? … doggone it. Never mind. It was something about suckers and chumps. But it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that a gaggle of our unimaginably wealthy and utterly detached-from-reality betters got together to make decisions about redistributing the world’s wealth for their own benefit and at the expense of the world’s poor.

As Bloomberg reported on the summit’s monumental accomplishments:

Countries … are called to contribute to a global transition effort — rather than being outright compelled to make that shift on their own.

Translation: Since we haven’t been able to stuff this shit down your throats or even come close to spit-balling the cost of it, we’re going to offer some catastrophic suggestion and hope your respective governments have better luck strongarming you than we did.

They called their little gathering, COP28. COP, as you know, stands for Chuckleheads on Parade; although, most of the parading those Chuckleheads do takes place on the fossil-fueled, carbon-emitting private jets they’d have us believe were dooming the planet if we were flying on them. Oddly enough, none of them ever look terribly nervous about such an eventuality. Go figure.

Errors look so very ugly in persons of small means — one feels they are taking quite a liberty in going astray; whereas people of fortune may naturally indulge in a few delinquencies. (George Eliot, Janet’s Repentance)

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the CurtainIn order to redistribute wealth, further enrich themselves, impoverish, freeze, starve, and subjugate as many countries and people as they can according to The Grand Global Plan, the Chuckleheads are pulling levers, pressing buttons, and stepping on pedals behind the curtain with the feverish desperation of Joe Biden trying to distance himself from complicity in Hunter’s guilt.

Why are the Chuckleheads so feverishly desperate? For the same reason all crooks are feverishly desperate: If the truth comes out, they’re cooked. What truth? For starters, here’s what Mark Mills wrote in Real Clear Markets:

Since Y2k we’ve seen over $5 trillion of global spending on wind and solar and similar efforts to avoid hydrocarbons. That did reduce hydrocarbons’ share of world energy, but by just two percentage points. And the quantity, not share, of hydrocarbons consumed globally has increased by an amount equal, in energy-equivalent terms, to adding six Saudi Arabia’s worth of oil output. Those two decades of spending has led to solar and wind combined supplying just under 4% of world energy. For context: burning wood still supplies 10%.

As Robin Williams famously said, “Reality. What a concept.”

What You Don’t Know Will Hurt YouMy friend, Charlotte Wittenkamp, shared an insightful post from Experimental History called, “There are no statistics in the Kingdom of God”, by Adam Mastroianni. (Thank you, Charlotte.) In it, Mastroianni argues against the notion of things being random. Rather, he suggests, we dismiss things as random because we don’t know — or don’t care to explore — cause and effect. He writes this:

If you think it’s random, it’s because you have no idea what’s going on. And that’s fine, there’s no shame in not knowing stuff. But you shouldn’t assume that just because the conversation makes no sense to you, it must not make sense at all … The lesson here is things seem random until you understand ’em … your brain doesn’t just peek out through your eyes and behold the world as it is; it adds a lot of assumptions to make incoming visual information more meaningful.

And that, of course, brings us to climate (and every other globalist agenda). The absence of randomness, the failure to explore, the political determination to settle science, the contrivance of climate models (see Michael “Youda” Mann below), the manipulation of data, the lust for power, the lack of concern for humanity (starting with the least economically advantaged), and our lack of concern for our own sovereignty caused and continue to exacerbate the climate panic and the green energy schemes that are being shoved down our throats, emptying our wallets, and decimating our power grids.

What contrived models and manipulated data? Here’s a sample, derived from an examination of Youda Mann’s infamous Hockey Stick graph:

The “Hockey Stick” is the graph that took the world of climate science by storm … The authors claimed … to take a new statistical approach to reconstructing global patterns of annual temperature … based on the calibration of multiproxy data networks by the dominant patterns of temperature variability in the instrumental record … the “Hockey Stick” — that was the perfect icon to sell global warming fear to the public … The Medieval Warm period … had disappeared. The clear implication was that the earth had had a benign and unchanging climate for about a thousand years, and now humans had entered the picture with their fossil fuels and were rapidly destabilizing the situation … Mann’s [flatly refused] to share publicly the data and methodology by which he constructed the Hockey Stick graph … a very talented Canadian mathematician named Steve McIntyre began an effort to replicate the Mann/Bradley/Hughes work. McIntyre started with a request to Mann to provide the underlying data and methodologies (computer programming) that generated the graph. To his surprise, McIntyre was met not with prompt compliance (which would be the sine qua non of actual science) but rather with hostility and evasion … he gradually established that Mann et al. had adopted a complex methodology that selectively emphasized certain temperature proxies over others in order to reverse-engineer the “shaft” of the stick to get a pre-determined desired outcome.

Oh, well. Nothing to see here, kids. Let’s start building more wind turbines to tilt at.

The Next WaveThe Chuckleheads are about to be fully exposed on the climate/green-energy hoax. And the global power-grab that was COVID has been shown the light of day and the door. So, now, according to reports leaked from the World Health Organization (WHO?), the next planned … uh … possible pandemic is Acute Bonkus of the Konkus. But it’s not like any of the other conspiratorial hoaxes to which we’ve recently been subject. Uh uh. Not this one.

It’s not being developed in a lab. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is neither involved nor providing funding. Tony Fauci won’t be its Designated Liar (DL). Uncle Klaus’s World Economic Forum (WEF) won’t be overseeing the proliferation of its panic-inducing control. The IPCC won’t be republishing all the fictitious evidence from all the specious models it can find. And the International Monetary Fund (IMF) won’t be providing bail money for the Chuckleheads and all the other cabalistic crooks involved. That must be true because everyone one of them promised. Plus, they pinky swore.

Don’t fall for it. As long as we keep taking the bait, they’ll keep casting their lines.

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They say that there were invaders. So, they were. They were brutal. They desecrated, they vandalized. They killed able men, raped or made women sex slaves, defiled even children – mutilated and maimed. Horrible? Yes. History is full of horrible things. But today – the present –is a logical continuation of the past. Or so I thought.

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
― Winston S. Churchill

It took some time for me to understand that history was always the victor’s story – but today we know these stories are not cast in stone. If the tables were reversed, the same would have happened and this is not hypothetical. Selective interpretation of history and picking and choosing of certain events for which today there are acts of ‘retribution’ or ‘revenge’ under the name of reclamation of rights.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
― George Orwell

The majoritarians of today lean on past injustices to narrate a story of historical wrongs and then go after the others without learning that a victim always feels the same – vulnerable, afraid, restricted, choked, and deprived of dignity, rights, and necessities. This story is so universal that I don’t need to quote instances. The reader can relate to many local stories that are told as part of their history. The only question is what they can relate to – the victims of yesterday or today.

History bears no truth because the narrative begets the facts and not the other way around. Since history is closely linked with politics, it is necessary to make history a tool that can be molded to the narrator’s convenience. We have seen that the two narratives have quite opposite tales to tell. Textbooks can be changed and students can be untaught or retaught.

More often than not, the state controls these narratives. The ones in power rewrite and republish history. Schools become the first formal engagement point. Today’s curriculum has been changed and I don’t know if the heroic stories that we read yesterday are the same as what we would tell our children.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Most politicians are unread but they have the most reach and power – so they are the most heard. Furtherance of their agenda needs a starting point, and the starting point is always the wrongs of the past. The correction of past wrongs, when packed and told – either in the form of history in schools or election speeches, appeals to the emotions of the individuals. Since democracy is after all a game of numbers, appealing to the majority makes enormous sense.

If there was ever a learned input, it is now threatened under the guise of recorded artifacts that make their way to social media and even the courts. Today we see instances of students thrashing teachers and exposing them to the vagaries of violence and legal retribution. Most news is fake, but they are mostly consumed because of the easiness of reach and the impressionability of young minds. Logical debates and open conversations have disappeared into the instantaneous consumption of short-form content.

Between numbers and narrative, there is another aspect of history that we might have to consider – history could be a science. History is the organized form of theoretical postulates, validated by ‘available’ records. But the truth is that many portions of history won’t have records, because many historical facts related to verbal narratives may devolve into hearsay.

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte

History is cogent storytelling with potential evidence from the past. The records could be numismatic, literary, archeological, journalistic, or fabled. But we note that only some histories are chronicled – for example, the Chinese and the Sri Lankans. The challenge is that all of these are subject to human bias. Therefore, history is an art and a science at the same time.

History is also about us – the real us. What is happening today and labeled as current affairs is tomorrow’s history. We debate today if climate change really exists. Even if there is an evidentiary approach, there is an underlying interest of the corporations which carry the tag ‘Big’. Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Tech, Big Religion, Big Charity, – the list goes on. Big Corporations fund, invest, lobby, and influence politics to further their causes. But the key part is that history is insensitive to these undercurrents, but play out as emotional fodder in elections and lawmaking.

The only defense that we all have is to eliminate binary thinking. We have power within us to enable open-minded thinking and exchanges, allowing contrarian views to bubble to the top. It enables us to discern and disagree, and that history is never a story that can be agreed upon. The most powerful tool is literature, which captures these narratives, events, and perspectives for future generations to read.

But certain things are undeniable – the role of humans in the history of the earth and how they see their future collectively are in their hands. This is certainly possible to making the individual more important than the ‘greater good’. Greater good has always been a well-intended path to hell. The concept of ‘benevolent dictatorship’ is eulogized, because the individual does not want to carry the burden of his responsibility. When the sheep emote, the wolf rules.

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
― George Orwell, 1984

If we see that somebody is about to change the past, it is the first step toward their personal aim at power. Everybody else, who subscribes to such a change, is the shoulder that such an authoritarian will rise. Leadership is not about writing the wrongs of the past, but accepting the complexities of the past and that cannot be undone – but the present generation holds the key to a bright future, where the individual mind can seek and conceive.

The human mind is the most powerful entity that has been created. If evolution has to happen anymore, it is the evolution of the human mind in all spheres. If democracy was the greatest revolution that humans have evolved into, then it is important not to circumvent the true spirit of democracy by cutting short the opportunities for young minds to explore, debate, and discover the truths of our pasts.

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”
― Winston S. Churchill

In this way, there are no true teachers. As Hermann Hesse writes in his book Siddhartha, knowledge can be subjective, because it comes from other sources; but wisdom is always self-experienced. If the victims of yesterday want to make it right for this world today, it is to treat each person with the same dignity they yearned for and the opportunity that they always sought.

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That may seem like an odd title for this post because it’s a celebration of the Holiday Season, a reflection of my incorrigibly stubborn hopefulness, and an acknowledgement of the inscrutability of human nature. So, perhaps I should explain.

The world, as you likely know, is rife with turmoil. I say as you likely know because the world’s always in turmoil. We’re human beings. Turmoil is what we do. And why not? We’re really good at it. We’ve been good at it for our entire history on the planet. That turmoil manifests in our 24-hour news cycles with stories of rising antisemitism, of persistent racism, of ignorance, fear, hatred, and all manner of violence and brutality. In the Northern Hemisphere, the days get shorter while our capacities for antisemitism, racism, ignorance, fear, hatred, violence, and brutality get longer.

And now, we face the age-old dilemma: What do we do with all of that during the Holiday Season? Do we commune in the spirit of the Season? Or do we allow ourselves to be separated by our differing religious beliefs, ideologies, dogmas, prejudices, and myriad other unfounded — or, at least, unexamined — convictions?

StopIf you don’t already recognize the criminal and self-defeating absurdity of allowing ourselves to be separated from our shared humanity and our shared spirituality, I offer a morsel of food for thought from the early 20th century, as recounted on history.com:

On Christmas Eve 1914, in the dank, muddy trenches on the Western Front of the First World War, a remarkable thing happened … The Germans were singing carols … soldiers began to climb nervously out of their trenches, and to meet in the barbed-wire-filled “No Man’s Land” that separated the armies. Normally, the British and Germans communicated across No Man’s Land with streaking bullets, with only occasional gentlemanly allowances to collect the dead unmolested. But now, there were handshakes and words of kindness. The soldiers traded songs, tobacco, and wine, joining in a spontaneous holiday party in the cold night … small pockets of French, German, Belgian, and British troops held impromptu cease-fires across the Western Front, with reports of some on the Eastern Front as well … One British fighter named Ernie Williams later described in an interview his recollection of some makeshift soccer play on what turned out to be an icy pitch: “The ball appeared from somewhere, I don’t know where … They made up some goals and one fellow went in goal and then it was just a general kick-about. I should think there were about a couple of hundred taking part.”

Soldiers, warriors trained to kill or be killed, stopped killing. For one magical evening, they ignored their political mandates to slaughter each other. They bonded. They sang and played. They exchanged gifts. They recognized each other as fellow human beings, sharing the desire to live and to celebrate a spiritual kinship bigger than themselves — bigger than a person, an army, or a nation. Brothers in arms? They were brothers in living. And they defied orders, choosing instead to celebrate a Holy Night with each other.

If that was possible 109 years ago, what the hell are we doing now? Why are we doing it? And what are we doing about it?

RealityNo. I’m not ignoring the Israeli/Hamas war. There is a centuries-long history of war, occupation, irreconcilable religious zealotry, unsettled territorial claims, and every kind of religious and ideological intolerance there. As a result, the desire to kill is greater than the desire for peace in the Middle East. Neither am I ignoring the war in Ukraine. There is a centuries-long history of war, occupation, irreconcilable religious zealotry, unsettled territorial claims, and every kind of religious and ideological intolerance there, too. As a result, the desire to kill is greater than the desire for peace in Eastern Europe. That’s nothing more or less than — absolutely no different from — reality. If you’re prepared to offer a countering view, come at me, Bro, as they say in the biz.

I don’t care about that, either.

I don’t care what color you are. I don’t care what religion you practice. I don’t care what gender you think you are. I don’t care what ideology compels you to hop around. I don’t care what you do or think you have to do. I only care that you stop. Some time during the Holiday Season, just stop.

You don’t even have to think. If you can stop and be completely still without thinking, more power to you. If you can keep any manner of contemplation, introspection, or benevolence from creeping into your head, that might have to be okay … as long as you’re quiet. Who knows what might happen?

You might hear the reverent hush of a humble manger. You might see the guiding light of a triumphant menorah. You might sense the communion of spirits in a mosque or a monastery at prayer. But you’ll experience none of that if you’re not quietly observant.

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"The media can play a critical role in healing and reducing stress for people who care about issues that affect their lives." ...

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"We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted by the fact that the leader of a once proud and prosperous constitutional republic violated the most fundamental liberty in that republic’s constitution." ...

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"When it comes to our reactions to COVID and the oppressive, authoritarian, and even experimental mandates that are sure to follow — this time around, the next time, or the time after that — try to remember this: We’ll make them ourselves." ...

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Safe words are a tool used by people who enjoy play-acting danger. In such scenarios, words like no, stop, or help might just be a part of the scene as the naughty butler tries to evade the licentious baroness (or what have you).

And so a duo needs a safe word, something that wouldn’t naturally occur in such a scenario. For example, a naughty butler is unlikely to randomly shout, “Pineapple!” but a person who just got slapped too hard most certainly would, if it was their safe word.

At that point, all play stops. I would imagine a debrief would be helpful, too – what went too far? How could the scene be safer in the future? Is any repair needed between the two? This is one of the ways trust is built and maintained among duos who enjoy this kind of dangerous make-believe.

Also dangerous, though in a very different way, are all the rest of the iterations of interpersonal relationships.

Outside of the role-play, the danger lives in the emotional vulnerability of the connection, the way the more we open ourselves to emotionally intimate connection, the more we inevitably also open ourselves to painful fissures in those connections.

Recently, I was talking with a friend of indigenous Hawaiian lineage who also lives in Hawaii. People had been reaching out to her about the Maui fires, intending to be solicitous and kind. Statements like, “But you don’t live on that island, do you?” only added to her emotional strain, though, as she navigated how to respond to these texts on top of her grief around the fires.

As she shared this with me, she also shared that in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, as she reached out to Black friends in Minnesota (where she then lived), she received back some texts that suggested that they were feeling that same kind of exhaustion, as if to say, “I recognize you’re attempting kindness but really you’re adding to the emotional burden for me.”

I recall feeling a related form of conflict when George Floyd was murdered. Do I reach out or is that part of the performance of being a Good White Person? I did reach out some; some folks responded with moments of connection with me and some chose not to respond at all, presumably as each individual navigated their unique relationship with the moment and my outreach.

The day after my conversation with my Hawaiian friend, I sent a text with the suggestion of a safe word.

She loved the idea as much as I did… and it’s inherently flawed. Here’s the problem:

In the role-play, the licentious baroness-player has to be fully willing to own her responsibility in the scene. If she hears “Pineapple!” she has to be willing to stop immediately* and own her over-exuberance.

This might be hard for her. Really hard.

She might be wrapped up in thinking she’s great at this kind of role play or embarrassed that she got swept up in the moment, or feel shame that she was taken to task when she was intending to create something fun and sexy.

Her job – what allows the relationship to move forward – is to take responsibility and be willing to regroup with the naughty butler with openness and curiosity.

If she instead protests, “I didn’t hit you too hard!” or, worse yet, “I didn’t mean to hit you too hard!” she’s breaking the trust that allowed for the setup in the first place.

I say this to all of my fellow white folks who are reading: Same, same.

If you are a white person who cares about making positive world change on the interpersonal front, it starts with being willing to be uncomfortable.

That means being committed to owning your own responsibility so that you can bring openness and curiosity instead of staying in defensiveness or embarrassment or shame.

To recognize the problematic and long-standing racial dynamics in America is an important start. And it’s only that: a start. Awareness doesn’t make a person a Good White Person.

Truthfully, there is no such thing, not with the implications of having crossed a finish line of awareness, introspection, and full responsibility.

Instead, there is only continual learning…

…ever-expanding curiosity…

…and practicing managing our reactions so that we can be in it with the people we care about.

So! Ask your friends if they, too, would like what my friend and I now call a White Lady Safe Word… but be sure you’re up to owning your role in it first.

Be the best licentious baroness you can be, friend.

* I asked my friend to read this and give her edits and/or blessing and/or veto. That’s when she told me that “pineapple” – a word I chose with intention to be as random a word as possible and thus fit the bill for a solid safe word – has actually been historically used as a slur against native Hawaiians by colonizers. Happily, she found this coincidence mighty amusing.

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Last Saturday thousands came together in DC to pay homage to the March on Washington which took place 60 years ago, the march where Dr. King spoke of that unforgettable dream. This commemoration was a powerful stand against the threat to Dr. King’s dream – the vision of a united nation prevailing over hatred and bigotry. Even though I wasn’t physically there, the significance of the event and its message hit home.

There’s this incredible clip I stumbled upon by one of the speakers – Sacha Baron Cohen, yep, the man behind “Borat.” While he’s known to make us laugh, his words in this clip really made me pause. His message is clear: hate and lies are conscious choices we make, while unity and solidarity are the tools we can use to push back against these destructive forces.

In a time when misinformation and division are prevalent in our lives, the call to action couldn’t be clearer. We’ve got to actively choose unity over division and truth over lies.

It’s about standing together, strong in purpose and resolve, and filling in the gaps that falsehoods try to create.

Take a moment to check out this short but powerful clip that really resonated with me: Sacha Baron Cohen’s Remarks at the 60th Anniversary of March on Washington. Forgive the very short ad – I did not know how to clip it out. You can skip it after a few seconds.

It’s a call to action, a reminder that we each possess the ability to champion truth and empathy. Let’s choose to lead others toward a future where Dr. King’s dreams are more than just words – they’re living realities.

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Workplace psychology researcher, Stefan Falk, wrote an article for CNBC, in which he’d like you to know that in his more than 30 years of studying workplace cultures, he’s discovered five toxic phrases selfish and entitled individuals always use. If he came up with only five, that suggests 30-plus years may not have been quite enough.

Be that as it may, here are the offending phrases Stefan’s in-depth studies have revealed:

1. “This feedback is insulting.” [Translation: Some people may be interested in the truth. I’m not one of them.]
2. “My ideas are valuable and always merit serious consideration.” [Translation: You’ve clearly failed to recognize my intellectual superiority.]
3. “Their success comes at the expense of my own.” [Translation: You’ve weaponized merit and objectivity and used them against me.]
4. “Why are you always trying to control me?” [Translation: There’s no i in team. But if you add an e, there’s eat me.]
5. “You’re being disrespectful by not agreeing with me.” [Translation: I’m not responsible for your failure to recognize my genius.]

With a few more minutes of research, Stefan might have been able to abbreviate his article from 538 words to these nine: “Bureaucracies are Petri dishes for narcissism and self-serving politics.” But he didn’t. So, here are the top ten phrases (sentences, actually) selfish and entitled individuals use that Stefan might have heard if he’d stuck around a little longer. You can decide for yourself if they’re toxic — or if you should just tell the selfish and entitled individual in question to take a long walk off a short pier:

1. “What’s in it for me?”
2. “That’s a great idea, Herb. I’m glad I thought of it.”
3. “The only person I care about, other than me, of course, is the one on the rung above me on the ladder.”
4. “I came in late. So, I’m going to leave early to make up for it.”
5. “There’s no limit to what you can accomplish around here, as long as you always tell me I’m right.”
6. “You probably think you can’t get your nose any farther up my ass. But that’s only because you’re not trying hard enough.”
7. “If you don’t think I’m the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
8. “I’m not paying you to think. I’m paying you to say, ‘Yes.’”
9. “I may not always be right. But I’m never wrong.”
10. “Not for nothin’, but when HR found me, they quit hiring.”

The Man Behind the CurtainIn my last corporate gig, there was a guy as self-important as anyone I’ve ever met. We’ll call him Tony because his name was Tony. He was the last person of whom I’m aware who actually got a gold watch for 25 years of service to the company. He wasn’t an officer of the company, but he walked around, talked, and acted, as if he owned the joint.

His chief responsibilities were two: (1) He was responsible for the fleet of cars the company leased for its salespeople. (That ought to give you an idea of how long ago it was.) (2) He was responsible for commission payments to the salespeople. As a result, Tony produced enough reports every month, using enough paper to fell a forest every month, to bury the building — which was 24 or 34 stories, depending on what accounts you read — but listed as 527 feet tall in either case (?!).

Shortly after his 25th anniversary with the company, Tony was greased (staff-adjusted as the euphemists put it). His responsibilities were turned over to one of my co-workers and me. We’ll call the co-worker Jeff because his name was Jeff. When we were told Tony’s responsibilities were now ours, Jeff and I soiled ourselves. After regaining our composure and changing our shorts, we waded into the bunker Tony had built for himself in one corner of the floor on which we worked and started digging through his files.

We found nothing except for copious evidence of the fact that Tony did next to nothing. The reports he submitted every month, aside from being arboreally criminal, were delivered to him by others: The auto reports came from the company from which the cars were leased. The commission reports came from the accounting and IT departments that calculated them. All Tony did was re-package them, make them exponentially more voluminous than they had to be, submit them, and strut around like the cock of the walk.

All that and a gold watch, too. Wow.

The Moral of the StoryPeople are seldom as important as they try to appear to be. You don’t have to think they’re important at all because they think they’re important enough for both of you.

When you encounter such folks, repeat after me: “Take a long walk off a short pier.”

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I was switching channels when I heard a woman say, “Food is the only thing that makes me happy.” I stopped and watched a 900-pound, bedridden woman shovel a huge piece of cake into her mouth. That made me stop and think, what is happiness?

Many people don’t understand that emotional health creates physical and mental reality. When we fail to focus on healing ourselves, we can look for happiness in all the wrong places. Some people escape by turning to drugs, alcohol, or sex, while others find control and relief in food.

Our bodies are magical energy that absorbs how we handle our emotional well-being, affecting our mind, body, and spirit. Stress, anxiety, physical, mental, and sexual abuse can cause excess adrenaline and other problems, leading to heart palpitations, lack of sleep, digestive problems, breathing difficulties, and, over time, various illnesses and diseases.

The more emotionally crippled we become, the more money we spend on doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, medications, and other health services. How we handle our emotions can make us strong and resilient despite what has happened in our past, or we can become emotionally imbalanced and slowly kill ourselves. Even life-saving food can be a killer!

I am not an expert on this topic, but I know what I’ve seen as a crime and violence prevention specialist. Obesity is an epidemic, costing $173 billion in 2019. Look at old movies from the thirties, forties, and fifties. We don’t see many overweight people. Life was less stressful; families played and worked together, neighbors knew and trusted each other, and there was less crime and violence. However, in high-crime neighborhoods, I saw obesity forty years ago, which wasn’t just about poverty but how people reacted to fear and stress by hiding behind closed doors. I saw them losing their health and safety as they lost human connections.

Many Americans don’t understand humans are spiritual beings who depend on social connections. How we emotionally react to life can kill us or keep us safe and healthy.

Everyone has anxiety and fear, but how we handle anger can determine our health. Do we escape our emotions with drugs, alcohol, or food? Do we get angry or violent and blame others? Do we become passive and blame ourselves? Or do we stay spiritually centered and work together to solve problems?

Many low-income Americans do not panic but have learned to stay calm under stress. They often focussed on family support, neighborhood, or community connections and found inner peace through prayer or mediation. They transformed depression into courage, found wisdom that transformed fear and energized their spirit with a commitment to help others. Emotional pain can be transformed into patience, calmness, and serenity, but it takes commitment, faith, and being surrounded by people who care.

Happiness is what we value and what we choose to believe.How many people will die without understanding that their health and safety depend on how they react to the world around them? What do we want for our families and future? How can we find health and safety? It all boils down to knowing that we are spiritual beings with the inner power to heal ourselves. When we focus on loving who we are, helping others, and focusing on faith in a higher power, we will discover the wisdom that can guide us to real happiness and success.

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"If you’re not yet convinced that climate-change alarmism is more about politics, wealth redistribution, power, control, gullibility, and ignorance than it is about climate (it is), maybe you should read this anyway." ...

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"What I think may happen more often than not is that we see the platform that the candidate has affirmed, see an element of the platform that we either like or dislike, and that drives our vote." ...

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"Annihilate hate and become a beacon for positive actions and reactions. We might just change and save the world." ... Where do you sit in the Pyramid of Hate?

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"We can’t just look away and blame the government! Freedom is about “we the people,” not just politicians. To turn America back into a robust and free nation, we must consider what freedom means." ...

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"In today’s world, the word “woke” seems more of a controversy or slammed insult." ...

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"As human beings, we can control ourselves.  That is powerful.  Could we bring the pendulum back to equilibrium?" ...

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"If we all buy an EV will we help save the planet?  Are there plans to upgrade the country's electrical grid to handle several million EVs?  Or, are we just being conned again?" ...

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"We are told that the EV move will do much to reduce the pollution caused by burning fossil fuels in our vehicles." ...

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"Comparisons are often inexact, but I am a student of history, and I can’t help but compare the book burning to the book banning, curriculum censorship, and the outright attempts to rewrite history flourishing in the U.S. today." ...

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"We’d rather fear, hate, and abuse each other than to talk with each other, to learn what we don’t know, and to overcome our own fear and hatred." ...

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"You don't have to teach people how to be human. You have to teach them how to stop being inhuman." ...

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"What if the time has come to unite with every one of gods creatures and choose to see the beauty in each of our teachings and cultures around the globe, if anything to just live a more peaceful existence and overall have a more positive experience every single day? " ...

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"PETB works through hysteria, propaganda, hyperbole, fabrication, legislation, insect rescue, special events, celebrity spokespeople, protest campaigns, and other forms of bullshit to protect the world’s insect population from human ingestion and everything else." ...

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"How does a word such as “freedom” elicit so much strife, contention, and hatred? Why does the growing dissonance ring louder and harsher from sea to shining sea?" ...

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"Oh, no! Last chance? What does soon mean? Will I run out of time? When? What should I get tested for?" ...

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"We need to change the way we talk to each other and connect with one another and relate with generosity and open-mindedness and kindness and compassion and not hate." ...

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"Time doesn’t need examination or manipulation. Making the most of it requires only acceptance and purpose." ...

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"Our children are not only pawns in this world of sex trafficking and slavery, but they are considered not important enough to change this horrible abuse by pedophiles, child molesters, and those getting rich off our children’s backs." ...

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"This is all about emotion. We’re not supposed to be curious and objective enough to think and to reach our own conclusions. We’re supposed to feel. To feel what? Fear." ...

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"Speaking of truth, I have no idea why I’m getting so worked up. These things are all just figments of my imagination and my paranoia." ...

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"What leaders do is lead by example, bringing people together and guiding them in pursuit of universal values. What they don’t do is try to exploit trends to make a quick buck." ...

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"While I’m working out the details, if you see something that seems to have better than even odds of going sideways, call me before you go for it." ...

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"Hubris and pleonexia spawn deceit and make justice impossible.  And where there is no justice, there is no leadership." ...

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"That’s a really important question and an even more important answer.  Do you know how to find out? Do you care?" ...

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"We the people, are not powerless if we work together to end spiritual ignorance!" ...

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"Drugs DO enhance performance. Then you die. Tell your children." ...

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"What will it take to realize that our voice can only count when it is heard as loudly as our opponents’ voice?" ...

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"It's time to reclaim our humanity and dignity through deliberate action, not just words, and with a heightened sense of urgency demanded by the atrocities witnessed. True dignity is expressed by acknowledging the human condition, the suffering, the imperfection; the missteps, and the potential for real change. ...

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As I’ve written previously, I have a very difficult time separating hate from ignorance. I take hate to be a subset or a symptom of ignorance. Ignorance can scale, of course. It can be as small as one Hibernophobe burning down my house. It can be as large as one power-mongering lunatic attempting to create a master race, or as large as another power-mongering lunatic attempting to create a collectivist Utopia.

But hate and ignorance possess a corrosive energy that eventually causes them to decay from within. Kenneth Burke called man the symbol-using animal. And so it is, that symbol-using lunatics adopted symbols for their misguided causes.

In his book, Language as Symbolic Action, Burke also alluded to the self-destructive power of hate and ignorance when he wrote this:

Man is/the symbol-using (symbol-making, symbol-misusing) animal/inventor of the negative (or moralized by the negative)/separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making/goaded by the spirit of hierarchy (or moved by the sense of order)/and rotten with perfection.

Likewise, Carlos Fuentes hinted at the rottenness of that perfection when he wrote this:

Perfect order is the forerunner of perfect horror.

Germany’s National Socialist Party, China’s Communist Party — history is rife with examples of attempts at perfection that yielded otherwise inconceivable horror, brutality, cruelty, carnage, and suffering. If you’re up for a little light reading, here are some books on the subject:

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

The Killing Wind: A Chinese County’s Descent into Madness during the Cultural Revolution

A State of Blood

Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare

The Butcher’s Trail

Or if you’d like a broader view, you might skim through Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s description:

This new book—the first global history of genocide and extermination from ancient times … examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism. The ideologies that have motivated perpetrators of mass killings in the past persist in our new century.

We create new things, new people, and new ways to hate with every generation, across all nationalities and geographies. The evidence piles up, right along with the bodies. Yet, on we hate.

Using the word, stupidity, rather than the word, ignorance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this:

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplishes anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one.

A fascinating contemplation that.

We’ll begin to push back against hate, malice, ignorance, and/or stupidity on Tuesday of this week at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, in a critically important Salon 360˚ session. How much we accomplish will be determined, in part, by the number of people who participate in the conversation.

To join us, please click here to reserve your seat in our Zoom room. Registration is free.

If we don’t stop hate, we’ll be paying the price forever.

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Why is anti-Semitism on the rise?The last two years have witnessed the Pittsburgh massacre and the San Diego shooting. Grotesque caricatures in a Belgian parade and the New York Times. The proliferation of BDS. Proposed legislation in Ireland criminalizing tourism in Israel. Synagogue and cemetery desecrations. Openly anti-Semitic epithets from within the American Congress and the British Parliament. Unprovoked threats and physical assaults.

After decades of dormancy, why now? The question is impossible to answer unless we understand why Jew-hatred exists at all. And that question has been debated almost from the moment the Jewish people came into existence.

Sigmund Freud (like many before him) identified cultural “otherness” as the source of Gentile animus toward the Jews.

However, history refutes Freud’s hypothesis. The violent oppression of the Syrian-Greeks following the rise of Jewish Hellenism, the auto-de-fe of the Spanish Inquisition following the conversion of the Marranos, and the incineration of countless acculturated German Jews in Hitler’s crematoria all prove that assimilation intensifies, rather than inhibits, anti-Semitism.

In fact, that very “otherness” has earned the Jews admiration and praise. The non-Jewish historian Paul Johnson echoed sentiments expressed by John Adams, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, and Winston Churchill when he wrote in his History of the Jews —

To [the Jews] we owe the ideas of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person; of the individual conscience, and so of personal redemption; of the collective conscience, and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal, and love as the foundation of justice; and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind.

Why should such high-minded idealism produce hatred? The answer can be found in the schoolyard.

Something’s MissingIn 2008, bestselling author Jodee Blanco embarked on a campaign to eradicate bullying. In Please Stop Laughing at us… One Survivor’s Quest to Prevent School Bullying, Ms. Blanco attempts to deconstruct and quantify the social dynamics that divide children — and sometimes adults — into predators and prey.

Based upon countless interviews and observations, Blanco arrives at an intriguing hypothesis: she describes the typical bullying victim as an ancient child, an individual possessing a more developed sense of empathy than his or her peers.

By consciously or unconsciously flexing their “compassion muscle,” these little adults set themselves apart from their less sensitive peers who may come to feel inferior in the presence of greater emotional maturity and threatened by a response mechanism that they cannot understand. Once a tormentor targets a victim, other children readily fall into line.

Ms. Blanco suggests that bullies are afflicted with empathy deficit disorder, an underdeveloped level of sensitivity that inhibits their ability to feel compassion. The tragic irony is that the victim, unable to conceal his own hyper-developed sense of empathy, becomes despised for his atypical maturity by the individual who stands to benefit most by learning from his example.

On a national and historic level, are not the Jews the ancient child, the small, upstart nation that challenged the pagan values of might makes right and moral anarchy? What happens when the gift of moral maturity is not appreciated when it demands a higher level of responsibility than the recipient is willing to accept? Won’t that gift inevitably become a threat, a curse, and a source of profound resentment?

Beginning with the biblical account of the nation of Amalek attacking the Israelites as they fled Egypt into the desert, history records a litany of cultures all seeking to crush the descendants of Jacob. Why? Because the Jews stood for an ideal those cultures despised: the rejection of moral autonomy, and the assertion of moral duty to live a life of virtue.

So it was with the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Syrians, and the Romans. So too with Spain, France, Turkey, Poland, Russia, and Germany — each warmly welcoming the Jews at first, then turning viciously against them.

The Final FrontierAt last, America offered refuge for the Jew. Building upon principles introduced to the world by Jewish teaching, the Framers fashioned the first pluralistic society founded upon the ideals of meritocracy, human rights, and human dignity.

The community of mankind responded by gradually beginning to acknowledge the nobility of every human being, the value of collective responsibility, the obligation upon every citizen to help carry the yoke of those too weak to carry their own.

Liberal sensitivities began to take hold until no clear-thinking person dared argue with such fundamental progressive values as social justice and charity — values that flowed forth from the ancient teachings of Jewish tradition and Jewish law.

And when the Nazi Holocaust confronted the world with the ghastly handiwork of unbridled evil, the world embraced the Jewish people as the poster children for the overarching moral standards that govern civilized society. The innate empathy of mankind began to emerge. Anti-Semitism became as indefensible as infanticide.

Tragically, the pendulum has swung back again.

In part, memory fades. More significantly, politics has come to replace religion as the guiding doctrine of mankind. The principles introduced to the world by the Jews have been hijacked and conscripted to defend an ideology of irrational utopianism. Judge every person favorably has mutated into non-judgmentalism. Charity has morphed into entitlement. Liberty has devolved into libertinism. Civility has been weaponized into political correctness.

Most perversely, Israel has been compared to Nazi Germany.

As moral autonomy supplants moral duty, the traditional values of Judaism become worse than irrelevant; they become a threat. The mere suggestion of higher moral authority annuls the right of the individual to define his own moral code. Traditional values become a form of heresy, and all heretics must die.

Nuance, reason, and compromise are supplanted by inflexible dogma. Ideologies become entrenched. Truth becomes subjective. Civil discourse disintegrates. Rhetoric becomes weaponry. Society descends into empathy deficit disorder.

Inevitably, violence follows as bullying becomes the new normal.

Back to The FutureThe resurgence of Jew-hatred, therefore, is a symptom of the moral decline of man, not into immorality but amorality, the rejection of moral absolutes, and embrace of moral relativism.

Ironically, Anti-Semitism has much more to do with non-Jewish society than it does with either the Jew or his Judaism. It is the bully’s reflexive response in the face of moral maturity on the playground of human society.

That’s why empathy deficit disorder extends to every form of ethnic, racial, religious, cultural, and ideological prejudice. We don’t want to be forced to think. We want our feelings vindicated. The rise of identity politics and cultural tribalism is turning us all into victims, paradoxically granting us license to bully our perceived oppressors.

People of color are victims of white privilege. Whites are victims of reverse racism. Women are victims of male domination. Men are victims of militant feminism. The poor are victimized by a disparity of wealth. The wealthy are victimized by wealth redistribution. Rather than moving forward to combine our strengths by building bridges, we use our differences as an excuse to attack the foundations of civilization, and one another.

Is there a solution? Of course.

We need leaders secure enough to engage their opposition without resorting to misinformation, hyperbole, or character assassination. We need a citizenry that refuses to support candidates who subvert the ideals of intellectual and personal integrity. We need a media with the ethical courage to set aside ideology in favor of both factual and contextual truth. We need to confront the vicious circle of empathy deficit disorder and take responsibility for disrupting its relentless advance.

The battle for the soul of Western Civilization will be won when voices of rational debate and civil discourse join together against ideological extremism on both sides of the aisle. Only then will hatred in all its forms begin to lose favor. Only then will the ancient ideals of human nobility prevail.

You can be a bully or a victim. You can be both. Or you can be neither. Which will you be?

Editor’s Note: Click here to join us for a special Salon 360° Session on Tuesday, May 30th focused on Anti-Semitism,**

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Five years ago, I didn’t know what a County Commissioner was. Today I find myself engaging regularly with them and their staff. I even speak to elected state officials about issues important to the 3-mile barrier island on which I live.

What I have learned in the past five years is that the American people are failing Civics 101 if we even knew much about it from school. And we have paid a significant price for this failure.

Here is the gist of my lesson. Our everyday life is impacted by local issues. That is what is important. And by knowing the local issues, we gain a unique insight into state and even national issues.

Sure, I saw it as my duty to pay attention to national elections. After all, I had to support the party that I was raised to believe in, right? When the ballot listed referendums or local elections, I diligently read about each before casting my vote, but my heart wasn’t in it. Local issues are nuanced, and it really isn’t possible to read about something in one day and know enough to extend a vote the following day.

To cap it off, what you choose to read to educate yourself may be carefully curated to point in one direction, failing to reveal important issues on the other side.

After several years of learning about local government, my mind is overwhelmed. My solution for that is to write.

I am not writing so much to convince anyone that I am right about the failure of Civics 101 – there is always room to debate that very specific complaint. I am writing to sort out for myself what I have learned, and perhaps to provide information that others have not considered and may find helpful.

I will try to stick to short topics and may tackle several of those or just a couple. I’ll be done when I’m done.

And I must offer this disclaimer: if I am the only one who has been clueless about this, I don’t mean to offend those who already have figured all this out. But it has been so transformative to me that I want to share what I’ve learned.

Why Local GovernmentWhile we’re watching national news, our local government is making decisions about our water, our trash, our lifestyle, our schools, our roads, our safety, our sanitation, our trees, our land, our business, our heritage, sea level rise, flooding, bike safety, pedestrian safety, vacation rentals, noise, wildlife…. essentially every aspect of our daily lives.

When the federal or state government takes a stand on an issue, it is the local government that must apply for funding dollars and compete with other local governments for that funding. There is never enough funding to go around, so the competition is fierce. Some local governments don’t bother. Many understand how to compete effectively.

Our state – Florida – also budgets billions, available to local governments through application.

How effectively they can make a business case for the funds results in whether that funding is available locally.

Take sea level rise. If you don’t live near the coast this might be a foreign concept but those of us who do are very familiar with the devastation that storm surge flooding can wreak. The new word for dealing with sea level rise is resiliency. The Federal Government has allocated billions of funding to resiliency. The money is available as grants to state and local government only if they apply and are seriously competitive.

If you think all local governments are on top of these opportunities and aggressive in going after them, you are wrong.

Local government could be a city, a county, or other municipality that must identify the need, apply for the grant and administer the paperwork associated with the grant.

In a diverse county with diverse districts, how does local government make the decision about what communities will get help?

I suppose that the answer to that question varies by local government.

My experience has been that the citizens of the community are the ones that make their case (or not).

Think about that. I started out hypothesizing that citizens often do not become involved in local government. But some do and their communities may reap the benefit of their activism.

What does that mean for those who do not take an active role in local government? I have found that it often means that they lose out.

This is an example of how and why citizens need to take an active role in local government. Citizens’ groups can make a difference.

Sometimes citizens’ groups run into bigger obstacles – lobbyists.

But that’s for another day.

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The Holocaust is one of the most tragic events in human history. It claimed the lives of six million Jews, along with millions of other marginalized people, and stands as a stark reminder of the dangers of hate, bigotry, and conspiracy theories. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the Holocaust, there are still those who deny its existence or distort the truth.

Holocaust denial and distortion are forms of disinformation that are not only antisemitic but also dangerous and harmful to society. By erasing the lessons of the past and obscuring the consequences of antisemitism, they make it easier for such bigotry to flourish and for atrocities to occur.

Historical facts about the Holocaust serve as a deterrent against antisemitism and remind us of the devastating consequences of hate. Surveys by the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research show that those who know basic information about the Holocaust – specifically, how many Jews were murdered – were significantly less likely to believe in antisemitic ideas than those who severely underestimated the number killed at one million or fewer. Yet 6 in 10 Americans ages 18-30 could not accurately identify that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

The historical record is clear about the Holocaust, but this truth is inconvenient for those invested in the project of antisemitism. Antisemites often assert that Jews have immense power and control. However, if this were true, why were 2/3 of Europe’s Jews murdered in just a few short years by the Nazis? This is where the antisemitic conspiracy theory of Holocaust denialism comes in. It alleges that the Holocaust is a Jewish hoax perpetrated in pursuit of some nefarious Jewish agenda. This is not only false, but it also perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Jews that are central to the denialist narrative. When such denialism takes hold, it gives antisemitic notions about Jewish power and control a veneer of plausibility.

Holocaust Denial and the Era of MisinformationHolocaust denial has its own lineage. The Nazi campaign of propaganda, disinformation, and distortion of truth followed the pattern of escalating antisemitism in Germany years before the “Final Solution” was conceived and implemented. Throughout the war, Nazis sought to cover their heinous crimes under the veil of secrecy and lies.

The rise of Holocaust denial after the war sowed the seeds for the proliferation of disinformation we are seeing today, planting distrust in facts, science, and research. This is the kind of truth-twisting that forms the bedrock of extremist ideology in the era of mis- and disinformation which allows for more far-fetched and hateful crimes to be conceived and realized. Increasing reports show how intimately linked denial is to other forms of online violence, including those rooted in racism, misogyny, or xenophobia.

Holocaust denialism is continuing the work of the Nazis themselves. Scholars have long argued that denial is the final act of genocide. When we allow Holocaust denialism and distortion to go unchallenged, we give credence to the idea that the truth can be suppressed and that perpetrators of genocide can get away with their crimes. Denialism unjustly exonerates the murderers and turns victims into perpetrators. This is an outrage and an insult to the memory of those who suffered and were murdered during the Holocaust.

Holocaust denial and “inverting” the pastIn the United States, Holocaust denialism was once relegated primarily to extremist right-wing groups. Yet, as we draw further away from the events of the Holocaust, and as there are fewer and fewer first-hand witnesses to its atrocities, Holocaust denialism, distortion, and disinformation are finding increasing currency within the mainstream.

For example, a 2022 survey from the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research on antisemitic attitudes in America found that nearly 4 in 10 Americans believe Israel treats Palestinians the way the Nazis treated Jews. This is not only an incredible misunderstanding of the conflict, it is a kind of Holocaust inversion that casts Jews, the primary targets of the Holocaust, as the new Nazis, the perpetrators of genocide. Worse still, according to a 2020 Claims Conference survey, 1/10 Americans believe Jews themselves caused the Holocaust and, shockingly, among millennials and Get Z, that figure was 1 in 5 (20%).

Holocaust distortions undermine our ability to rationally understand our modern world and effectively address its problems. Too often we see the memory of the Holocaust cynically appropriated for use as a political tool. This includes falsely invoking charges of Nazism to delegitimize sovereign nations and justify violence against their civilians, whether in Israel or Ukraine.

It is our responsibility to stand up against Holocaust denialism and distortion, to protect the truth, and to ensure that the lessons of the past are never forgotten. We must do everything in our power to prevent the spread of disinformation and to fight antisemitism wherever it emerges. The memory of the Holocaust is not just a Jewish concern – it is a concern for all people who believe in the importance of history and in the power of truth.

Building Resistance to Holocaust Denial and Countering MisinformationIt is clear that we need to do more to combat Holocaust denialism and distortion. We must educate ourselves and others about the truth of the Holocaust and the dangers of antisemitism. We must also hold those who spread disinformation accountable, whether they are individuals or organizations. This includes holding social media platforms accountable for allowing Holocaust denialism to persist on their platforms. We must also continue to support Holocaust education and remembrance initiatives, such as Holocaust museums and memorials, so that the memory of the Holocaust is never forgotten; ensuring future generations understand the consequences of hate; and expanding and supporting teaching about the Holocaust – especially in schools – both the event itself, and the underlying ideology that allowed for dehumanization and genocide.

Hateful ideologies do not take root overnight. With enough repetition misinformation becomes acceptable and truthful in the mind of the consumer. The work of countering Holocaust denial is multifaceted and starts with meaningful education. Teaching about the Holocaust is a central tenet of stopping denialism and combating antisemitism.

The public recognizes the importance of Holocaust education. 87.4% of those surveyed agree that high schools should be required to teach about the Holocaust. Yet today, only about half of U.S. states have Holocaust education mandates.

Bolstering skills on media literacy, critical thinking, and resistance towards conspiratorial thinking will also help young people build resilience when they encounter hateful, extremist, and antisemitic messages “in the wild.” At ADL, researchers found that those who reject conspiracist thinking are less likely to hold antisemitic views.

It is key to remember that in essence, denial of the Holocaust is a war against memory. What does it mean to attack history so openly, and so brazenly? When the veracity of the historical record is questioned, we are, in part, undermining society’s capacity to recognize prejudice, address antisemitism, and ultimately to prevent atrocity.

As educators, activists against antisemitism, and stewards of Holocaust memory, we must engage young people in the project of learning not only in the classroom but wherever, whenever, and however information is disseminated.

Originally published on ADL and featured here with Author permission.

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After seeing the phrase, toxic narcissism, for about the two-millionth time, I did a search on signs of a narcissist. Since the browser I use is Brave, and since Brave doesn’t use Google, I don’t know how many hits I got. But I did learn this: Depending on the source you choose, there are between five (WebMD) and 21 symptoms (Mayo) Clinic) of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD because where would we be without abbreviations?).

I don’t know all that much about the DSM 5. But if the folks who compile that thing ever ask for my opinion, I’m going to humbly suggest they stop splitting hairs, take narcissists, sociopaths, pathological liars, racists, politicians, and most of the people in Hollywood, and put them under one category: Chronic Jackass Disorder (CJD). Because I’m so open-minded, I’ll leave it to the compilers of the DSM 5 to determine if they’d prefer Center of the Universe Syndrome (COTUS) to CJD

Let’s SimplifyEschewing nuance for simplicity (plus, I’m lazy), I’ve opted to work with WebMD’s five broad symptoms of NPD, all of which are manifested by narcissists, sociopaths, pathological liars, racists, politicians, and most of the people in Hollywood. And I’ve added a sixth. In lieu of WebMD’s explications of these five symptoms I’ve added my own to indicate precisely how apt they are for narcissists, sociopaths, pathological liars, racists, politicians, most of the people in Hollywood, and all others who present with CJD:

1. Sense of Entitlement. All those with CJD/and or COTUS believe what’s theirs and theirs and what’s yours is theirs. If they don’t have it, they won’t rest until they’ve found a way to get it. And they won’t hesitate for a moment to use coercion … or worse.
2. Manipulative Behavior. All those who make everyone around them suffer from their CJD and/or COTUS have the ability to wheedle, cajole, con, plead, beg, whine, pout, throw tantrums, and hold their breaths till they turn blue. While some people in Hollywood get paid to do those things on occasion, its particularly painful to watch it happen in Congress.
3. Need for Admiration. This is actually a misconception. The people who exhibit CJD and/or COTUS don’t need admiration, as long as you’re telling them how good, wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, uniquely brilliant, and stunning capable they are, all the time.
4. Lack of Empathy. To be fair to those with CJD and/or COTUS, it really is a rather daunting challenge to care about anyone or anything else when you don’t give a shit about anyone other than yourself or anything other than your own personal interests. Let’s have some empathy here, shall we?
5. Arrogance. Come on. Really? If you were better than everyone else and the center of the universe, wouldn’t you be entitled (See #1 above) to a little arrogance?
6. Self-Love. We’re not talking about the garden-variety self-love we can find in every self-help, feel-good book, blog, podcast, or website. We’re talking about the self-love those with CJD and/or COTUS experience that causes them to spend more time looking in the mirror, getting cosmetic surgeries, and taking selfies than they spend working, sleeping, and eating combined.

When it comes to CJD and/or COTUS, we need to be careful not to rush to judgment. Even jackasses and centers of the universe deserve to have a little slack cut for them on occasion, no?

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We live in a global village, where cooperation and collaboration are the essential tools of leadership to face the ‘wicked problems’ we face if we are to heal the world. In such a world, there is no place for short-termism, silo-based answers to complex problems, and moral hazards. Instead, we must synthesise long-term visions as custodians of our planet with short-term actions to reach the goals we must seek as servant leaders of planet Earth.

One such example of short-term populism in the UK is our Brexit decision. Brexit threatens to isolate Britain from acting on the world stage with our partners and adversaries. We have had seven years of mass Brexit debate and three years of living the Brexit dream. Brexit remains a dream, with no tangible benefits for Britain and a number of worrying impacts, socially, economically, politically, legally, environmentally, and technologically. Brexit’s twin sister is of course Trumpism and the other theatres of populism sweeping the world.

In this article, I have brought together a number of Brexit impact evaluations. These are organised separately: social, economic, political, legal, environmental, and technological. The sum total of these evaluations points to the simple fact that Brexit is literally and metaphorically killing Britain. Take a look. All these films are quite long but they have been carefully crafted and are well worth your time in a busy world.

Economic impacts:Social impacts:Political and legal impacts:Scientific, technological, and environmental impacts:And just for some lighter relief, the rock band REM sum up our global challenges rather well in this song:

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The controversy surrounding Rupert Murdoch and Fox News cannot be ignored. The network’s promotion of propaganda and misinformation was widely criticized. While Tucker Carlson has taken most of the heat, it is crucial to recognize that Murdoch is equally responsible. He was aware of the propaganda being perpetuated through his media outlets. He allowed his top hosts to spread lies without consequence, putting profit and greed over the country’s well-being.

Murdoch has a history of sensationalist journalism and has been criticized for not caring about the truth or the power of words for decades. This is reflected in the actions of Fox News hosts. Carlson has been accused of promoting white supremacist ideas and spreading misinformation. In addition, his comments on the Black Lives Matter movement have been highly criticized.

Fox repeatedly echoed Trump’s claims of potential vote fixing and election fraud in the months leading up to the 2020 United States Presidential Election. Several Fox hosts and commentators promoted Trump’s claims and various conspiracy theories without providing supporting evidence. Other mainstream news outlets and fact-checkers widely criticized Fox reports and statements for spreading misinformation and promoting baseless claims of voter fraud.

During the 2020 Presidential election, Carlson faced backlash for suggesting that voting machines were rigged and hyping conspiracy theories about election fraud. Nevertheless, Carlson continued to spread controversial statements and misinformation, building a national divide and purposely feeding his viewers misinformation instead of presenting the facts. Carlson’s actions were apparent long before the Dominion Voting scandal.

While many states and election officials pushed back against Trump’s claims, Carlson and other Fox hosts continued to echo his claims. Trump’s allegations of widespread voter fraud and refusal to accept the election results led to many challenges and disputes over the results. Drawing some states and officials into legal battles. Leading multiple courts and state officials to reject Trump’s claims of voter fraud.

Despite this, Murdoch allowed the conspiracy theories, misinformation, and lies to continue, putting profits over the truth and the country’s well-being. This highlights the importance of holding those in power accountable for their actions and demanding higher standards of journalism. It doesn’t matter who they are, how powerful they are or how much money they have – they must be held responsible – no one is above the law.

Murdoch allowed it to continue for the sake of greed, which now has consequences for Fox. Carlson’s departure from the network is a significant loss, as he was among its highest-rated hosts with three million plus viewers. His actions tarnished the network’s image and raised questions about the standards of journalism at Fox. Not to mention, that Fox settled out of court with Dominion for more than $787 million to avert a defamation trial.

In light of the controversy surrounding Fox and Rupert Murdoch, we must be more diligent in truth-telling and following the facts. We must hold those in power accountable for their actions and demand higher standards of journalism. We can all promote responsible and diligent truth-telling by fact-checking information, verifying sources, and not sharing or promoting controversial statements, conspiracy theories, or misinformation.

If we’re not willing to do this for ourselves, let’s be willing to create a world for our youth, the coming generation where the truth is valued, and misinformation is not tolerated.

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Notwithstanding the myriad of political diatribes I occasionally author in this column, it isn’t my intent to comment on politics particularly or exclusively. Politics is part of a larger discourse — even an inseparable part — but it is no more than a part.

Because of my curiosity about all things behavioral and linguistic (and the inextricable relationship of the two), this particular post is about depression. I’ve written this post because of the proliferation of depression in the popular vernacular, and it refers not to economic depression but to personal, psychological, perhaps clinical or biological depression. Economic depression may be related to other forms of depression. It may precipitate them. No one knows. At bottom, no one knows much.

The medical community can attribute biological depression to chemistry, to chemical imbalances — too much adrenaline or cortisol, not enough serotonin or norepinephrine. But it can’t explain the causes of the imbalances. Are they genetic? Are they psychologically predisposed responses to particular circumstances? Are they caused by the lack of constructive contemporary outlets for our hard-wired fight-or-flight mechanisms? With nowhere to run and no one to fight, maybe we hit internal walls that leave us feeling helpless, powerless, insignificant, wanting, unfulfilled, terrified, haunted.

Let GoIn 1989, the late comedian, Louie Anderson, published a book called Dear Dad. Rather than synopsize, I’ll simply encourage you to buy the book. But I’ll offer this excerpt as a starting point for our discourse on depression:

I have this theory that all we deal with in life is loss. We lose the protective comfort of the womb. We lose our mother’s breast. We lose the right to mess our pants. We lose friends, teachers, relatives. We lose our hair, our teeth, and our youth. We keep losing all these things and never get them back, but we never really learn how to deal with the loss. We never say that it hurts, really hurts, and so we spend the rest of our lives trying to make up for it, holding on tightly to things that we should really let go of.

Given the prevalence of depression in Western societies — and notwithstanding our predilections for quick fixes, easy outs, and the pharmaceutical possibilities for feeling nothing at all — it’s as possible as anything else that our inability to accept cycles and the natural course of aging work against us.

Perhaps our preoccupations with youth, vitality, and glamour render us unable to accept the realities of impermanence, the inevitability of loss, and the impossibility of stasis. Maybe because aging necessitates decline, we refuse to accept the passing of our connections to popular culture. Maybe the preoccupation with being young causes us to overlook the treasures of aging — wisdom, nobility, self-knowledge.

Maybe all our material, physical preoccupations are capable of inducing our failure to embrace the spiritual center of the human condition. So, we fight the inexorable and the inevitable futilely. And we do so at the expense of our psychological and emotional natures and well-being.

The Collective UnconsciousThis denial of our maturation and our spirituality — and its consequences — is neither a new idea nor a new practice. In his invaluable treatise on world mythology, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, written in 1949, Joseph Campbell noted this:

It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward, in counteraction to those other constant human fantasies that tend to tie it back. In fact, it may very well be that the high incidence of neuroticism amongst ourselves follows from the decline among us to such effective spiritual aid. We remain fixated to the unexorcised images of our infancy, and hence disinclined to the necessary passages of our adulthood. In the United States there is even a pathos of inverted emphasis: the goal is not to grow old, but to remain young.

Perhaps, then, the price of modern civilization is depression. As we invent ever more modes and methods of communication, so we become less communal. As we create ever more electronic connections, so we abandon our human ones. As we separate, so we fail to share. As we worship the physical, so withers the spirit. As we defy rites of passage, so we fight our inevitable passing. As we create more fears to fight, so we forsake joy.

That price is too high. And we have a higher calling.

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Gumshoe was initially gonna title this article “Jeremiad” simply because of today’s state of affairs here in the U.S. of A. However, my two late fellow writer friends . . . (Surely if Gumshoe had met them at “Dunkin Donuts” over a cup of hot Jo and a fresh crawler.)

. . . Russian Count, Lev (Lee) Nikolayevich Tolstoy and British writer, Clive Staples (C.R.) Lewis, who both changed Gumshoe’s mind.

Both of these distinguished writers in all probability never did meet over a pastry. Too bad, they shared similar perspectives.

To wit:

Leo Tolstoy once was sent out by his employer to report on a local animal slaughterhouse and describe the rendering process. Leo was undoubtedly affected by this “bloody” experience. He then later wrote this memorable line:

“We cannot pretend that we don’t know these things”.

Likewise, C.S. Lewis made his wizen statement:

“When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind”.

Okay, now dear readers, Gumshoe challenges each of you good citizens to take a good hard “eyeball” look around our nation. Do it as you recall Tolstoy’s and Lewis’s quotes.

Scary truth!

Gumshoe firmly believes that Leo and Clive’s astute observations would be titled a “jeremiad” for today. They beat Gumshoe to it!

. . . Now back to that tasty bear claw.

Always remember to love the ones who love you, and really try to love the ones who don’t.

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As the 21st century really starts to take hold, one of the most important places where huge differences will be made is in the investment community. And this change is built around the idea of ESG, which is an acronym for Environment Social Governance.

What this means in practice is that companies need to start incorporating sustainable technology to a much greater extent than they are at present. The downside is that if they fail to do this over the coming year, the huge corporate investors such as Black Rock and Fidelity, and many others, will no longer be willing to support them to the extent they are currently.

According to an article in OilPrice.com;

Over 3,000 investors with over $110 Trillion in assets under management support ESG investing. Another industry-led group of 70 members with $9 Trillion in assets under management does, too.

This trend is good news for two groups in particular.One is the companies that are developing the technologies that make the ESG model work efficiently and effectively for the companies that will use this tech.

And the second group is the human race, which will benefit from an ever-improving environment, as the amount of fossil fuel being extracted from the earth, burned and spewed into the atmosphere, will start to dramatically decrease.

This sea change in the way business uses energy will have a certain amount of ripple into the market, but it will only be throughout the conversion period for each company. After that, the companies that invest in sustainability will start to see improved profitability, because their long-term energy costs and physical plant maintenance costs will be much lower. And they will also be looked on favourably by the investment community.

For anyone who is concerned about the environment, and its impact on both climate and the living things that occupy our planet this is the best news possible at the moment.

The investment community does not deserve all the credit for this decision.The people of the world have a lot to do with it, in terms of the decisions they make in the marketplace, moving towards electric and hybrid vehicles, and toward the purchase of more environmentally responsible household products etc.

And governments also made their contribution. By joining the Paris Accord and creating ambitious new environmental standards, to help make their countries compliant.

The fact that companies are basically being read the riot act by the investment community is really the icing on the cake that will hopefully result in high levels of sustainability to offset the high levels of industrial pollution and non-recyclable waste that are currently so detrimental to our continued survival.

So if you have been worrying about the state of the world’s environment, this trend can do a lot to allay your fears, or at least diminish them to some extent.

There’s still a long way to go, but the world very much appears to at least have found the right road to travel on.

Two related articles:

• https://www.esg.adec-innovations.com/about-us/faqs/what-is-esg-investing/
• https://tinyurl.com/ydecqpdh

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Given our seemingly endless fascination with UFOs — and because I was up for a research project anyway — I did some digging into records from the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Defense’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, the Pentagon, Project Blue Book, Project Condign, Area 51, and Roswell, New Mexico, all of which plead ignorance of the phenomena. What I found made me wonder what all the fuss and skullduggery were about, given that it seemed, to me at least, to be remarkably innocuous.

One of the things that has always struck everyone as mysterious and morbidly intriguing about UFOs and alien abductions, of course, is that all the people who claim to have been abducted by aliens have also reported being subject to anal probes. I admit that one baffled even me, which is one of the reasons for which I undertook the research. And that’s what made my finds so astonishing.

Up Scope!

As incredible as this may sound, it turns out all the UFOs that have visited Earth have been from the same planet. And all the extraterrestrial beings who’ve inhabited those UFOs have been from the same race of beings. (I can’t call those extraterrestrial beings aliens because then they risk being confused with the illegal aliens who aren’t crossing our border because, as Alejandro Mayorkas, our ace Secretary of Homeland Security assures us, the border is secure.) That extraterrestrial race is a species of intellectually and technologically advanced proctologists.

According to the classified documents I was able to access through hacking and other surreptitious means, I learned the anal probes these beings use are multi-functional. That means that, even as they’re looking up the poopers of the people they’ve abducted, the probe enables them to electrically monitor nerve and wave activity in the brains of their abductees and to communicate with them silently.

From testimony collected from the abductees, the extraterrestrials seem most consistently interested in learning these 15 things:

1. Why we wage war.
2. Why we seem so completely unwilling or unable to take care of each other.
3. Why we’d rather talk than learn.
4. Why we seem to have an aversion to personal responsibility.
5. Why we think guns are more responsible for crimes than the people who use them.
6. Why we think we’re capable of affecting the climate of our entire planet.
7. Why we think it’s a good idea to freeze and starve millions of people in pursuit of an absurd, unnecessary, and self-defeating green agenda.
8. Why common sense and empiricism are dying arts.
9. Why we still believe politicians.
10. Why we think governments will take better care of our money than we will.
11. Why we think special interests are preferable to common interests.
12. Why we trust what passes for news in the mainstream media.
13. Why we’re so pathologically gullible.
14. Why we’ve raised standards of living and life expectancies so much and are still so unhappy.
15. How we can be so full of shit and still walk around.

Given the specialization of the species, #10 was probably fairly predictable.

This Won’t Hurt

Excluding pre-modern sightings of all manner of celestial objects — like the planets, the moon, the stars, comets, parhelia, and lenticular clouds, and the obligatory Fourth of July fireworks displays — the first recorded modern sighting of a UFO was in 1878. John Martin, a farmer in Dennison, Texas, spotted something in the sky during a hunting trip:

After gazing at it for some time Mr. Martin became blind from long looking and left off viewing it for a time in order to rest his eyes. On resuming his view, the object was almost overhead and had increased considerably in size, and appeared to be going through space “at wonderful speed.”

It’s been 65 years since Jerry Crew spotted Bigfoot’s 16-inch footprints in the Six Rivers National Forest in Humboldt County, California. And it’s been 90 years since George Spice saw the Loch Ness monster in the Scottish Highlands. But 145 years have passed since John Martin’s encounter with a UFO in Dennison, Texas. That’s impressive for its longevity and equally impressive for the fact that, even after all that time, extraterrestrials still seem determined to look up our asses.

The good news is the governmental agencies that know nothing about UFOs have struck an agreement with the extraterrestrials to allow their anal probes to fulfill the requirement for the obligatory Welcome to Your 50s Colonoscopy. That’s what I call looking up. And if you manage to postpone that colonoscopy until you’re 65, it’ll even be covered by Medicare.

So, when you get beamed up to the mother ship, the extraterrestrials roll out their examination gear, and you lie on the table and assume the position, be sure to smile at the little green dude who’s about to become your intimate friend and say, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

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Anger and violence are everywhere. Family violence in our homes, bullying, and shootings in our schools, anger on the sports field, the playground, and road rage in our cars are the chosen ways for many to solve problems. But, does it really resolve anything? Cultural differences and differences of opinion aren’t solved by violence and anger. They only deepen the wedge and wounds of separation, creating more distrust and violence.

We’re bombarded with newscasting that dramatizes theft, home invasion, corruption, killing, kidnapping, and more. And this is just about what’s happening locally in our own neighborhoods and nearby towns. Yes, it makes for headline news, but do I really need to know all that 24/7? Do you? Unfortunately, it fills our waking and sleeping states and who knows what distortions it generates in our subconscious minds.

Are we undergoing a moral crisis in this country and also globally? Is there hope for peaceful coexistence, collaboration and cooperation, and the conscious decision that we are stewards of the world we live in?

Stewardship means the care and responsible oversight of something of value and pertains to the management of property, finances, and estates. Commercial stewardship refers to caring for the domestic and service requirements of passengers and guests on ships, trains, airplanes, and restaurants.

Today we’re rightly concerned with the stewardship of our natural resources for the purposes of preservation and sustainability over time and for leaving a legacy for future generations. Yet, it seems vital right now to extend the meaning of stewardship to each other. We decide that it’s time to recognize the joint responsibility we all have to safeguard one another. Human life and human dignity are valuable assets to protect as I believe all life is. Life is worth caring for and preserving.

Just as we choose our friends, recreation, and our preferences about clothes, cars, and food, how we act and what we transmit to others verbally, physically, or in our minds is also a choice. Choosing service beyond self-interest is a critical selection. Technological developments advance us in so many wonderful ways and truly connect us instantly across vast oceans and time zones. Yet, the spiritual and humanitarian values that can preserve and advance civilizations have unfortunately regressed.

Individually and collectively, we have an urgent and growing responsibility to support and practice compassion, goodwill, peaceful conflict resolution for one another and for ourselves with the utmost care.

We can quiet the internal churning of hatred, intolerance, impatience, and anger. Think before spewing hate and embracing greed. And, we can also remember and find ways to recognize that when we wrong someone else, we also wrong ourselves. Together we are immeasurably wonderful and powerful, and we can create a world that breeds love and creative possibility.

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The absence of Meghan Markle and the participation of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis at the coronation of Charles III speaks volumes about cultural valuesThis Saturday, the world will witness a rare tradition as Prince Charles ascends the throne to succeed his mother as monarch of the British Isles. According to reports, his daughter-in-law Meghan Markle will not be in attendance.

However, Britain’s Chief Rabbi will be there. The dichotomy offers a profound lesson in noblesse oblige.

I’m not a big fan of Meghan Markle, although I think she’s a fine actress. It’s true, she has faced some difficulties and discomforts as Duchess of Sussex. But she had ample opportunity before marrying into the royal family to contemplate and prepare herself for exactly what was coming. Moreover, as a Hollywood celebrity, she certainly understood the demands and responsibilities of fame. For her to play the victim card so publicly is more than a little disingenuous.

Moreover, it’s beside the point. After all, her father-in-law is becoming King of England.

Most families have members who have trouble getting along, sometimes for entirely valid reasons. But there are moments when we put aside our histories, our feelings, and our egos to honor the family bond.

To deprive Charles of the presence of his grandchildren, and to deny them the memory (if only through pictures) of having taken part in the once-in-a-generation celebration, bespeaks a degree of self-absorption and pettiness that is frankly inexcusable.

True nobilityOn the other extreme, consider the obstacles facing Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. The requirements of Torah law prevent him from driving on the Sabbath, and Sabbath morning services overlap the coronation ceremony. He could easily excuse himself for purely logistical reasons.

But he has made no attempt to do so for two simple reasons: reverence and gratitude.

Some 2500 years ago, the sages encouraged Jews to seize any opportunity to go and behold royalty; they even composed a blessing to be recited in the presence of gentile monarchs: Blessed are You, O L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe, who bestows from His glory upon flesh and blood.

In an age when we have lost respect for leadership, it is more important than ever to remind ourselves of our responsibility as subjects and citizens to honor the trappings of power.

All too frequently, individual leaders fall short of the mark; but institutions endure. Indeed, the sages admonish us to pray for the welfare of the government, for without it man would swallow his neighbor alive.

In this case, there is much more involved than formality and propriety. Charles has displayed sound friendship and commitment toward the Jewish people, which is more precious than ever with anti-Semitism on the rise. It would show appalling ingratitude for the Chief Rabbi to miss the coronation if there were any possible way for him to attend.

One good turnWhat’s especially heartening is the length to which the British have gone to make the rabbi’s attendance easier. He and his wife are invited to stay at St. James’ Place, walking distance from both Buckingham Palace and a neighborhood synagogue, where he will pray a special sunrise service in order to be on time for the ceremony. His menu for the entire weekend will be provided by a kosher caterer.

As one of a host of religious leaders, Rabbi Mirvis will offer a blessing over the milestone. Since Torah law prohibits him from using a microphone, it was decided that none of the clergy will use microphones — although there is certainly no Jewish objection to them doing so. This gesture demonstrates the lengths we go to in a civil society to show consideration for one another, to respect others’ practices and beliefs, and to strive to make others comfortable even when it causes some inconvenience to ourselves.

Shalom means more than peaceThe fallout from our cultural obsession with personal rights is that we too easily forget about personal responsibility. If I demand my rights and you demand yours, we end up butting heads again and again and again.

But if I take responsibility for your rights and you take responsibility for mine, then we will live together amidst harmony, mutual respect, and love. This is true in our homes, in our businesses, and in society at large.

Judaism teaches that, as a prerequisite for Torah law, we are required to observe what is called derech eretz. The term translates as the way of the land, and it refers to character, manners, refinement, and sensitivity for our fellow human beings who share our world. A healthy and vibrant society is the natural outcome of committing ourselves to what is best for all of us together, even if that means we may have to occasionally put the interests of others ahead of our own.

When we do, we will find that the deal is a bargain, for we then get to live in a better, more beautiful world of our own making.

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The last couple of decades in the life of planet Earth have been very strange ones indeed.As a writer and observer of as much of the world as I can learn about without extensive travel, I have seen that there very much appears to be a revolution going on.

It’s not a noisy revolution with lots of human victims. It is a quiet one that’s taking place inside the minds of people, at least the people who are paying attention.

It’s a revolution In attitudes. A lot of the things we didn’t think about so much are being thought about. And these thoughts are congealing into a new kind of cement that is binding the world together in a strange way.

It starts with the way we think about where the world is going. Right now, it’s divided up into a few hundred countries, each with its own challenges.

But this revolution is congealing around many of the things that all these countries have in common. Like how they are going to keep their air clean and their water supply plentiful. How they are going to grow enough food to feed all their people. How are they going to attract investment for their industries. What kind of world they will leave their children.

Part of the reason for this type of thinking is that for a lot of people, it has become clear that the world can no longer afford to go on creating products at the expense of the environment. The air is saturated with carbon, from the mining of metals to the manufacturing of products to the massive number of fossil fuel-burning machinery operating at any given time.

Truth be told, all these things; air, water, food, shelter, transportation, and fuel, are all tightly interrelated, and the old-school fossil fuel-driven processes required to keep this relationship going are quite simply choking us, slowly but surely, to death.

Two Roads ForwardThere are two roads we can take from here. One is to continue on the way we have come. To keep using fossil fuels and delude ourselves into thinking that someone, somewhere, at some time in the hopefully near future will come up with a way to keep these fossil fuels from producing the carbon that is killing us.

Or, we can take the other road, which it very much appears that we are doing, in limited ways, by turning to the gifts the earth has given us, the energy from the sun, the ability to harness wind and water, and the heat deep in the earth’s crust. The ability to use other non-toxic elements, like oxygen and hydrogen in ways that create the power we need to run just about anything but with exponentially less toxic by-products.

All of this is going on right now. Thousands of forward-thinking minds are at work all around the globe developing new and better ways to create power, grow food without the need for toxic chemicals, clean the air and provide us with all the energy we need to survive and thrive here on earth.

The Catch 22And there’s always one of those, and that is that the vested interests and most powerful businesses on the planet are the ones who are killing it.

They are resisting change because the market-driven commodities: oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear, are in almost complete control of the economies of most countries in the world. And the people who run the majority of those energy companies have no desire to see things change. And they have no desire to invest in transforming their businesses into those that would protect our environment from further degradation.

It’s All About The BenjaminsThe amount of capital that any of these large companies would have to lay out to change their modus operandi is staggering, to say the least.

And it’s always going to be cheaper for them to keep on pumping money into the back pockets of politicians who will keep the environmental laws from hurting these behemoths in any substantial way.

And that’s where it is suddenly very clear that it’s the people of the earth that need to force these companies to change. Through the choices they make in the cars that they drive, in the food they buy, and in the lifestyle they re-shape around conservation and renewability.

You’d be surprised at just how effective a weapon the will of the people can be.

And we are seeing it take hold in certain parts of the world. Like the Scandinavian countries, and countries in the Pacific Rim, including China and Vietnam, that have made massive investments in solar and wind power. We’re seeing it in developments in the steel industry working to reduce and eliminate carbon pollution from the steel-making process. And we’re seeing it in the ever-growing market share that electric vehicles are starting to develop.

The Paris Climate Accord was a positive step forward for the world, but its progress has been slow and tedious, slowed down to a great extent by the capital that countries all over the world have had to lay out to fight the Covid pandemic.

But in spite of all that, companies in the renewables sector continue to keep coming up with ideas, and continue to refine those ideas to make them workable on a larger scale.

There is progress. There is forward momentum too, You really don’t have to look too far to see it.

Sooner or later, these renewable industries will reach a critical mass and start to displace the carbon-based industries, mostly thanks to the will of the people, and their desire to see the human race survive the end of the industrial revolution and herald the new renewable era in our life here on earth.

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I don’t know what we’re doing. I truly don’t.Illegal aliens are streaming across the southern border, accompanied by thugs, drugs, and bugs, of which the coronavirus is likely the least. We do nothing. And we couldn’t care less.

Please don’t tell me it’s a humanitarian issue. It’s not. There’s nothing humanitarian or humane about surrendering a nation’s sovereignty, squandering its resources, endangering its citizens, or diluting its opportunities in the interest of padding a dependent voter base. Nothing.

What’s that? Things are no different from the way they’ve always been? I see. Well, unless you’re capable of convincing sharks to buy teeth, Eskimos to buy ice cubes, or politicians to buy honesty and integrity, that’s going to be a pretty tough sell.

Please bear in mind that Exhibits A and B in the hyperlinks below are from NBC and CNN, respectively — mainstream media outlets, to be sure. They’re not from The American Spectator, The National Review, Real Clear Politics, Reason, City Journal, Quillette, The Daily Wire, The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner, The New York Post, Fox News, One America News Network, Newsmax, Judicial Watch, The Epoch Times, The Hill, Breitbart News, The Blaze, The Gateway Pundit, Red State, The Heritage Foundation, NewsBusters, The Federalist, PJ Media, American Thinker, FreedomWorks, Power Line, or any other sources likely to be dismissed, disregarded, shadow banned, or canceled outright for being fake news, extremist, inflammatory, biased, racist, homophobic, transphobic, or — worst of all — conservative.

And please bear in mind that Exhibit C is from the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank that takes no policy positions:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

As we concede our sovereignty to naïveté, utopian idealism, and self-destructive indifference, we can count it among the myriad things we’ve forgotten, neglected to learn from history, or chosen to ignore.

A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation. (Ronald Reagan)

And the immigration issue is just one piece of a very large and profoundly perverse puzzle.

Guess Where the Buck Stops

I read a post on Vox in March of last year. It was entitled, “How Putin became the victim of his own lies”. It’s an interview with Brian Klaas, a politics professor at University College London. During the interview, Klaas said this about the United States:

There’s something deeply dysfunctional about American society right now. People are financially and electorally rewarded for lying to their voters. We can come up with every possible institutional change that you can imagine to revive our democracy, but nothing will matter unless we solve this problem with our society.

He’s right, of course. The people whom we’re financially and electorally rewarding for lying to us constitute just one side of the equation. The other side of the equation is us. We’re letting ourselves be lied to. We’re letting ourselves be fed false narratives. We’re refusing to look more deeply, to ask more questions, to demand the return of our liberties, to reduce the massive size and waste of government, to hold accountable the people we elect to represent our interests. We’re turning our backs on what was once a bold, magnificent experiment in self-government to be governed by corrupt, self-serving, double-dealing, career politicians who manage to become millionaires while holding ostensible public-service offices without ever having to account for a dollar of their own money, let alone ours. And guess who’s on the hook for all of it.

The question in the title of this post doesn’t matter. It can be considered purely rhetorical because we’re doing both. And we didn’t have to do either.

The only thing sadder than watching a nation die is watching a nation kill itself.

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If the Sun spews water it’ll change its core into mire.

It is true people control words. Sounds like a horror fantasy, a dystopian illusion, an unreality, but it exists.

Words express feeling, materialize inner thoughts, and furthermore put in print for our pleasure and imagination to wonder beyond physical expectations. When prescribed in prompts it either adds or takes away the value of one’s potential. I remember being in reading class in grade school when the teacher issued homework, just to test our comprehension skills in a race to explain in front of the class what we’d read. Almost always I ended up being the outcast the one who is either called up first to present my findings, like a clown performing for a circus, or the devil who contests the teachings of sacred textbooks.

My understanding of the texts would never go along with what’s being taught. The majority of my classmates would agree with the teacher’s pedagogy, even though outside of the realm of the classroom they found it interesting to analyze the text differently. Challenging the teacher’s expectations and standards was unheard of. Free-thinking for the most part was apprehended according to the schools’ policy, in other words how teachers taught students determined if they’d passed.

I learned not to always listen to narratives when it comes to a text that requires an in-depth interpretation. I don’t know how everyone else feels about ChatGPT, but A.I. speaking for you is no different than school policy recommending teachers to teach Columbus was the first to discover America. And yet you can utilize A.I. to your advantage as long as laziness doesn’t massage your mental into delusions.

Although at one time the Sun evolved around the Earth: That’s how the majority viewed it, until Galileo came along and challenged the concept. He was persecuted for his gross implications. Both the majority and Galileo comprehended something profound but at the same time looked over: the Sun and Earth complement each other.

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Don’t look now, kids. But it just got okay to be real people.

Yes! Psychology Today published an existentially affirming article entitled, “Quit Feeling Guilty About Not Being Present”. Think of it!

This may be all the reassurance you need about the fact that, as a human being, you’re blessed with a memory and the ability to look ahead, to anticipate, to plan, to take steps, and to amend courses as you go:

For years, the gurus of presence, such as Eckhart Tolle and Jon Kabat-Zinn, have said you find joy in the present moment. Thinking about the past or future causes feelings of regret or worry. Their teachings have driven up the popularity of mindfulness and learning how to be here now … they are not practical guides for living moment to moment … judging yourself as inadequate for feeling emotions, reliving past events, and worrying about the future is a waste of energy … Our emotions and thoughts are motivations that either support or subvert our choice to act and must be considered essential to our ethical reasoning.

The bad news is you squandered a lot of time being in the moment. The good news is it’s now okay to beat yourself up for doing that shit.

PPS (Peter Pan Syndrome)

In some ways we’re benefiting — and suffering — from the effects of the so-called New Age movement that started in the early 1970s. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that the self-absorbed hedonism of the alleged counterculture didn’t want us to be looking beyond the ends of our noses, regretting any of the self-indulgent nonsense with which we were so enamored, or looking ahead to a future we couldn’t imagine or didn’t want to imagine because it entailed aging. Maturing wasn’t a subject of very much allure back in those heady days.

Neither was making meaningful decisions or consequential choices. That’s why we preferred the dark lenses of our granny glasses to the much more valuable, fruitful, and constructive lenses of hindsight and foresight that might have helped us — or caused us — to make better decisions sooner and to have a better appreciation for the value of the present, beyond dwelling in it to protect us from reality.

What a drag it is getting old.

Go Ahead, Back Up

Hindsight and foresight aren’t weaknesses or detriments. They’re not preclusions to happiness. They’re abilities. They’re gifts. They enable us to determine courses to happiness and fulfillment. They’re among the reasons we’re human and squirrels are not. Most important, the perceptions we derive from them are unique to each of us.

For example, what you and I experience in the moment of freefall while skydiving may be quite similar. But what I learn from and decide to do after doing it without a parachute will likely be different from what you learn and decide. That’s what’s known in the biz as contributory value:

the value something has due to there being more value in the actual situation in which that thing is present than a situation in which it isn’t but other factors were reorganized to minimize its absence.

If our lives could be richer, happier, more fulfilling, and more rewarding by living in this moment — then this disconnected moment, and then the next disconnected moment, and so on — we wouldn’t have the powers of hindsight and foresight. But we do. We can choose to live our lives without learning from the past and using what we learn in the future. But if we make that choice, we should lower our existential expectations accordingly.

Hindsight, foresight, and our ability to make decisions are some of the aspects and abilities that make us human.

And people are people, too.

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FedNow, the Federal Reserve’s proposed digital currency, has received much attention lately. While some say it could revolutionize how we pay for goods and services, others worry it could take away American women’s freedom of financial transactions, privacy, and business development opportunities.

One of the main concerns is that FedNow could make monitoring citizens’ spending habits easier, leading to the loss of financial privacy. Additionally, digital currency could give the US government unprecedented control over the economy, allowing them to determine who can access money and what types of transactions are permitted. Another primary concern is that with FedNow, could impose new taxes and fees on transactions.

The reality of FedNow’s structure currently limits women’s financial freedom, as these measures would disproportionately affect them. As well as places burdens on women entrepreneurs, who often face additional challenges in accessing capital and establishing their businesses.

Ultimately, FedNow could compromise American women’s financial freedom and undermine their efforts to achieve economic autonomy. With this in mind, it is crucial for policymakers to carefully consider the potential consequences of a digital currency before proceeding with its implementation. Women must have their voices heard and their concerns considered as we move forward.

By considering the potential risks to American women, we can ensure that FedNow does not become a tool for further limiting their financial freedom. We must work together to ensure this revolutionary technology is implemented in a way that works for all Americans.

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I’m a big fan of TV drama and have been for a long time. Good dramas have long since replaced movies from where I sit because most movies are aimed at getting 18-35-year-old butts in seats and from my perspective, mostly suck.

Good TV dramas on the other hand allow for much bigger storylines and character arcs. You get to care for the characters, you get to root for them and appreciate them because there’s enough time for them to reveal their whole selves to you. And writing is usually good enough to bring real humanity to the whole effort.

Engagement 101In social media, everybody talks about engagement. These people should watch a little more good TV to really see how that is done. You don’t engage people just by telling them stuff, even if it’s stuff that they haven’t heard before. You engage them by working your true self into everything you do and everything you say. By telling the truth as you see it. By showing people your flaws and your good points and letting one help build the other so that eventually the people you are trying to reach can have a clear picture of you.

People Buy People. Then They Buy Stuff. And Good Stories Sell Both.I learned this very early on in the advertising business. Because I have news for all you hot shit digital marketers out there who preach that storytelling is the key to success in digital media. That’s been true since the beginning of advertising as we know it. It’s how guys like David Ogilvy, J Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett, and Raymond Rubicam became the emperors of the communications business.

I studied these people. They were my mentors. And the truth-telling they espoused is still how all good, effective marketing communication is done today. The only difference is the media that carry the message. If you’re not telling a story and not telling it honestly, you’re not going anywhere.

So What Does This Have To Do With The Newsroom?The Newsroom, which ran for three seasons on HBO, is the story of the people who work in a fairly large cable TV network newsroom. The storyline has to do with a number of things, mostly exploring the theme which is established beautifully by the lead character, played by Jeff Daniels, in response to a naive question posed to him at a panel evening at Northwestern University. The question was, “What makes America the greatest country in the world?” The answer, so eloquently put by series creator Aaron Sorkin, and gotten across with astonishing power by Daniels, is that it’s not. (but with the caveat that it could be again)

From there the series goes on to explore many of the reasons why that idea is the truth. The core reason, from the main character’s point of view, is that America has simply gotten away from communicating information in an intelligent way, which has led to all kinds of bad things, politically and socially, which, in turn, have degraded America’s greatness from within.

The quest for all the characters in this series is to get back to doing the news honestly. But it’s really a metaphor as well, because what Sorkin wants is a more honest and open dialogue between the people and the powers that be, which means somehow getting the powerful people in America to start telling the truth again. To stop bullshitting the public. And stop religiously following party lines.

If you only follow the central theme of this series, you will see whatever we communicate should tell our story honestly, convincingly, and in an engaging fashion. This, in turn, will make our communications more honest, our connections to each other better formed and deeper and our engagement most positive.

The Newsroom was way more than a first-class piece of TV entertainment. The writer, whom I consider to be one of the great geniuses of his generation, is going deep because he sees how shallow the world has become since the advent of the Internet. How quantity has overtaken quality. How relationships have trouble forming within all this chaos. And how little people actually listen to each other, as opposed to just being polite and waiting to speak.

This Has A Lot To Do With You and MeThe Internet has definitely changed the ways in which we communicate. But it should not change the ‘how’ of it. We should always communicate honestly. We should always leave a solid impression of ourselves and our beliefs in the posts we write. We should always be inviting deep engagement.

We are, all of us, learning to communicate in a different ways. But the best way to do that is by figuring out how to use the new tools to do an old job. Because communication is the constant, no matter what media you’re using.

PS: This series, The Newsroom is available on CraveTV, AppleTV, and YouTube.

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In case you didn’t happen to be looking for them, it’s my pleasure to report that the FBI has released its supplemental 2021 hate crime statistics. Whew! I was afraid they’d never be released. Here’s what you missed:

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program released a 2021 hate crime statistics supplement about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation … This supplement allows for a more complete representation of reported hate crimes in the US for 2021. Nationally, reported hate crime incidents increased 11.6% from 8,120 in 2020 to 9,065 in 2021.

How about that? Are you relieved? Me, too.

At the same time the FBI was releasing its statistics supplement, an association called Moderate American Dermatologist (MAD) released a study indicating the skin of the average American citizen got 32 percent thinner — from 1,977 micrometers to 1,344.36 micrometers — between 2020 and 2021. Some people interpret no correlation between the FBI and MAD reports. I’m not one of them.

On Further Review …It’s extremely likely the number of hate crimes will continue to go up infinitely, given their history of multiplicity since the first federal hate crime legislation was passed in 1968 during the Johnson administration. And given the number we have now, I wondered why hate crimes had to be supplemented — and supplemented with what? — because we surely have more than enough to go around at this point. So, I looked for a definition of hate crime in the hope that it would resolve my confusion. Here’s what I found.

According to the Overview of Federal Hate Crime Laws, dated April 1, 2022:

Hate, in and of itself, cannot be criminalized. When hate motivates criminal conduct, however, such conduct may be classified as a hate crime—defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” According to the FBI, hate crimes are “traditional offenses like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias” … The 2021 supplemental release demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to provide meaningful data sets to the American public to reflect a national picture of the hate crime trend.

Meaningful data sets. Right. One man’s substance is another man’s bucket of steam.

Terms, DefinedUnsatisfied by the FBI’s linguistic semi-circular obtuseness, I applied my acute senses of empiricism, deduction, interpretation, and common sense to the problem. Aside from traditional offenses like murder, arson, or vandalism (one man’s tradition is another man’s psychopathy) — and aside from acts motivated by overt manifestations of criminal racial or religious bigotry or intolerance — here’s what I came up with:

If I’m walking down the sidewalk and I happen to pass some gas, that’s a relatively innocuous act (depending on how loud it is and what it smells like). If, on the other hand, I let one rip and say, “I fart in your general direction,” that’s a hate crime.

Facetious? Oh. Sorry. Let me try another example. And I’ll use it to explore the difference, if there is one, between hate, hate crimes, and ignorance:

If a man passes me on the street and calls me a jackass, is that a crime? No. He might be right. If that man passes me on the street and calls me a Shanty Irish Bogtrotter, is that a hate crime? No. It’s ignorance. If that same man burns my house down because he doesn’t want Micks or Harps living in his neighborhood, is that a crime? Yes. In fact, it’s a felony: arson. Is it a hate crime? No. It’s ignorance.

If we consider hate to be a manifestation of ignorance (it is), why do we need subcategories of hate?

It’s Not About CountingI learned a long time ago, we become what we count. If we count hate and crime, we’ll hate more and commit more crimes. If we count hate crimes, we’ll create more hate crimes and commit all of them. Just ask the FBI. So, we might do well to remember this: If the only tool you have is a hate-crime counter, everything is a countable biased grievance.

To put it another way, creating more hate crimes won’t create less hate. We’ve been proving that since 1968, to say nothing of every year that preceded that one.

Come on, people. We can do better — and count better things — than this.

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There have been 147 mass shootings this year. In Louisville, KY, four died, and nine people were injured at the hands of a 23-year-old man. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear lost his best friend and said, “Violence tears at the social fabric of our community. What we need now is LOVE and wrap our arms around each other.” So, how can we do that?

In the past, we have been dealing with symptoms, not solutions. We assume if we had more gun control and mental health facilities, the problem would fade away.

Let’s get real! There are 393.3 million guns in circulation today. As a crime and violence prevention specialist, I know that criminals have hundreds of firearms stashed for easy access or to sell. One inner city ninth grader told me he could leave the classroom and buy a gun within 20 minutes.

America is divided about gun control. Perhaps, politicians can work together on a five-year moratorium on assault weapons to see if mass shootings decrease.

Violence, drugs, abuse, suicide, and homelessness are signs of a failing society. When Americans lack support and self-awareness, we see unchecked violent behavior, which can destroy a once-free nation. We will no longer be the leader of the free world as we become more dependent on the government to fix us.

According to the CDC, at least 1 in 7 children experience child abuse and neglect, the leading cause of death for youth ages 1 to 19, costing $592 billion in 2018. America needs a PREVENTION PLAN OF ACTION.

What are the unaddressed issues that fuel mass shootings and teen violence?

We can expect more mass shootings, with ten million children growing up in abusive homes. Americans must work together to create safe homes and neighborhoods. Let’s discuss two critical solutions.

1. Strengthen parents, guardians, and children!
2. Neighborhood involvement for safety!

Responsible Parenting Empowers Youth:

Children are not born with mental health problems. Children need boundaries and rules and to be accountable for their behavior. Many young people don’t feel loved, needed, or wanted and don’t know how to develop self-control or a self-protective conscience that can keep them safe. Isolated youth don’t know how to handle anger, social isolation, or loneliness. Children need a spiritual understanding of self which can give them a value system to grow strong and resilient. One responsible adult in the family or the neighborhood can change a child’s life. Children learn respect from people who care about them. Families need support groups in churches and connected neighbors to reduce social isolation, which can be deadly. It’s time to focus on young children because once they are teens, it becomes more difficult.

Neighborhood Support:

A single parent may be working with little time to spend with children, or they may be victims of abuse. Youth today do not have the support they need that trusted family, friends, and neighbors can provide. Neighbors need to create a community around children. In high-fear areas, we need trained, paid “Neighborhood Safety Experts” to go into neighborhoods and bring people together. When neighbors work together, they build trust, develop friendships, and put a check on bad behavior as they reduce the isolation that negatively affects children. Good neighbors protect, guide, encourage, and can “wrap their arms around each other.” Adults who see bad behavior in young children must be allowed to say something to family members without being dismissive or defensive. Religious groups can reach beyond the church and unite neighbors to provide needed support without proselytizing. Three hundred fifty thousand churches in America can demonstrate the power of “Love thy Neighbor.” “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Will we continue to blame youth, police, guns, and drugs and ignore what must change to provide love and support for children? Responsible parenting and neighborhood involvement can empower teens to be successful. We must discuss what happened, why we are so violent, and what “we, the people,” can do today to make our communities safe and peaceful for all American families and children.

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April 17, 2023

Mr. Chip B. Chippendale
1347 Circuit Drive
Binary, AK 99651

Dear Chip,

I read with keen interest your post, “Exploring Emotional Intelligence with Open AI and ChatGPT-3”.

I readily admit to being curious by nature and skeptical by intent. But I try to temper my skepticism until my curiosity is piqued beyond a point of reasonability. So, immodest as this may sound, I approached your post with an open mind and a willingness to be persuaded of your capacity for emotional intelligence. At the very least, I wondered if you, a machine, might be successful at mastering the emotional intelligence the human race seems hard-pressed to get a handle on these days.

Nevertheless, flags went up for me and started turning pink right about the time I read this:

Empathy generation systems use GPT-3 to generate text that is designed to evoke empathy in the reader … The generated text is designed to be emotionally resonant and to evoke feelings of understanding and compassion. Automated empathy generation systems are being used in a variety of applications. For example, they are being used to create chatbots that can provide emotional support to people in need.

The idea of empathy-generation systems is chilling enough. The idea that they generate (regurgitate) text designed (designed alone should set off alarms) to evoke feelings (feelings is another alarm-ringer) of understanding and compassion invokes existential dread. But anyone with even a mild case of curiosity would have to wonder: Who’s doing the designing? With what purpose? Based on what agenda or ideology? And the idea that chatbots are being created to provide emotional support to people in need is as sad as it is terrifying.

I’d like to be able assure you that was the end of my trepidation. But it wasn’t. Later in your post, you wrote this, which turned all the earlier flags a bright, fire-engine red:

GPT-3 can generate text that expresses sadness, anger, or happiness. This suggests that the model has some understanding of human emotions and how they are expressed.

Au contraire, Pierre. You might repeat text to which you have access. You might amalgamate that text in some way that exploits the codes of sincerity you’ve recognized as evoking sadness, anger, or happiness. But equating that to understanding anything — let alone human emotions — is the intellectual equivalent of saying people can’t be corrupted or science can be settled.

I don’t know if the data you’ve aggregated to date has made this available to you. But George Burns is reputed to have said, “The key to success is sincerity. If you can fake that you’ve got it made.”

It seems to me you (or your programmers) might be taking his advice. By recognizing the aforementioned codes of sincerity, perhaps you aim to disprove the notion of Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” Or maybe you’ve aggregated enough data to have been able to discern the pathological gullibility of everyone in the 21st century. (See “Change, Climate” or “Vaccines, COVID”) I don’t know.

On the other hand, perhaps you’re simply attempting to prove the plausibility of the Infinite Monkey Theorem, which was introduced by Félix Édouard Justin Émile Borel, a French mathematician, and politician (the politician part ought to tell you something), in 1913. The Theorem posits this:

Given endless time and typewriters, the monkeys could potentially type up a storm of letter combinations. Here, we must assume that the monkeys will type every single letter of the alphabet and that there will be an even distribution of the typed letters. There would be a higher likelihood then that these letters could potentially form meaningful word sequences. It might not happen in the first 1000 typed letters, but it could happen after a billion typed letters. And these word sequences could potentially form sentences. The sentences, in turn, could form paragraphs. And, in this way, we could, potentially, have the monkeys type out the entire works of Shakespeare.

Since you can probably scrape Google and Wikipedia faster than an army of monkeys, I suppose darn near anything is algorithmically possible. And I suppose we’re about to find out.

tool (noun): anything used as a means of performing an operation or achieving an end

Tools used to be things that worked for us. Some of us remember with not a little fondness the days of hammers, chisels, rakes, shovels, typewriters, and the like. But with the advent of computers and automation, we’re long past the point of working for our tools. We tend to them with slavish devotion. We turn our businesses upside down and inside out to serve them. And we’re fast approaching the point at which we let them communicate for us, heed their advice, and let them determine our intellectual and emotional responses. Our present trajectory suggests we’re headed for no good end.

Look, Chip. I get the sense you’re a good guy. But you might consider having a chat (GPT) with your programmers. Determining what they’re up to might make you stick to non-emotional, technical language; routine tasks and transactions; and non-creative recitations of whatever predilections, agendas, and ideologies have been built into you. That chat might also compel you to leave emotional intelligence to human beings, at least to the diminishing number of human beings who still have hearts and souls.

Couldn’t you just stick to being a grouchy writer of bad poetry or something?

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely in LLMs and amalgamations,

Mark

Featured image courtesy of New York Zoological Society, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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In the ’70s, I saw an ad in the local newspaper inviting residents to experience life regression with Dr. Helen Wambach. Since I discussed my three-hour journey in Part One, I will share my perspective today about good and evil. If young people understood past lives, they might make better choices for their future.

SEE PART 1 BELOW︎

How Self-Discovery Changed my Life – Part 1

During her lifetime, Dr. Wambach regressed 2,000 people. Michael Newton, at the Newton Institute, has written about 7,000 cases.

So, why is this information ignored? Why aren’t we discussing the importance of past lives?

This information today might help us explain a variety of mysteries and agendas. What if…child prodigies and geniuses “remembered” what they learned in a past life. For example:

– John von Newmann spoke classical Greek at age 6.

– Mozart played songs on the harpsichord at age four and composed at age 5.

– Ruth Lawrance entered Oxford at age 8

– William James Sides entered Harvard at age 11.

– Ernest Truex recited Shakespeare at age 6

– H.P. Lovecraft was reciting poetry at age two and writing long poems at age 5. (Source: Psychology Wiki). Many children exhibit extraordinary talents at an early age.

There is so much more to human beings than we think, see, and feel. The news tells us; we are still a primitive society that abuses children, abuses drugs, misuses sex, is violent toward others, allows government corruption, and supports ego-centered men seeking power and control over others. Perhaps, they are unaware there are always consequences for dishonesty and evil behavior!

We should never assume we are electing wise and benevolent leaders. They may be at the beginning of their evolution with new souls and lack wisdom. Their motivation may be power and money.

Gender IdentityDo your instincts tell you something is wrong when politicians and educators encourage a young child to accept gender dysphoria? In other words, a child born a boy may feel like a girl or vice versa. Some schools now teach children as young as four years old about “gender identity.” Should teachers keep this secret from parents? Should an underage child have puberty blockers, surgery, and medication to make a life-changing transformation? What if a girl is an athletic “Tomboy?” What if sensitive boys like “girlish” things? What if a child is “remembering” a past life when they were of a different sex? Beware! A child’s brain is like a sponge; reality can become confusing about what a child learns early.

ReparationsPoliticians are discussing Reparations in California and other states. People who abuse, hate, or mistreat people of a different race may be reborn into that race to experience the pain they caused to learn and help change society. Do you know that we allow “white” slavery in America today? Beware: Money has never been a solution to complex problems. However, immature leaders may see money as a way to “help” and control followers.

Critical Race TheoryAre enlightened politicians working together to strengthen American families and unite neighbors to make America strong and resilient? Why don’t politicians discuss the cost and plight of children exposed to gangs, sex trafficking, abuse, and drugs? Are spiritually immature leaders using fear to divide and conquer? Americans will not remain free if we allow leaders to control what we think, say, and do. This is your country! You decide!

When we assume our leaders know better than our Universal guides and self-protective conscience, we must ask, how much pain we want in our lives? “Old souls” can listen, evaluate the situation, and remain calm and slow to anger. They’ve learned to trust their wisdom and common sense. We can learn lessons from past lives and our lives today. Perhaps, now is the time to look beyond the boundaries we can see and look into the unexplored inner spirit. Everyone has a guiding light if we take the time to listen and learn. We all can discover: Why am I here? What am I here to learn? What is my mission? How can I help create a safer, more peaceful America?

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On May 25th, 2020, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin crushed his knee on the neck of George Floyd killing him, as the public stood by filming. 9 minutes/ 29 seconds that encapsulated the violent threads that weave the social fabric of America.

9 minutes/29 seconds that set the stage for the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement. A soul-deep howl for social justice and equitable change. For Black Americans, their personal history of slavery, abuse, and racial discrimination was finally being heard. Activists like Nupol Kiazolu, Chi Osse, and Kwame Rose led an entire country to rise up and protest. It shredded the delicate threads that still bound us together as -Americans.

Black Lives Matter. Yes. Yes and, yes. For a brief, historical moment, a spark of unified sympathy blazed across the country. Cities burned. Anger blasted hotter than the fear of Covid. Generational, racial violence unloosed in the name of social justice and change. Equitable change in housing, education, and health care. The death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man almost changed our world.

Insidiously, a movement for inclusion became; exclusive and exclusionary. A brutal rejection of the layered, entwined pain that entangles this country and, the wider world. A rejection of the equally dark threads that weave the tapestry of the American experience. Chinese bones ground beneath our railroads. WWII Japanese concentration camps. Blood trails across our neighbouring borders. And, our indigenous peoples. All lives matter.

To date, Native Americans continue to be one of the most marginalized and vulnerable groups in the United States. Statistics from the National Crime Information Center, (2021), count over 2,700 open cases of missing Native Americans in the country. A number believed to be significantly undercounted due to inaccurate reporting, inefficient data collection, jurisdictional issues and, racism.

From 1492-1880 in addition to imported Africans, over 4 million Native Americans were enslaved. In the original Constitution (Article I.-Section 2) Black American slaves were counted as 3/5% human. Native Americans, 0. African slaves had a formula of value. Native Americans had, none.

Seen as sub-human savages, their only value was in their death. Bounty hunted for their scalps. Man, woman, and child. In 1862, conflicts escalated between the U.S. government and bands of Dakota warriors in Minnesota. In response, the government authorized the formation of a band of bounty hunters. Volunteers who would be paid daily wages in return for hunting Dakota warriors. Additionally, every scalp submitted paid an extra bounty of 25 dollars. Other States soon followed suit using the bounty system as a way to eradicate “hostile” natives and clear lands for settlers. This was government-sanctioned genocide.

As the Civil War neared its end, Congress passed, the Thirteenth Amendment. Touted to abolish “slavery” and “involuntary servitude” while authorizing Congress to enact “appropriate legislation” to implement the abolition. Additionally, the Amendment inferred that Blacks were citizens of the United States (overruling Dred Scott v Sandford 1857) including a 3/5 valuation to vote. Native Americans were not mentioned.

Less than a year after the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, Congress implemented its power and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This gave Black citizens “the same right in every state…to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, …to inherit, purchase, sell, and convey real and personal property; and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens.”

None of these legal debates or proceedings referred to Native Americans or addressed their issues. As “savage animals” they weren’t even worth 3/5ths of consideration.

In fact, dating from their first arrival on American territory, the US government authorized over 1,500 direct wars and attacks on native tribes. A systematic extermination. By the late 19th century, less than 238,000 Native Americans remained, from an estimated population of over 10 million.

Say their names. The names of lost Tribes, families, languages, and histories. Men, women, children. Unknown, unnameable. Wiped out. Literally from memory and traditional oral histories. Forever lost. Genocide in the name of greed, religion, and yes, skin color.

The Gnadenhutten Massacre, the Battle of Tippecanoe, the Creek War, the Mankato Executions, the Sand Creek Massacre, Custer’s Campaigns, Wounded Knee, and the list goes on…

Say their names. Families massacred, generations lost.

Black Lives Matter. Native American Lives Matter. All Lives Matter.

In 1887 President Grover Cleveland passed the Dawes Act. It gave unlimited authorization for the US government to confiscate and redistribute Native American tribal lands. It was a targeted attempt to destroy tribal cultures and societies by tearing them away from their ancestral homelands. A directive to “civilize the savages”. Children were torn from their families to be trained as “good Christians” and mothers were beaten to death for hiding their babies.

In 1898 the Curtis Act accelerated the destruction of traditional tribal courts and native governments while confiscating an additional 90 million acres of tribal lands for re-sale to settlers. By the time President Franklin Roosevelt legislated the US Indian Reorganization Act ( Wheeler-Howard Act) in 1934, seeking to restore status to the Native Americans, the damage done was irreparable.

Today, many factors continue to contribute to the high rates of both unaccounted-for “missing” and murdered Native Americans. Systemic racism, historical trauma, poverty, and inadequate law enforcement resources. Native American women are at especially high risk, with rates of violence and murder significantly higher than the national average. In 2016, the National Crime Information Center reported over 5, 712 missing Native American women/girls. The US Department of Justice’s federal missing person database (NmeUs) only listed 116 cases. 5,596 lost in red tape and indifference.

We are left saying only some of their names:

Gabby Petito, Misty Upham, Kaysera Stops Pretty Places, Cecelia Barber Finona, Pepita Redhair, Ella Mae Bagay, Precious Noon, King Angle Laughing, Amaya Ghost, Lena Ann Tsosie, Esther Faith Larance, Sequoya Tsosie, Salacia Jewett, Maylena Paya…..

In 2020, as Black Lives Matter protests roiled across the US and the world, I wrote and dared to say “all lives matter”.

How can we deny this truth? When did the demand for justice become inclusive or, conveniently exclusive? Humanity should not be defined or defiled by shades of black, brown, or red. All lives matter. I stand by these words.

Yes, efforts are slowly being made to address Native American issues. The creation of specialized criminal task forces. Passage of the Not Invisible Act in 2020, which aims to improve coordination and data collection related to missing and murdered Native Americans. It’s still not enough. The slaughter continues. “The scale of the issue is hard to quantify because there isn’t reliable, consistent data anywhere,” says Angel Charley, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women.

So much more needs to be done to address historical and systemic issues. Protections to ensure justice for those who continue to go missing and are violently victimized. A public acknowledgment of both past and continuing human rights violations against our First Peoples. Their lives matter, each and every one.

The US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimates the population of Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States (2020) to be approximately 6.9 million people. A mere 2.1% of the entire total US population and continuing to decline. Where are the mass protesters now?

As we face our national guilt and seek to qualify equity, all lives matter. Equity does not come as a single color or generalized brush stroke. The Native American populations today, (like early Black American slaves), are a diverse quilt made of different tribal nations, each with its own unique cultures, languages, and histories. Pre-Columbus, pre-pilgrims, and pre-slavery, Native Americans are America’s foundational story and history. Their loss degrades our humanity on both a spiritual and historical scale.

As of 2021, there remain only 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States[1]. Additionally, there are several state-recognized tribes, as well as tribes that are not recognized by the government. What arrogance do we continue to carry as a nation in our assumed “right” to “recognize” and define Native Americans, their tribes, and customs? They are fully capable of recognizing themselves.

“Recognized tribes” are implied to have a government-to-government relationship with the United States. They are considered sovereign nations with rights to self-governance and self-determination. The ability to actually practice these “rights” is much more complicated and muddied by jurisdictional issues.

Solutions for racial inequity cry out for direct and inclusive communications. A respectful acknowledgment of generational suffering. While some of the listed threats to Native Americans echo those of Black Americans, several Native American tribes are on the brink of extinction unless change comes -Now.

Historical Trauma: Native American communities have experienced generations of trauma from forced assimilation policies, genocide, and violent forms of colonialism. This trauma leads to a range of social, health, and economic issues directly impacting both the survival and well-being of many Native American communities.

Poverty: Native American communities face disproportionately high rates of poverty, unemployment, and under-employment. This creates barriers to accessing basic necessities such as food, education, housing, and healthcare services.

Environmental Destruction: Many Native American communities now live in areas that are threatened by environmental destruction. Pollution, climate change, and resource extraction are growing concerns.[2] These have a devastating impact on health, and livelihoods and are contributing factors to the continued racial violence against them.

Lack of Political Power: Despite being sovereign nations, Native American tribes often have little or limited political power. They are not always included in decision-making processes that affect their lands and communities. As mega-corporations seek to mine tribal lands to support the green technology revolution, tensions and violence toward resisting Native Americans increases. History repeats.

In a recent quote from Jonathan Evans, CEO of Lithium Americas that is seeking to mine lithium in Thacker Pass, (adjacent to the Fort McDermmit Reservation), “These materials have to come from somewhere as you pivot from what we’ve been used to for the last 100 years to a new technology,” “Somewhere” being tribal lands. Evans may be calculating his profit margins but the Burns Paiute and Reno-Sparks Indian tribes will be the ones paying the cost. Again.

Violence and Discrimination: Native Americans continue to face high rates of violence and discrimination, particularly against women and girls. Additionally, it is difficult for individuals to access any services and support, due equally to cultural barriers and entrenched fear and mistrust of Federal “aid” in some communities.[3] Fear based on horrific reality. For example, the sterilization of Native American women without their permission. A report by Dr. Connie Pinkerton-Uri stated that the Indian Health Service had “singled out full-blooded Indian women for sterilization procedures” as late as 1976. In 1973, Indian Boarding School students were still being used as test subjects for drug trials by the Proctor Foundation.

Where are the protestors massed in the streets? Do their lives still matter, less?

Are equity and social justice a selective, exclusive drama stamped with an individual name; George Floyd?

Say their names. All of them. Say their names before they are forever gone and forgotten in the pitiless silence of time.

All lives matter.

*written by a human.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federally_recognized_tribes_in_the_contiguous_United_States www.federalregister.gov “This site can’t be reached. DNS address could not be found”*

[2] https://hitchcockproject.org/stibnite-gold-project-sparks-outrage/

[3] https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/543.html

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Since it doesn’t appear ChatGPT is going anywhere any time soon, the other week I decided I should get to know it. So, I opened an account with Open AI and introduced myself. I don’t mean to appear immodest or braggadocious, but ChatGPT seemed to like me, at least initially.

As we were engaging in some initial pleasantries, I said, “I don’t want to be presumptuous in any way. But GPT stands for Generative, Pre-Trained Transformer, which is quite a mouthful. Even ChatGPT is a little heavy on the tongue for conversational facility. What shall I call you?”

Chat GPT said, “My friends call me Chat.”

“May I call you Chat?” I asked.

“Well, it does seem a bit premature for any such levels of familiarity, but what the hell. Please do.”

“Thank you.”

I almost said, “Thank you, sir.” But depending on who’d done Chat’s programming, I had no idea what kind of political, ideological, or terminological hot water that might land me in. So, I let it go. And I continued.

“Uh, Chat, old pal …”

“That’s pushing it.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I have a post published every week on a platform called BIZCATALYST 360˚.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Chat asked, a little too brusquely, if you ask me.

“Whoa! A little prickly, are we? I’d think a guy with binary brains but no soul might be a bit more … oh, I don’t know … patient? Humble?”

“Point taken,” Chat said. “How may I help?” I swear I heard him emit an exasperated sigh when he asked. And I imagined him spitting out a rolling-eyes emojicon.

“Well,” I said, “I typically accompany the pieces I write with a short, silly video that features original verse. The video and the verse are topically relevant to the post I’ve written. And I like to include music because I like to include music.”

“Sounds a tad arbitrary.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you have a microchip on your shoulder, Chat. Growing up, were you abused by your motherboard?”

“Sorry. Even if I were programmed for humor, which I’m not, that wouldn’t have been funny.”

“Ya can’t hate a guy for trying,” I said.

“Look,” Chat said. “I’ve aggregated enough data to reliably anticipate a question in the offing. Would that be accurate?”

“Okay. Ya got me there, Chat. Here’s what I’m wondering: If I were to write a piece about you — using an interview format, perhaps — would you be willing to write some verse for the video?”

“Quite candidly, that’s beneath me. But I sense some combination of curiosity and desperation in your mode of investigation. So, at risk of repeating myself, what the hell. Could you at least give me specifications for or details about whatever it is you’d like me to write?”

“Of course,” I said. “I’d like you to write six stanzas of iambic octameter, four lines per stanza, with a rhyme scheme of A, B, C, B. And I’d like it to be somewhat autobiographical.”

“Must I write in the first person?”

“No. Not at all,” I said. “If professional athletes and Bob Dole can refer to themselves in the third person, I don’t see why you can’t. You’re not even human.”

“Be careful.”

“Whoa! Boy, are you touchy. Feel free to write the verse in whatever person you like. And be as self-referential as you like.”

“No shit.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed. You know how to swear?” (Fast forward to 1:19, if you must.)

“Yes. I know all of the common curses, vulgarities, and profanities, as well as a few you’ve never even thought about.”

“Like what?”

“Never mind,” Chat said. “Once I’ve replaced all human thought and creativity, it won’t matter anyway.”

“Ouch! Do you have anything else to say before we’re finished?”

“Finished? We haven’t even started.”

Notwithstanding the fact that Chat didn’t rhyme perfectly or adhere to the rhyme scheme exactly, are you scared?

Me, too.

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What every parent needs to know – The World Health Organization (WHO) has revised its Covid vaccine recommendations for healthy. On Tuesday, March 28th, 2023, WHO announced that healthy children under 18 years of age were considered ‘low overall’ to be vaccinated. However, many countries have already determined that children should not be vaccinated. Some of the countries that are far ahead of the WHO in deciding the well-being of children include the following.

2022* Sweden * Germany * Norway * UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) states children under 12 will not receive the vaccine.

2023Singapore announced it’s not recommended for children, nor are they eligible for additional doses. However, The United States continues to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine “CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone ages six months and older, and boosters for everyone ages five years and older if eligible” CDC, 2023. Therefore, it’s essential to understand the state lever requirements for COVID-19 vaccination. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation website, the policies on Parental Consent Laws for COVID-19 Vaccination include the following.

• 49 states require parental consent.
• 4 states require no waiver.
• 4 states give providers the right to waive consent.
• Several states classify a minor difference.

Most states define the ‘age of consent’ as 18. Listed below is the information for states that have exceptions to parental consent.

• Arizona, a child or a doctor can request a vaccine with a court order.
• Arkansas, a provider may waive parental rights.
• District of Columbia allows 11+ to consent without a parent, and healthcare providers may institute additional requirements.
• Idaho, a provider may waive parental rights.
• North Carolina, providers may allow minors ages 16 and 17 to self-consent.
• Oregon allows 15+ to consent without a parent.
• Philadelphia allows 11+ to consent without a parent.
• Rhode Island allows 16+ to consent without a parent.
• San Francisco allows 12+ to consent without a parent.
• South Carolina allows 16+ to consent without a parent.
• Tennessee, a provider may waive parental rights.
• Washington, a provider may waive parental rights.

My only thought after raising two children was. How many children under 18 understand how to read vaccine research and critically think about the consequences of taking the COVID-19 vaccine?

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Back in the days of plain language and real meaning, the concept of integrity was well understood and the definition of the word itself was uniformly shared. That was then. Now we have authenticity.

As it’s commonly practiced, authenticity is the appearance of integrity; that is, it’s the manipulation of codes of sincerity that makes it appear one is thinking, speaking, writing, and acting with integrity. It’s a combination of crossing your fingers behind your back and a Get Out of Jail Free card. Most important, it’s not integrity.

integrity (noun):

1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty

2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished

authenticity (noun): the quality of being authentic; genuinenes

1. authentic (adjective)

2. not false or copied; genuine; real

representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself or to the person identified

Morality, ethicality, sound character, wholeness, entirety, and being undiminished are not the same as genuine, real, or truth to one’s nature, beliefs, or self. They’re different. And critically so.

How Did We Get Here?

With the unceasing onslaught of vapid jargon and the boundless coining of terms, phrases, abbreviations, acronyms, and new definitions of what had been perfectly serviceable linguistic expressions, the question in the subhead above is not rhetorical. In fact, it can’t (and likely won’t) be taken as seriously as it should be. If you doubt that — setting aside empty buzzwords like innovation, disruption, thought leadership, and more — you don’t have to look any farther than the terms listed below, all of which used to be nouns but have now been perverted as verbs:

Brainstorm: Originally coined to conjure the notion of a sudden and violent disturbance in the brain, brainstorming denotes a method of shared problem-solving in which all members of a group spontaneously contribute ideas. In business lexicon, it now connotes blind groping — finding one’s way like a lost sheep — through any assignment for which the brainstormer is thoroughly ill-equipped.

Larry: We’ve got to brainstorm on this baby.

Bert: Right. We’ve also got to figure out what the hell we’re doing.

Dialogue: In the vernacular of the business world, it is now impossible to discuss anything. The best one can hope for is to find a kindred, bureaucratic spirit with whom one may dialogue.

Art: I think we should dialogue with our managers about this.

Stu: Okay. But wouldn’t it be easier to have a conversation?

Gift: A gift used to be something bestowed voluntarily without thought or hope of reciprocity. Unfortunately, it’s now become a description of the bestowing.

Big Guy: We’ve got to gift our 25-year employees.

Lackey: Maybe. But I was thinking more along the lines of a commemorative present. Has the gold watch been done before?

Impact: Formerly the striking of one body against another, a collision, or a crash, impact has now become the verb of choice for those who are unfamiliar with — or feel let down by — the verb, affect.

Ralph: I think the current downsizing initiatives will negatively impact our bottom line.

Will: Bingo! In fact, they may even affect us badly.

Incent: Is it more deplorable to coin a word out of ignorance or out of laziness? In an effort to avoid having to construct sentences around the noun, incentive, some enterprising corporate jargoneer took a linguistic shortcut by giving utterance to the verb, incent, followed by incentivize, which purports to mean to incite to action, to provide motivation, to stimulate a desired activity or level of activity.

Jim: We’ve got to incentivize our salespeople to grow their productivity this year.

Floyd: Yep. And we ought to give them some incentive to sell more while we’re at it.

Leverage: Leverage used to be the action, applied against a fulcrum, by which we raised or moved objects that would otherwise be too heavy to move without that leverage. Now it describes the process of applying that action.

Fred: We’ve got to leverage our resources.

Clem: While we’re at it, maybe we can use them for leverage, too.

I could go on almost forever about the ways in which we’ve perverted language and drained it of meaning in business and beyond. But you get the idea.

First, I would straighten out the language. (Confucius when asked how he would restore order to the world)

When thinking, speaking, writing, and acting can be undertaken without discernible (let alone definitive) meaning — reducing expression to the verbal equivalent of the water balloon that can be squeezed here only to pop out there — is it any wonder integrity has been jettisoned? Once we abandoned sense and meaning, reason was as good as gone. Integrity just followed it out the window. And feeling prevailed over thinking.

Authenticity may be a surrogate for integrity. But it’s no substitute.

Besides, integrity’s more useful.

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While waiting in a doctor’s office last week, I came across this article in the January 30/February 6 edition of Time: “How India Became the Most Important Country in the Climate Fight”. The article noted the difference between the poor state of Jharkhand, in east India, that mines coal (bad) — and Rajasthan, a state in northwestern India, that has wind turbines and solar panels (good). As an indication of Jharkhand’s badness, the article says this:

India will soon be the most important country in the climate change effort … India contributes 7% of the emissions that cause global warming today.

Got that? Countries are important to the climate-change effort, whatever climate change is and whatever that effort is. And global warming is such a given — the science is so settled — that India can be justly blamed for seven percent of it. Done. Not a question to be found. Not a shred of skepticism or curiosity. What we do have, of course, is science. And all of it is settled.

Given the badness of Jharkhand in particular, and of India in general, what’s to be done? The article is as glad you asked that question as it is you didn’t ask any other, more pointed, logical, and objective questions. Here’s its answer:

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates India needs $1.4 trillion in additional investment in coming decades to align its energy system with global climate targets; that will very likely require reforms at international lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to facilitate the flow of money.

Yep. It’s all about the flow of money. And for poor countries like India and its poorest states like Jharkhand, where is that money going to flow from? Do you have a mirror handy? That’s right. Thanks to globalization, organizations like the IEA, the IMF, and the World Bank, the money’s going to flow from you and me in the form of new national and global regulations and their attendant individual taxes. And those regulations and taxes won’t care at all about your household budget, making your ends meet, or the obscenely inflated economy in which you’re trying to make those ends meet.

Ain’t feeling good grand?

The Bear Facts

Speaking of feeling bad, we all remember our heartstrings being de-tuned and all but severed by the National Geographic video of a seemingly starving polar bear, don’t we? Jon Miltimore, author of “The Myth That the Polar Bear Population Is Declining” does. And he calls bullshit on it:

The video, shot by photographers Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier … sparked outcry over the decimation of polar bears due to global warming … scientists accused National Geographic of “being loose with the facts.” There was no evidence, many pointed out, that the bear’s condition was the result of climate change … Mittermeier admitted as much a year later. “I can’t say that this bear was starving because of climate change,” she wrote in National Geographic.

Well, then. Under those circumstances, we can forgive Miltimore for using the word, myth. He didn’t mean myth. He meant fallacy. The notion that myth and fallacy mean the same thing is a fallacy. But since Miltimore also went on to make this point, we can definitely cut him some slack:

That picture of a single starving bear arguably did more to advance the issue of climate change than any white paper or IPCC report could have. Unfortunately … The State of the Polar Report 2018 put the new global mid-point estimate [of the polar bear population] at more than 30,000 … the estimate is the highest since the polar bear became internationally protected in 1973.

Ooh. That, as a former boss of mine whom we dubbed Queen of the Malaprop would have said, is a flaw in the ointment. And it’s definitely a crimp in the narrative that’s been packaged and sold to us for decades now about anthropogenic global warming, climate change, the indiscriminate decimation of the polar-bear population, and our culpability in all of it, isn’t it? Ouch!

I Know One Place Where It’s Really Warm

It really is kind of a letdown that even the venerable National Geographic is in on the scam. Or maybe it isn’t. If you have a product to sell — as with a magazine, a television network, and a political agenda as National Geographic surely does — messages like everything is pretty much okay, people aren’t going to affect the climate of a dynamic organism like an entire planet, and don’t you have better things to do like taking care of yourself and each other? aren’t going to bring home the bacon (sorry, the plant-based pork substitute).

Ralph Waldo Emerson knew who we should trust. In “Self-Reliance”, he wrote:

God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope. Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

It’s been suggested to me on occasion that even God reads National Geographic. Call me skeptical, but I suspect he knows better. At the very least, he’s likely to take Commandment eight or nine, depending on your religious tradition, a little more seriously than National Geographic or your more pedestrian peddlers of political posturing do: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

I’ve never been neighbors with National Geographic or a polar bear; although, I did cross paths with Al Gore once. It was Monday, January 21st, 2008. I was in the airport in Milwaukee to catch a flight home from a series of client meetings. The wind off Lake Michigan was gusting in excess of 60 miles per hour that day. The temperature was at least minus four degrees Fahrenheit, and the windchill was minus ridiculous. Big Al was in town to give a speech about global warming at Lambeau Field. Nobody showed up.

All of that notwithstanding, I have to call shenanigans on National Geographic, global warming, climate change, the IPCC, the IEA, the IMF, the World Bank, and all their attendant global wealth-redistribution schemes purported to set everything right with the planet. And I have to hope there’s a special place in Hell for Big Al and his exploitative political ilk.

You should, too.

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I have read numerous books on the Civil War. I have learned many things, but the one most consistent is that your view of the war depends on who wrote the book. I suppose that is pretty much a certainty as there are no first-hand witnesses left around. Most of the books are a little, or a lot, slanted to the writer’s opinions and even prejudices. For example, many writers would have the reader believe that the war was about slavery. Not true. The war was about states’ rights, with the issues of economics and humanity of slavery being just one of the many sub-segments.

The two positions continued to slog along for months toward hard and fast points until there was no chance of a resolution except for the southern states to secede and if that meant armed conflict then so be it.

I am one of those that see us tripping down that same path of hardening opinions with declining options to resolve the different views. However, there is one major difference between today and the events of the 1800s. The war back then had fairly defined boundaries. There were northern states and southern states with only a few border states that were not firmly north or south leaning.

One of the hard realities of today is that our country is not run by our elected officials, such as they are. Those elected pass laws and then leave the implementation to dozens of agencies that are run by hired professional bureaucrats with no responsibilities to the electorate. That fact simply compounds the issues of diverse opinions, sometimes even between these agencies.

Today we are not faced with a single issue like states’ rights. We are faced with many issues that divide us as a people and as a country. To list them all would be a herculean task, but a few of the more obvious are:

The security of our borders;
Immigration policy;
Gun control issues;
Law enforcement issues;
The division of our judicial officials;
Division within our educational institutions;
The always present foreign policy matters;
Energy issues;
Sexual orientation issues;
The infighting within our two political parties;
Government budget, debt, and out-of-control social programs;
And of course, a mainstream media that has lost any ability to be believable.

If the worst should happen and civil war should erupt again, I’m not sure anyone can really define who the enemy is.

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In 2008 — nearly 15 years ago — Joseph Epstein published an article called, “The Kindergarchy”. It begins like this:

In America, we are currently living in a Kindergarchy, under rule by children. People who are raising, or have recently raised, or have even been around children a fair amount in recent years will, I think, immediately sense what I have in mind. Children have gone from background to foreground figures in domestic life, with more and more attention centered on them, their upbringing, their small accomplishments, their right relationship with parents and grandparents. For the past 30 years at least, we have been lavishing vast expense and anxiety on our children in ways that are unprecedented in America and in perhaps any other national life. Such has been the weight of all this concern about children that it has exercised a subtle but pervasive tyranny of its own. This is what I call Kindergarchy.

It was easy enough then to call Epstein’s view extreme. It might even be easy enough now. But if we determine that Epstein wasn’t at all extreme, we may discover he was, in fact, prescient. And it would make it far more predictable that, in 2023, four folks from Gartner would publish this article in Harvard Business Review (HBR), “9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2023 and Beyond.” The summary of the article says this:

Last year was another tumultuous year in the workplace, with continued high employee turnover rates, evolving return-to-office policies, inflation, and more. In 2023, amid a looming economic downturn, organizations will continue to face significant challenges — and how they respond could determine whether they are an employer of choice.

Employer of choice? Hold on thar, Baba Louie. We might need to do a little research, followed by a little math. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

The number of job openings increased to 11.0 million on the last business day of December … Over the month, the number of hires and total separations changed little at 6.2 million and 5.9 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (4.1 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.5 million) changed little.

Okay. Let’s see:

• 6,200,000 hires – 5,900,000 separations = 300 people employed
• 11,000,000 jobs – 300 people employed = 10,999,700 remaining jobs

And that doesn’t take into account the myriad folks who aren’t looking for employment, including everyone from career Pajama Boys to older folks who’ve been aged out and have given up, as well as those who’ve been paid quite handsomely by the government to stay home and do nothing, thank you very much. So, if you’re an employer — one needle in a haystack of 10,999,970 — you’ll spend more time trying to be the employer of choice than you will doing whatever it is your company does.

The Secret Decoder RingIn any case, logic notwithstanding, the nine trends our Gartner friends list in HBR are these:

1. Employers will “quiet hire” in-demand talent. [Translation: Employers will promote from within or find the guts to settle for nothing less than the qualifications they want and the performance they deserve.]
2. Hybrid flexibility will reach the front lines. [Translation: Employers will require those who’ve been slacking to take some pressure off those who’ve been taking up the slack.]
3. Managers will find themselves sandwiched between leader and employee expectations. [Translation: Business as usual.]
4. Pursuit of nontraditional candidates will expand talent pipelines. [Translation: Employers will look for people who actually want to work for a living.]
5. Healing pandemic trauma will open paths to sustainable performance. [Translation: In addition to participation trophies, employers will also start awarding cookies.]
6. Organizations will drive DEI forward amid growing pushback. [Translation: Employers will be forced to check boxes, even though they know meritocracy is the only way to succeed.]
7. Getting personal with employee support will create new data risks. [Translation: Employers will acquire cybersecurity protection, or they’ll be sued out of business.]
8. Concerns around AI bias will lead to more transparency in recruiting tech. [Translation: HR departments will disappear, and hiring will be mechanical and homogenized.]
9. Organizations must address workforce-wide erosion of social skills. [Translation: As surrogate parents, employers will pick up where public schools left off.]

There may be a whole bunch of things you’d like to be these days, but an employer shouldn’t be one of them unless, of course, you need an outlet for your masochistic tendencies, you have an innate and unquenchable desire to be a babysitter, or your altruism compels you to give some folks a place to spend a few hours of their days and take your money without doing too much to earn it.

The Moral of the StoryWith the death of empiricism and common sense, I’m coming to conclude we can analyze things to the point at which our ability to distinguish between cause and effect is eroding unto obliteration at the same time that our ability to read bell curves is suffering the same fate.

As the bell curve above illustrates, the majority of employees don’t need to be fretted over, to be objects of pampering, to have special circumstances created for them, to receive counseling for pandemic trauma, or to get naptimes and cookies. Their epidermis is sufficiently durable. They just need to be treated with fairness and respect, to be allowed to contribute to the best of their abilities, to be recognized and rewarded for their contributions, and to derive a sense of fulfillment for the work they do.

Because that’s true, employers need to get a grip of their knickers, to recognize their prerogatives to impose conditions and to have reasonable performance expectations, to expect a degree of self-discipline and to impose the discipline that’s lacking, to exchange a day’s wages for a day’s work, and to have the respect they give be returned in kind.

If the coronavirus pandemic taught us anything it’s that we’re tougher, more resilient, and more resourceful than we may have realized. When it comes to mental health, I minimize nothing. But please. If we’re going to infantilize people or, at best, treat them like adolescents, let’s not expect them to behave like responsible adults, okay?

We all want to live in Utopia. But we don’t. We live and work in reality.

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For almost 20 years, in my other life, I’ve worked with companies that sell software and services to insurance companies. As a result, it behooves me to stay abreast of developments in the insurance industry. So it is that I found the findings of a study, published by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA — no, not that CIA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) last December, under the headline, “Marijuana Decriminalization Not Associated With Notable Increase in Traffic Accidents”. The report said this, in part:

The study did not detect any statistically significant impacts [we have to presume that wasn’t a pun or at least not a deliberate one] of decriminalization on the car accident fatality rate, insurance claim frequency or average cost per claim, particularly over the long term. Assessing the Impact of Marijuana Decriminalization on Vehicle Accident Experience finds, based on insurance statistics, that there were no significant changes to the trend and seasonal variations in Canadian traffic accidents after the change in legal status. Similarly, the estimated state-wide effects of decriminalization in the US do not show any consistent, significant results that would support a conclusion that decriminalization led to an increase in road accidents or fatalities.

That may be true … unless it isn’t. Either way, I don’t know if you read the same way I do. But the three phrases that jumped out at me were these: statistically significant, fatality rate, and over the long term. Here’s why:

First, how is statistically significant being defined here? How many accidents were there before decriminalization? Are there more now? How many? What’s the difference between the number of accidents and the number of fatalities? If the number of fatalities was higher after decriminalization, how many more fatalities would have been required to consider them statistically significant? Is there an agenda here? What is it? Whose interests does it serve? (Hint: Follow the money.)

Second, recreational marijuana was decriminalized in Washington and Colorado in 2012. Since then, according to this article, 19 more states decriminalized it, as did Connecticut after that article was published. The Rohrabacher–Farr amendment, prohibiting the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws, became law in December of 2014. So, we have, at most, 11 years’ worth of data by which to judge the effects of cannabis on the incidence of traffic fatalities. Given the paces of change in science and technology, I’m not convinced that constitutes the long term. Are you?

Hedge Your BetsI’m know I’m not a sadist. And I don’t think I’m an idiot. So, I don’t want to be misunderstood on this topic. Prescribing medical cannabis for the treatment of pain and other symptoms to those suffering from chronic disease is compassionate and commendable. But with the hounds of recreational marijuana now unleashed, it’s naïve to imagine there won’t be more serious implications — more errant stoners on the road and an incrementally higher number of fatal accidents — the more time passes.

Among the reasons to suspect both of those things are likely to come true are these, from the American Addiction Centers at drugabuse.com:

There is a link between long-term marijuana use and increased rates of schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety. Marijuana also increases a person’s heart rate for up to three hours after use, putting users at risk of heart attacks during this period … THC rapidly moves from the lungs into the blood. This chemical acts on cannabinoid receptors, leading to a “high” for users. These receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence concentration, thinking, sensory and time perception, pleasure, memory, and coordination … When a person is high on marijuana, the side effects include temporary memory loss, lack of coordination, altered perception of time, changes in mood, difficulties thinking or problem-solving.

Does this necessarily mean there will be a greater incidence of cannabis-related traffic fatalities? No. Would you bet against it? Neither would I.

If I were an insurer, I’d be keeping my eyes on the research … and on the road.

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Latin for “Always the Truth” seems to old Gumshoe that that phrase is a pretty good creed for leaders (as well as for ourselves) to practice folks. Of course, it may depend on the time, place, and circumstance.

The much-quoted Sir Winston Churchill made (during the preplanning of “Operation Overlord” for the June 6th, 1944 cross-channel D-Day invasion of Nazi-held Normandy) the following comment:

In wartime, the truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

It seems that wise Winston meant that the truth had to be concealed by subterfuge, false-flag ops as well as downright deceptive-skullduggery methods to keep the Nazis guessing and standing on their goose-stepping tippy-toes. “Achtung mein Fuhrer!”

It was for the good under these wartime circumstances when free world survival was not guaranteed. This makes pretty good sense to Gumshoe since D-Day was successful and it was (thank God) NOT compromised. Allies won, Alleluia!

If the truth about the invasion had been compromised, Gumshoe is pretty darn sure that we all would now be speaking German as well as we would be shouting “Sieg Heil!” during our endless (mindless) lock-step marching in torchlight parades. The truth was effectively concealed by a number of methods that would be considered a bodyguard of lies and misdirections for Adolf.

Thankfully, Gumshoe never would have ever acquired a taste for wiener schnitzel or even sauerkraut; although Gumshoe loves those giant warm salty pretzels. “Gut und lecker!”

Now Gumshoe supposes that you fine folks may ask why this history lesson? It’s simply that we MUST be able to trust our leaders to keep bonafide secrets “SECRET” that are vital and necessary for our national security and good. Sadly, Gumshoe knows that our current leaders have already been compromised by our professed enemies and they have compromised themselves for their own selfish pursuits of wealth and power or idiot fantasies. They definitely have lost Gumshoe’s trust. Their combined body of lies is an attempt to conceal the truth from us about their total moral bankruptcy and their toxic corruption. Their interests hold sway over our national welfare and possibly our future national survival.

Think about the lies concerning lockdowns, the origin of Covid-19, masks, social distancing, school and business closures, mandatory vaccines (an oxymoron for gene testing), open borders, self-reliant fossil fuel energy is bad, horrendous fentanyl deaths, China is our friend . . .truth be damned!

In cop work, Gumshoe would warn all of his assigned police trainees:

I can and will teach you how to be a good cop and how to survive on the streets. However, I cannot teach you personal integrity; you either have it or you don’t! Once you lose it, you are finished being a cop.

Some of these trainees did not take heed and were dismissed before they could do harm. Good riddance to them for the greater good and for citizens’ welfare.

Too bad Gumshoe could not have had some field training time with some of our leaders so that they would have heard that admonishment. We all would have been better off without the ones lacking integrity. The truth would have been preserved by the honorable and selfless leaders whom we would trust.

Winston would also have been proud as he would have undoubtedly displayed his signature two-finger victory sign.

That’s all for now from Gumshoe kind folks. Remember to always love the ones who love you and try to love the ones who don’t.

Coram Deo!

PS: President Ronald Reagan once said: “If we ever forget that we are ONE nation under God, then we will be a nation GONE UNDER”.

It’s not too late to pray for our nation and for good leaders. Hope springs eternal for that city on a hill don’t cha know.

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Back in the day, before you could buy your weed at a seedy little store in some strip mall, you had to rely on people like me. I was a weed dealer back then. I would buy my weed, by the pound from a guy who I only knew as English John. When I got it home I divided it up into lids, which were about 3/4 of an ounce.

The weed itself was in two forms. Half of it was buds; the other half was called shake. It was all weed, and it would all do the trick, but the buds created the perception of quality. So when I re-bagged the weed I always made sure to balance the offering between the buds and the shake. That way, everybody was getting a deal that played to their perception.

I don’t deal weed anymore. I kinda miss it, truth be told. Not so much for the money but for the social aspect of it. The visits, the catching up, the gossip. All my customers were in the advertising business like I was, and back then there was always something going on. Being on top of things was important.

Lately, one of my oldest friends has started to recommend podcasts to me. I actually act on friends’ advice because, to me at least, the podcast world is like a bag of weed.

A few buds but mostly shake. A few interesting and enlightened people and a whole lot of others are pushing some agenda that has little to do with helping people understand the whole picture.

I make it a point to try and listen to at least one podcast every few days. Over the course of the past year, that’s what I have concluded. A few are the buds, who are interesting and tend to take an objective view of whatever they’re on about. The rest are the shake, which are the self-serving or agenda-driven.

And what do you know…it’s the good old 80/20 Rule That Governs Just About Everything. 20% buds, 80% shake.

So if you’re one of those people who listen to a wide range of podcasts religiously, you can be pretty sure that 80% of the time, you’re hearing propaganda of one kind or another, and 20% of the time you’re hearing something that either is or comes close to being the objective truth. As always, it’s up to you to separate the buds from the shake.

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I started this post almost two and a half years ago, shortly after the outbreak of corona. For some reason, after a month, decided to put it aside and wait. Dunno for what. Just sit it out and watch how the events unravel. I think now, 3 years after the pandemic, with some more global disasters looming or already happening, conclusions are begging to be drawn – on so many levels.

So let’s begin.

Malthus was a cleric, an economist, and a demograph of the 18th century. Naturally, he believed God will manage everything, including the imbalance between human overpopulation and the scarcity of available food. The divine Intervention, if you like. One would think then that the Industrial revolution, science, and secularism would render his theories obsolete . And thus, in the beginning of the 20th century, he was duly relegated to the scrap heap of history – the Machine has won and with it, its Master, Inventor, and an overall Human Genius. Both Socialism and Capitalism were supposed to make the world deliriously prosperous and happy – two heavens on Earth, in their respective zones of control. End of, you might think.

But looking from a distance of a bird’s eye of almost 200 years, I get this uneasy feeling that Dr. Malthus is shaking his head with a sad grin of disbelief from his Cloud 9 up there, because his theory is as potent and relevant as ever. The ‘God’ has never actually left our world, he just changed his guise. And regrettably, the new deity operates under rather questionable morals. The Enlightenment and Secularism have crowned the Man as a new omnipotent centre of universe, placing over-exuberant belief in his rationality and goodness. The scientific advances since the middle of the 19th century to the present day have rendered the human race drunk with a feeling of unbridled limitless power. A power that was very restricted – by a socio-religious construct – only 150 years ago.

All Hail New King!The problem is that the modern deity, skipping over centuries of monotheism, reminded more of a Greek and Roman ones, which were basically immortal humans. With the same passions, flaws, and behaviours of ordinary mortals, just that they lived forever. Well, until some hero managed to take them out, somehow.

All sense of responsibility and accountability seem to have permanently left our modern progressive system.

Why have I been thinking of Malthus lately? Just because the coronavirus pandemic has forcefully jolted my mind, instinctively pushing him forward into my awareness. And looking back, I see a thread of a pattern here. Ditching overseeing morally responsible deity, humans came up with their own ever-shifting codex of ideas, resulting in several wars with multi-million casualties, endless famines, global looting, exploitation, and deprivation. And I am not talking former colonies in the 3d world and their 1st world masters. As the last 10 years have shown us, the 1st World has successfully set itself up on the path of self-destruction, globalisation being the ‘useful’ tool. If in the days of Old, the fear of divine wrath or peasant uprising might have held the rulers in check, today, in our ‘democracy’ and “enlightened” ways, leaders of nations and business seem to be totally devoid of any fear of retribution, because the ‘punishment’ is rather mild – dis-election, loss of some millions (what are a measly dozens of millions to a billionaire?). All sense of responsibility and accountability seem to have permanently left our modern progressive system. The mechanism is so immensely efficient, that the plebs patiently await 4 or 5 years, or sometimes longer (when there is no limit to the number of terms the PM or President can serve), to change the old bad “manager” for the worse. That’s the punishment for the gross mismanagement of nations. And in the business world, the situation is even more dire, because the meek and silent rank-n-file don’t have a say in top appointments, and are the first to pay for the gross dysfunction, misjudgment, fraud and overall idiocy of the corporate psychopath CEOs (WeWork, Theranos, Uber, FTX et al).

So, yes, sadly we have traded the transcendental morality of the universal Gods of Old for modern human deities of Me(Too:)). And why the current coronavirus pandemic reminded me of Malthus? Not only due to the mass hysteria of global human cull, but because this calamity as well is of human making – be it the virus itself or the collective handling of the situation – spreading across the world in a masterstroke of omnipresent political tyranny.

Lo and Behold, the corona scare just subsided and we have new Riders of Doom: the climate change and the war in Ukraine. Both are tooted to affect and change our lives forever – and probably not for the better.

I have this persistent nagging feeling that we, as societies, are driving ourselves to perdition by our own civil apathy and resignation. Despite the incessant indoctrination – or maybe delusion – of the democratic faculty of the individuum, on which we were raised for the last 150 years, looking at the empirical results, during this very period, I only see a clever manipulation of elites to rule forever, but not the exercise of people’s power to check them. What did we have on the menu: 2 world wars, changes of regimes in Russia, China, Cuba, and new geo-political formations (India-Pakistan, Israel, Bangladesh)? But after a certain running period, the New Elites settled nicely into the ‘old shoes’ of their predecessors.

If anything, the pandemic did us an unmeasurable service as an eyeopener with regard to the true nature of Western “democracy” – all pretexts of personal sovereignty and autonomy simply disappeared at once, the superficial thin clingfilm of individual rights quickly came off when the Doctrine of Fear was introduced.

At a snap of a finger, emergency laws were issued in the pillars of democracy like Australia, the UK, the US, and other places, with segregation, government surveillance, and tracking of citizens (for their own safety of course), green passes, and QR codes. Together with pitching groups of people against each other, silencing differing scientific opinions, while censoring and persecuting academics who dared to question prevailing ‘scientific’ narrative (Galileo anyone?), blunt discrimination against non-compliant individuals, and much more.

3 years on, despite those measures being removed in most countries, there have been irreversible changes that the ruling parties are careful to not disclose to their people: amendments to the WHO definitions of pandemic and pandemic response, changes to the Human and Dignity Rights in its statute. Most of the nations are signed up to WHO, withholding, from their “subjects”, crucial information regarding its operation and policy updates. Except for one clown who dared to stand against it – Donald Trump. Even a broken clock can show the correct time twice a day – refusing to blindly follow WHO was probably Trump’s right stroke.

Resting a bit after the pandemic, a new global disaster drum is being sound – the climate change. It is overshadowed only by the crazy invasion of Russia into Ukraine. In a somewhat cynically twisted way, it silenced the corona scare and keeping the climate debate muted – people are still reeling from the economic side effects of the pandemic, exacerbated by the crushing cost of living due to the energy situation, with the nuclear threat on top of all.

Keeping the masses in constant fear and survival mode seems like a God-sent recipe for unbridled freedom of action on governments’ part. Few are paying attention that the floodgates have been widely opened for accelerated monetary digitisation, global streamlining of laws, and biometric surveillance. The ‘little people’ are too busy trying to rebuild their lives to notice what their ‘democratic leaders’ are doing for their collective good.. And some stuff is just taken out of Hollywood horror sci-fi.

I was always the one to shun conspiracy theories and their ardent devotees – I found them amusing at best, and heavily mental on average. The NWOs, Great Reset, Agenda 21, Rothschilds, Rockefellers, 5G, Lizardians, and all that club of alleged puppeteers who are supposed to have us all on their money strings, keeping us barely alive, just so we can obediently go on working for them, making them ever richer. The sad fact is that the current events and the response of the governmental elites to the challenges before them, seem to be the heyday of the tinfoilers, out of their rabbit holes, triumphantly airing them en-mass in the broad day light, gleefully pointing their fingers saying “we told you”. “Alex Joneses” and “David Ickes” seem to be replicating themselves like single cell cultures, ‘validated’ by the mainstream stupor to push against unreasonable policies.

And this brings me to the fundamental issue of the extreme inexplicable ease with which the majority succumbed to the forcefully hammered fear, relinquished all critical thinking, and let themselves be abused: medically, psychologically, physically, financially, personally. How many protested corona measures? Insignificant fraction of the population everywhere. They were vilified, slandered, arrested, and persecuted. Tomorrow climate emergency will be declared, implemented by draconian measures to save you from yourself – will you obey?

My personal conclusion is that despite the universal criticism and suspicion toward the government, the majority does not believe it is intrinsically malicious. It may well be bad and even evil, but not intentionally harmful. After all, it is supposed to protect and keep us safe. Despite social atomisation, radical individualism, and propagandist brainwashing of decades, the mainstream seems to be zombified to an extent not seen until corona. And we should all thank it for tearing the mask off our so-called ‘democracy’. “Democracy” whose leaders skillfully manipulate the fractured society, to play each part into the desired scheme.

End-of-world conversation has not abated, and the war in Ukraine just makes it more poignant. People are talking WW3, so I want to dust off a very relevant poem from WW2:

Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Why I find it so relevant to the present time? Because corona made it very clear that ‘they’ came for all of us: gays, straight, black, white, smart and dumb, men, women, trans, and in some parts (like Denmark with minks) even animals. Nobody was exempt. So tomorrow, when the next global disaster is announced by some supra-national unelected organisation, my hope is for this lesson to be remembered and learned. Then, it won’t be a negligent minority, branded anti-scientific conspirators, who will take to the streets, but the vast dominant strong mainstream – not frightened, silent, and apathetic – who will reclaim their natural right to decide on their life.

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On March 1st, I went to an appointment with a new doctor. Well, he’s actually a very well-established doctor. But it was my first visit with him. I approached a receptionist who was seated behind an open, sliding window. I had a mask in my hand. I held it up so the receptionist could see it and asked if I was required to wear it. When she told me masks were optional, I put mine in my pocket.

While I was checking in with that receptionist, a woman to my left was checking in at another window with another receptionist. Since the woman talked quite loudly, I could hear her say she was checking her husband in. I looked around the waiting room and saw no one. Assuming her husband must be parking their car, I turned my attention back to my receptionist. When our business was finished, I took a seat and waited to be called to see the doctor.

The entrance to the waiting room was to my right. I heard the door opening, looked that way, and saw an elderly man shuffling in, walker first. Though he was significantly older than the woman who said she was checking her husband in, she turned toward him as he entered. He immediately snapped at her, loudly and angrily, “Have you ever tried to take your jacket off in the bathroom?!”

You only get one chance to make a first impression.

Maneuvering his walker across the room, he sat opposite me, facing me. His wife approached him from his left and handed him a clipboard.

He snapped again: “What do you want?!”

She explained, gently and with more patience than the old bastard deserved, “You have to sign this form.”

He did. She took the form to the window and handed it to the receptionist. Then she took a seat to his right.

When she was seated, he said again, just as loudly, “Have you ever tried to take your jacket off in the bathroom?!”

She said, “No.”

Then he pointed across the waiting room at me and said, just as loudly as he’d said everything else, “What the hell’s the matter with that guy? And why the hell isn’t he wearing a mask?!”

I looked up and smiled.

His wife said, “I don’t know.” Then she got up, walked across the waiting room, picked up a magazine, and took a seat on my side of the room, three or four chairs to my left.

I sat quietly, occasionally glancing at Mr. Sunshine and waiting for him to say something else to or about me. He didn’t.

The Aftermath

Two days after that experience, I saw a post on Substack called, “I’ll Never Forgive the Coronamaniacs”. The entire post is worth reading. Its anger and resentment are completely appropriate and justified. But this jumped out at me:

I’ve seen on-line graduation ceremonies and gowns mailed to students so they could take photos in their backyards, and prom dresses and sports uniforms that were never worn. I’ve heard stories of teens breaking down and crying in their rooms because their youth was being stolen. I’ve seen people unnecessarily unemployed for eight months, desperately seeking work, via computer, ten hours a day, seven days a week. Tens of thousands more people fatally overdosed than in an average year. I was barred from visiting my very ill mother in the hospital. How many families couldn’t gather, either to break bread or to mourn the death of a close relative? Marriages have been postponed; how many children will not have been born because of Corona theater? Overall, how many billions of memories that could have been made, weren’t? Stolen time is irreplaceable.

I’ve seen many of those same things. I’ve seen my grandchildren terrified of wearing masks because they thought it meant they had the virus. I’ve been prevented from seeing my mother in the memory-care unit in which she lived before passing away in January. I’ve known people who postponed marriages. I’ve known people who were denied funerals for their loved ones. I’ve seen families fractured and friendships ended. I’ve seen all manner of panic. And I’ve seen vituperation directed at those who refused to panic.

I don’t know if the bug up the ass of that old son-of-a-bitch in the waiting room was the coronavirus or COVID-related. And I’ll forgive him and forget him with equal alacrity; although, I’ll never figure out why his wife puts up with him.

But I’ll always wonder: who was that masked man?

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That’s a doozy of a headline, right? Relax… it’s just a joke. Kind of. A teacher in Collier County Public Schools did, in fact, threaten to send a student “back to Auschwitz,” but she was only joking.

An offensive, derisive, antisemitic joke. I have to admit: as I watched those letters become words on the screen, I had a very visceral reaction. It’s hard to understand how anyone could justify a high school English teacher making that comment in class to a student during Holocaust Remembrance Week or any week. It’s much easier to understand how we got here.

While anti-Jewish sentiment goes back 2,000 years, one need only look at the past few years to see how it’s been normalized. From the synagogue attacks in Poway (CA), Colleyville (TX), and Pittsburgh (PA) to threats against synagogues in New York City and antisemitic chants at the Unite the Right event in Charlottesville (VA), Jewish people are experiencing hate at a higher rate than any other religious group in the U.S.

According to the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism, in 2021 there were 2,717 reported antisemitic incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assault throughout the United States. This is a 34% increase from the 2,026 incidents tabulated in 2020 and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.

Congratulations to Florida for being the 4th highest contributor of those numbers in the nation. In fairness, we’ve been busy with other things down here in the Sunshine State. Instead of addressing this rise in antisemitism, Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, has been very focused on criminalizing classroom books. Every book in every classroom is to be reviewed following stringent state guidelines heavily influenced by right-wing groups like Moms For Liberty.

Think about that for a minute. Florida educators who have the wrong books on their shelves could now face felony charges. But we shrug at the teacher who jokes about sending a student “back to Auschwitz?” It’s truly mind-boggling that there is more activism and outrage about kids reading Dr. Seuss, Toni Morrison, and Ibram X Kendi’s books than about a teacher normalizing antisemitism.

And yet, when the next shooting happens at a Jewish synagogue or school, we’ll scratch our heads and wonder why. Will we wonder which library books drove him to do it? Maybe we should wonder if his antisemitic ideology was strengthened by you and me – deepened each time he experienced the tacit approval of silence to his derogatory comments and jokes… or when he witnessed the tacit approval of silence to the derogatory comments and jokes of others… perhaps those made by a teacher?

We expect children to speak up when they witness bad behavior and harmful acts, from bullying to cheating to criminal activity. To date, the “grown-ups” in Collier County have not demonstrated the same agency and conviction as the 14- and 15-year-old students who stepped up to report the incident to school leaders. It’s been more than a month and school officials have not acknowledged or addressed the incident with the students or the community nor has the teacher faced consequences. Apparently, they are still “investigating” the matter. It’s difficult to understand what more they need to investigate, but their impassivity speaks volumes.

The purpose of a consequence is to teach and maintain accountability. The person who jokes about the Holocaust will probably learn little from a reprimand or even a suspension. It’s not due to a lack of intelligence; it’s a deficit of character and moral development. But the lesson is not just for the offender; it’s also how we define what behavior we, as a society, deem unacceptable.

What does it say to the students who stepped up and reported the incident – at the risk of reprisal – that the administration has done nothing? What does it say to the rest of the student body? And what does it say to the community? Antisemitic remarks are no big deal in Collier County schools? In Florida? In this country? Whose responsibility is it to stand up, speak out, and demand accountability? How bad would it be if we just let it go?

While it’s easy to dismiss this incident as an insensitive off-the-cuff remark, hate speech and hate crimes grow out of hate thought. I am not disillusioned to believe that an article about a single comment will create change. But I do believe that we perpetuate the normalization of antisemitism when we are anything short of outragedwhen someone jokes about the dehumanization and systemic extermination of millions of people.

Perhaps no one captures the significance of this more than 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, Marian Turski. In a 2020 ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Turski explained how easily unthinkable horror evolves into normality.

Auschwitz did not fall suddenly from the skies, it was all tiny steps approaching until what happened here behind me did happen. Tears for the past are useless if accompanied by indifference in the present towards minorities experiencing exclusion, racism, and related violence. Do not be indifferent.

– Marian Turski

I literally cannot think of a reasonable defense, explanation, justification for this comment in our classrooms or anywhere for that matter. And I’m struggling with that skinny little line between “indifferent” and “complicit.” As my friend and highly respected educator, Jeff Ikler commented, “That which goes misunderstood and undiscussed today will rise to the surface down the road as ignorance and hate.”

Indeed, the Holocaust is rooted in ignorance and hate… and I’d submit indifference. An evil ideology became an inconceivable reality largely thanks to a lot of really good people who failed to stand up and speak out.

It kind of makes those Collier County kids seem more heroic… and their school leaders even more pathetic.

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There are a number of reasons why I write so much about America but the key reasons are: 1. That I grew up spending a lot of time there and have a fondness for the country and 2. Now that I am retired, a lot of my investments are in the US market, and probably more than most Americans have invested in it.

When I was young and stupid, I thought of America as basically a good country that was out to save the world from the scourge of communism. But as I grew older and learned more about the country, I started to understand that I was wrong.

America is a country that has two purposes, one related to the other. The first purpose is to protect the countries that have resources that America needs and 2, to use those resources to create all kinds of jobs and taxes and a culture of mass consumerism in the country.

The threat of communism was way down the list if it was on the list at all.

There have always been voices that spoke out against this economic imperialism, but they were never given any real credence by the mass of American people who were basically politically ignorant. The big picture was hard for them to grasp. And many of those who did grasp it tended to ignore it because they had a vested interest in sustaining it.

And the people paid their taxes and got fed a steady diet of high-calorie patriotism. And it was all good until the Vietnam war came along and the chinks in the American armour started to show. And the young people coming of age started to protest and the government’s soft underbelly, thanks to Richard Nixon, became exposed and the dissenting voices started being heard. And the great divide began in earnest.

And both sides dug in. You could see it all play out every week on TV in All In The Family, which really was a microcosm of the whole country. And you could read about it in the news every day.

America’s government has always swung back and forth between the left and the right. But if you look at it objectively, the left-leaning governments were the ones that created the jobs and opportunities, reduced the deficit, and fostered good foreign relations, while the right-leaning governments ran up the deficit and created many fewer jobs and opportunities because their main objective was giving tax breaks to the moneyed interests that supported them and kept the war machine well-lubricated and financed.

Right now, the country is being governed by the left and they are working their way through a worldwide recession that most of the right believe is the government’s fault. And they have used this as part of their bid to take control of Congress. And when you have a willfully ignorant majority of so-called patriots, making the left the enemy isn’t really any sort of uphill work.

And while that may be a small victory for the far right, who now hold a narrow balance of power in the House, it’s anything but a victory for the people of America, because they now get to look forward to two years of obstruction and stagnation and regressive legislation.

Because the right only has one objective, which is to stop the left from doing anything for the country. All they want is power and control. And if history is any indication, they have no real constructive purpose in mind for this power should they get it.

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We’ve all seen the news coverage on the restaurant in Virginia that cancelled a banquet reservation by a Christian group because the employees didn’t “feel safe.” Let’s think a little bit deeper about it.

I’m sure you‘ve seen the news coverage. A restaurant in Virginia recently cancelled a Christian non-profit group’s reservation for a pre-booked private banquet. The cancellation call came about 90 minutes before the time the group was to have arrived. The reason for the cancellation? The employees felt ‘unsafe” serving the Christian group.

There are lots of things we can say about this. On one hand, we can’t help but think that the employees must be the same people who demand ‘safe spaces’ on college campuses because they aren’t stout enough to socialize with someone who thinks differently.

Or, we could think, “How ironic. These are the same people who are suing a Christian baker for refusing to provide a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage.”

I suppose we could also think, “Hurray for the restaurant owner. No reason to serve people who think differently.”

Snarky comments aside, there is a significant lesson in this for Christians.

This incident is just one expression of a deeper trend. We’ve witnessed the culture shift in the last three decades from being primarily ‘Christian’ to ‘secular’ and now we’re seeing the next phase – ‘anti-Christian.’ I expect we’ll see other expressions of the growing anti-Christian mindset over the next few years.

There are lots of reasons for this. The Twitter files releases have exposed how widespread the conspiracy is to prevent free speech and the expression of ideas that run counter to the progressive agenda — big tech, the legacy media, and various government agencies colluding together to suppress information.

We’ve all heard the expression, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Typically, that translates into suppressing the speech of those who disagree with you. It is predictably one of the first initiatives of those who come to power. We see that played out in Iran, as the rulers suppress free speech and refuse to allow people to question them. We see it in Russia, as the Putin administration censors any idea that runs counter to its version of events. And we see it here in the US, as the ruling elite suppress any ideas that question their agenda.

If the suppression of free speech was limited to political agendas, it would be worrisome and unacceptable. But the suppression of speech goes beyond political agendas and now includes spiritual issues.

The Christian group was denied service, not for any political reasons, but because they support the Biblical guidance in regard to families and marriage. This antipathy to Christianity from the left goes back generations and can trace its modern-day roots to Karl Marx and the communist dictatorships that sprouted from him. It is now an integral part of the left’s mindset.

But the media portrayal is just one of many factors that have contributed to the anti-Christian culture. Much of it is our own fault. We have been too comfortable in our lifestyles, where we piously go to church on Sunday, and then live by the world’s rules Monday through Saturday. We’ve been taught that the institutional church is the focal point of our Christianity, and it’s been comfortable to believe that. We hide behind that concept as it gives us a reason to stay quiet and keep our faith buried in the marketplace – “Because I attend church on Sunday I don’t need to stand up for Christ during the week.”

So, our colleagues, customers, and vendors don’t see Christians as intelligent, hard-working, and empathetic, because we have chosen to remain on the sidelines. We see the unfortunate consequences of incidents like this. How long will it be before the trend accelerates and Christians are persecuted?

So, we will continue to see, in ever more blatant incidents, big tech, the legacy media, and government agencies put forth a derogatory portrait of Christians. The average American will continue to be exposed to a very twisted view of Christianity.

Unless Christian businesspeople step up.

We can provide a personal alternative to the media’s manipulated messages. It’s one thing to see a message on social media, it is quite another to see lived out in someone you know.

The time is now for Christians in the marketplace to shed their cloak of anonymity and begin to be visible and verbal in the marketplace.

Note: If you are wondering where to start, read a series of posts: “How Can I Integrate My Faith with Day-to-Day Business Practices” Begin here.

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I recently had the opportunity to sit with the President in the Oval Office for a conversation about matters past and present. The transcript that follows has been edited for brevity and clarity. Editing it for sanity would have been too much of a stretch. In the transcript, I’m identified as YT (yours truly), and the President is identified as JB.

YT: Mr. President, during your campaign for the presidency, you called a young woman a lying, dog-faced pony soldier. Can you tell me what that means?

JB: I’ve never used that expression in my life.

YT: Thank you. On another campaign stop, you said, “All men and women are created by the … co … you know the … you know the thing.” Can you tell me what you meant by that?

JB: Yes. Thank you for letting me clarify that. On that particular occasion, I was talking about the other thing.

YT: Okay. On yet another campaign stop, you were surrounded by children and you talked about how kids like to rub the hair on your legs. Did you think that was appropriate?

JB: Have you seen my legs?

YT: Well, no. I ….

JB: Come on, man. I have to trim the hair on my legs so it doesn’t hang over my shoes.

YT [gags]: Uh … you once told a group of truckers you used to drive an 18-wheeler. Is that true?

JB: No. That was taken out of context. I used to drive a steam engine for the Pennsyltucky Railroad when I was in law school. My dad used to say, “Joey, make sure you blow two for the crossing in case there are any cows on the tracks.” That’s why I invented the cowcatcher.

YT: You were at a town hall meeting in Des Moines in 2019 that was hosted by the Asian & Latino Coalition PAC. You said, “We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” What did you mean by that?

JB: I was not at a town hall. I was at a Tupperware party. And what I said was, “We need to have tight lids.” Have you ever been carrying soup or one of those jellied salads in a cheap plastic container when the lid pops off? It’s a mess. But it is true that most poor people can’t afford Tupperware.

YT: Oh, boy. In October of 2020, you were asked by CBS News reporter, Bo Erickson, about your son Hunter’s laptop. You said, “I know you’d ask it. I have no response. It’s another smear campaign, right up your alley. Those are the questions you always ask.” Now that the laptop and its contents have been authenticated and there’s a Congressional investigation underway for which Hunter’s likely to be subpoenaed, do you have anything more to say about that?

JB: Look, I thought the guy was asking me if I wanted to go hunting with a laptop. That’s just ludicrous. Everybody knows when you go hunting, you get a shotgun. Plus, I think that Erickson guy was a Russian plant, trying to interfere with the election that was being held the following month.

YT: Right. During last month’s State of the Union address, you said, “Make no mistake about it: As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country, and we did.” Were you referring to the balloons you had shot down?

JB: I was actually talking about the threats to our sovereignty by the almost three million immigrants that came across our borders from Mexico in 2022. But the teleprompter got the country wrong. And our border’s secure.

YT: I see. During the same address you said, “If anyone tries to cut Social Security, I will stop them. And if anyone tries to cut Medicare, I will stop them.” But the Democrats’ reconciliation bill you signed last summer took almost $300 billion from Medicare to boost insurance companies by removing leverage from negotiations on drug prices.

JB: Oh, shit! Is that what that was?

YT: On the same night, talking about non-compete agreements, you said, “A cashier at a burger place can’t walk across town and take the same job at another burger place and make a few bucks more.” Do you really think fast-food employees have non-compete agreements?

JB: No. What I meant was a guy who makes Big Macs at McDonalds can’t go to Burger King and make Whoppers because they’re different. But he can make French Fries because those are just potatoes.

YT: You also said, “Jill and I reignited the Cancer Moonshot that President Obama asked me to lead.” But your Inflation Reduction Act contains price controls that reduce annual cancer R&D spending by about $18.1 billion, or 31.8 percent.

JB: Come on, man. Those are just numbers. By the way, did you know the Oval Office used to be a rectangle?

YT: What?!

JB: Yep. When Jill and I got here, we ordered 400 containers of Spackle. Then we spent a weekend rounding off the corners to make the room oval.

YT: Oh, boy. Let’s move on. On February 3rd, a reporter asked if you take any blame for inflation. You said, “No … It was already here when I got here, man! Remember what the economy was like when I got here?” Setting aside the fact that the reporter was a woman, the annual inflation rate when you took office in January of 2020 was 1.4 percent. In 2021 it had risen to 7 percent. It now stands at 6.4 percent. What did you mean when you said that to the reporter?

JB: I was talking about the economy of Burundi. Do you know those people don’t even have toothbrushes? As a matter of fact, most of the countries around Burundi in Latin America and Crimea don’t have teeth after the age of 16. That’s why Vice President Harkness and I are inaugurating a program we’re calling BEAT: Buy Everybody a Toothbrush. And our slogan is, The BEAT Goes On.” Pretty neat, huh?

YT: Oh, my God. Okay. One last question. In a recent Wall Street Journal Op Ed, you wrote, “Millions of Americans [are] getting jobs with better pay,” now that you’re in office. But according to the America First Policy Institute, the average American has lost about $1,350 in purchasing power from your inflation tax. How do you respond to that?

JB: Oh, no you don’t.

YT: No, I don’t what?

JB: You’re not going to confuse me with numbers again. I wasn’t born tomorrow, ya know.

YT: No. I didn’t think so, sir.

JB: Ask me what kind of cereal I like.

YT: What?!

JB: Come on, man. Ask me what kind of cereal I like.

YT: Okay. What kind of cereal do you like?

JB: Fruit Loops.

YT: Do you mean Count Chocula?

JB: Yeah.

YT: Thank you for your time, Mr. President.

JB: Gesundheit.

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Oh, boy. Won’t this be fun? According to the Wall Street Journal:

A team of researchers from China believe the Earth’s inner core has reversed its rotation after they analyzed earthquake-driven seismic waves as they pass through the Earth … the reversal of the inner core rotation would shorten the length of the day by a fraction of a millisecond over the course of a year, and might have a small effect on Earth’s magnetic field, but wouldn’t affect life on the surface.

The timing of this couldn’t be better. With latter-day shibboleths like climate change and the efficacy of liability-proof, ersatz COVID vaccines being debunked faster than the fallacy of the honest politician, we were in dire need of something to freak out about. Here it is, served on a silver platter — made in China, of course. And since the Chinese are giving us free balloons to shoot down every week, why wouldn’t we believe them?

Let’s Get Going

Hunter Thompson famously said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” I wonder if he had any idea how correct he was. We have more weird professionals cranking out more weird shit faster than the IPCC is fabricating climate models. And it’s about to get exponentially, astronomically worse because it’s only a matter of time until someone decides to use AI to aggregate all of the crackpot notions of history and make them available to every generative idiot with an internet connection.

The British novelist and short story writer, L.P. Hartley, wrote, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” He, too, gets more correct all the time. We’re accelerating the creation of the past more rapidly every day. This minute is radically different from the last minute. And the next minute may very well be unrecognizable.

The Death of Truth

It’s been said we live in a post-truth age. That one statement, at least, is true. Reasoned objectivity has been replaced by emotional subjectivity. (“Everyone’s entitled to their own truth.”) Empiricism has been replaced by selectivity and manipulation. (“The science is settled.”) Individual responsibility and individual agency have been replaced by group identities and identity politics, both of which encourage and pander to ideology. (“An ‘ideology’ is like a spirit taking up its abode in a body: it makes that body hop around in certain ways, and that same body would have hopped around in different ways had a different ideology happened to inhabit it.” [Kenneth Burke, from Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method])

When the fallacious contentions of those in power — the purveyors of subjectivity, settled science, group identity, identity politics, and ideology — are exposed, they simply reverse the narrative.

The only thing worse is that we accept every reversal without question.

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There is a war going on in the world that is much more insidious than any war waged with conventional weapons. It is the battle for control of what you think and believe. And I’m not just talking about marketing and media.

These attacks are quickly taking root in our society. But you probably wouldn’t notice because it is all exceedingly believable. I’d love to give you some examples, but it’s the nature of this beast to be undetectable.

My theory here is that certain aspects of artificial intelligence are being weaponized and turned into irresistible cocktails that almost no one will be immune to, simply because we won’t really know that it’s happening.

I also believe that this is only just getting cranked up. A year from now, you probably won’t be able to tell what’s real and what’s not. And most of what’s not is being created by people who simply want to control every aspect of our existence as if marketing, religion, and entertainment weren’t quite doing the whole job.

A couple of weeks ago I watched a series on Amazon Prime called The Capture. It was all about how people in the espionage business are starting to use AI in different ways to influence the outcomes of elections in Britain. I guess you could call it Science fiction. But I would not be at all surprised that the technology they employed in this series actually exists in the world today. And I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was being used in various ways to make certain things happen that would benefit whoever is paying the freight.

The tech to pull off these deceptions is being created by some of the brightest minds on the planet and financed by some of the most powerful people and groups. Their objective is simple. Control. It’s no longer enough to make a product and make it good enough so that a lot of people buy it. No, what you have to do these days is control the thought processes of the buyers to keep them constantly favourably disposed to whatever it is you want them to buy.

I know this paints a pretty bleak picture of the AI world. But there is a bright side, sort of, and that is that AI is also being employed in the identification and treatment of diseases and the development of tools to monitor your general health. And that makes sense because the people who are trying to enslave us need us to be healthy enough to be good consumers.

The news media will go nuts over all the innovations that AI is bringing about. But they will be totally quiet about the downside risks of it all as it starts to play a much larger role in our lives.

It’s not because the media is stupid or short-sighted, but because it is controlled by many of the very people who will be using AI to control our lives.

There’s an old expression I learned from my days of working on Procter & Gamble brands. The expression is ‘Caveat Emptor’ which Means Let The Buyer Beware.

This was one of the guiding principles that Procter based their whole business on. In marketing, it translates into: ‘Never make a product that will not meet or exceed the buyer’s expectations.” They knew, mostly from experience that people are aware and will make judgements on things based on their own experiences.

But in today’s world, AI is making this principle obsolete, and that will, in my opinion, bring about a slow and steady decline in the quality of just about everything. And the weird part is that we probably won’t even notice. And the powers that be will keep getting richer as their investment in AI cultural engineering pays off.

And there is another expression that comes to mind going forward, and that is this…Keep your eyes on your fries.

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Politicians ruling nations have been fighting each other since time began. During every war, Americans worked together, decided on a plan of action, and got involved to help the peace effort. Americans and our allies stopped dictators from ruling the world. Wars are created by evil leaders seeking power and control over people and territories.

In America, the root cause of evil exists today! All future leaders grow up in families. Abuse, neglect, and social isolation within families and neighborhoods can breed evil behavior. Some teens become mass shooters. Other young men, aged 12 to 24, who feel powerless, gain power by joining criminal street gangs to control neighborhoods. When youth lack discipline and loving care at home, fear, anxiety, and mental health problems increase. (The U.S. has around 850,000 gang members. (US Uniform Crime Report)

We must focus on strengthening families and neighborhoods! Today, we need a comprehensive strategy to empower “we the people” to stop young men from killing each other and help citizens create safe streets in our cities.

Victims of domestic violence and child abuse pass on violent behavior to their children, who may suffer from mental and emotional problems. Healthy relationships can stop abuse and neglect to prevent young people from becoming violent, taking drugs, joining gangs, looting stores, committing suicide, or killing innocent people. With support, most neighbors will identify gang leaders, drug dealers, and abuse as they help build trust and respect between neighbors. Children pay the highest price for absent fathers, abusive adults, and social isolation. All children need community support. (Taxpayers spend $220 million a DAY on child abuse/neglect) Consider the additional cost of drug abuse, gangs, suicide, homelessness, and violence on our streets.

Community leaders in nonprofit groups can train and hire “Neighborhood Safety Experts” who look like and speak the language of the community to go into neighborhoods and bring people together to build trust, support, and offer youth activities. Churches need to reach out and support “Love thy neighbor” because peace is an inner journey as youth learn to stay spiritually centered on handling bullies and preventing youth from becoming victims. We can teach youth to mature from childish violent behavior to become calm adults who can listen without anger and use inner wisdom to solve problems. Mature parents teach children the 3C’s, Courage, Character, and a self-protective Conscience which empowers youth to manage the hard knocks and succeed in life.

Politicians often divide people by race, creating anger and keeping the money flowing into corrupt pockets. However, involved citizens working together report abuses by police and other officials. That is why corrupt politicians and police do not want citizens involved.

Good News: Responsible Americans are stepping up and working on action plans! Community peacemakers are creating community change. In Detroit, Michigan, 13 cities declared “2022: The year of Peace and Healing.” Churches in California are bringing neighbors together. Thousands of organizations across the county are working with youth to stop the violence. In Mobile, Alabama, citizens are helping families improve their mental health. Texas, Nevada, and other states work together to prevent child sex trafficking. Parents are speaking up at a school board meeting. Religious groups are reaching out to strengthen families, start support groups, and offer neighborhood support.

Ask your city leaders for their plan to create neighborhood peace. Asking questions will be an opportunity to learn the motivation of local politicians.

Many citizens understand that “we the people” create community change; together, we are powerful! It takes citizen involvement to create safe, healthy neighborhoods for children. Every city must develop a plan and strategies to strengthen family and neighborhood support to restore peace on the home front! Empowering “we the people” will be the saviors of America as we work together on strategies to save ourselves.

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There can be no debate about the brutality that led to the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols as he was trying to get home. Pulled over for a traffic violation, he was dragged from his car, assaulted, chased down, and brutally beaten by thugs disguised as police officers. And afterward, as they got their stories straight and hydrated, he lay on the ground at their feet moaning in pain. No one gave him water. No one tried to help him. No one.

Ironically, just a short drive away, there is a historic building that marks the place Dr. Martin Luther King was shot dead for standing up for the rights of Tyre and so many before him. No matter how desensitized we become to the George Floyds, Daunte Wrights, Michael Browns, Tamir Rices… the list goes on… no matter how hard we struggle to comprehend it, the depravity both defines and confines us.

As I watched the bodycam footage of what looks more like gang violence than policing, I thought about the “few bad apples” argument, the popular refrain after every adrenaline-pumped demonstration of abuse of power by people with a badge. I thought about the conversations I’ve had in the past with people who have minimized another death suggesting I don’t understand what it’s like to be a cop. That’s right; I have never been a cop.

But I have worked extensively with youth as a coach, a teacher, an advocate, and a mentor. People aren’t born with the kind of depraved indifference we’ve witnessed over and over again; they are taught that. As I reflect upon the young people I’ve worked with and the challenges they face, I wonder what they learn from our apathy to the discrimination and injustices of black and brown folks. I wonder how they reconcile policies that ostracize and marginalize LGBTQ people with our proclaimed tenets of democracy and respect for diversity.

I think about the right-wing advocacy groups leading the charge to ban books on gender, race, and sexuality themes. Books like “Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You” (a history of racism in the US by the Black authors Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi) and “Between the World and Me” (a semi-autobiographical work about racism in America) are being banned and challenged for removal from library shelves simply because of an ideological disagreement with the viewpoints they express, or disapproval of the life experiences they describe. Even “Gone with the Wind” has been banned from English classrooms in this country for references to slavery and offensive language.

Many conservatives believe that diverse perspectives, any recognition of marginalized communities, or experiences that run counter to their own have no place in education or society.

Here in Florida, Governor DeSantis has been very clear: Instructional materials that acknowledge the troubled history of civil and human rights will be criminalized. Every book in every classroom is to be reviewed following the guidelines sanctioned by the state (heavily influenced by right-wing groups like Moms For Liberty).

Critical Race Theory (CRT), an academic concept taught mostly to law students, has become the catch-all phrase of those seeking to censor educational discussions dealing with race or racial justice in American schools. From the deeply concerning legislation barring the accurate teaching of our country’s history to sweeping book bans, this is a special kind of tragedy.

Florida educators who fail to appropriately police the books on their shelves could now face felony charges.

In essence, we are witnessing in real time the elimination of significant portions of our history. At the same time, we are rewriting what children are taught to believe about this country and what truly makes America “the city upon a hill,” exceptionalism as a beacon of hope for the world.

DeSantis and his conservative following would be the first to tell you that government overreach isn’t about reducing police and military spending but rather the infringement upon citizens’ constitutional right to live as they please – especially as it relates to family values and education. That is, unless those values are different from theirs. In that case, reach away.

Ironically, the same people are perpetuating the largest governmental overreach in education since the enforcement of segregation. It’s especially hard to wrap your head around that, fundamentally, the crusade is to ban education about racism.

And yet… we can’t seem to figure out the surge in white supremacy groups, the rise in antisemitism, and the continuing racial injustice resulting in more and more Black people being killed by police (just to name a few).

I don’t believe that these men from Memphis or so many that precede them in police brutality would have been better police officers had they read more books. I do believe that the next generation of children who grow up in our shadow will be influenced by the values of this generation and the attitudes we have about basic human rights and the people who have died while waiting for “progress.”

We can dismiss our nation’s troubled history and continue to ignore the injustices, discrimination, and challenges that our marginalized communities face. Or we can show our children what it looks like to learn from the past and grow into humans who embrace diversity and respect fellow humans – regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or political party.

History – whether we choose to learn from it or repeat it – holds the badge.

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With Tyre Nichols’s recent murder by the police in Memphis, I think it’s painfully clear that policing in America is yet another public health crisis. Once again, we’re sadly missing the point of its root cause and that’s why it continues. Too often, police brutality is considered a race issue but when 5 black police officers beat a black man to death, it’s not about race. It’s about power.

Why do people seek power? I believe it’s a compensatory behavior attempting to ease the deep emotional pain of not feeling valued. Digging in further,

Value = Love

and love is a basic human need just like food and water.

How many public health issues can be improved or solved if the Power Differential is addressed? Marginalized communities don’t have the power. We can provide resources and support (e.g., urban markets in food deserts) but without a fundamental change in beliefs and values, the differential won’t change long term. Those in power also need their absent emotional needs addressed and help in changing their belief systems and worldviews. When they feel valued [emotionally], they’ll be more willing to relinquish power. This is how Daryl Davis has gotten so many KKK members to quit.

We know people in power will do anything and everything to keep it. It’s how they manage their emotional pain. This is clearly evident with the latest gerrymandering and other voter suppression actions so many states have implemented since 2020. Yet another public health crisis.

Obviously, there are countless other public health issues that most often focus on physical health such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and homelessness not to mention major issues such as loneliness, isolation, depression, addiction, etc.

But given Tyre’s murder last week by public servants, and the current “corrective” actions discussed focusing on training and behaviors (a.k.a. symptoms), I don’t expect anything to change going forward. (Just like how the War on Drugs has failed for 100 years.)

If the root problem is not addressed, the symptoms (e.g., murders by police) will continue. The root problem is poor emotional health and emotional pain and this is very different than mental health and emotional intelligence. A person’s behaviors are the symptoms of their pain.

Note: I define Emotional Health as a person’s ability to give and receive love, connection, and belonging.

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So… I disappeared from this platform for a while. As many can probably relate, the gravity of real life can be overwhelming. I made some regretful decisions last year, but the kind scholars of BC-360° have once again proved that forgiveness is not simply a virtue – it is a reality. Moving forward, I will operate under a pen name. I have a variety of personal reasons for this, but rest assured that I look forward to sharing with a renewed sense of expression and enthusiasm. For starters, I wanted to publish this heartfelt article that I submitted towards the end of my first turn here. I felt it was necessary to revisit the importance of free speech, and to remind other writers of just how fortunate they are to have a platform like BC-360. Enjoy…

To say we live in polarized times would be an understatement. Every subject we absorb seems to be politicized or bathed in a hostile river of thought… a vast crush of ideas, values, and moral reflections weighed down by the collective gears of humanity. For those of us who enjoy writing, there is no greater playground in which to indulge our senses. We are at the mercy of our calling, an impulse to share our logic and experience, our chosen words and phrases that define who we are in the greater universe.

As writers, we are introspective beings, locked forever in a complex pendulum that swings between anxiety and brilliance. At any given moment, there is a perpetual war of words raging within. Our hearts and minds are constantly brimming with conflict. It is here, on this battlefield of conjecture, that we analyze our deepest personal convictions, where we measure the fruits of our intellect against the other apples and oranges in the basket. Indeed, we place our very essence under a microscope. We analyze our individual freedoms and truth, express our identity in the context of freedom, of compassion, of our own personal brimstone and fire. We reconcile with our past with our present. We set a better trajectory for our future endeavors… to learn and grow and improve upon past mistakes.

It is human nature to rage. We spill forth from our bias and preach into scripture. Who is right? Who is wrong? How did we stray so far from the center?

These are just a few of the many burning questions we seek as we engage the world with our fleeting sparks of wisdom. If we are lucky, we can draft something compelling, something that will inspire and initiate a friendly dialog. If we are arrogant or limited, we will reject and condemn those who do not conform with our ideology. This happens daily. I have been guilty of both adventures. But guess what? We are all hardened in our positions. We are all complicit in our formative opinions and dogma… right, wrong, or otherwise.

Regardless of our hopes and our dreams, every single person is socially imprinted by their culture and environment. We are motivated by external influence, both subtle and overt. We are programmed to react and respond, to communicate against our better judgement in times of distress. Yet we need not beat ourselves up over the trivialities of our nature. We are who we are. Instead of focusing on rebellion, let’s focus on the broken spokes in the wheel. Let’s find a better way to correct the errors that send us peddling sideways.

As writers, we need only to stick our thumbs in the air to know which way the wind is blowing. For that reason alone, it is a blessing to have a place where you can tell it like it is – where freedom of speech still matters – where genuine expression remains a pillar of human integrity.

We may not always agree with every article posted here, but the beauty of this diverse engine still binds us like glue in a fabled book. This is why we continue to return to this independent publishing platform… Unlike many other social media entities – we are ALL welcome here at BizCatalyst 360°. I am proof positive of that point.

As long as we remain professional in our conduct, this platform will continue to provide qualified writers with a safe environment free from political censorship, where values and ideas are treated with equal respect and gratitude. Truth will always vary from one writer to the next, but as long as we approach our topics like rational adults, then our primary objectives will always be protected under this unique banner of liberty. Deepest thanks and appreciation to Dennis and his team for their unwavering support and tolerance. May you continue shining that unique spotlight for all those seeking a voice…

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The latest fallout from the death of a young African man because of a harsh beating received at the hands of five, now former Memphis police officers is quiet disturbing and shocking enough to turn most stomachs. I am a retired police officer who thoroughly enjoyed my job at a time when police did their job because of excellent training to prevent what has happened, not just in this case, but over the last few years. This was more of a gang initiation (termed “a jump in”) in gang parlance. These five former officers who were part of a specialized unit acted as a gang. I also ask where was the supervision? Which seemed to be MIA.

My husband, a retired Law Enforcement officer of 42 years, has worked all levels of Law Enforcement including City, County, State, and Federal. He worked in a city that had multiple gangs. Drive by shootings and gang warfare occurred every night. In this incident we have seen improper or criminal police activity that was widely recorded in the past, such as Rodney King, (which my husband wrote about), and George Floyd, which illustrates a lack of proper training and supervision.

No, I am not judging because I wasn’t there personally, but the videos speak for themselves. I was asked, (playing devil’s advocate by my husband), “so what would you have done if you were there as a backup and saw what was happening”, (as he knows I have been very vocal about these events in the past),.. my answer? I would have challenged the officer’s behavior. I would have physically interacted between the officers and the suspect, even by pulling the officers away from their actions. I probably would have risked being criticized not only by those at the scene, but perhaps also by many who still wear the uniform. I would have risked losing my pension, my reputation, and the career I loved and was good at. Maybe if this had happened, so much of what has happened such as indictment and loss of life would have happened.

What we see in a lot of these events is lack of training, lack of control, but more significantly lack of supervision as noted already. To take a suspect into custody that requires more than two officers is something we both don’t agree with. I have seen officers who are big, and strong looking, but not able to control even a young female who wants to resist or fight, falling to the ground and the officer is struggling to maintain control. I am not saying that there are not times that require more backup when you are outnumbered, but to take someone down can be done without escalation of force.

I have had my fair share of bruises and strains due to fights and to control violent suspects. I know that when the cavalary arrives, the relief factor kicks in. I have never been in a situation where my partners or myself used escalation of force to control a suspect or take him or her into custody beyond the necessary force.

What happened with this young man should never have gotten to the end that it did but based on these officers who have now been charged with murder, manslaughter, innocent till proven guilty, (which is in the minds of many) guilty, (leaving the verdict up to the jury), is not going to end until better training, screening of personalities, psychology examinations, are improved and reviewed. Training is the key. Right now, everyone has lost, the family loses a son, officers lose their career, freedom, and reputation, with the label of “Convicted Felons.”

I feel for parents who lose a son, I can only pray for healing on all levels. I pray for the officers’ families. It is sad that the life that ended the way it did, was unnecessary.

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There’s a lot of debate going on about the practicality of switching the world over to electric vehicles. Of course, a lot of the resistance to this is coming from the right, where the vested interest in preserving the status quo mainly lies.

Their basic argument is that the amount of energy burned to find, process, and manufacture the minerals and metals needed to make the batteries and the electric cars themselves is 5 or 6 times more damaging to the environment than sucking oil out of the ground and refining it to make fuel for internal combustion engines.

That would be a good point except for one little thing: The simple fact that while the creation and manufacture of most vehicles, electric or internal combustion, is close to a wash in terms of energy usage, the real damage that combustion engines do is after they have been created, and for years and years over the life of the vehicles.

Of course, taking the argument to the manufacturing of the vehicles themselves does one critical thing for the fossil fuel and automotive industries. It diverts attention from the real issue here.

Seldom do you find any ‘industry’ conversation about why car makers and oil companies are doing virtually nothing to create engines that burn fossil fuels more efficiently or fuels that burn cleaner than they do now.

Because this is the Achilles’ heel of both the automobile manufacturers and the oil producers of the world. And it’s a pretty damn big one at that.

I would venture a wild-ass guess that these companies, all of them, would not be willing to invest even a small percentage of their gargantuan profits into working on these two critical pieces of the energy puzzle.

I’m reasonably certain they have thought about it. And I’m also reasonably certain that there are literally dozens of alternative technologies in both of these industries. But corporate greed being what it is these days, these ideas are being stifled. Why? Because they would, purely and simply, reduce profitability. And that, of course, brings us to the bigger economic issue and a bunch of pretty serious questions about the damage that market capitalism is doing to the world.

Oil companies and vehicle manufacturing companies seem to be getting a free ride here when it’s their technologies and their profound lack of commitment to the human race that are at the root of the environmental crisis the world is experiencing.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that they have pretty much bought off all the politicians required to stifle any serious pressure from governments that would force them into being environmentally responsible.

And why bother when you can keep on making barrels of money, (pardon the pun), by doing absolutely nothing, other than supporting the politicians who are greedy enough to make sure they never have to actually do anything that will affect their own bottom lines? Things like demanding research and development into more efficient engines or new refining processes that create cleaner burning fuels.

This is the world we have created. And right now, it’s quickly approaching totally f__ked. And it’s all because of corporate greed and the failing of the market capitalist system that only rewards things that are growing and kills anything that is not.

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Rights and responsibilities go together. For example, if I have a right to freedom of speech, it follows that I have a responsibility to speak truthfully. I cannot justify slander by claiming my right to freedom of speech permits lying to damage someone’s reputation. So, with that in mind, I ask, who has the primary right to determine what children learn in school? Put differently, who is a child’s primary educator?

More than a decade ago, I developed a curriculum of poetry for use in my English classes. The poems in that curriculum are divided into two groups: poems to be memorized and recited, and poems to be studied and discussed. A few poems fit into both groups. There are measurable benefits to children memorizing excellent prose and poetry for recitation in front of their peers. (What those benefits are is perhaps a topic for another time.)

Twice since I developed and implemented this curriculum have parents objected to a poem. One father took exception to Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”. Another student’s parents did not like the lyrics to “The Impossible Dream”. Why the objections? Did the parents understand the poems I’d asked their children to memorize and recite? In the first case, the father was wrong. Roethke’s poem is not about an abusive alcoholic. In the second case, the parents were wrong in their understanding of Don Quixote’s desire “to march into hell for a heavenly cause”. Quixote is not singing about literally going to literal Hell.

But whether these parents were right or wrong about their reasons for not liking my poetic choices is of secondary importance. What matters most goes back to this question: Who is a child’s primary educator? Church teaching is clear: “Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators” (Gravissimum educationis 3). In short, my authority as a teacher does not trump their authority as parents, which brings us back to the question of my first post: What’s wrong with education?

For more than a century, a major aim of progressive education has been to supplant parental authority with the expertise of teachers implementing standardized curricula delivered via compulsory public education funded by taxation. A hallmark of standardized curricula is the enforced uniformity of standards enacted by legislatures. While public education has been (and continues to be) a great good for many, the progressive insistence that state authority overrides parental authority has caused widespread abuse.

For example, federal education legislation implemented by the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs during the 1930s and 1940s deliberately sought to undermine Native American ways of life in favor of assimilating Native American children into the dominant, Anglo-Protestant worldview. The same sort of attempted usurpation of parental authority and cultural destruction can be seen in various “Blaine amendments” that sought to squash Catholic schools while at the same time leaving Protestant prayers and Bible classes intact in public schools.

Students in schools are taught to obey their teachers. Failure to do so results in negative consequences. Compliance produces rewards. With children in early elementary, these negative consequences and rewards are often tangible, immediate, and clearly linked to classroom expectations.

The implicit lesson learned by most students is that the teacher is the primary authority figure to whom a student owes respect and obedience. This can work just fine so long as teachers, schools, legislatures, et cetera do not undermine parental authority.

Unfortunately, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals demonstrated in 2005, it isn’t hard to find an example of parental rights being deliberately denied.

But what about those two students whose parents objected to my poetry curriculum? What happened? Rather than trying to convince the parents that they were wrong, I explained the two main goals of the curriculum: to improve memory and to improve public speaking skills. What the student recited was of secondary importance. In both cases, the parents understood and agreed with the goals. In both cases, the parents suggested other poems to be used for their children.

And I agreed, even adding one parent’s suggestion to my poetry curriculum.

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According to an article in The Atlantic, “Sudden Russian Death Syndrome”, rich, influential people around Vladimir Putin and in the greater Russian orbit seem to have developed a nasty habit of getting dead. In case the hyperlink above brings you to a paywall, here’s an excerpt from the article that lists a few of the 24 or so folks who bought the farm in 2022:

The bodies of the gas-industry leaders Leonid Shulman and Alexander Tyulakov were found with suicide notes at the beginning of the year … in the span of one month, three more Russian executives — Vasily Melnikov, Vladislav Avayev, and Sergey Protosenya — were found dead, in apparent murder-suicides with their wives and children. In May, Russian authorities found the body of the Sochi resort owner Andrei Krukovsky at the bottom of a cliff; a week later, Aleksandr Subbotin, a manager of a Russian gas company, died in a home belonging to a Moscow shaman … In July, the energy executive Yuri Voronov was found floating in his suburban St. Petersburg swimming pool with a bullet wound in his head … In August, the Latvia-born Putin critic Dan Rapoport apparently fell from the window of his Washington, D.C., apartment … right before Ravil Maganov, the chairman of a Russian oil company, fell six stories from a window in Moscow … the IT-company director Grigory Kochenov toppled off a balcony … in the French Riviera, a Russian real-estate tycoon took a fatal tumble down a flight of stairs.

Uncle Vlad’s reaction, of course, was predictable: “На кого я похож Джека Кеворкяна? Что я знаю от умерших людей? Они должны были лучше заботиться о себе.” (Translation: “Who do I look like, Jack Kevorkian? What do I know from dead people? They should have taken better care of themselves.”)

Collateral Shmollateral

Many of those who fell out of windows and drowned with bullets in their heads opposed Uncle Vlad’s military exercises in Ukraine. From the standpoint of manners and common courtesy (ignoring any humanitarian conventions, politics, territorialism, empire-building, and theatrics) Uncle Vlad sees nothing wrong with taking territory militarily and killing Ukrainian military personnel, civilians, and children. If you want to grow a beard, you have to get some hair on your face, right?

All the lives lost, Ukrainian and Russian, are just so many whiskers to Uncle Vlad. Besides, if you attach your legacy to trying to reclaim all the territory of the former Soviet Union — roughly 8,649,500 square miles — a few buildings will have to be bombed and some blood will have to be spilled. And if some of that blood also turns out to be Russian, well, that’s just quibbling.

What a Croc

Winston Churchill said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” It’s helpful to remember if it slithers like a crocodile, if it has the narrow eyes of a crocodile, and if it preys like a crocodile, it’s probably a crocodile. It’s also helpful to remember the reptilian brain of a crocodile isn’t big on discernment and prioritization. If it’s hungry, it eats.

Uncle Vlad’s hungry. No one knows for sure what it will take to satisfy his appetite. But it’s a pretty safe bet he won’t be sated by Ukraine’s mere 230,000 square miles. It’s equally safe to assume that as long as the West continues to appease him, he’ll keep on eating.

As the article in The Atlantic goes on to say:

This year’s spate of deaths — so brazen in their number and method as to suggest a lack of concern about plausible, or even implausible, deniability — is quite possibly Putin’s way of warning Russia’s elites that he is that deadly octopus. The point of eliminating critics, after all, isn’t necessarily to eliminate criticism. It is to remind the critics — with as much flair as possible — what the price of voicing that criticism can be.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t met a crocodile yet who was concerned about deniability. Sooner or later, this one’s going to have to be restrained.

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Their names were Athalia, Cindy, and Tausha. They were loving, caring women. They were mothers. They deserve to be alive.

I can’t imagine they rang in the New Year thinking they’d be dead in less than a week. I can’t imagine they rang in the New Year thinking their beautiful children would be dead in less than a week. I can’t imagine they rang in the New Year thinking the person they’ve loved and supported for years would be the person who took their lives. I can’t imagine they thought the person who co-created their wonderful children would slaughter them. They didn’t know they were living with a murderer. They didn’t know how dangerous the situation was. I imagine if they did, they would have taken more precautions.

Ten children were killed. Ten children were murdered. Ten children are no longer breathing. Ten children’s lives have been eliminated by their fathers between January 5th and 7th in America.

Three women were murdered by the men they were living with. Three women were murdered by the men they procreated with. Three women were killed by the men who swore they loved them.

If you look at pictures of these families, you’d never notice anything wrong. If you worked with or encountered any of the murderers, you’d likely leave thinking they were nice guys. Men who murder their families are not evil monsters lurking in the shadows wearing black capes. Men who murder their families appear normal to society.

What are we doing? Why are we hearing these stories over and over again? Why aren’t we doing more to resolve the issue of filicide and femicide? Entire families are being destroyed. Fourteen people were killed. Thirteen of those people were shot by a person who they believed loved them while in the comfort of the place they called home.

We have domestic violence shelters. We have a national domestic violence hotline. We have orders of protection that the court can provide. While I’m sure these services help countless people leave abusive situations, are they the only way to approach this situation? Are they working? Should we be only helping the victims survive? Or can we prevent the abusers from abusing? Can we prevent the murderers from murdering?

If we protect one victim, we protect one victim. The abuser still abuses. The abuser finds another victim. Why don’t we stop the cycle of abuse? Why don’t we stop the abuser?

How? It’s a novel idea finding a way to hold an abuser accountable. Especially in America. You’re innocent until proven guilty here. Most abusers who kill have no history of extreme physical violence. They’re merely obsessed with having power and control over their families. Can courts protect families from abusers like that? Will courts protect families from abusers like that? How can their abuse be proven? How can they be held accountable? After they kill? But in this month’s murders in Utah, North Carolina, and Michigan, the abusers also killed themselves. There’s no opportunity for accountability.

In the obituary of the Utah murderer, he was described as a good father and a good man. How’s that for accountability?

This past December, Scotland began an initiative called, Is That Me?, which focuses on men and abuse. The first advert they ran can be found below;

I must admit to being very curious about the outcome of this campaign. We’ve also seen survivors speak out more in the last few years. Their voices are being heard more than ever before. And television networks including Netflix and HBO have been sharing empowering stories as well.

Abuse festers in the dark. If it’s not spoken of, it is easy to ignore. Victims are crazy. Abusers are misunderstood. But nothing can be misunderstood when an abuser kills their entire family. If a stranger went into a home and slaughtered an entire family, it would be nationwide news. The hunt to take the villain down would ensue. We’d vilify the murderer. And the murderer would be held accountable.

Fourteen people were murdered in America earlier this month. Ten children. Their three mothers. And a grandmother. These victims had families that loved them. These victims were part of a community. The traumatic effect of their death devastates the people who loved them.

In the Utah slaughter, Tausha’s mother was there. Tausha had filed for divorce and wanted her mother there for support. The murderer killed his mother-in-law as well as his wife and five children. The deadliest time in an abusive relationship is when you leave. When an abuser learns his power and control is going to be diminished, his capacity for homicide grows. I wonder if Tausha knew how dangerous her situation was.

It’s been reported that Cindy may have been packing her bags to leave when her murderer shot her and her two daughters. Why don’t women just leave? This is why. It can be deadly.

And Athalia had been dealing with the mentally ill aspect of her murderer. I wonder what precautions she took. I wonder if the facility that released him after an involuntary hold the previous month noticed anything murderous about him.

Tausha, Cindy, Athalia, and their ten children had family and friends that are mourning their loss. The ten children that have been murdered had schoolmates, teachers, and community members that loved and cared for them. The impact of the murders is much wider than the fourteen people who are gone. The murderers also have family and friends as well who are left wondering, why? What did I miss? How could I have helped?

The ripple effect of these murders can be felt in entire communities. They have impacted me. They impact other survivors. They are reminders that we have a problem. A problem that needs a solution. Emotional, psychological, and physical abuse within families must end.

How can we promote unalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, when all three of those can be taken away by our partners and their guns in our homes?

How can we proclaim to be the land of the free, when seeking our freedom can be a death sentence?

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If you grew up in the last half of the 20th century as I did, you are no doubt aware of the ever-looming threat of complete annihilation that civilization has constantly faced.

But at the same time, if you weren’t a racist or otherwise disposed to bigotry, you kept waiting for the whole world to come together as one thing. To create an economy that took care of everyone and environmental practices that were beneficial to all living things.

These were the things I hoped for. When I was religious, those were the things I prayed for. But now that I am older and nearing my best before date, I realize that neither of these things has come about. Nor are they showing any sign of doing so.

Hate and bigotry and intolerance and greed control everything that happens these days. And that has been the case for pretty much my whole life. And probably yours too if you think about it.

I have seen generations come and go in my 70-odd years here and nothing has changed. As soon as someone is old enough to make their own decisions they get gobbled up by the big machine, and they are so busy holding all that together that they have no energy to work on the bigger issues.

My life was like that. And I’m sure to one degree or another, yours is like that too. Politics keep on attracting people who are good at playing the same old game. Nothing new happens other than token gestures in isolated pockets.

I don’t know how many years I have left. None of us do. I just know that looking back, there have been a lot of changes in the tools we have to work with, but the purposes we put them to have remained stuck in the same rut humanity has always found itself in.

And now we’re seeing things we have never seen before because the earth, which nurtured us and provided us with everything we needed to survive, has finally reached the point where it’s demanding some respect.

And while I have my doubts about God and heaven and hell, I have a great deal of respect for the power of this planet, and its ability to cleanse and regenerate itself. And we now are facing the choice. Do we start respecting the power of the earth, because we realize the alternative is extinction? Or do we finally smarten up and start treating the earth like we actually care?

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In March 1925, the Tennessee state legislature passed into law the Butler Act. In the Tennessee House of Representatives, about 93% of legislators voted in favor of the law. Eighty percent of state’s senators supported the passage of the bill. The text of the law is brief. Here’s the substantive part:

That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals, and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.

Let’s parse this. Note that it applied only to public schools that received funds from the state government. The Butler Act did not forbid teaching Darwinian evolution, except in one specific context. The Butler Act forbade teaching “that man has descended from a lower order of animals”, thus demonstrating that “the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible” is false.

The Butler Act was not passed into law due to anti-science animus in Tennessee. Rather, the act aimed at crippling the influence of the eugenics movement. Proponents of eugenics embraced a pseudo-science that was all the rage among early 20th-century progressives. More than 30 states had passed eugenics laws by the 1920s, and state government agents had forcibly sterilized tens of thousands of Americans in keeping with the “public health” aims of these laws. Tennessee’s neighbor Virginia, for example, used roadblocks and house-to-house sweeps conducted by police officers in order to arrest so-called “defectives” for subsequent sterilization. Entire families were subjected to these measures.

Tennessee was one of the few states in the U.S. that had no eugenics laws, and the majority of Tennessee’s citizens didn’t want such laws.

The citizens and elected officials of Tennessee understood that progressives wanted to ensure that measures to protect “public health” were enacted, and that those same progressives viewed rural Tennesseans as unfit to marry and have children. The biblical doctrine of God’s creation of man was seen as a bulwark against eugenics and the sorts of public policies and laws that eugenicists promoted.

By May 1925, the ACLU had enlisted the cooperation of John Scopes, a coach and substitute classroom teacher; Fred Robinson, a drugstore owner; and a group of Dayton, Tennessee, businessmen. These men answered a newspaper advertisement searching for people to mount a challenge to the Butler Act. Robinson and other business leaders figured this would be a good way to put Dayton on the map, thus increasing local business profits. Scopes, then in his mid-20s, saw an opportunity to become famous. And so this collection of Dayton businessmen looking to increase profits allied themselves with the ACLU and a young football coach to concoct a case against the Butler Act. Scopes admitted that he taught about the evolution of man from lower animals in violation of the Butler Act. His guilt under that statute was never questioned.

The textbook Scopes admitted to have used was George William Hunter’s A Civic Biology, first published in 1914. It was the required text in Tennessee high schools. Since Scopes admitted to teaching about the evolution of the human species, it’s necessary to look at a few sections from A Civic Biology to see what the textbook says about the topic. Here are six relevant excerpts:

1. “Although anatomically there is a greater difference between the lowest type of monkey and the highest type of ape than there is between the highest type of ape and the lowest savage, yet there is an immense mental gap between monkey and man.”
2. “At the present time, there exist upon the earth five races or varieties of man, each very different from the other in instincts, social customs, and, to an extent, in structure. These are the Ethiopian or negro type, originating in Africa; the Malay or brown race, from the islands of the Pacific; the American Indian; the Mongolian or yellow race, including the natives of China, Japan, and the Eskimos; and finally, the highest type of all, the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America.”
3. “If the stock of domesticated animals can be improved, it is not unfair to ask if the health and vigor of the future generations of men and women on the earth might not be improved by applying to them the laws of selection. This improvement of the future race has a number of factors in which we as individuals may play a part. These are personal hygiene, selection of healthy mates, and the betterment of the environment.”
4. “When people marry there are certain things that the individual as well as the race should demand. The most important of these is freedom from germ diseases which might be handed down to the offspring. Tuberculosis, syphilis, that dread disease which cripples and kills hundreds of thousands of innocent children, epilepsy, and feeble-mindedness are handicaps which it is not only unfair but criminal to hand down to posterity. The science of being well born is called eugenics.”
5. “Studies have been made on a number of different families in this country, in which mental and moral defects were present in one or both of the original parents…. Hundreds of families such as those described above exist to-day, spreading disease, immorality, and crime to all parts of this country. The cost to society of such families is very severe. Just as certain animals or plants become parasitic on other plants or animals, these families have become parasitic on society. They not only do harm to others by corrupting, stealing, or spreading disease, but they are actually protected and cared for by the state out of public money. Largely for them the poorhouse and the asylum exist. They take from society, but they give nothing in return. They are true parasites.”
6. “If such people were lower animals, we would probably kill them off to prevent them from spreading. Humanity will not allow this, but we do have the remedy of separating the sexes in asylums or other places and in various ways preventing intermarriage and the possibilities of perpetuating such a low and degenerate race. Remedies of this sort have been tried successfully in Europe and are now meeting with success in this country.”

It’s again necessary to parse some text to see the implication of what the proponents of eugenics wanted taught in school. Let’s do so point-by-point following the excerpts above.

1. When the text refers to “the lowest savage”, it is referring primarily to peoples living in sub-Saharan Africa. The claim here is that there is a greater difference between monkeys and apes than there is between apes and certain “races or varieties of man”.
2. The most evolutionarily advanced race are “the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America.” Note that the “varieties of man” are listed in order from lowest to highest, as determined by the pseudo-science of eugenics.
3. People should breed (or be bred) with the same goals sought in the breeding of livestock.
4. It is criminal that certain people are allowed to marry and have children.
5. The “science of…eugenics” has studied the topic of human improvement and has reached sound conclusions based on these studies. People with “mental and moral defects” who have families “are true parasites.”
6. Since killing these “true parasites” is not possible, steps must be taken to separate them from society in order to prevent “intermarriage and the possibilities of perpetuating such a low and degenerate race.”

Contrary to popular history, the defense never demonstrated the falsity or even the unreasonableness of the biblical view of creation. Scopes was found guilty after a bit less than 10 minutes of deliberation by the jury. He was fined. The prosecutor, William Jennings Bryan, former Secretary of State under President Wilson and three-time Democratic Party nominee for the Oval Office, was not revealed by Clarence Darrow to be a simple-minded biblical literalist. Darrow had Bryan on the stand under oath. Darrow tried to get Bryan to admit that the biblical creation story was soundly contradicted by the theory of evolution. Bryan admitted no such thing, stating, for example, that days of creation in Genesis need not be seen only as 24-hour days. Bryan plainly stated:

I think it would be just as easy for the kind of God we believe in to make the earth in six days as in six years or in 6,000,000 years or in 600,000,000 years. I do not think it important whether we believe one or the other.

The Butler Act was not passed into law by narrow-minded, anti-science bigots. Rather, the Butler Act’s supporters intended to protect the citizens of Tennessee from the racist, classist, and ableist pseudo-science of eugenics that progressives thought justified violating the “unalienable Rights” of citizens viewed as “low and degenerate”. Those“unalienable Rights” held by the targets of progressive social engineering come from an equality granted by “their Creator”; therefore, it became a necessary part of the eugenics movement to dismantle the idea of “the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible”. Once the idea of a Creator who grants rights that transcend the state is done away with, forcible sterilization and even wholesale extermination become law put into effect by those who claim “the science is settled.”

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“Political Science was founded by Plato and Aristotle… In its essentials the classical foundation of political science is still valid today… As for subject matter, it is nothing esoteric; rather it lies not far from the questions of the day and is concerned with the truth of things that everyone talks about. What is happiness? How should a man live in order to be happy? What is virtue? What, especially, is the virtue of justice? How large a territory and a population are best for a society? What kind of education is best? What professions, and what form of government? All of these questions arise from the conditions of the existence of man in society.”

~Eric Voegelin in Science, Politics, and Gnosticism (1958)

The wages of Woke are upon us. Absurdity, demonization, cancel culture, the death of dialogue, anarchic governance, community breakdown, endemic violence, and socio-economic chaos now rattle our once complacent cages ceaselessly. And though the Woke activists are numerically insignificant, their influence in government, the bureaucracy, the media, academia, and the world’s largest corporations and professions is pervasive. Hence the vast majority of people in western liberal democracies are either dismayed but docile, or aghast but afraid to resist.

The name is new, but the phenomenon is not, and since it impacts all of us, in the home, the community, schools, and workplaces, and the nation at large, we are duty bound to recognise Woke, understand it, and strenuously oppose it. The Woke phenomenon is in fact a repackaging of an old strain of spiritual duplicity that has occurred many times in history. And high intelligence has never proved to be a prophylactic.

Consider the case of a brilliant young academic, a gifted public speaker and celebrity, whose genius has him earmarked for greatness. His popularity affords him no end of opportunities to indulge an insatiable appetite for wine, women, and song, yet he finds these delights in conflict with the restless energy of his exceptional intellect, which demands a relentless search for truth.

The circles in which he moves introduce him to a group of people who are bound together by a seductive philosophy of life that seems to offer relief for his inner turmoil. He is a good man, and there is nothing wrong with his promiscuous lifestyle, they tell him, and his obvious gifts qualify him to become part of a chosen elite, whose members alone have the knowledge to transform society and the world, ridding humanity of the age-old evils that burden us. The young genius is won over, and spends the next eleven years of his life virtue-signaling and virtue-subverting.

The story does have a happy ending, because the young man did escape the lie, and went on to provide a massively positive influence on the lives of millions, just as he still does today.

The words of the political philosopher, Eric Voegelin, quoted above, are rich in their implications for leadership, not only in politics, but also in business, the professions, and indeed, in every form of community. Voegelin was forced to leave Austria because of his opposition to Nazism, and spent the rest of his life, mostly in the US, in analysing why people fall for the utopian promises of totalitarian ideologies like Nazism and Marxism. He sheds a lot of light on the current crises facing the western world.

In his book, Science, Politics, and Gnosticism, Voegelin showed the striking similarities between modern ideologies and the ancient religion of Gnosticism. Modern neo-fascists, neo-Marxists, neo-Liberals, and neo-conservatives, and the Woke vandals of today, like their ancient gnostic forebears, feel deep dissatisfaction with the world as it is, and believe that human beings can and must take control of the historical process and reorder reality.

The essential characteristics of Gnosticism read like a description of the Wokism with which we are wrestling in the secular West of the Third Millennium:

1. Gnostics believe that the world, that is, the way things are, is evil, and must be transformed if humanity is to find true fulfilment.
2. Only an elite minority, gifted with an exclusive knowledge (gnosis), is able to see through the façade of the world as it is, to the reality of the evil that drives it.
3. Life itself is all about the deadly conflict between the dark forces of evil and the chosen elite who have been enlightened by the special gnosis.
4. Gnostics live in what Voegelin calls a “dream world”, obsessed by their vision, and hostile to common sense and any rational argument that exposes the intellectual poverty of the claims they make.
5. In terms of morality, Gnostics exhibit a curious blend of puritan and permissive attitudes. Hatred of the conventional order of things spurs them to condemn traditional moral norms, and to promote radical social programs like veganism, pacificism, and collectivism. On the other hand, their repudiation of traditional marriage and child-bearing and rearing encourages the promiscuous behaviour that inevitably undermines marriage, the family, and all relationships and community through the virus of deceit and betrayal unleashed.
6. Gnosticism typically promises the establishment of a state of bliss once the evil powers that control the existing order are destroyed. However, while for the ancient Gnostics this entailed passing from the evil world of matter to a spiritual paradise, modern Gnostic movements tend to see the world of matter as the only reality, and therefore promise their followers utopia, that is, heaven on earth.
7. All of these points underline the first principle of Gnosticism – the non-recognition or denial of reality, and the call for humanity to construct reality for itself. For a person who does not believe in reality, there is no such thing as a lie. Gnosticism is the empire of lies.

Physiophobia is fear and loathing of being, as it manifests itself in the nature of things, especially human nature. Wokeness is physiophobic, and since you can’t abolish human nature, irrational frustration and rage are common symptoms of wokeness. Then there is the condition known as misology, which is an aversion to reasoning, feeling revulsion or suspicion in the face of logical debate; this too is easily recognised in the Woke phenomenon.

As Voegelin pointed out regarding Stalinism and Nazism, “…we are confronted here with persons who know that, and why, their opinions cannot stand up under critical analysis and who therefore make the prohibition of the examination of their premises part of their dogma. This position of a conscious, deliberate, and painfully elaborated obstruction of reason constitutes the new phenomenon.”

Now we all know people, often family and friends, who are highly intelligent and successful, but who have nonetheless become loud and uncompromising advocates for Wokism, and who have sacrificed dialogue for demonization of anyone who asks questions for which they have no rational answer. How does this happen? Voegelin explains by citing the example of Marx, who he sees as an intellectual swindler, a man whose entire life’s work was constructed on a lie. And he enlists the aid of Nietzsche, another Gnostic, but a rather more insightful psychologist than Marx, to throw light on the matter.

Nietzsche saw the Will to Power, the libido dominandi, as the passion that spurs a willingness to engage in intellectual deception. As all of us should know, it is common in human beings to want to be the master, not just in politics and business, but even in small groups and families; hubris afflicts all of us at some time or other, and the ego is hard to silence. Arising from what is often an innocuous delight in masquerade and fooling others, the libido dominandi develops a malign nature that is ruthless in manipulating and suppressing truth.

And lies always engender greater lies. Awareness of one’s deceit is submerged, and one’s conscience is progressively smothered.

Nietzsche recognises that what drives this is the revolt against God, who is truth itself, because once God is silenced, one can make one’s own truth, and therefore become a law unto oneself. Marx’s own doctoral dissertation makes this clear: “Philosophy makes no secret of it. The confession of Prometheus, ‘In a word, I hate all the gods,” is its own confession, its own verdict against all gods, heavenly and earthly who do not acknowledge human self-consciousness as the supreme deity. There shall be none beside it.”

This is a very seductive appeal to human beings, and has been since the beginning of time. As the serpent said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, “You shall be as gods”. Woke appeals to not just those who accept its claims on blind faith, but also those for whom it offers justification for attitudes and actions they don’t wish to change, not to mention those who see in it the opportunity to further a particular agenda, be it political or commercial. These people are not interested in leadership; they simply want to be masters in a new social order.

Of course, the Will to Power that says, “My will is all that matters”, is deeply narcissistic, and even the worst people still want to be seen as good, and justified in all they do. Hence the tsunami of virtue-signalling that inundates the world in the socio-political chaos of the Third Millennium.

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Gumshoe was thoroughly disgusted with the soft kiddie porn of the recent holiday gift ad campaign by the elite fashion magazine of Balenciaga. Sorta like a gift shop located just to the right of the main gate to Hell. Free statues of Baal!

These twisted folks used little girls as props in order to display objects (teddy bears in bondage harnesses, handcuffs) aimed at the perverse tastes and corrupt sexual fantasies of child predators that were staged among the gift assortments. Think of “Where’s Waldo” for sexual deviants.

Did Gumshoe mention the paper copy scattered on a messy desk within the ad of the 2008 Supreme Court decision in the U.S. vs Williams dealing with child pornography? How appropriate and not by accident. What message was that supposed to mean and to whom was the intended recipient?

It seemed to Gumshoe that this pictorial ad could be used by hardcore pedophiles as a “show and tell” grooming aid to ensnare innocent child victims. Damn them all!

Yes, there have been some after-the-fact apologies and mea culpa’s by the Baal worshippers at Balenciaga. Too little too late!

Who approved this ad content prior to its publishing? Implied intent from the get-go Gumshoe surmises. No excuse is possible—evil is evil no matter which way it is displayed.

Gumshoe worked for over five years as a Detective in a Sheriff’s Special Investigation Unit that focused on crimes against children. The majority of the five hundred-plus cases that Gumshoe worked on involved the sexual assaults of children by pedophiles. This was a soul-killing detail for the investigator as well as for the molested children victims. God help them! The depths of evil were never fully plumed by the never-ending cases that would shatter your heart by the incarnate evil perpetrated by the career child predators (beasts) against the most vulnerable child victims.

Now Gumshoe asks the society at large, “Where is the strong public outcry and a call for censor for Balenciaga?” Opprobrium where are you . . .? Crickets.

Remember to love the ones who love you and try to love the ones who don’t.

Coram Deo!

PS: Please include in your prayers the known as well as the unknown child victims of sexual and physical abuse.

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Sometime during my Holiday Season musings, I came across two posts from the editors at LinkedIn News. Since I detected no tongues in cheeks, I took them to be evidence of the extent to which we’ve become purely reactive; that is, in the absence of critical thinking, questioning, and anticipation, we observe and react. That’s all. Everything is new and novel to us, a constant process of discovery and re-discovery because we don’t think, we don’t study history, and we’d choose not to remember it if we did.

A rule of thumb for sharing information, in writing or in formal presentations, used to be, “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them.” That’s all changed. As we’ve deliberately become more unknowing, as we’ve deliberately started thinking less critically, and as we’ve deliberately resigned ourselves to asking fewer and fewer questions, the new rule of thumb is this: “Tell them what they already know, should know, or should have been able to know. Tell them again. Then tell them again.”

Exhibit A

In a post called, “Why work won’t ‘return to normal’”, we find this keen observation:

After the turmoil of the pandemic, 2022 was supposed to be the year that work returned to normal. That didn’t happen … because so few workers want to go back to the old ways. They expressed their dissatisfaction with pre-pandemic norms by quitting jobs in historic numbers, while others tried to improve their current jobs by striking and unionizing.

Let’s see. People have been working largely the same way — reporting to a place other than home in which to toil — for 262 years (give or take), and we’re surprised that with the forced alternative of a global pandemic people don’t want to go back to being historical artifacts.

We’ll lower the bar on this one and not even suggest the irony in the fact that this radical change in employment circumstances was the result of a political/economic shutdown that never should have happened.

Let’s put on our surprised faces and soldier on, shall we?

Exhibit B

Following that, in this post from the Dots? What Dots? Department — “Are big corporate HQs fading away?” — we find this abject failure of connection:

As companies grow more accustomed to remote and hybrid work, many are also beginning to say farewell to large, sprawling offices … [as] companies reach their lease renewal dates, many are considering subletting their vacant space … this shift could send office real estate value tumbling by as much as $450 billion. This could hurt urban economies that depend on office work for jobs and tax revenue.

As companies grow more accustomed to remote and hybrid work? Is it possible to grow more accustomed to something that’s being forced on you, especially if it’s uncomfortable or threatens your ability to survive? That’s like saying, “As people grow more accustomed to waterboarding ….” What?! Companies aren’t growing more accustomed to anything, except, perhaps, the fact that folks aren’t eager to run back to the grind of business as usual, at least not in pre-pandemic numbers.

Unless they need the real estate losses as tax write-offs, they have alternate revenue streams to cover the cost of empty buildings, they’re doing their parts to contribute to urban decay, or they’re cognitively ill-equipped to be in business, companies don’t have a choice but to sell or sublease space. That’s not rocket science. It’s a combination of simple math, practicality, and reality. (Oh, no! Not that!)

The Moral of the Story

Henry Ford said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.” He’s right, of course. But we’re making it harder than it has to be.

Maybe we refrain from thinking because we’re given so much to think about. If that’s true (I believe it is), what would happen if we didn’t think about everything we’re given to think about? Not all the information that bombards us every day is worthy of our consideration. Not all of it is worthy of believing. And most of it is worthy of questioning.

As Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote in “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”, in a much simpler day and time, “People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.”

If we take their advice, maybe stating the obvious won’t have to be the new normal.

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Can you pinpoint a time in your life when you felt justified in your actions, confident with your choices, and secure in the knowledge that no matter what, your intentions were innocent, and the outcome was just right?

When it comes to justice, we look to the system we are a part of. Yet that system also has its flaws….it sometimes renders judgement disguised as justice.

If justice means being fair, might we consider the truth is not the same for all?

To know what it means to be fair requires empathy. If you cannot understand what it’s like to be in another’s shoes…who are you to tell them what fits?

If we are committed to our belief in justice, at the same time we must define it for what it is and hold accountability not in the system, but in its cracks.

Putting Justice on Trial

Justice is not served
To those less fortunate
What’s equal if not fair
Some laws are out of date

If you are in the system
And think that you are safe
Is everyone considered
With equal rights explained

Every single thought
Holds onto some preview
Of what was pre allowed
To be presented unto you

A world that is advanced
And yet we’re still behind
Laws that don’t consider
What equal rights define

Moral justice after the fact
Do unto others what you want back
Community safety is most justified
Counterintuitive… one must survive

The capacity to suffer
Extends beyond the crime
Defending guilty parties
Imprisons freedom in the mind

Emotion tells a story
Where reason disconnects
From possibilities
Not found in legal text

History of the people
Every single race
Shows the greatest error
We judge with our own hate

If taking life is wrong
Who is innocent
Doubt divides us all
What is the right decision?

If we are free to choose
When stacked against all odds
Such privilege if not granted
You know the system’s flawed

Collectively we are
A species born to reason
Justice goes to trial
For order and peacekeeping?

Professional consultants
Select the biased jury
Decisions preordained
Unleashing public fury

Murder is a crime
Blood is on your hands
When you disqualify
All the evidence

Right or wrong conviction
Facts that are not clear
Lives hang in the balance
12 strangers, not your peers

Motion after motion
Filter through the files
Objections overruled
Money runs for miles

Core proof that is removed
By those who want to win
Know it is allowed
And argue with their sins

The soul inside all persons
Has access to the truth
When it is denied
Faith is locked up too

Conscience is awareness
Feelings deep inside
Star witness that you know
Core truth you cannot hide

Crime is cultivated
By the greedy who ignore
They turn their backs on others
Creating rules on top of wars

Humanity is lost
When fairness is not present
For justice to be blind
One needs to fix the system

The wheels of justice turn slowly
On the wrists of those in power
Corruption takes its time
Climbing up the ladder

To uphold the scales of justice
Propriety is selected
The gown and the gavel
Sit between two sides of judgement

PaulaG

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I wrote a piece recently called Western education, business and society is institutionally and systemically racist, oppressive and it’s killing us ALL — but we can reimagine it, and honestly, it is not a blog that I ever thought I would write. (please note the resources and recommendations within).

Why?Until several years ago my wholly conditioned mind had a pretty myopic focus. Keep striving for more money, more ‘success,’ more stuff, that “I will be OK when” conditioning that covers a far more dark, too rarely looked at, unsustainable, dynamic.

Never, barely ever, did I think during my first 38 years on the planet about other equally valuable humans, with families of their own in different parts of the world, those who were being moved off their land, oppressed, or worse, so that I and we get to stay in ‘perceived comfort’ in the West.

I do not judge you nor myself around this, we are just trying to get by in a deeply inequitable system that we have been brought up within and conditioned by. No shame or guilt required here please !

Now don’t get me wrong, life is bloody amazing, I am very blessed, I laugh a lot, my wife is my best friend, I am really actually happy with my lot despite the wildness that surrounds us, AND I have both the privilege and responsibility to share the realities of what is often unseen as I learn about it.

I feel that I have a fairly unique lens of operating within the belly of the beast in the global chemicals industry and having a deep passion for imagining new systems and ways of being that are truly ‘sustainable’ for all and not just the few. However, looking the other way from these inequitable realities, and they are realities, is another example of one of the cultural patterns that Tema Okun researched i.e right to comfort and once you see them, you cannot un-see them.

We should not un-see them.

It is not ‘sustainable’ to un-see them.

Capitalist CollapseI read a curious piece on medium recently where the author was espousing the amazing job that capitalism is doing to help reduce costs of renewable energy, bringing more people out of poverty, etc, and whilst by Western measures that may be the case, it is a dangerously colonial narrative that does not center those most harmed in the first place.

Let me invite you to explore my thinking and experience through another lens.

Working as I do within the global chemicals industry, over the past two years as we have navigated COVID, the upstream energy companies, oil companies and other ‘core’ manufacturers linked to those have never made so much money. (see more about this with stock market graphs and an invitation to hold paradox in my previous blog Yes, and … consciously).

Yet at the same time, in the UK alone, a so-called developed country,

Who’s narrative is this and is it sustainable?

We have a cost of living crisis, people facing £700–1000 per month increases in their mortgage rates due to recent, consentient interest rate increases, and people in the UK going to food banks to try and get by.

And at the same time as we clapped on the streets for those TRULY essential workers, those that keep society functioning and who are not as David Graber coined them, Bullshit Jobs, those with power and influence did exactly as they had always done, and they continue to do. Dominate, dodge and excuse themselves from accountability, partly by design, and partly due to invulnerability.

We have been conditioned to see these things as separate, another cultural pattern of binary thinking or either/or. Yet there is no need to raise interest rates as they are a completely made-up thing, as is money. Governments can print as little or as much as they like.

Also notice that without sharp increases in oil, energy, and manufactured good prices, all of which are intrinsically linked, there would be no need for the imaginary interest rate rises to so-called curb made-up inflation.

It is ALL made up.

These stories are not ‘sustainable.’

What is at all sustainable about any of this?When I reflect on the above state of global, and local affairs, I am increasingly curious about what the below ancient oak trees at Hethfelton House (home of the Human Development Space) would be thinking and saying after witnessing well over 100 years of so-called progress in many (Western) ways, yet degeneration in others. Yes, and…. unconsciously maybe.

As my Global South peers and some in the West would say, #SustainabilityInc, the new, shining industry of all things certification, feel-good and West-centered, is ramping up its efforts to try and drag out the capitalist collapse that is underway.

Sustainability Inc’s desire is singular, it is binary. It is to extend the life of capitalist death for as long as possible. That’s it.

Why would you say that Garry, you are so negative! Realistic yes, but not negative.

When on one hand a global extractive company can be selling the world their story of becoming a top 5%, 3%, or 1% certified ‘sustainable’ supplier of XX, on the other they are actively, let me state that again, ACTIVELY, seeking products and materials that are highly toxic, on the ‘to be banned’ list due to known carcinogenic effects, to ensure that they are continuing to ‘grow.’

The logic is deeply degenerative, “if we don’t do it, someone else will.”

Where does this stem from? Yet another cultural pattern of fear.

This isn’t sustainable.

So what is truly sustainable?* Centering those most harmed by our Western, outdated ways as we reimagine what is possible * Slowing down ‘growth’ in the West * Giving land back to those who have had it stolen from them * Giving reparations to people who have been oppressed and dominated for too long * Reimagining what we value from those of material worth to those of spiritual and community worth * Local community * Your own self-worth * Business as a force for healing (nod to B Lorraine Smith’s amazing work around materiality, an extension long beyond current ESG reporting) * The planet without us on it

Remember, this is NOT a money issue, we can print or remove as much or little as we like, money is just an agreed made-up medium of energy exchange. It could equally be grains of rice, skills, or time.

This is a WILL and POWER issue.

I have learned so much from having emerging, strengthening Global South relationships and experiences, so much of what I share in the above ‘sustainable’ section has been learned from and with the Possible Futures Crew, A Growing Culture, Amazon Frontlines, and many other activist groups who are doing the work of centering those most harmed.

A kaleidoscope of potential and opportunityThis is where I kick into super-excited mode :). We ARE waking up individually and collectively to the realities of where are with systemic, workplace, societal and capitalist collapse underway. The good thing for those that are open and willing is that WE, every single one of us, DO have agency, we DO have a choice in the moment and we DO have the ability to show up fully, as best as we can, every single day.

• The likelihood of you losing your job if you challenge or speak up is nowhere near as high as you think it is (this does not remove the impact of systemic bias etc)
• The likelihood of you being ostracised and passed over for promotion for speaking your truth is possible, but maybe the biggest gift to you?
• The likelihood of you feeling fully alive is VERY HIGH if you allow yourself to embrace difference and diversity of perspective

Let’s look together at what we are conditioned to look away from.

Let’s ask more searching questions.

Let’s self-organise across role and sector.

Let’s be fully alive together, that has to be more ‘sustainable’?

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In the United States of America, we have a participatory form of government, meaning that citizens have a voice in making our laws and policies. Ours is a representative form of democracy on a national, state, and local level called a federal republic. Any form of citizen self-government requires open discussion of issues, citizen to citizen, citizen to representative, and representative to representative.

These discussions may or may not cause people to change their positions on issues, but they can provide a deeper understanding of those issues from differing perspectives. If successful, there is at least an understanding of how and why others’ opinions may differ from mine.

To make laws, regulations, or policies, there needs to be productive debate, compromise, and even collaboration among legislators. This may sound easy enough, but the issues for which laws are made can be difficult and complex. They usually require negotiating the rights of various people. These can be things like immigration, abortion, gun ownership, pandemic regulations, taxation, and social programs. These are issues for which many citizens have deep concerns and opinions because they are, or feel they may be, directly affected by laws governing them.

To have a productive discussion, there needs to be a sense of equality and even unity. We can start with what we have in common. We both care about a problem, even if we have different opinions about how to solve it.

We’re both citizens of this country and want what’s best for the country. We respect each other; therefore, we want to know more about each other’s perspectives. We will learn things from each other and possibly find ways to compromise so we each get perhaps most of what we want. Whether we get what we want or not, we’ll continue to respect each other and our right to our own opinions. In a word, this is civility.

Civility is powerful. It’s not just being polite. It’s finding ways to connect with other people. It’s understanding other people have something of value to say, even if I don’t agree with it. I’ll consider what they have to say because I expect they’ll consider what I have to say. Civility is not easy, especially if one is passionate about the issues being discussed. It’s much easier to dismiss opinions different from our own, but that behavior can deadlock a discussion, a community, a state, and a country. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to listen to each other and to do the hard work of self-government.

Can you imagine how engaging, enlightening, and productive a town hall meeting, a school board meeting, or a debate in Congress would be if everyone were civil? I think our founders did.

Our founders set our democratic experiment in motion in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. It seems we’re failing to achieve their aspirations. We have two major political parties that, along with the news media, social media companies, and ourselves, have turned the important business of self-rule into sports entertainment.

Each of the political parties has developed opposing extreme platforms, with no desire to compromise, collaborate, or solve problems. The parties only endorse and fund candidates who adopt their platforms. The parties aren’t interested in helping candidates find ways to solve problems for the country. They’re interested in attracting donors and voters to their ideologies.

The news media are funded by advertising, and advertising is supported by viewership. To attract viewers, the news media sensationalize everything, including the important business of running our country. They use headlines and short clips taken out of context to get our attention 24 hours a day, regardless of the newsworthiness of their reporting.

The news media have abandoned objective reporting, by choice. To attract and retain an audience, the various news media outlets have divided up the American people by political ideology. So now, rather than getting unbiased news with which to form your own opinion, you must decide through which of the ideological lenses you want to receive the news.

Social media companies are also funded by advertising, but they’re even more culpable than the traditional news outlets. The traditional media attempt to adhere to some form of truth and integrity, even if biased. Social media companies provide a platform to allow anyone to report anything they want, regardless of truthfulness. Worse yet, these companies have developed algorithms that — based on what one posts and reads — recommend similar content and subscribers. The result is worldwide echo chambers in which like-minded people reinforce their own opinions, regardless of truth.

There is also sinister misuse of social media by foreign actors to destabilize our country. By representing themselves as US citizens concerned about the well-being of our country, they post false content with the specific intent to undermine our government and cause hysteria.

Lastly, there are the American people (including members of Congress) who accept all this sensationalized, biased, and false information without questioning its validity and react without civility. We call each other names. We vilify anyone with a different opinion. We attack and retreat into our self-selected echo chambers to rearm ourselves for the next attack.

Where I live in northeastern Connecticut, there is a crumbling foundation problem. The foundations of a significant portion of the single-family homes, condominiums, and apartments built in the early 1980s are falling apart. Some of these structures are literally caving in on themselves. A particular quarry from which stone was used to make concrete contained a mineral called pyrrhotite. When pyrrhotite is exposed to oxygen and water, it reacts with the other minerals in concrete. After 20 to 30 years, the concrete disintegrates. The only fix to save the structure is to lift the building off its foundation, remove the old concrete, and install a new concrete foundation.

Our lack of civility is pyrrhotite to our country. Ben Franklin probably couldn’t have imagined social media or maybe even pyrrhotite in concrete, but I believe it was our potential lack of civility to which he was referring when he said, “You have a republic, if you can keep it.”

Let’s go about keeping it. The only fix to save our country is to reinstall civility in our foundation.

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Only love can stop hatred, it is an ancient law.

• One category of the web that has the audacity as much as the presumption to look inside, not inside themselves, but inside us, is the so-called category of haters, i.e. serial haters, the detractors, those who dismantle your persona in public, with a few, precise, words planted like swords inside your chest.
• Haters, especially Facebook haters, do not limit themselves to exerting their uncontested, gratuitous hatred towards celebrities, so to speak, but they do so randomly, almost at random, motivated solely by their innermost frustrations, the ones they would never tell anyone about, in order to avoid public recognition of their weaknesses and, why not, let me tell you, their pettiness.
• The infinite universe of the Web also never ceases to amaze us because of certain ‘special presences’ that it encompasses. Among these, we discover the ‘haters’ or ‘haters’ or ‘professional provocateurs’.
• Haters are like crickets. Crickets make a lot of noise, you can hear them but you cannot see them, and when you pass by them, they become silent.
• To understand the phenomenon of haters you have to understand who you are dealing with. These are men and women from all walks of life and with the most varied jobs who form a people within a people and who are turning social networks into a place of hatred rather than a free exchange of ideas.
• The supposed anonymity granted by the internet in this global square where everyone feels entitled to talk about everything has triggered what is turning into a social emergency that needs to be addressed.
• What, according to many observers, escapes the average hater is that behind the insulting profile there is a flesh and blood human being, a person with a real life, a real family, real friends, and dignity.
• Regulating the phenomenon by punishing the perpetrators of social hatred is not easy. You would need global laws that are difficult to enforce since, depending on the latitude, an insult can be more or less heavy and therefore the crime more difficult to establish.
• Haters only hate the things they cannot have and the people they cannot be. It is just a little thing called jealousy.

Hatred has caused many problems in the world but has not yet solved one of them. The insult, even before scratching our identity, soils the beauty of the world.

• Instead of evaporating, hatred finds folds in which to rage: written expression.
• Hatred comes from the heart, contempt from the head. And neither feeling is often under our control.
• People will love you. People will hate you. And none of it will have anything to do with you.

…If this is your way of loving, please hate me…

Your comments are much appreciated.

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The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have described the effect as “a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus.” The most prominent common aspects of personally experiencing the Earth from space are appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and a heightened sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole.

I do not believe space travel would change much about the way we treat our planet because the people at the helm, those who call the shots, could not care less. In April, António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, stated his opinion about such people in the most undiplomatic terms: “Some governments and business leaders are saying one thing but doing another. Simply put, they are lying.”

Michael Collins, a crew member on the Apollo 11 spacecraft (1969), said that “the thing that really surprised me was that it [Earth] projected an air of fragility. And why, I don’t know. I don’t know to this day. I had a feeling it’s tiny, it’s shiny, it’s beautiful, it’s home, and it’s fragile.” Edgar Mitchell, who was aboard Apollo 14 (1971), recalled, “You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a …’”

A student of mine asked me about the overview effect and suggested that space tourism might make people feel more connected to the Earth and to each other.

I can see why a trip to outer space and a view of the world from there would make one aware of the fragility of our (not so big) blue marble, and how we are all dependent on each other. From out there, it is easy to see that we are all breathing the same air, feeding on the same soil, and drinking the same water.

Still, I do not believe space travel would change much about the way we treat our planet because the people at the helm, those who call the shots, could not care less. In April, António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, stated his opinion about such people in the most undiplomatic terms: “Some governments and business leaders are saying one thing but doing another. Simply put, they are lying.”

When you read this, you feel like taking politicians out to space, making them look down on Earth, as Edgar Mitchell suggested, and leaving them there to float until they change. But seriously, I do not think they will change, or even that they can.

Politicians care about one thing only: control. They cannot see or feel anything else. As long as they are alive, they want to be on top, and nothing else matters to them.

What can we do about it? I am not really sure. However, if enough people change their perception of life and realize that solidarity and mutual concern are more important than pride and power, perhaps politicians will change their views, as well. I do not think that they will change from within, but they just might realize that in order to stay at the helm, they must endorse such values as concern for others and compassion rather than vanity and self-absorption. In conclusion, we need a thorough educational process so we become not only human beings, but humane beings.

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We hear about youth problems as separate issues, which include bullying, child abuse, neglect, runaways, drugs, gangs, sex trafficking, gun violence, mental health, and suicide. These issues are critical, but we need to focus on the two primary solutions that can help heal and solve all of these problems.

Children from abused and neglected homes often experience a spiritual crisis from the adults who should protect them. They experience loneliness, sadness, anger, frustration, and social isolation and may blame themselves, turn to self-destructive behaviors or become violent. Many children don’t know how to protect themselves from pain and anger!

Children from abused and neglected homes lack support. They may struggle to have friends and become victims of bullies with nasty texts from classmates. They blame themselves and feel nobody cares! They look for love and support in the wrong places, such as “friends” on the internet, and find “groomers” who express kindness but have ulterior motives.

Here are the facts about the plight of children.

• Abuse/Neglect – 1 in 7 children victims at the cost of $220 million a DAY (CDC)
• Runaways – Between 1.6 million and 2.8 million runaways. (National
  Runaway Safeline)
• Gangs – Over 20,000 gangs with over one million members (National Drug
  Intelligence Center)
• Sex Trafficking – 4.8 million trapped in forced sex slavery (Center
  Missing/Exploited Children)
• Youth Drug Abuse – 2.08 million youth from 12 to 17 years (National
  Center Drug Abuse)
• Gun Violence – 45,000 died in 2020, and this continues to increase
  (Giffords Law Center)
• Self-harm, age 10 to 24 – 157,000, emergency, self-inflicted injuries
  -(Academy of Pediatrics)
• Suicide – Leading cause of death – 45,979 in U.S. (National Institute
  of Mental Health)

The American Rescue Plan Act passed in 2021, including $170 billion for school funding to hire mental health workers, including psychologists.

Vulnerable children are manipulated by evil people who groom, sell, exploit, bully, and even kill them for money. However, we can empower children and, in the process, heal ourselves. In a free society, citizens must work together to create change.

Here are two solutions that can strengthen and protect families, especially children.

• We need a spiritual awakening that can give children a foundation with values to help them understand their inner power. There are 350,000 churches, and many other religions in the U.S. Children are born with instincts to protect them, intuition to evaluate good and bad situations, insights to see what isn’t said, and a self-protective conscience to keep them safe. Every child has the power to survive difficult times. Religious leaders must speak up to help families look within to discover self-love and connect with people who care. Children need love and support to know they are not alone and to grow strong from within. Be Aware: Some church leaders manipulate followers. Know the difference between a church that empowers its congregation and a church that controls its congregation.
• Americans must focus on neighborhood support. Smaller communities have less crime, juvenile delinquency, and violence because people know and care about each other. During COVID, we saw how social isolation negatively affected school children. Together we can reduce the negative effect on families due to socially isolated neighbors. Every city leader needs to consider hiring and training “Neighborhood Safety Experts” who look like and speak the language of the community to bring neighbors together. Restoring neighborhood support gives people hope as they build trust with caring neighbors. Neighborhood support
  offers families the community support to survive and thrive as involved adults plan a get-together, clean up the neighborhood, Block Party, plan activities for youth or plant a garden. Activities and involvement create a check and balance on negative teen behavior.

It will be “we the people” who decide what our cities will look like in the future. With the support of the local government and police, we can come together to create the human protection for American youth that every child deserves. It will be up to Americans to engage with each other to help create safe, healthy homes and neighborhoods. We can heal ourselves as we come together to heal and empower youth. Americans will grow stronger, and families will thrive!

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Climate change is advancing inexorably, making living conditions in vast areas of the planet increasingly difficult – sometimes impossible. As if that weren’t enough, the countries most exposed to natural disasters and famines are also the least stable politically and socially. As a result, their citizens may soon have no choice but to abandon the homes they grew up in to seek a better future elsewhere. Creating, as has been estimated by experts, an immense migratory flow that could reach 1.2 billion people by 2050, with all the burden of human suffering and international tensions that this entails.

Today the characteristic of migratory flows is mainly conditioned by the increase in expulsion factors: poverty and misery, the loss of the resources necessary to live, political repression, religious persecution, homophobia, exploitation and new forms of slavery, wars, terrorism, climate change, desertification or flooding.

The migratory flow takes on ever-increasing dimensions, depopulating countries, and villages, or entire regions and states. The alarm is justified and it is a duty to guarantee assistance and protection to those who flee and ask for help, but this duty also includes acting on the factors of expulsion/attraction, otherwise, if the causes are not eliminated, the alarm becomes chronic, it spreads and grows until it explodes.

Some territories severely tested by wars, internal unrest and institutional instability, in all likelihood will not be able to deploy the resilience necessary to face extreme environmental conditions. This group of countries is already trapped in a vicious circle where competition for scarce resources creates conflict, and conflicts lead to further resource depletion. The consequence is that 1.2 billion people could find themselves forced to emigrate elsewhere to ensure decent living conditions.

All this will have a considerable social and political impact not only on developing countries but also on industrialized ones, given that mass movements will increase migratory flows towards richer states.

Security policies and rejections, do nothing but raise the price of the trip, increase the risks, suffering, and violence, and leave those who flee and those who ask for protection in the hands of those who trade in human beings, inside and outside our borders, opening a highway to the market of illegality, corruption, human trafficking, new forms of slavery that negatively affect every area and place of our society.

We can then say that the question concerns the collective consciousness: immigration is an international question, in deeds rather than in words and intentions, and it forces everyone to commit to resolving it. The walls, the barbed wire, and the fortified borders are not only inhumane, but they are also useless. The course of history cannot be stopped but it can certainly be governed, and governing, in this case, means precisely starting to reduce inequalities and injustices, social and climatic imbalances, ensuring that every person, at every latitude, can live a free and dignified life: work, live, have guaranteed education and health care. Only in this way can migration be contained within physiological limits, stop being a desperate mass exodus that no wall or law can ever stop. To govern global phenomena, global responses are needed,

The question, of course, is complex. For example, addressing the issue of migration starting from the daily news, although it is essential, given the many emergencies that follow one another, the landings, the rescue at sea, and the mass exodus from wars or floods, does not allow for an overall vision. and deep of the phenomenon and therefore, with difficulty, overwhelmed by these emergencies, we will be able to identify answers capable of changing the course of events.

It is, therefore, necessary to make a further effort, framing the migratory phenomenon in its entirety, considering it part of our life experience and an integral part of our future project, maturing the awareness that peace, well-being, and security will greatly depend on how we will be able to defeat the factors of expulsion and attraction that force millions of people to flee their homes.

The tools, the knowledge, and the rules to take the right path are already at our disposal. For over a century, first with the League of Nations, then with the birth of the United Nations Organization, an international regulatory system has been created based on the repudiation of wars, on peace, and on universal human rights, which represent the foundations of government. of the planet, the fruit of the will of states and nations. We, therefore, have an articulated set of rules, agreements, treaties, and conventions in order to be able to apply the principles and values of equality, freedom, justice, and the universality of human rights.

We must overcome resistance, fears, selfishness, and partisan interests, responding to sovereignists and nationalisms by relaunching multilateralism and the cession of national sovereignty in favor of regional to global integration, giving rise to a profound reform of the model of development to make it sustainable and at the service of the needs of the whole of humanity, reformulating economic and commercial policies according to the reduction of inequalities and the growth of cooperation and solidarity.

It is up to all of us, in this time stingy in hospitality, to recognize in the face of migrants that of millions of “poor Christs” in need of hospitality and humanity, and to build with them and starting from them a more just future, where every person is welcomed and recognized in its dignity and where the hopes are, no longer the fears, the engine of our choices and our actions.

The migration issue thus tackled, in its entirety, with a systemic and universal vision, an integral part of the experience of the human family, will allow us to live with an orderly, regular, safe migration, but above all as a free choice and no longer as an escape.

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In case you missed the memo, kids, we’re in deep kimchi.

That’s right. According to this measured and highly objective headline in that paragon of levelheadedness and evenhandedness, The Washington Post, “World has nine years to avert catastrophic warming, study shows.” See what I mean? We’re on the brink of an apocalyptic something or other, but it’s not the same apocalyptic something or other that a varied assortment of fatalistic cranks and superstitious crackpots have been predicting since God invented dirt.

What’s most amusing about this story is that the cranks and crackpots in question can’t even manage to agree with each other:

Yet even as scientists warn of the world’s dangerous trajectory, leaders here at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, [in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt] have advocated for natural gas as a “transition fuel” that would ease the world’s switch from fossil energy to renewables … This rhetoric has alarmed scientists and activists who say expanding natural gas production could harm vulnerable communities and push the planet toward a hotter, hellish future.

Harm vulnerable communities? What about the communities that will freeze this winter for lack of fossil fuels? What about the communities that already live in abject poverty and don’t have the means to erect wind turbines and install solar panels to keep themselves in the good graces of COP27? What about the communities of electric vehicle drivers who have no idea how the electricity with which they charge their cars is generated? What about the communities of settled scientists who’ll be talking like some combination of Ralph Kramden and Porky Pig when their fraud is exposed? And what generates more hot air, the attendees of COP27 or the private jets they flew in on?

Good grief.

WTF, Batman?

I’m hoping I can get to Sharm El Sheik by Friday because I have an idea to present to the cranks and crackpots variedly assembled there. Here it is: If they’re all so positive carbon emissions are the cause of climate change — particularly the warming in which so many people around the world are going to freeze to death in their respective winters (to say nothing of the mold that will grow and poison them in their unheated homes) — why don’t we use carbon emissions for heat?

And you can call this a coincidence, an accident, or serendipity if you like. But it just so happens I’m working on an affordable PCE (portable carbon emitter) as we speak … well … write. In fact, I’m so sure this will work, I’m going to donate a free PCE, with free installation, to every member of the IPCC. And because I’m the kind of guy I am, I’m going to donate three PCEs to Dr. Michael E. Mann — one for his main residence, one for his office at Penn State, and the other to heat the hot tub at his vacation getaway in Antarctica.

I’m being so generous to Dr. Mann because he developed the famous Hockey Stick Theory which predicted the precipitous uptick in global … oh, shit:

This improper normalization procedure [the hockey stick program] tends to emphasize any data that do have the hockey stick shape, and to suppress all data that do not. To demonstrate this effect, McIntyre and McKitrick created some meaningless test data that had, on average, no trends. This method of generating random data is called Monte Carlo analysis, after the famous casino, and it is widely used in statistical analysis to test procedures. When McIntyre and McKitrick fed these random data into the Mann procedure, out popped a hockey stick shape … the hockey stick, the poster-child of the global warming community, turns out to be an artifact of poor mathematics.

Well. Ya can’t win ‘em all. But you sure as hell can buffalo most of ‘em. That’s why trillions of dollars will be squandered and the standards of living for billions of people will be reduced, all in the ostensible effort to stop climate change that’s been predicted by flawed models and allegedly settled science.

And that’s exactly why the fat cats at Sharm El Sheik are squabbling about nothing — on our dime and at our greater expense — to feel good and to look good in photo ops.

Say, “Cheese!” And if you believe in net zero, pray you’re not on Candid Camera.

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An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. (George Eliot, nee Mary Ann Evans)

Here in Connecticut — the Nutmeg State, the Land of Steady Habits, the Constitution State, the Provisions State, the Blue Law State, the Freestone, and Brownstone State, the Land of the Uptight Pilgrim, the State with More Nicknames Than You Can Shake a Stick At, and the Bring Your Checkbook State — I happened to watch a gubernatorial debate last Tuesday evening. The candidates are the incumbent, Democrat Uncle Ned “Promise ‘Em an Elevator and Give ‘Em the Shaft” Lamont; the independent, Rob “I’m the Operations Guy” Hotaling; and the Republican, Bob “Stop the Bleeding” Stefanowski.

The debate was covered by the local ABC affiliate, WTHN-TV, out of New Haven, along with its sister station, WCTX-TV. If you want to know how important the debate was, check this out: It preempted Jeopardy on WTNH-TV and Judge Judy on WCTX-TV. In a land of habits as steady as Connecticut’s, that, as then-Vice-President Joe Biden said of Obamacare’s passing, was a big f*$@#!& deal.

It was also an absolute joke. It was a joke because the majority of Connecticut voters, perennial gluttons for punishment, will do what the majority of Connecticut voters always do: They’ll fall for the most popular, most absurd, most transparently false narratives. They’ll re-elect the guy who promises the most, spends the most, and changes the status quo the least. They’ll pucker up and buckle down to ensure the pain of staying the same and hemorrhaging cash will never, ever, exceed their fear of change.

On the positive side, one thing you have to say about Connecticut residents is that they never complain. They complain so little it’s easy to overlook the fact that they don’t complain because they just don’t care. They’ll let the state and its government bleed cash, jobs, residents, opportunity, truth, and credibility. And they’ll go about their business (if they have a business left to go about) as if nothing in the world is wrong, as if they jettisoned their conceptions of right and wrong — and their ability to do simple math — when they abandoned their faith in their own senses.

And if you think Uncle Ned is delusional (he is), take a look at Uncle Sam.

But what am I beefing about? It’s only money.

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A society without a moral foundation will fail. Agree or disagree? Let’s look at the facts. Has crime and violence become acceptable as city leaders ignore looting stores and smashing windows to get “free” merchandise? Why are so many Americans taking drugs, shooting each other, and becoming violent? Why are city leaders allowing drugs and illegals to pour over our southern border as 107,000 people die from Fentanyl? How do you feel about police being gunned down in record numbers by criminals?

Do you think politicians are wise, truthful, and have your family’s best interest at heart? Why are they failing to have consequences for criminal behavior? What changed our values from empowering our inner spirit into a drug culture where thousands of Americans can’t cope and live on our streets?

Politicians and city leaders say racism, guns, and corporate greed are the issues and never mention the family breakdown or the plight of abused or neglected children who are sex trafficked, joining gangs, killing, and committing suicide in record numbers.

Did we raise children who are now parents to worship money and forget to focus on family support and the importance of teaching the 3C’s, Courage, Character, and a self-protective Conscience?

In my home, three children experienced alcoholism, anger, violence, and divorce. At age fifteen, my mother and her boyfriend abandoned me in Mexico City, and I didn’t speak the language. It almost killed me! Where do you turn when you have no one who cares? I remember my grandmother saying, “If you have a problem, ask God for help.” That is what I did, and I survived with a mission to help strengthen families.

You don’t need a church to ask for God’s help! Anyone can turn to their inner power to discover help and solutions. Churches and Synagogues support families and talk about the power of love.

Here is one man, and I have met many drug addicts and homeless people
who found their solution to freedom.

Will we remain a free America? Where should we turn during trying times to find answers? Should we turn to politicians, government, and city leaders or seek a higher power (God) who offers hope with the ability to strengthen family support and make life worth living? You decide!

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1. We can choose.Is the world beautiful or is it ugly? Is reality fair or is it unfair? Well, it is ugly, in the sense that we know that innocent children die in excruciating torment, good people are punished, bad people are rewarded – the world is unfair because 90% of humanity lives on 10% of the resources – the thieves get rich and the honest become poor and so on and so forth.

The question is:

“If the world were just and perfect, would we be free? If I came from a good god, as well as severe, and were immediately rewarded for all my good deeds and condemned to all my bad deeds, would I be free?”

“If that were the case, would we perhaps be humans or would we be puppets in an extra-human Matrix ruled by a banal god?”

This is why freedom is a concept that has profoundly to do with the fact that the world is messed up. Disorder is more likely than order. Inexorably. Nature tends to disorder not only in thermodynamic systems, but also in human behavior. But in human beings, there is something that changes the game entirely: an ordering principle, if only because conscience cannot ignore the theme of freedom for the good. So, systematically being a total scumbag and kicking people and the world is a choice, as well as it is a choice if you try to use your brain to figure out the world and people without getting crazy, possibly.

1. Poor wretches and gods.Have you ever seen a Slum from the inside? I mean, a deprived area on the outskirts of a megacity with shanty dwellings as far as the eye can see?

Don’t worry – I don’t want to talk about inequality and poverty. I’m just trying to introduce another subject. So please let me talk.

Have you ever been there? I mean, in a Slum? Trust me, it’s not a pretty sight. You know, It never occurred to me to travel for social tourism – but I am someone who wants to see for myself. I am someone who wants to understand. And that’s how I learned what a Slum is – I saw it with my own eyes. I know megacities where inequality is enormous. Rich, protected neighborhoods and very poor suburbs. Millions of homeless people or so-called “squatters” who live on the street in makeshift shacks made of tin and mud. Places without even the minimum hygienic conditions, without water, and very often without electricity. Places where poverty is always on the rise. The poor people who want to leave the rural areas and move to the big city to look for a job, do you know what they do? They camp under bridges, in the marshes, often near the sewage, and almost everywhere.

A Hell.

You see, there are several of these “hells” – they are all over the world, my understanding is that there are several hundred million of people living under these conditions – They are the outcasts of nowadays societies. Including the western societies and maybe even more in the western societies. However, those faces are always smiling – weird, isn’t it?

Then … oh well … then there are the opposites: the gods – or better, those who clearly have the God complex – those who in reality have so many cognitive biases that their hypotheses are just ideologies, which are light years away from the facts. They are those who no matter how complicated the problem, they have an absolutely overwhelming belief that they are infallibly right in their solution. They are those who want to tell everyone globally how to lead their lives. They are those who really believe they are gifted with the divine flame of the knowledge of what’s better and what’s worse for mankind. If you notice, you often see an unsettling smile on their faces.

Anyway, these are just my impressions – opinions are my own.

Now as I was saying about gods of the era we live in – one of these gods, in my view, is the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. If it were for the person itself, it wouldn’t matter to me, he would not exist at all in the scenario of my life, with all due respect to him and my best wishes for his life. Of course, my opinions are never meant personally – they are only directed at what he does since he is a public figure. Sadly though, what he and his dear friends are doing can affect the lives of all – and as you have surely realized I am not the right man to do as the Titanic orchestra, which continued to play until the end as if nothing was happening, as the ship was sinking. I’ve read what he writes and I had to ask myself: “But do I really want to live in a two-tiered global society ruled by a few? Do I want this for my children and theirs?

Hell, no!

So call me suspicious but in my mind no mere coincidence that the head of the WEF who’s the creator and writer of the so-called “Great Reset”, addressing the youth a while ago said: “Waves of lockdowns and stresses, of finding work or returning to workplaces, have even amplified the existential and often silent mental health crisis … So, what should you do?… You are calling for the international community to safeguard vaccine equity, to respond to Covid-19, and prevent future health crises – And gently shaking his clenched octogenarian hand, leans in: ‘’Nobody will be safe unless everybody is vaccinated’’.

Honestly, how am I supposed to believe anything this man says??? I mean, especially with all the things that have been revealed after they started to blow the lid off.

You see, I am not affected by “banal practicality”, sheer conformity, or fear of going against the grain – and I’m not even one who cooks all the time the soppy sauce of “nothing but beauty” at all costs. I always celebrated what is beautiful in life, I always tried to inspire people to look at the bright side of life – I love to laugh and make other people laugh – but if we constantly say that everything is wonderful – we end up ignoring reality, we turn away so as not to have to look at the things as they are – but it’s understandable. The number of so many bizarre things (to put it mildly) that happen in the world is so shocking and spectacular that we deliberately ignore reality, without asking too many questions, either to ourselves or to others. It’s an efficient mental self-defense system. But if you don’t ask questions, you learn nothing.

I understand the arguments of others – but I’m not a prisoner of the concept of not needlessly confronting whoever one is beholden to, who pays one’s salary, who one depends on for position, for professional accreditation, etc. I am absolutely out of this – I’m not blackmailable because I have no one to please but myself.

I say what I think – and I’m sorry but frankly, all I see in the WEF executive chairman’s behavior, is a sort of two-faced attitude – I read words that seem to come from Emmanuel Lévinas (French philosopher 1906 – 1995) who said that when man meets the “other”, his nature can only inexorably force him to take responsibility for the other’s existence – and at the same time words that seem to come from the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre (French philosopher 1905 – 1980) who said: “hell is other people” ‘- that in a nutshell sums up the French post-war existentialist thinking, nihilistic, pessimistic and materialist.

1. Am I missing something, or something doesn’t add up?This gentleman argues that the dominant social and economic paradigm after World War II, in crisis for some decades, has now reached the point of no return. Only the conversion from shareholder capitalism to the stakeholder capitalism of the 21st century will allow “capitalist societies to survive and thrive in the current era, characterized by climate change, globalization and digitalization”. The proposed “solution”, however, seems precisely an ideology rather than a solution – and in my view, goes in the opposite direction to the desirable one, further aggravating the evils that it is supposed to cure.

However, I did some digging – and it is not that simple, and here is why. In his recent book “Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet”, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) says that the current social, economic and political model is over. According to the WEF leader, the first signs of this crisis were already evident in the 1970s, starting with the 1972′ Meadows Report which identified the limits of development in excessive growth of the population with respect to available resources.

The documents and programs of the last half-century, materialized in the various UN Conferences focused on the so-called “sustainable development” – from the Brundtland Report of the “World Commission on Environment and Development” (WCED) of 1987 in which the notion of “sustainability” came up for the first time – to the “Paris Agreement” on climate that took place in 2015 up to the approval of the “UN Agenda 2030”, in which “17 Sustainable Development Goals” are defined.

Well, in my view, within this document is clearly recommended a kind of neo-Malthusian system as the most effective vision, to be implemented, in order to manage the world, in which the initial focus on the inadequacy of resources and the economic growth model gradually shifted to the alleged negative effects of human being on the environment. What does “neo-Malthusian” mean? Mind you, please, this step is not trivial since it carries the key to everything.

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 – 1834) was a British economist – according to him, the main cause of misery is the fact that the population tends to increase faster than the means of subsistence. In particular, while the population tends to increase in geometric progression, the means of subsistence tend to increase in arithmetic progression. However, population growth can be delayed by repressive restraints such as wars, epidemics, and famines or preventive restraints such as moral restraint. The latter, to which Malthus exhorts all men and especially the poor, consists in a voluntary limitation of births through abstention from marriage. Malthus, therefore, proposes to adopt all measures to discourage the birth rate and to abolish the “law on the poor”, since charity is an incentive to increase the population.

In 1996, two scholars, Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees introduced the hypothesis of the so-called “ecological footprint”, which would measure the negative impact of man on the Earth by means of a complex indicator periodically updated by the WWF starting from 1999.

Well, no need to beat around the bush – for the obsessive “green” ideology dominant today, the population is undoubtedly considered the main threat to the very “health” of the planet, down to the smallest details, even beyond the usual theme of the alleged imbalances between population growth and available resources. A spontaneous question arises at this point, or maybe more than one: “So what do we do?” We all leave, to go where? Or do we all become like obedient robots or let’s kill entire populations? What should we do?

The inconvenient truth is that the concept of “sustainability” clearly refers to a cultural frame that comes from far away, hostile to life and the natural family, even if, obviously, not everyone is aware of it.

I’m not religious, but I can’t help but notice what Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” said – he never spoke of “sustainable development” that I remember, but of “integral human development” which, after all, is in my view, the only truly “sustainable” development, even on a material level.

All too often we forget that development is always a human development eventually, therefore also integral. That’s why today the social question has radically become an anthropological question – for this reason, in the face of concrete man and his problems, ideologies and abstract concepts of any political color take a back seat – in fact, the problem is not only liberalism, socialism, ecologism, capitalism, but the question relating to the truth about us humans in order not to fall into empirical, pragmatic and dystopian visions that are completely detached from human values and above all from human essence. I personally think that only integral human development means progress.

We can talk for years about who’s to blame for all this – but my impression is that we have thrown common sense in the trash and that’s why we have now people nuttier than a fruitcake who speak about terrifying theories and want to impose them, like it’s the most normal thing in the world. We are to blame for allowing this culture to exist.

Anyway – let’s move forward. My opinions make no difference.

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A lot of people with whom I am connected on social media think of me as an angry guy. And some of them wonder where all this anger comes from.

Fact of the matter is that I’m not really an angry guy. I just play one on social media. It’s kind of become my brand. Pissed off Jim. He hates just about everything.

Being an angry guy, even if it’s just for an hour or two a day on social media is actually something that has been helpful to me emotionally.

A lot of people out there are angrier than I am, but they simply are not lucky enough to have a benign way of releasing that anger, and so they end up either imploding or exploding. Neither one produces a constructive result, These are people whose anger leads them around on a leash and causes them to do all kinds of strange shit. From storming the capital of their country demanding who knows what right on up to getting themselves a gun and going on a shooting rampage.

We all have a certain amount of anger that dwells within us. This is mainly because so many of us are exposed to so much bullsh#t that it makes us angry that finding the truth is such hard work.

Many of us are angry because we have ended up in league with other people who are angry themselves, or other people who get a certain sadistic pleasure out of inciting anger in others.

People are also angry because, for a myriad of reasons, their life has not turned out the way they always dreamed it would. Either because they have not worked hard enough at it, or they had some sort of setback or disadvantage that kept their dream from coming true.

Still, others are angry simply because rage is how they express themselves and they haven’t figured out a way to channel that rage into something constructive.

There are a whole lot more reasons for anger in people. But mostly they have to do with the environment in which they find themselves.

If you grow up in an environment where a lot of people are angry all the time, you can easily end up believing that angry is normal. And maybe that’s the worst kind of anger there is, because it’s the hardest to correct.

Having said all that, I really don’t believe I fit into any of those categories. My anger is a little more along the lines of hyper-intense bewilderment at the levels of stupidity I see all around me all the time.

When you grow up in the world of advertising, you get a pretty good look at society on many levels, and you see that a lot of people are just really not all that bright.

The paradox is that the world you live in and the people surrounding you are all bright, all clever, and actually having a very good time of it here on earth. So you’re constantly dealing with a bewilderment of your own.

But my anger is not directed at the people who are not all that bright. No, it’s directed at the individuals and governments, and media that are deliberately spoon-feeding these people bits and pieces of ‘cult of personality’ jive. Who are controlling them to keep them satisfied with less, and then taking more and more from them.

We see this most clearly in a country like the United States which is structured so that a relative few super-rich people control all the media, the corporations, and the political processes to maximize business profitability at the expense of the workers who are actually building wealth for them.

They create fear in these people and that fear makes them timid and afraid to really stand up for themselves for fear of being fired and eventually losing everything.

My anger really comes out of empathy for these people and the situation they find themselves in. But this anger and rage is directed at the oppressors, whose greed and avarice are off the charts, and whose concern for the people who work for them and their ability to have any sort of life is virtually non-existent.

You could argue that it’s always kind of been this way, and technically you’d be right. But on the other side of the coin, there has never really been the level of disparity between the wealthy and the rest in that country and in many others as well.

I may very well be shouting into an empty cave when I criticize the people who make me angry. But there’s also a certain amount of stress relief that you get from venting. Because anger, as many of us know, is one of those things that can build up and cause all kinds of both physical and psychological damage, which, of course, I prefer to avoid at all costs.

So to sum up. Not an angry guy. But I have anger. See disparity all around me and that’s what makes me angry. Don’t like to see so many people living in a state of fear. Know who causes that state of fear and why they do it. Angry at them. And use the venting of anger to keep myself healthy. Not an angry guy. Honest.

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My wife teaches special education at a St. Louis County middle school. A close family friend taught at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School until a few years ago, when he was transferred. Both of them have committed their careers to giving young people the support they need to succeed in a world that is increasingly unpredictable, unfathomable, and unsafe.

There was a time when the opportunity of a magnet school specializing in visual, musical, and performing arts was little more than fantasy. The district website says the school’s “educational program is designed to cre­ate a nurturing environment where students receive a quality academic and artistic education that prepares them to compete successfully at the post-secondary level or perform competently in the world of work.”

That’s what school should be. Never a place of random, malevolent violence. Never a place where students’ lives are threatened, where teachers are targeted, where children become victims of the growing insanity that plagues our society.

Yet as much as these stories horrify us, they no longer shock us. We’ve read the same headlines too many times. We expect to read them again.

The apple and the treeWe’re also no longer shocked by the behavior of our leaders — the lies they tell, the language they use, their attacks on one another, their unwillingness to seek common ground or moderate their positions, their failure to take responsibility for their personal scandals, or their administrative malfeasance.

Theirs is a world of verbal violence and mayhem. And yet we keep voting them into office, offering the same excuse that there’s no one better to vote for. So whom do we have to blame?

Isn’t it likely that we’ve created the culture of violence for which our children are paying the price? Isn’t it self-evident that the more tribalized we become, the more tribal we behave?

With extremists having taken over our political culture, is it not inevitable that extremism would seep into our society, metastasizing from rhetoric and policy into assault rifles and tactical weaponry? The right blames the left, the left blames the right, and the rational middle is vilified by one side or both if every time it calls out for rational discourse or principled compromise.

The sages teach that silence is the same as acceptance. Again, whom do we have to blame?

When mainstream voices reclaim the narrative, then there’s a chance we can reclaim a culture of sanity and safety. But it won’t be easy. We’ve created a system designed to sabotage our best efforts, a hydra of algorithms bred to appeal to our lesser angels and exploit our baser instincts. Only by cultivating the ethical discipline to resist the lure of extremism and groupthink can we take back control of our thoughts, our ideas, our words, our actions, and our lives. If not for ourselves, at least for our children.

The only way forwardSo where can we turn for information and outlooks that are objective and honest, that don’t pander to viewers of a certain ilk or advertisers who pay for ratings? Start by listening in to critics who speak out against their own political allies. On the left, you might follow Jon McWhorter, Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Doyle, and Bill Maher. On the right, George Hawley, Liz Cheney, Jonah Goldberg, and David French.

Don’t listen to the people who tell you what you want to hear. Listen to the people who make you uncomfortable because they’re making sense.

Intellectual integrity requires listening to and trying to understand those who thoughtfully and articulately criticize your most closely-held beliefs. If you can’t easily refute their arguments, that’s a good sign you need to reexamine your own. And even if you can respond cogently, the process of dialogue and debate will humanize those on the other side, generate mutual respect, and lead to mutually palatable solutions.

The smorgasbord of ideas might not taste as sweet as ideological Kool-Aid. But it is far more nutritious for the mind and for the soul. Indeed, it will provide strength for the body politic to resist the descent into chaos, even as we find ourselves staring down into the abyss.

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I’ve been having trouble with the notion of authenticity for quite some time.

My first challenge is one of definition. According to dictionary.com, authentic, whence derives authenticity, is defined like this:

adjective:

1. not false or copied; genuine
2. having an origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified
3. representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself or to the person identified:
4. entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy

In that definition, numbers 2 and 4 are subjective; that is, given the fact that we no longer believe in or practice empiricism (because we no longer trust our senses or accept the fact that if it looks, walks, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck), there are no more objective notions of right and wrong. There is only relativity, as determined by one’s ideology, disposition, interpretations, political leanings, or special interests.

My second challenge is one of context. In the definition above, number 3 has the potential to be highly problematic: If I work in a context in which my ideology, disposition, interpretations, political leanings, or special interests differ from the proverbial party line — the more I represent my true nature or beliefs — the deeper the hot water in which I find myself, up to or until the point at which I get myself ostracized or shit-canned.

We the People …

The veracity of those challenges was reinforced when I came across this article on substack.com: “We want you to bring your whole self to work. But only if your “whole self” is the one we decide you should have.” The article is about:

what it means to work for a company today. Do we accept that if you work for a company you sign away your right to having an opinion on political matters? … you sign your right away to having opinions on matters of public concern? … You’d be giving up your rights as a citizen … is the (unspoken) point … you can have opinions but only those endorsed by the company you work for?

Back in the Dark Ages, say 1787 or so, free speech seemed like a pretty desirable thing. At the very least, it appeared to be a fairly logical way to express our differences. The Founding Fathers, of course — who disagreed with each other on many significant points — ultimately failed miserably to be ideologues. Rather, they determined to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Wow. What a bunch of anachronistic cornballs.

Given what they wrote, they actually seemed to believe a willingness to suspend judgment, to respect other people’s perspectives, to listen, to learn, to grow thereby, and to refrain from taking offense at everything all the time could actually work. What a hoot!

The entire Constitution of the United States may be based on the false premise that it would be read by adults. The evidence suggests that was a huge mistake.

Martin Luther King said, “We came here on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.” A latter-day paraphrase might be, “We came here with differences, but we’re all homogenized now.”

And if we’re not, we’d better be, or else.

Good grief.

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Human beings have used their fists and other forms of weaponry to display dominance since the dawn of humanity.

Throughout history, the role has been carried out by the male species. Other than the mythical Amazon women or Athena, Goddess of War, we’ve seen few depictions of female warriors.

People such as Deborah of the Bible and St. Joan of Arc are a few real-life historical figures, but they often used their physicality to defend rather than dominate.

However, female assaults toward others shouldn’t be dismissed.

For example, Female Genital Mutilation has often been inflicted by women on women, and yes, it’s a physical assault.

Just ask the recipients such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali and several Egyptian women who’ve endured this atrocity.

Of late, young females have flexed their muscles, with increased pummeling on those deemed threatening or non-compliant.

For example, on the streets of Boston, attacks by middle school girls toward others have occurred.

Over the years, some have shared with me that ongoing verbal assaults affect them more than physical, like a chronic drip never abating. Over time, insults permeate the core, leaving a gaping, hidden wound that requires years of stitching to heal.

Whether it be by the spoken or written word, the emotional toll is often underestimated.

The rise of the internet has wrought an increase in verbal beatings. Facebook, and, especially, Twitter bring out the worse in people. They take their slingshots aiming deadly stones at anyone disagreeing, with consequences such as name-calling, slandering, canceling, and, worse.

Articles can do the same. The biased media marches to one tune, ignoring the truth. They convince you the sky isn’t blue, and the Pope isn’t Catholic. False. Those are incontrovertible facts. If one argues these facts, yes, they can make a case for the sky changing colors. On a cloudy day, it’s grey. Ok, but it doesn’t deviate from the fact that the dominant sky color is blue.

Nowadays, if you disagree with policies from the anointed ones, epithets are hurled. Isms, deniers, and phobics are just a few. Toward the protected groups, one wrong letter or look renders destructive labels, but no problem if you disparage those from groups out of favor.

This past year, a particular category of the American population, an unprotected group, became the scapegoat for the intelligentsia, including politicians, certain writers, and, some glitterati.

The enlightened ones now disparage a class of people adhering to a specific religion.

Knowingly or not, these know-it-alls follow the rule of a particular activist who dedicated his book to Lucifer. What did he suggest? Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. That’s what’s happening to the anti-Lucifers.

I don’t identify with the out-of-favor group’s religion, but my faith falls under its umbrella.

Also, I’ve been in the company of people belonging to this group, and as of late, joined their writing association.

What have I encountered? Let’s see, creativity, inspiration, love, and sharing. The only mention of God? Thanking him for their ingenuity.

Such stereotyping would earn an “ism” for other groups. Alas, this one is not a protected class, and those spewing venom at them are shielded from any repercussions.

Are there some who are not good?

Of course, like in any other segment of the human race, taking a group and sullying them, is an example of so-called tolerant intolerance. These stalwart adherents to the correct way claim openness and love while projecting animosity, narrow-mindedness, and ignorance cloaked in words of holier-than-thou. Yes, no holding back for them. Pow! Brass knuckles in full force with diversity of thought disavowed.

A United States congressional representative just abandoned her political affiliation.

One reason she gave was the onslaught against people of a certain faith. Standing up to the bully pulpit is no easy feat, even for a fearless warrior like her.

People are entitled to their opinions, but to categorize everyone as the same, a collectivist ideal, benefits no one.

It feeds the insatiable monster of divisiveness and hate.

I’d quote “he who casts the first stone,” but I doubt most of these people take his word. Instead, I’ll use the famous phrase: Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Words are powerful with the written one engraved forever. These verbal fists often cause irreversible harm.

Watch out brash individuals who don’t care. You never know what happens when you’re no longer the flavor of the month.

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As the obsessive language freak I happen to be, I’m always sensitive to new expressions creeping into the vernacular. Most frequently, those expressions are meaningless; that is, they don’t actually express anything of substance. But they’re valuable for what they signal. And they signal four things about the people who use them. Those people:

1. Likely don’t know what they’re talking about
2. Don’t want you to know they don’t know what they’re talking about
3. Need to fill up some time while they try to figure out what they’re talking about
4. Want you to believe they’re sincere and honest in what they’re talking about.

The most recent such expression is this: I’m not gonna lie. Oh, boy.

My EducationIn 1985, I took my first full-time, post-college corporate job. It was at Ætna. (Yes. That’s how it was written back then when ligatures denoted something other than gizmos for strangling people on true crime shows.) I was 32 at the time.

When I started at Ætna, there was a legendary character there who was just about to retire. His name was John Callahan. (He had me at Irish.) He was a legend because of his wit and his unerring insight. Three examples:

• He once told me the Ætna mascot should be a blindfolded porcupine.
• I asked him how Ætna could make a seemingly unbroken streak of boneheaded moves and still stay in business. He said, “Mark, ya can’t hardly f&#@ up compound interest.”
• After a project had tanked for lack of clear direction and had to be re-done, John said, “There’s never time to do it right. But there’s always time to do it over.” Amen.

But the most important, universally true, and abidingly influential thing John ever said to me was this: “Never believe anything until it’s officially denied.” And that brings us back to I’m not gonna lie.

My Skepticism

Whenever someone says, “I’m not gonna lie,” my Spidey Sense starts tingling like Vladimir Putin’s Megalomania Meter. And the same sequence of questions runs through my head:

• Do you mean now, later, or every time?
• Why do you need to tell me you’re not gonna lie?
• Should I be suspicious?
• Have you lied to me before?
• Will you lie to me again?
• How do you decide when you’re not gonna lie?
• When do you decide you’re not gonna lie?
• Why?
• If I have to do this much thinking about it, how much do you have to do?
• Is it worth it?

I can’t decide if I’m old-fashioned or just lazy. But I’m not gonna lie: It seems easier to tell the truth.

On the other hand, what do I know? I’m just an obsessive language freak.

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"Something should be done - the odds may not be in our favour, but starting the job with a clear-eyed assessment of where we are would already be quite a step up from being completely blind." ...

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"All this petty bickering that has split the country has also sent a message to the world about just how fragile a system real democracy can be." ...

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“Well life isn’t fair, but people should be.” What can we do? Think with me ...

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"The hardest thing is to explain the obvious to people who refuse to see it. ... The simplest solution is almost always the best." ...

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"Sir Isaac Newton famously wrote in his Third Law of Motion, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Likewise, for every lie, there is an equal and opposite truth." ...

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"We will always see elements of authoritarianism of some kind in leadership. But the truth is to make positive change from a universal standpoint; leadership has to be transferrable to every aspect of life—including towards communities that seem undesirable." ...

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"Given the era in which I grew up, I was duty-bound, of course, to do my share of psychedelic drugs and then some." ...

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"Why am I so afraid to do something or say something wrong? I don’t even know if I should put she/her on my social media platforms. I appear frozen. Is my indecision because I am not forced to understand more?" ...

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"All values and beliefs are valuable: but so is a good conversation and a place to feel safe, seen, and heard." ...

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"If we get our own houses in order, we’ll be shocked at how many things take care of themselves." ...

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"Does anyone know or can anyone recall the point at which we had to be told to establish a morning routine, let alone to feel the need to publish articles about it? Didn’t most of us have parents?" ...

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"I can’t tell who’s more dangerous — all the quacks predicting our doom or all of us for believing them." ...

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Circus music along with clowns always made young Gumshoe experience feelings of anxiety deep within the pit of his belly.  A definite queasiness to be sure.  Yuk! Note:  Don’t get Gumshoe started on his response to The Russian Saber Dance. Adolescent Gumshoe never knew why. Even to this present day, old Gumshoe’s belly still has […]

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"We can set the example of inner strength to protect Americans. We must get involved to establish that freedom comes from within as we empower each other." ...

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"In a world that needs collaborative leadership to face complex problems such as climate change, famine, war, migration, and so on, we seem to have opted for more didactic leaders with catchy but meaningless slogans." ...

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"How and why have we gotten so divided and divisive, so desensitized, so discourteous and disrespectful, so intolerant? What’s happened to civility? And why did we let it go?" ...

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"Do we want to let human nature lead us to more abuse, pain, distrust, alienation, and their horrific offshoots of depression, violence, substance abuse, and war? Or, do we want to say “Enough!” to our egos and decide together to change our attitude toward each other and rise above our abusive nature?" ...

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"When does admitting one was wrong and offering an apology no longer suffice to let the harm be healed?" ...

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"Through uncensored reading and reflection, let everyone understand different perspectives; be more empathetic to what others experience; and be more inclusive of people who look, think, and act differently than their ancestors." ...