That Success, Competence, Integrity thing revisited:

When smart people stopped fully using their intelligence, they would often overlook mistakes.


In business, politics and civil life, however, success often works the same way as it does in evolution; I don’t need to be faster than the bear, I just need to be faster than you.

Hate isn't a Purifying Force - It's a Poison

So scary are the consequences of a collapse of white privilege that many Americans have flocked to a political platform that supports and translates violence against the defenseless as strength. These people are not so much angry as terrified, with the kind of terror that makes knees tremble.

Is it that bad?  Is that really what the alt-white fear?

But look at the photographs from Paris: there's nowhere to get away from it; the barbarians who yell "Allahu Akbar!" are there waiting for you ...when you go to a soccer match, you go to a concert, you go for a drink on a Friday night. They're there on the train... at the magazine office... in the Kosher supermarket... at the museum in Brussels... outside the barracks in Woolwich...

Maybe it's just rhetoric, a line to draw attention.

“My strong suspicion is that it’s really not about the policy. It’s about controlling the conversation. What is everybody talking about?”

Just business; hit the button that gets the result you want, even if it means hurting someone else in the process.

Whenever I set up a political war room, for instance, I tell the assembled youngsters their loathing of conservatives is a purifying force. "Let it wash over you," I tell them. "Step on their necks, and don't lift your foot until the day after the election. Hurt them."

It's like a boxing match, right?  When the bell tolls, the match is done, the competitors shake hands and go out for drinks.

Politics is a blood sport, they say.

Except it isn't.  It's not an arena, it's not entertainment - and winning isn't the end of the match.

"You have to put the black man down, plant your foot on his neck, and keep him that way forever, lest he spring up and slit your white throat."

That was the basic ideology behind Apartheid.  Apartheid, like any oppressive regime, isn't about sport, friendly competition, aggressive play.  It's about dominance, which is about suppression.

The political platform is part of the problem.  

It has fed the fears, stoked the angers, ignored some voices, picked fights.

Yes, there are latent issues, historical contexts, all the rest of it.  But we ended up where we are because we lacked leadership to see the path ahead and head in a different direction.

This is where winning has brought us.

New Playbook

I admire your resolve but I think you (pl.) could do with a new playbook.

On this, I agree.

Look at the basic framework - there is "us", and we're right, and there's them, not so much.  Why is that?  Why are they not as intuitive, fact-oriented, educated, etc. as we are?  Except for the ones we know are smart and educated and like as people, but you know - they're the exceptions.  They're playing the game, or - like a drunk uncle - they're good folk, but there's just that one thing about them that's problematic.

You can't get mad at someone like Trump for calling all Muslims terrorists or all Mexicans rapists without questioning that frame.  Except people do.  So what does that say about them?

From the other side of the equation, there is a similar thing happening - the other guys seem to be short-sighted, too caught up in their emotional rhetoric.  How can they possibly ignore the real danger to the masses of their policies and positions?  Ignoring A, embracing B, actively encouraging C which can't but lead to catastrophe.

A = the threat of immigrants, or the threat of climate change.

B = green tech or traditional fossil fuel

C = abuse of workers or crippling social programs

Lots of other options available, but you get the picture.

But we have facts, you say.  They don't have facts, they have rhetoric.  

Let's be honest - do we have the facts?  All the facts?  Who does an in-depth, academic-like study of anything to get the good and the bad?  The convenient or inconvenient facts?

Who tries to prove the other guy's argument, see it through their eyes, before responding?

We don't communicate - we message.  Facts are not seen as starting points, but as arrows in our quivers.

But the More Information Hypothesis isn’t just wrong. It’s backwards. Cutting-edge research shows that the more information partisans get, the deeper their disagreements become.

Society can't function if it's questioning everything, all the time - no more than it can by moving forward with nothing but untested ideas, nor relying on the status quo in a dynamic world.

But - if we question our assumptions, uproot and look at the evidence we hold to be indisputable, but know that there are risk and harm in the positioning of the other side, then who is right?  Where's the answer?

That's where we need to be right now.  Uncertainty, but not with fear, but a sense of the possible.

Jedem das Seine USA

"All of us will soon get what we deserve, they tell me. They have guns. They have a plan."

That's a line that has particular meaning for me; I wonder if it does for the folks who used it as well.

The Magician

The Magician Tarot card typically appears in a Tarot reading at a time in your life when you have the creative power and energy to create a new life cycle for yourself. You have the ability to take the power of the Universe and manifest your desires. The Magician Tarot card suggests that a situation has been (or soon will be) presented to you that has all the inherent components to allow the manifestation of your desires. Those desires may be spiritual (fire), physical (earth), emotional (water), or mental (air), and are each aligned with the four elements of the Tarot. You have the ability to make it happen!

With the Magician Tarot card, you are inspired to apply skill and initiative to accomplish all your goals. You have a strong desire to begin something new, to ‘do, act, or go forth’. A ‘can-do’ attitude and strong sense of optimism will dominate a new beginning and thus the decisions that you make will have positive results.

The Magician card sees you creating success in everything that you do. This is a Tarot card about manifesting your goals by utilising the skills, tools and resources that are available to you. The Magician suggests that you will come up with creative ways to solve problems and you will be able to use your existing knowledge and networks to arrive at solutions.

The Magician Tarot card is a good omen when you have a specific wish, when you begin a project involving creativity, or when you need to make a transformation of any kind. This is a great Tarot card for meditation when you need to call all the elements for help and wisdom.

The Magician Tarot card indicates that you can benefit from your creative forces if you can claim your power and act with awareness and concentration. This card is a signal to act consciously and act now provided you understand exactly what you want and are committed to getting it. You need to know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Be clear about your underlying motives and intentions.

The Magician is also a Tarot card of deep concentration on a specific task or activity. You need to be focused on a single goal or purpose at this time and you need to channel all of your energy, tools and resources towards this one goal. Commitment to the task is essential and as such, you will need to eliminate any distractions that will take your focus away from what you want to achieve.

The Magician shows that you are doing a great job at pulling together all of the skills, resources and tools that are available to you in order to bring about an outcome that suits you. You are keeping a very pragmatic head about you and you are trying to remain as objective and ‘can-do’ as possible, even if you are worried on the inside. Keep this up as it will help you to create as much success as possible. Keep thinking about what other skills and resources you can use and keep focused on the task at hand.

Not in it for the Wynne - but for us

Are we at a tipping point, the point of no return for Wynne? Do the PCs under Brown have irreversible momentum, despite all the voters who remain “don’t knows” — and his unknowable policies?

Kathleen Wynne has been down before. She always gets back up.

I personally think there's one simple reason why this is the case.

Winning isn't why Wynne is in politics. Fighting the system isn't why she's in politics either. She truly believes that we can do better, be stronger - and that together, we have the tools to make this happen.

She believes in the people. That's it.

I believe that cynics are optimists yearning for the confidence to have faith.

With authenticity, with empathy, with scrappiness and and an unwavering faith in us, Wynne will always be THAT voice, especially when we need it most.

Trump - Canary

Makada ‏@_Makada_  1h1 hour ago

Donald Trump is the last hope for America! The globalists have hijacked our country & now it is time to take it back! #AmericaFirst!

157 retweets242 likes

 

 

 

Bernie Sanders supporters kinda felt the same way, didn't they?

Whether it's economic elites, immigrants, or mainstream media, there are a ton of people who feel particularly left behind.

It's not hard to see why.

There's a way back from this cliff, but we're going to need more than  words from those in positions of power.