Consumer Confidence Up in June (21') Indicating Optimism and Purchasing Power

Consumer confidence improves again in June following a positive trend over the last four months. The index works off a couple of different assessments. The Present Situation Index rose from 148.7 to 157.7 and is a measurement of consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions. The Expectations Index which is a shorter term assessment of labor, income, and business rose to 107.0, up from 100.9 the prior month. 

You can read the publishing from The Conference Board and their findings on new business applications. See Consumer Confidence June. The think tank has some excellent charts and graphs for you to review. ( Side note: They appear copywrite so I didn't want to share without permission. The purpose is to sum up complex information very quickly for readers. That is especially important for executives that are bombarded by information everyday.). 

Consumer confidence is about how people feel and is a little more grass roots in its evaluation than some of the other index. Since all economic behavior is human behavior at its root, it makes sense to understand how and what people are thinking in terms of near and mid term future. The animal spirts relate to how we subjectively feel and our ability to satiate those feelings with resources.

Consumer optimism leads to increased spending. When spending is on U.S. products (as defined as having an HQ and significant production operations in the U.S.) we improve those markets. Older economic theories became stressed because they were often based on an unwritten logic that money would stay in a country in a sticky/static way but globalization has changed those assumptions (It is possible that why we lost some of our power because relied on antiquated models that were outstripped in the past few decades by unknown digital innovation.)The digital economy changed these assumptions even further leading to additional gaps between old models and actual activities (I don't know. Maybe? 🤷).

(Hopefully we buy more American and attract more companies to relocate their HQ to the U.S.. A buy American movement matched with a calibrated tax structure might encourage more businesses to move to the U.S. and utilize the American consumer spending power to replenish depleted tax coffers from sales tax, employment tax, and corporate taxes. ...thinking out loud. 🤔)

How COVID Has Improved New Business Start Ups

While Covid was an difficult challenges for the U.S. it also offers a few opportunities to reset the economic system and give access to business opportunities to a wider group of Americans. Some are frustrated by a growing gap between the rich and poor and lack of access to wealth and opportunity. This is even more apparent in minority communities hit hard by the pandemic. This may be an opportunity to rese the economic system to something more sustainable.

One of the ways to equalize income and wealth is a bottom up approach where small businesses and old fashion entrepreneurship work to create opportunities and business ownership across the country. This would have positive implications for the economy, tax revenue, and ensuring people have access to capital that can help to level the growing income equality gap. 

Government should balance the need of small, medium, and large businesses without passing laws that skew legislation and create economic instability. Too many large corporations and we lack innovation 15 years down and often fight the tax implications when companies ditch the people who helped build them and move overseas to shave a few fractions of more wealth. Our economy grows best when there is a fountain of new businesses (some will succeed, some fail, for self sufficiency) that regenerate the system in a wider distributed manner. 

An article entitled "What America's Startup Boom Could Mean For The Economy" provides a solid explanation. You can read about the ideas the researcher John Haltiwanger from the National Bureau of Economic Research in his working paper (meaning its not finished but some information is important to share) on new business applications. 

"Nonstore Retail (alone accounting for 33% of the surge), Personal Services, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, Administrative and Support Services, Truck Transportation, 23 Fazio et al. (2021) offer some evidence in support of this hypothesis. 21 and Accommodation and Food Services," (Haltiwanger, 2021, pg 20.)

The author talks about 3 Digit industries so you might need a little more info. See 3 Digit Classification. What we see is that business applications are rising and while the paper doesn't necessarily indicate this that there may be a future boom coming as some of these businesses become successful and develop new opportunities (whether hiring employees or simply as cottage businesses).

Our economic system has essentially turned increasingly oriented toward Digital GDP (See Digital GDP and Economic Platforms)  and that will change how wealth is generated and who can generate it. As access to capital changes there may be new opportunities for those who were traditionally locked out to the means of capital through the formation of businesses. All paradigm changes impact wealth distribution making it a great time in history for the U.S. to focus on becoming and economic powerhouse in the new digital world. You can read my rough working paper at Economic Clusters

Haltiwanger, J. (June, 2021). Entrepreneurship during the Covid-19 Evidence from the business formation statistics. National Bureau of Economic Research. (Working Paper). Retrieved nber.org

Mouth of Rapid River Michigan

 Near Rapid River boat launch you will find a place not too far from town but looks like you just jumped back into another world. For those who live in the city it only takes about 20 minutes drive (less time than going to the grocery store). 

In my case I am using an inflatable dinghy that should have long sunk. Yet...I'm here so that is what is important. 

Talked to an "old timer" that was fishing and he was sharing how they didn't have reels when he was young. You had a 12' pole and a 12" line. That was it!

He also said that it used to be easier to catch fish and they lower the catch limit because of that depletion. Making sure we protect our environment may help these fish come back. 

Everyone in the world wants fish and the Great Lakes is a very large system for breading native species. It might be possible with time and sustainable commerce to ensure part of the profits/revenue derived from Great Lakes goes back it improving the lakes and the native species. 

That would require a level of systems thinking and how net positives in large scale activities (i.e. commerce on the Great Lakes) can be used to increase the natural value (tourism, fishing, management, and infrastructure). 

Poor video. I can actually create better ones but its time consuming so....cheap and easy!

The Danger of Group Think In Decision Making

Sometimes I wonder how people can willingly engage in illegal and corrupt activities without thinking about the moral rights and wrongs of their activities. We see this in business and in social settings where a "culture of corruption" that leads people down very dark paths. It is hard for people to think about their choices when the people around them confirm the "truths" of a situation. 

I suspect that human nature is to follow. We are herd animals, not very different from our cousins, that take our cues from others. Such herds are likely led by more dominant members that set the tone for everyone. If they are willing to engage in such activities it is likely that others will follow. 

One study states the dangers of group think and how it can cultivate homogenous behaviors, "...groupthink foster criminal activity by cultivating homogeneous behavior, conformity, resemblance, shared values and identical ways of thinking across and within firms. This herd behavior can be regarded as one of the explanations for the pervasiveness of criminal and unethical behavior in the corporate world, the consequences of which could be devastating." (See Criminogenic Isomorphism and Groupthink)

Each group develops their own symbols and values that helps them identify and navigate their environment. If the expectation is to engage in illegal activities most people will succumb to internal pressures that lead them to engage in behaviors that are not appropriate. 

Likely, as group members are similar in characteristics, background, and beliefs they are also likely to feel pressures to "conform" to poor values. Its very hard for people from homogenous backgrounds to see the perspectives of others and in turn are limited in their capacity to step out of herd mentality. 

Herd "group think" can be dangerous because at the very top it can impact options (i.e. Cuban Missile Crisis, Enron, Hate Groups) and choices based on pushing very specific ways of doing things. People don't know there was an issue until after the problem has occurred because entire groups begin to conform and confirm a group oriented message without getting "out of the box".

In business I think it is wise to find people who can work with others but at the same time can bring forward differences of opinion in a helpful way. That would mean creating cultures that have this healthy balance of the ability to work and think along similar lines but also break that mold when it is necessary. Healthy and empowered employees have options that herd "followers" do not. 

Diving in Quarry -Bass Hot Spot

Diving is slowly starting to become a popular activity in the UP.  

In this case we dived a private quarry stocked with Bass 

Is There an Advantage of Liberal Conservatives; or No Such Thing?

We have another election round coming and I'm thinking about how polarized we have become as a society. There should be some way to make it through the cycle without doing long term damage to society. There is a possibility we might even get a little more polarized if we don't sort of think of central shared values that tie us together. The voices we hear (not all) are either all on this side or all on that side leaving most of the large sleeping middle confused. 

Contrary to radical belief, those in the middle are not enemies because they can take the best of both worlds and frame it into something that works for a wider group of people (They are the ones who give us the "wiggle" room in voting to get things done.) 

The loudest and often most ignorant voices in the room should not be the one's making the decisions the rest of us have to live by. Such individuals play a short-term gain that helps rally lots of people to their side by poking their life grievances but ultimately leaves a bigger mess. 

We are not talking about things we want to change in the nation but we are talking about the underlining anger over where this country has gone and how that is often misdirected. 

The problem is that it isn't a specific person or group of people (that is only going to cause ethnic strife and more problems) but the way we compete on the market. To compete well we need a shared sense of purpose and universal values (Just like we need universal principles in justice).

I'm a guy who loves religion! I think its great and it teaches people values. In all the religions I have reviewed or studied in some way almost all of them focus on some very basic principles shared as universal aspects of a good life. 

Religion and philosophy are intricately tied as a mechanism of understanding the world. One could say that science is a branch of philosophy and in turn rests in part on both (Doesn't seem that way but I think that might be true.).

What Liberal-Conservatives (I say this because its sort of a middle dichotomy between two ways of looking at the world) is taking the best of conservatism and allowing a more inclusive approach through a level of liberalism. They are the ones who can apply "good" conservative American values and open them up for relevancy to a wider group of Americans (i.e. we are now all minorities and we might want to think of what ties us together.) 

I believe its important to take conservative values we learn through our worship and open them up to the formation of basic principles of what it means to have values in the U.S.(responsibilities to country, community and ourselves). In other words, we want people to focus on shared values that are good for God (It is up people to decide for themselves using their god given freewill the nature of this "being"), Country, and Family without limiting the message to only one societal demographic. Don't we all have a part to play in the success and failure of our country and people (regardless of background)?

Is there an advantage to liberal conservatives?  ...or perhaps no such thing? 🤷

See Social Sciences and Org. Behavior

Week Ending June 19th, 2021 Jobless Claims

 Jobless claims for week ending June 19th, 2021 continue their descent as an overall trend. As jobless claims go down we should see some pressure on wages to move up as labor supply shrinks. 

"In the week ending June 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 411,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 6,000 from 412,000 to 418,000. The 4-week moving average was 397,750, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 1,250 from 395,000 to 396,250." (See Jobless Claims June 19th, 2021)

Those Who Like and Those Who Manipulate-Mental Health, Aggression, and Poor Self Image

There are people with problems and there are those who push their problems on others. On the surface people might seem very normal, friendly, and outgoing. However, when their fragile sense of self is bruised, or someone appears to be an obstacle, some will do almost anything to harm their targets; including criminal activities. 

The first thing you will notice about the perpetrator is that he/she is highly social and calculates everything by its social value. That make their world a very small one in which all interactions are about gaining support and reflecting back on them their superior image (i.e. lots of attention seeking behaviors.)

In most cases, people sort of get the message and understand what is going on in an intuitive way (You can see the differences in their facial expressions and what they are saying and we can often subconsciously pick this up. Training helps make it more accurate.) 

Yet, there are some scenarios where life for some hasn't changed much since highschool. While most develop an adult personality the narcissist cannot create such depth (they are stuck in their development through child trauma.). They are limited by poor self image and the need to protect that image at all costs. 

Not understanding the normal human development path is one thing but helping a narcissist gain financial, political, and social standing through aggression is another beast. Where the narcissist may be pathological and willing to pathologically lie, people still make choices to follow or not to follow (meaning their own morality is on the line.)

In dysfunctional scenarios where there are no normal checks and balances the narcissist has the opportunity to go uncheck through the ignorance of their followers and social emulators. When given a free hand they have no reason to stop because their poor self-image can't be fixed that easily. 

In other words, the rage they feel that someone doesn't worship them doesn't end at any point until they receive the mental health. They may be afraid of the legal consequences but ultimately don't change because they have not changed. 

We have learned in our society that there are a lot of people who will believe anything. Rumors are an effective tool to rally a base of supporters to engage in hate crime behaviors. It is difficult for followers and posers to think critically or rationally (i.e. they follow because they want to be part of their social network). We need laws to protect against self-interested individuals with aggressive personalities because there are few backstops when race, religion, or other differences are exploited for personal gain. 

As a society we will at some point need to make a decision who we are and what behaviors we praise and shun.  See Ensuring No Free Pass in MI.

UFO Report Sent to Congress.-Do we need better observation and analysis methods?

Who doesn't love aliens? I'm actually not an alien buff but when something unexplained comes along it sort of perks my interest like a puzzle. Its something no one has figured out so sometimes I like to think of the possibilities and build a model (green propulsion through solar powered panels that revers polarity and suck/push vessels through the air. No idea...sounds good? 🤷)

The report says, "These reports describe incidents that occurred between 2004 and 2021, with the majority coming in the last two years as the new reporting mechanism became better known to the military aviation community". 

I would take this as government having their ears perked and in turn taking a more formal approach to collecting UAP data. It is also another way of saying we need more data and need to learn how to observe their observation. 

XFiles......

As they observe us we should develop mechanism to observe them. They do not get into our operations and we should not get into theirs. We don't know what/who they are (Another country or scientific group) and/or something "out of this world". 

I believe our technology has advanced where we became more aware of these vessels but are unable to trace them back to an origin due to a lack of knowledge and information. That will likely change now that we are aware and are collecting information. 

What I can say is that if we did know how these vessels behave and their development state 20 years ago we should compare to see if there are adaptations that occurred during this time. Adaptations would mean they are more likely human in origin (as the goal would be to test the technology against advanced military systems). 

If it hasn't changed in 20 years we might consider them more visitors ( could be that its human but scientists are driven by adaptation). Visitors unconnected to a "home" origin (planet, people, etc...) would not have easy access to adaptation; especially if observational in nature only (Its so weird and sci fi to even think like that. LOL)

Just because we are confounded today doesn't mean we will be a year or 5 years from now. We will someday know the answer and likely if we take the right steps we can build something similar (with reverse polarity or other propulsion systems that work underwater and in air in a non combustible manner leaving no vapor trail or carbon pollution 🤔). 

The government says, "dataset is currently too limited to allow for detailed trend or pattern analysis, there was some clustering of UAP observations regarding shape, size, and, particularly, propulsion..." 

They are saying they don't have enough data. I say we create more through global observation and information sharing. In such a situation countries can can feed in what they know among different scientists and allow them to pick at it in a public way.

"UAP incidents are resolved they will fall into one of five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, USG or industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a catchall “other” bin"

In other words we need scientists to study, observe and categorize the information to find out where it should be placed.  See Intelligence Site 

I think there is a benefit from learning from this technology and in turn trying to create it on our own (I'm pretty sure were not that far behind as he basics are there). We can go green and developed advanced travel at the same time. Not a bad idea for a scientific direction. I'm not getting into the political arguments of for/against...just putting a small plug out there for science. 

UFO Intelligence Prelimary Assessment UAP 20210625 by Dr. Murad Abel on Scribd

Dragon Man Could be Human DNA Closest Relative-Process of Evolution?

 We often think of ourselves as the last species on the planet. That isn't necessary true and it will be hard to sort of say that conclusively. We change and we evolve based on our environment (Evolution as our leading theory). We have three different species of which Dragon man is now considered the closest to our own and possibly our ancestors (remember that many people carry some level of Neanderthal DNA in them). 

I heard people talked about gifted people as a small step in human evolution and capacity. I'm not the expert in this area. I will say that we continuously change the more generations we reproduce the more there will be small reproduction variations that lead to genetic differences. 

Its interesting because I have read some studies that seem to indicated a small percentage of people outside the bell curve might a link in advancement of species and/or it could be common in every species (unrelated to evolution but just variation of genetic codes). No idea🤷

Anyway.....and......either way....this is interesting.....

World Investment Report 2021 FDI Outflows U.S.

The World Investment Report 2021 came out. You can look at the World Investment Report 2021. For more details on Foreign Direct Investment you may want to see FDI Global 2021. 

What I find interesting is that the FDI for mature economies like the U.S. and Europe experienced significant decline in investment. It might have something to do with declining profits and doubling up on existing strategies. 

The U.S. is investing in infrastructure which is great because it can lead, with better policies, to improved economic inflow. 

Countries will be making a choice about values as a new cold war risk rises (some trends indicate it has started across multiple fronts with supply line and investment adjustments but its not enough to say with certainty) between authoritarianism and freedom oriented national models (This is where political choices may begin to count again. So we might want to pick leaders/politicians based on ability versus their "connections" as well as those who can compromise and solve problems.). See Authoritarians 

I think we can get back some of the investments and intellectual capital by using more tech clusters and a calibrated tax system. See G7 Tax Floor and Calibrate Option

Center for Strategic International Studies has an explanation below.....

Getting Close on Infrastructure Biden and Senate (June 24, 2021)

It looks like the Senate and President Biden are getting close to an infrastructure deal. We are at that point where people are seeing the mistakes of constant outsourcing to low cost providers and the market is beginning to adjust in favor of the U.S. (I guess they had a deal about the same moment I posted this).

We have let our infrastructure get old and unused as manufacturing waned. The technology and information we have available today is much more than it was in the past. We will need new digital models that range from advanced manufacturing to cryptocurrency and digital GDP.

A strong infrastructure would lead to increased international investment (There are some signs supply chains and investment are increasing). The type of infrastructure is going to make a difference as companies seek environments that are most likely produce results. 

Profiting from Hate-Choosing Different Paths to Peace! (Familiarity and Equality)

Hate crimes are not only about violence but sometimes move into other realms of life such as social status, money, and mental health. Some of these might be hate crimes while others might be more along the lines of "hate behaviors" (Sometimes the lines are blurry).  One may be deemed illegal and the other distasteful they are both an intent to harm the target(s) and create wedges in society. While they seem different they are more or less variations of the same thinking that comes from the same dark personality traits/factors that want to exploit and dominate.

Each person (specifically officers, judges, and others) may see things differently based upon their awareness of the "facts" of the case, the direction of their investigatory questioning, access to information, and familiarity with the members involved (personal histories). Sometimes snap judgements and heuristic thinking makes its way into the system starting with interaction with the officer all the way through the assembly line until someone slams the prison door shut. 

We don't have a strong grasp on what hate means in American society and how to investigate and control for it. We find many different confounding factors involved in discriminatory outlook but familiarity with different peoples, cultures and places helps to bring forward more critical thinking because one is able to see different possibilities (i.e. based in neural connections of the personality, upbringing, and cultural awareness) that are not there for many. See Cultural Intelligence

In other words, people often see what they want to see and that seeing is an indication of the mental models people are using embedded deeply into how they view themselves, others and their ability to master challenges in their life. It is an interplay of themselves and the reflection of the world around them that comes to define their being.

Not all is lost because exposure to new ideas, peoples, and experiences opens up the mind to new ways of seeing the same information. It is an opportunity to reorient our global competitiveness through creating the framework for maximum economic and social engagement. See Intelligent Thinking

Familiarity Among Peoples Changes Things

Familiarity often changes the dynamics a little (Why we want people to interact with each other).Familiarity is social by nature (Only having friends of one background limits understanding) but could also derive some of the decision making from pre-existing bias and subjective experience. Discriminatory behavior can be intentional or unintentional depending on the person and the situation  (Its not all the same and can at times be misinterpreted by lay persons). 

It could go either way but results in many cases of minorities holding the consequences of someone else's choices and behaviors. Socio-cultural awareness filters throughout cultural norms and throughout the system. For example, let us say you are a XYZ minority (Minority is somewhat dependent on who in that group is the majority and who holds power. In other words, in different contexts different people can be minorities. Roles can be reversed for certain majorities-minorities in different context of group power. Its the issue that someone is being target for these protective class issues that is important.)

Lets keep going.......

XYZ Person from the XYZ people (just an example) is well known, people interact with him/her and liked in the "majority" community. When a problem occurs the officer reviews the context of what they know about that person (assuming they are seeking a level of objectivity) and weigh it based on what they perceive to be the "facts". Because the officer has familiarity with the XYZ person they believe his/her story and support it. While the perpetrator may be part of the majority crowd in this situation they are held to account because the officer recognized and made an informed decision that included other contextual information of the victim and situation. 

Let us say that XYZ person is driving somewhere else where no one knows him/her and has a problem with a person from a majority group. The officer shows up and assesses the situation based on their preexisting understandings. XYZ is unknown and the perpetrator is more known. There is a choice the officer makes, albeit much of it subconsciously, to pick the person they have familiarity with. Nobody is going to see XYZ again anyway (A choice is made based on the best outcome for the officer and the "community").

A problem sometimes occurs when one group is pushed into "system" at a higher rate based on a lack of familiarity and a misinterpretations of the "facts". Quick decisions at the moment (why training and diverse recruitment is often needed) leads to justice for some and injustice for others (I'm not sure I can tell you there is a simple solution because much depends on the motivation to integrate society and the context in which different communities live. Universalizing justice seems to be the only real way to make it fair for everyone.)

Hiding Crimes in Homogeneous Social Familiarity

It is also possible that when we know people and see them as part of our "clan" we may give them additional weight in our decision making (When only a "clan" matters behaviors begin to reflect those that might be experienced in less developed societies and those with higher levels of conflict and corruption.) Somewhere within our biology we differentiate quickly and often inaccurate who we see as in our "clan" and who is out of our clan.

When an officer of the law becomes involved to support personal, ethnic and religious loyalties the situation becomes increasingly heightened. Furthermore, when that officer begins to engage in other potential intimidation tactics (i.e. following home, asking about gun, counseling others on how to get someone arrested, involving children, etc...) in coordination with other hate group/behavior members a difficult situation turns into a dangerous one (See Reptilian vs Cool Thinking.) 

The law and use of force (i.e. gun and knowledge) becomes tools of intimidation to suppress the natural rights of one group for the advantage of another (I say another instead of "other" because it depends on the motivations of the person and their intent; sometimes they don't know. At times behaviors are based only in their personal dysfunction "another" and at another time they may be coordinating to suppress a category of people "other". )

Minority rights (Its not really just about minorities its about everyone's rights) are often subconsciously discounted but in this case it was a wholesale attempt to circumvent both good moral conscious and the law to enforce dominance of a group. These behaviors are no different than what we see in countries that engage in serious rights violations that lead to ethnic conflict and even generation spanning wars. The only difference being that the target was at least partially aware of their intent to dominate through corruption and force and took steps to avoid even more serious chaos while at the same time trying to shield his children from further involvement/bullying (I believe they intentionally involved this kid as a form of "punishment").

It gets a little mixed up because there are a lot of things going on but familiarity in a homogeneous group that don't like "outsiders" and a methodology some of them used to either silence, intimidate or get arrested (false report) those that demand their boundaries be respected. Do they see it that way? No...I doubt it. However, when you step back and take a "birds eye" view of everything going on, the history of behaviors, the crimes that were committed you will find that their dislike of "Muslims" and "Niggas", the terms they use, seem to be a central theme beyond the financial and social gain expected by such activities. 

Where Do We Go Now?

Any person in this situation would have a difficult time creating protective boundaries where violence and highly provocative behaviors are repeated. There is just more awareness of the full scope of bad/illegal behaviors and the holes in the law they utilized to target people in their community (The same that likely occurs in other places). I'm concerned because many of these behaviors appear patterned as a default dominance mechanism that likely has other targets in the community (Patterned often means familiarity that comes through practice.).

We also must also concern ourselves with the officer who felt he had the right to engage in what would appear to be criminal and corrupt tactics. That doesn't take into full account the concern other community members have about this officer (For all these years no one bothered to review his file, complaints or people in the community). People like him acted in ways that appear to be illegal and may have led to the possible suicide of a teen girl raped in the back of a squad car (true or not...it is the responsibility of outside agencies to investigate). That officer also has other complaints and I watched him restrict help to another teen girl that was seriously hurt in a car accident. 

(These are serious allegations community members are making. What's the moral thing here...just ignore it and pretend it didn't happen or unhear what was stated ? Is there a level of immunity for any behavior including those that violate local, state, federal, and international law? I would be surprised if we were so blind to think that an officer with a serious chip on his shoulder and a history of aggressive behavior can't manipulate the law for his and groups benefit. I guess we will leave that potential moral hazard and failure to our societal power brokers.)

This Wasn't a Run of the Mill Disagreement.

This wasn't a normal disagreement between people. This was an intentional escalation by one side without stating the reasons for those escalations (at least until they end when it was explained that is was because the targets are "Muslim"). Beyond the intentionally false information (Yes people said things where it took me a few hours later to understand how on earth they got that understanding. A sheer sign of manipulation of information in radicalizing their base.) Rumors and misleading information was not an accident. It appeared to be more of a coordinated and well worn path to gain advantage over others (This can't be the first time they did this! They were just so good at it and their followers couldn't even care less to fact check before acting. Are these the "Americans" we want teaching our youth how to act and joining our public institutions such as policing, coaching, teaching and more? 🤷)

This isn't just bad behavior. It was a serious situation and people got hurt and more people could have gotten hurt if they were left unchecked. It was about covering a potential crime and deep seated hate that under the right circumstances could have lead to death and sparked outrage in other family networks and communities (Think about how it only takes a few selfish people and a lot of followers that can't think for themselves to set off bigger conflicts. In almost every major blowout in history is over seemingly small issues where one trampled the rights of others.) 

Turning a blind eye to this behavior has serious consequences for the moral fabric of our laws and leaders. It would be a symbol of why we must face extremism and learn to adapt as a nation to avoid the sway of groups with a false sense of self (arrogance and narcissism) matched with deep seated ill will toward others who are different. The broom handle is broken so there is no more sweeping of such issues under someone else's carpet. It is about acknowledging (even internal recognizing) bad and finding solutions for the future.

Let us imagine for a moment that these issues are at play in one form or another across different towns all across the country. The Capital Riots have taught us that we can no longer afford 1.) disparity treatment that damages our human capital and 2.) extremism groups that feel "entitled" to push their beliefs on others with force/violence. (It is scary to imagine what would have happened if the rioters injured, maimed or hurt members of congress on national television and in turn received support from a militant group of blind followers. The conscious should be pricked here if some of our politicians and leaders don't feel our central American principles matter more than sound byte glorification. Wow! Those things we learned about values in church, mosques and synagogues is true!) We need leaders who look for win-win situations and not zero sum outcomes.

Next time you vote for someone and for a particular party think about who you want representing you, your party, our country. We need government and civilian leaders that solve problems and don't create them. Just listen to the radio and news and you can get a sense who is on the fringe and who is centralized (Its not specific advance for or against any party as the underlining mechanics are the same in blind followership.). For me, I have learned to hold my red line in the face of rage and do a better job of thinking about where this country needs to sail. Most of us will focus on what is in front of them at that time.

As of present, it appears that the laws only sort of so so are in place to deal with these issues. For the most part, accountability isn't what would normally be expected in a case like this (maybe someone knows something more than I do). This was a situation that really should have never happened if the aggressors stopped and really thought about what was going on and not only at how they looked to their social group and to themselves. I can't say if our country will make it over the hump but if this is a symbol of how the majority population (meaning the 51% who don't fit the image of "American") are treated that is frightening. 

There is a lesson in all of this. A lack of accountability across the nation for such behaviors would not reflect well on our future options (That is a choice for our leadership and for the people who support them). We are vulnerable to our own inabilities to move to the next platform of universal justice and economic development. When individuals that are dangerous to their community are not held to a higher standard (either mental health services and in some cases criminal prosecution) then it becomes an issue that is fundamental to the American brand.  "To be or not to be?" Hamlet

P.S. it looks like if you also want to be involved in politics you must engage in  reflecting back the same mantras that got us into situations like this in the first place ( Dems and Reps.). That means we have a dysfunctional political environment where group think is what gets people ahead. This means more things like capital riots may happen because the voices of reason are silenced but also there isn't enough new ideas circulating and making their way through the ranks. 

Hopefully, our country is not racing to the bottom simply because we have difficulty holding ourselves to a higher standard. Time will tell how this all works out. A couple of years is enough problem solving lead time for people to decide what value system they have. There was momentum to make societal change but that momentum will eventually dissipate as people become less shocked and in turn create their own subjective conclusions that solidify their moral, political, and personal outlooks (Likely along the lines of their leadership). 

As a nation, a community, and a people have we learned anything? That is up to you to decide...I've learned a mountain of things that eventually I will share. Some of it good, some of it bad, but for the most part.....it is just sort of "is"! For now...I'm going fishing....wish me luck!

Painting of Ocean and Sail Boat-Toning the Senses for Other Uses

Ok...my senses might be a little dull...because I admit I'm not the best painter. However, I try and that makes me a little bit of a hard charger (in relative terms). Haven't thought about it much but I guess art improves other sensory ordering mechanisms that lead to greater perceptual awareness.

They say that art tones the sensory skill and ability of people to differentiate things in their environment (work or pleasure). Ok...I guess in theory that kind of stands to reason. When you focus on visual colors, shapes, tone, etc... you are going to understand things in your perceptual field better because you built mental differentiations that would be hard to be aware of in everyday life.

Let us say for a moment that engaging in art as a "refined" activity (nothing is refined in my art yet) could impact visual acuity in other areas of visual fields. We become better at pattern recognition and greater awareness of our surroundings (That could be important in different aspects of our lives).

According to this study graduate nurse students who described art also saw more difference in patient records. Wow! The skills learned in art improved upon the ability to detect problems in patient photographs (That would likely to apply to other similar tasks). That also led to pattern recognition and visual acuity. (I bet could be extrapolated to environment. Could art be good for scientists and military decision makers? I guess someone would have to study how much art could lead to how much environmental acuity? 🤔) See Increasing Environmental Acuity Through Art.

We teach young men/women to avoid art but it is precisely those skills that lead to greater understanding of their visual fields and general skills that might range into things like sports, research, education, coordination, etc...). 

Here was my attempt at impressionism. 😬🙈......

Escanaba City Council Meeting (June 17th, 2021)-Northern Machine Expansion

Watching the Escanaba City Council meeting gives you insight into the nature and activities of a town. In this meeting there were a number of agenda items that could impact the activities and employment opportunities of the area. I'm kind of curious what is going on with Northern Machine and whether it is expanding (there are a number of market reasons why it might). The town administration looks as though it takes great consideration over the needs of the town and thinks about its choices in order to help the "livability" of local residents. That is what makes small town live beautiful. 

Basic Notes of Meeting

-Discussion on Net Metering: My only general opinion here without looking into detail on the topic is to encourage as much alternative energy sources as possible. 

-Some sale of property to a local business Northern Machine. There was some discussion on the creation of new jobs (You can hear 100 jobs in the background. Its still poor audio.) There is a sale of some lots as well. You can take a look at their website Seen Northern Machine. They can build a lot of different things that range from ships/parts to heavy construction. 

-Music Mondays from the Bonifas Art Center will continue forward. Music Monday is a free concern for community members. See Music Mondays

A Few Thoughts

I'm working on a cluster theory on how a place like Delta County could be come a green innovative small hub in Michigan through multiple industry investment. See Delta County Multicluster, Delta County Start Ups and see the bigger Transactional Theory. 

Its just a theory but it looks like it is closer and closer to becoming closed as a loop. Now, lets squint our eyes and pretend it was reality. It would be helpful to encourage investments through redesigning websites, fun activities in a vibrant downtown, having someone to coordinated business interest, attracting new down town store fronts (micro tourist manufacturing like snowshoes, golf clubs, candles, equestrian, etc...), ship building (Navy and military), etc... A few design and small batch prototype manufacturing, distribution, etc... 

We often think things like this can't happen but when we look at the global trends in returning manufacturing, Great Lakes Shipping, military needs, and eco-tourism interests we find that Delta County (Escanaba and Gladstone) are ripe because the right type of coordinated investment can lead to more jobs locally as well as greater innovations that impact the supply chain in certain industries. The way in which we would do this would not fundamentally change the "character" of the town but would enhance it to its full beauty and functionality through better market alignment.  

You can get a better idea of the agenda and various topics. See June 17th, 2021 Agenda and See Escanaba Prior Meetings

Wells Township (Escanaba River Mouth) Pictures

Just a mile or so below the paper mill dam is the the mouth of the Escanaba River. A nice little place to launch boats or throw a fishing line in. I'm getting more into fishing these days as it just seems natural. Reminds me of how things might have been a few thousand years ago. 

There are very few places left where the ancient past and the present seem to be connected through shared activities like fishing. While I might fish for fun and a if I'm lucky a dinner, in the past they fished for food and livelihood. 

There used to be a hot commercial fishing market in Delta County's beginning. There were a couple of villages in Wells, Fairport, and other places that made their living off of the Great Lakes fish. (P.S. You might want to check out the Delta County Historical Society. See DC Historic Soc.)

I keep thinking about getting a commercial fishing license and an old commercial fishing boats and making a hobby out of it! Maybe I could feed a couple of small stores. (Yikes...not read for that yet! I think I need a good boat $10-20K and a commercial license with unknown cost. LOL) 

You can read a little more about commercial fishing in Delta County. See Commercial Fishing DC

Steve Forbes Discusses Inflation-High or "OK" 2021?

Inflation is in debate this year among global economists! Whether it will rise substantially and damage the economy or whether it will not be a big factor because there is plenty of cushion (I was looking around for some economic information and came across this video). More money usually means devaluing of that money and in turn purchasing power. In traditional systems we find money tied to precious metals like gold (Theoretically it could also be a pack of different commodities that have some global value. See Commodities as Market Predictors). 

Basically, the debate is between different policies and whether or not continued support is helpful or not. I looked at a little study about India to see if I could understand better. See India Inflation and Fiscal Stimulus. Debt, supply, demand, economic performance, manufacturing, etc... all make their way into government decisions and those decisions have some (not all) influence over market activities. 

Some argue for more government influence and some argue for less (I'm of the mindset to keep the market as free as possible from interference because it functions best and with less overall admin costs. However, there could be times during crisis that federal policy must be adjusted to ensure resources are being reallocated to places where it is needed during those times.)

Steve Forbes is a very knowledgeable guy on these issues and would be someone (along with a short list of others) you might want to pay attention to on these subjects.

Mo "Esky-Mo" is Well Trained and Looks Fab in His Fly Boots

The Cat Walk! Strut Your Stuff Stud!!

Mo is my horse.🐎 He is named after the mascot Escanaba called Esky-Mo. He isn't a high end horse and more like a family average "Joe" type horse. Does well on the trails and listens to commands. The best thing about him is his personality. He is just a lover! 💓 He might be big and powerful but he is an empath (p.s. horses have actual personalities much like humans. See Horse Personality Assessment). At times he makes sounds to get an echo response from his herd when practicing (Its annoying sometimes when you trying to get him to train.). 

I'm not sure if I actually want to sell him. I was sort of thinking of training horses and selling them just to pay for the hobby of riding and playing with horses. In some ways, I'm helping the industry because I'm taking green and rescue horses and training them for actual use and placement with families.

I got Mo some Fly Boots. He looks Fab! Sometimes we are a little serious about life. While this blog is about national development it should still think about the smaller things that make America....well frankly "America". 

Hello! Treat?

Each person has to define what makes America a special place for them. Some love golf, some love farms, some love hunting, some love dogs, some love dancing, some love music, its up to you but you are free to do it! We have responsibilities to ensure its free for the next generation. Sometimes I wonder what our some (only some) are actually thinking but....I guess....they haven't shared their logic or why they believe what they believe (Let us just hope they are using evidence based management because we all are relying on them in some ways. See Multi-Generation Trust). 

Of course I have to leave you with some type of research or otherwise I feel guilty. Amazingly there are some horses that lead and many that follow but they are all part of a herd. Developing a strong horse and its ability to lead a herd is helpful for herd health and safety ( I usually pick out the one's with the right personality when seeking to train because the rest will work out if there is enough motivation and effort on the part of the horse.) See the Application of Learning Theory Horses

New Video Shows Rioters (NYPD retired) Engaged in Conflict

The video shows a lot of anger and a lot of violence. While we can be shocked that there is a retired officer involved in the crowd we really shouldn't be. By the sheer volume of people participating in the insurrection/riot we likely have officers, bakers, mechanics, lawyers, and lots of other occupations present (It there is a high concentration of public service employees then that might be more of a concern.). What I think what is more disturbing is that there are divided American loyalties (Again...remember some of this might be homegrown and some of this might have been pushed a little by foreign interference/intelligence. Maybe? 🤷) within our public service industries (This is why we need a method of reporting radicalism, extremism and hate groups).

Its doesn't matter whether your Republican or Democrat because the consequences will fall on all of us the same. The rhetoric, how we select our politicians, the culture of conflict, people striking political points versus working together, etc...etc... is one of the root causes of these issues (If we gave the mic more to centralists versus loud demanding fringe figures we would be able to draw people more toward the center. Perhaps the media could have some influence in covering centralist stories more than the radicals in the room🎤). 

No matter what a person's political persuasion, we should restore trust in our institutions and the political process. Somewhere along the line the precursors to this incident were already planted and the trend continued until there was an exploitable blowout. See Reduction of American Trust Trend

 When people feel its ok to sack the capital we need to rethink our strategies and what we desire out of future leadership (or....we can hype up the rhetoric and see what the end result would be! 🤔⛔🙅From where I sit....there will be less and less opportunities for a positive end result if people continue to go down the path of radical politics.) Our nation needs to get a little more serious about how we are acting, what our central values are, and how the republic is going to compete. See Roots of Logical Ethics 

AP has a pretty good article on it Fierce Capitol attacks on police in newly released videos

Fishing In Gladstone Michigan-Salvaged Boat and Re-Introduction of Native Fish Species

 Fishing is a great past time and I have been getting into it more each year. Perhaps someday I might try my hand at small scale commercial fishing operation on the weekends (I hear they don't make any new commercial fishing licenses in Michigan but you can buy them from people retiring.) Ok...not like a serious commercial fisherman but just more along the lines of sitting on the back with ice tea working on my lap top in hopes something bites. I could think of worse place to have an office view than from an anchor. 

Ok...don't laugh....I'm stuck with this! It was a cheap dinghy I bought from a Chinese vender (Some of their products are good while others are bad but this one definitely didn't hold up to my expectations. I try and buy American but we sort of stop producing products in some markets.)

It worked well for a year and then It must have been on gravel or something because it had like 20 different holes all over one side. I thought, "Well, its junk now...but maybe I can play with it and see if I can salvage it." I'm looking for a boat anyway and well my buddy has a diving boat but hasn't upgraded yet to sell me his old one he promised 😖.

I tried everything from patches to rubber sealant and nothing worked. Then I gave it a last ditch effort and smeared caulk on it. Well....it was more like...waterproof silicone but it worked awesome. I patched the holes and now throw it in the back of my car just in case I want to go fish. 

It has three separate air pouches so with luck the silicone will hold. If not....well....the other two air compartments will help me limp home. I'm also a good swimmer. :)

Total cost to salvage with caulk $7....all the other junk I tried $70. 

Notice environmentally friendly electric trolling motor. FYI it lasts like 3-4 hours.

There are some ideas to re-introduce the Arctic Grayling Thymallus arcticus in the Manistee river which isn't too far away. I guess this fish hasn't been around since the 1930's. This is also why we need infrastructure development in the Great Lakes to protect against invasive species that whip out the local diversity in native fish. You might want to support politicians (either side) that help support wildlife development and infrastructure improvements (I think its best we choose politicians that understand these issues and are able to solve them effectively).  See Fish Distributions and Habitat Associations in Manistee River, Michigan, Tributaries: Implications for Arctic Grayling Restoration

Portland Riot Rapid Response Squad Resigns-Is there a middle ground?

As you can tell from the video the Rapid Response Team resigned in protest of a conviction. I'm not going to discuss the merits of the specific case as its not central to the issue I'm discussing here. It should be noted that this is just more of an opinion and not necessarily an attempt to convince others of what to believe. When you watch what is going on in the news you will find that this is a societal discussion on how much authority and how much accountability there should between policing and the public.

People seem to jump to quick conclusions and believe that police are either all bad or police are all good (This is a direct result of Right and Left radicalism and not a reflection of what is actually occurring). As with most things in life its not that simple; its a mixed bag. 

Policing is difficult business with lots of danger and not always the best working conditions. The vast majority of officers are honest, selfless, and want to help their communities. From time to time there are officers that need to be disciplined/removed (like any HR function) because they are not acting in ways that are helpful to their community stakeholders (Their primary mission of "protect and serve".) 

Police are people, with families, who have time honored traditions (most of these codes are by necessity but a few norms need to be adjusted because they lead to group silence), who deal with difficult populations, and feel a little victimized (At least seems that way. 🤷).  

Yes...policing is under the spotlight right now and the message they hear might be a very negative one (We might want to give police a more positive message of "We honor you and your sacrifices and we would like to reorient your focus as a profession to some of the challenges we face as a nation. We want to shore up trust issues") There can be positive things that come out of greater awareness.

Why is it all this or that? We should be able to agree that good officers should be promoted, officers that make mistakes should be trained, and those who do bad things should be disciplined and/or removed. Officers may sometimes need protection from frivolous lawsuits but at the same time should not be given immunity when criminal conduct occurs (Think about it...there is a need for some shielding from false accusations but not from legitimate ones. That balance is in the process of being defined. Just watch and pay attention.). 

It will be interesting to see what the end result will be and where the definition will likely lay in a few years (I really hope we can resolve this because its an important one to deal with). We can support our officers while supporting those common sense changes that help improve the profession of policing and further build trust with minorities (and society in general). 

I think Deputy Chief Chris Davis did a great job creating a sense of calm, knowledge, and reasonableness in his communication. Unique situations are difficult to deal with so sticking to what he believes is the truth is important. We can see this an opportunity to listen to the different stakeholders of society and find that balance that makes the sense for everyone (effective policing with respect for human rights). 

I understand how people feel and how polarized angry people are (The problem with our politics is that everyone is shouting and no one is listening so problems go unresolved along pure party line votes. Maybe we should spend some time questioning our lack of ability to see outside of our political ideologies. 😬). I've witnessed police misconduct and it can be frustrating for minorities when you know what you saw but your not sure if that information will act as important feedback for improvement. 

Most of the officers I have met are awesome people with the right personality for the job. Thank God for them!  I would trust them to do the right thing because they are critical thinkers with the best interest of their societal stakeholders in mind (but that is not everyone). 

A few ideas that don't even begin to discuss the complexity of the situation (i.e. its important for you to think for yourself and determine what you believe based upon everything you have read and your own personal experiences)...

1.) Listen to the officers and listen to the societal stakeholders (emphasizing those who feel mistreated) to get a grasp of where the major "rub" points are (Those will be central focal points). One could probably put together a meta analysis of all the police research and commission a study specifically focused on finding the right policy approach that leads to the best outcomes.

2.) Look at the policing system and see what might help improve officer retention and develop the kind of culture that can give opportunities to those that show leadership while creating a stronger mechanism for removal (investigation and removal) of those who do not reflect "good moral conscious". 

3.Stop allowing fringe groups and more radical political voices (Right and Left) to define what is best for our police, the public or our nation. We need policies that make sense and solve problems....not ones that create more problems and more divisions at a time we need people focused on a bigger picture.

P.S. I still like the idea of developing a whole line of non-lethal weapons for use as an option in domestic policing and international peace keeping activities.

Cancun or Escanaba? Would a shuttle between marina, downtown, hotels and mall help?

I posted a picture I took on Facebook. I asked the question, "Cancun or Escanaba?" About half the people got it right and the other half didn't. Beaches are a tourist attraction and in Escanaba the beach is ideally located on the other side of the Marina down a short walking/bike path. I walk and job there sometimes. It would be something that visitors would enjoy. 

Bring your boat, hang out on the beach, shop and eat (Still need to figure out if a shuttle during certain seasons would work to bring traffic to and from dining to the park and hotels and mall. Perhaps a deal with cabs and/or shuttle might help during certain seasons to get tourists to move around and maximize their economic value. Maybe a loop of some type that runs around these areas until like 10 pm. I saw in once in Breckenridge. Works great!)

Would a shuttle between marina, downtown, hotels and mall help? Yes...it might be worth the cost during certain summer or winter (if we maximize winter tourism). 

SpaceX successfully launched an advanced GPS satellite for the U.S. Space Force on Thursday (June 17, 21)

SpaceX launches advanced GPS for Space Force. See Falcon 9 Description carries a GPS satellite that has antijamming abilities as well as more accurate signaling for military (not sure if it will be used for civilian applications as well 🤔) If your interested in a career in the Space Force they are recruiting. I'm sure its not for geeks only. I suspect they have room for "Geek" and "Jock" combos (There are people out there that play sports and read. 😲 See Space Force Site

Fed Chair Jerome Powell (06-16-21) Expect Job Growth

Job growth is expected, inflation could rise, supply chain issues , holdings of securities continues, economic recovery not the same for all people's, and a few other things as they relate to general administration of the Fed. You can read a nice summary at Federal Reserve meeting full recap: Chair Jerome Powell’s market-moving comments

(This is why we need to shorten them back to the U.S. and if absolutely necessary then use Mexico as a low cost regional partner. Advance high end manufacturing and low cost manufacturing have a place in the product life cycle. See Product Life Cycle. We have become accustomed to tax hoping and moving facilities to Asia. However, there is no reason why we wouldn't consider building these options in North American first. See Invest Global Supply Chain and See Delta County Great Lakes Shipping Model)

Au train Old Cart Wheel Dive

 A few friends and I went to Au train last weekend to dive. What I found was something that looked like an old cart wheel off of the 1870's dock at Bay Furnace.

U.S. Russian Summit (2021)-Cyber, Human Rights, and Cooperation?

President Biden just left the summit and he discussed the need of supporting human rights and standing up for essential principles that promote healthy international commerce. The "idea" that is the root of a philosophy is what makes each country and culture different. It is the ideological histories that help develop those ideas into full bloom where they create large groups of followers (Sometimes empires). The U.S. has its long ideological chain that crisscrosses with older philosophers that were used to develop the Russian ideological mindset (Each ideology has its own confirming logics and symbolisms that make it subjectively true for adherents. This is why culture is programming of the mind. See Culture and Negotiation). 

From the video you can tell there was significant discussion on cyber security. Russia has been said to use cyber because it is relatively cheap, bounces around the world (making it difficult to track) and there are many different cyber groups working freelance (plausible deniability). They are seen as early adaptors of cyber warfare and have gotten good at the game. However, the U.S. has much stronger capacity and once it moves out of the older platforms (into...dispersed data, encryption, block chain, etc...where processing and finding proper sequences becomes much more difficult).it will shave off most of the hackers (saving the best) cyber groups for some time before new hack methods are created (Overall it will be more secure and functional). 

Putin is an interesting character and he is strategic like a fox and can use systems thinking to manage various aspects of his administration. While the U.S. has much more overall abilities, we haven't fully developed our technological assets. It seems like (..from what it appears in the news) Putin often looks for flaws in people's character (A keen understanding of psychological motives and non-verbal mechanics) and capitalizing on our divisions in politics (i.e. hyper politics, Proud Boys, Antifa, etc..). We have to shore up this hole in our national capacity by promoting leaders that draw people together into a single concept of "American" versus separating out out into different demographic groups (That is why we can't let fringe Right and Left weaken our central American values). 

In addition, we do need to build our cyber capacity (in defense, functioning, and if necessary offence). One way to accomplish this is to give the next generation better STEM training and update our education systems to match current needs. We have this capacity in house (and globally) but we don't think on that paradigm and haven't really empowered our allies and young geeks to learn how to thwart cyber attacks (...meaning purposely testing our capacities and enhance them where they are deficient.) See Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security 

GM Announces $35 Billion on Electric and Autonomous Vehicles

 GM announced major investment strategy changes by putting together a package that will help it launch into the next generation. We are moving to a whole new platform of development where American creativity and sense of equality (hopefully) will help push our people and our nation into the next Renaissance. I applaud these changes because they are important aspects of creating long term strategic values versus looking at fill holes in the dam today. 

If GE (and other large companies) invest along with our government in not only in next generation products and services but also spear head industries (aerospace, military, cars, etc...) we can create additional innovations at other places that will rely on this technology. 

I have been working on a cluster theory on how to speed up innovation quickly and think there is an opportunity to expand that value. There are cross breeding between different industries like space craft, robots, military equipment, outdoor equipment, ship building, etc... You can read about some of my transactional clusters ideas (meaning creating environments to speed up innovation and reduce transactional cost and learning between different industries.  See Transac Econ Cluster Theory.

By aspects of the design of products in the same locality with some of these other industries they can cross breed ideas and in turn enhance each other. Sometimes initial monies from industry-government-pack investor to start a cluster and as time goes on it produces increasingly more value as designed products turn out to be small batch prototypes for testing (and niche government and industry partners). The results of that are sent to a mass production line for mass consumption. See Transac Sub Fac.

I took this from the actual press release which you can review yourself. See GM EV & AV Announce.... 

"We are investing aggressively in a comprehensive and highly-integrated plan to make sure that GM leads in all aspects of the transformation to a more sustainable future,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “GM is targeting annual global EV sales of more than 1 million by 2025, and we are increasing our investment to scale faster because we see momentum building in the United States for electrification, along with customer demand for our product portfolio.” (GM, 2021, para 4)

When Race and Religion Are More Important Than "Good Moral Conscious"

There are selfish people in this world. There are people who devalue human life and high five their friends. Ok...I don't mean normal selfishness in terms of wanting certain things out of life and making choices over one's time. That isn't selfish unless you are unfairly damaging others. The kind of selfishness I'm talking about is along the lines of chill your bones selfishness with no regard for others (You know the type that scoff, smirk, make jokes and spread intentionally misleading information when you demand they respect your familys boundaries.). 

What is worse is that the friends that associate with them support these behaviors and engaged in them without really thinking about what they are doing (They acted but didn't think about why they were acting or the information provided to them as being out of character.). It is a sign of deeper dysfunction within their friend network (comprised mostly of amateur highschool players from 30+ years ago). While the group feels that such behaviors (I will share some of those later) are appropriate they move beyond distasteful to serious legal violations (Except if you have a corrupt law enforcement official and there is an assumption that they will never be held to account). 

This is selfishness juiced with serious mental health issues as members sought open ethnic conflict and targeted kids for exploitation in their financial and ego driven goals. While there are plenty of legal violations that likely occurred, the group should have had some "common sense" and stopped before it got out of hand (That is often the problem with how people view minorities and how they discount the lives of others, their rights, their freedom, and their property. It just seems a little less important than their own.).  They accepted at face value some very false and misleading information to deflect responsibility and in turn acted on that "information" with no proof other than their perceived notions of "people like them"(They have no clue what that person has or hasn't done to serve their country/others. What they do know is the color of the skin, the religion, and their need to not have their perceptions of being the "best" shadowed by anyone.)

Highly motivated by self interest individuals matched with poor values is a problem for society when mobs with police corruption are given a free hand to act (We remember the Tulsa Riots where no one was held to account even though there were plenty of witnesses. We will need a more enlightened view of the direction of our country where race and religion are not the deciding factor in who gets to harm and who is given "immunity".). When surrounded by people who have a lack healthy independence of thought we have a problem that appeared in the past, relived in the present and without intervention likely going to occur again. (Left over bully culture in sports. The sad thing is most of them were just sort of mediocre in ability and never really excelled in sports but they have devoted their entire life to maintaining the perception of being the "sports people". BTW that doesn't mean everyone that plays sports or in that crowd is guilty of something but some of those individuals coordinated their activities to please their social networks.).

Thus we have self-interested parties that lack any natural boundaries on their own accord. In most cases law enforcement would be the back stop. However, in this case one of the law enforcement officials was part of this group and in turn engaged in corruption not only here but also at other times within the community (Their friends don't really know that because they haven't had the capacity to think beyond the surface impressions. It was nearly impossible to protect your child when you know that any time you protest the officer either followed you home, encouraged other officers to "get the Muslim", or started an illegal investigation with no regard for local, state, national or international law.)

I could talk over and over about how wrong these behaviors are and the absolute lack of anything that smacks of civilized behavior. Most likely I will continue to talk about this the rest of my life because there MUST be some accountability for these behaviors (Its not going away just because its inconvenient and disturbs someone's lunch.). At present we have a traumatized Black genius that was used and discarded by people who should have never got kids involved in their manipulative games in the first place (Not to mention they taught their children how to act like racists and bullies.). 

These are not American values as far as I know, read, or understood (There is a difference between what some of us say and how some of us act.) Yet, no one is going to step up to help this child even though both parents and their extended family know what happened and have seen the radical change in behaviors (Their extended family is also Black so likely what they say doesn't count much either.) If we cannot stand up in this society to help where we failed to act then we might come to a couple of conclusions. 1.) The laws are inadequate for the modern era, 2.) Our politicians are inadequate to lead the masses and 3.) We have discounted the value of the majority of society and we have not learned from our historical mistakes. 

I wish I knew what the solution was (Helping this kid is even more important than understanding the lack of moral aptitude of those who stand on the sidelines not helping). More importantly, I wish I knew what to do and how to fix the problem. While I found something on the "Selfish Goal" it is wholly inadequate to describe the illegal, immoral, and intentionally destructive behaviors I have seen here. Worse, these behaviors were done with the full knowledge of people around them and with their support. Still today there is no sense of remorse from this group or people. See the Selfish Goal.

What side of truth do we as a nation stand on and what values are we (including these perpetrators) teach their children? I have studied hate for a long time and likely one of the leading authorities in this country on these issues.  I promise that until there is some level of justice this issue will not be swept aside, ignored, or circumvented like we have done to so many other minorities in this country when their rights were violated. Yes...even Black Muslim kids have rights that should supersede the selfish needs of adults (I'm an idealist by nature but I have learned that for many people it is ok to take from one kid of the "wrong" type and give to others of the "right" type.). Yaaa I know, many of our leadership are tired of hearing about the dirty word of "rights" but you would think by pure annoyance alone they would take steps to solve problems like this. I guess its one of those subconscious things that people can't put their fingers on but a large swath of society intuitively feel is true.

If we want a great nation that is based on equality we can't push our Black geniuses in the ditch because we don't want to expend the energy to "do the right thing". (We also didn't mention the advantages the other kids got from this behavior.) I suspect in the future, we will be forced to deal with issues like this. There are just too many people in this country that are now seen as the "wrong type". Sounds like we are being wholly subjective on the value of life....and that is likely why we keep having issues bubble up when the only thing we need to do is embrace universal justice where wisdom, virtue and law coexist in the same space and time. 

I am a Republican (socially a Democrat) and I am disgusted by the way we treat minorities in this country. This isn't about politics..this is about building something beyond our own needs so that our children and grand children (all of our kids!) can have opportunities to succeed and compete as a single people (regardless of their race and religion) in pursuit of the idealized goals of our nation's founders. I look around and I see some trying to do the right thing but perhaps we just don't yet have the right environment for higher levels of advanced human capital development.

DOD: Seeks to Update Cyber and Innovative the Military (Hot Sauce Likes!)

We are making a strong effort to counter some of the issues our nation faces in terms of emerging threats. We need a strong military that knows how to create new leading technologies through government-industry partnerships (Remember that innovation is built from a wide base meaning that putting the right industries in the same place can make a big difference. See a model I'm working on DC MultiClusters).

In this case, the DOD wants to create innovative methods of updating their technologies to ensure they keep next generation development ahead of their competition. That is important because our new battlefields will not only need new ways of thinking but also new technologies that can match and beat our competitors.  See Military in a Data Rich World and E-Learning Modern Warfare.

We are moving into micro-electronics, artificial intelligence, R&D ($28 Billion), cyberwarfare, space fighting, advanced technology, robotics and much much more (I once came up with a Macro-AI way of learning but didn't seem to get much traction.). We are in the begging states of a new Digital Era and the U.S. has a window of opportunity to surpass its competitors by getting to this new destination as quickly and prudently as we can. See Sociological Economic Platforms. 

You can see the budget summary HERE and the larger version HERE. 

Resources to strategy.....

Ok...I looked on YouTube and I can't believe the fate of our nation comes down to only 4 likes. What do people watch on YouTube anyway? 😕🤷 I looked it up🤔. The DOD gets 358 watchers and OT Hot Sauce discussion gets 6.1 million watchers. Ummmmm ok I like hot sauce too and awesome show but.....🌶🍅♨ ....you can check it out HERE.

Space Force's Tactically Responsive Launch

Space Force launched Tactically Responsive satellite from Vandenberg Space Station. While it may seem to some that the Space Force isn't necessary it would be without knowledge of the next major economic revolution (hopefully with the U.S. leading it) in which advanced global networks, high tech manufacturing, digital economy adjustments and much more. We are talking 5 G and beyond in a way that helps our environment become cleaner through more accurate metrics while pushing our industries to the top. 

The U.P. is developing its own space and naval capacities as well as the U.S. looking at the Great Lakes as one of those waterways that will help manufacturing come back in the region. I'm working on a Digital Age economic cluster model for Delta County that include the aerospace, military, outdoor prototype manufacturing mixed with an export oriented port (Could also be used to repair military ships and other high tech retrofitting as well as shipping prototype/custom products). Since its just a model its not finished but the basic idea is there. 

The launch was done on a short time frame and with the use of clusters that time frame could be shorter and with higher quality as the right elements (and additional contribution industries) are present in the same location where the talent and resources are all present. That is the advantage of building efficient transactions within a multi industry environment (doesn't need to be the whole industry just the R&D aspects/design firms match with custom small batch manufacturing. Mass production of good ideas occurs in other areas.)