Academic-Capital

The war is ongoing so it isn't going to mean much to NATO. However, inside Russia it is a ploy to help shore up support. Most historians are likely to say it wasn't legitimate. They will however likely bring in certain aspects of a broader historical timeline into their discussion. Usually, they explain current events through association with past events. In the short run annexation means nothing, in objective history it will mean nothing, but depending on how it turns out it could mean something in Russia.  It is a false justification of self-defense which likely gives Putin some additional powers to lock down the decision making of the nation. During "war time" or in "defense of the homeland" one is likely to get more powers to lock down on the Russian population to fight off internal descent, more control over resources and create a level of perceptual support for his actions.  Putin is a sly fox so he is all about justification and leverage. "Defend

 We are still one nation but we do run risks in the future as Far Right extremists call for Civil War and local corruption violates peoples rights. I'm the type of person that fights for togetherness and I encourage people to work out their differences. There are so many people trying to "pull the wool" over each other's eyes seeking some advantage for their particular cause.  Because of people's agendas the right thing doesn't always come through. When you do and say the most reasonable thing and it falls flat on its face your realize something is not right.  This crowd of "super cools" put me and my family at risk, lied about a great many things to defame, had financial incentives for engaging in these behaviors, and could have really hurt someone ( ...my son being one of them . Who gave them the right to make choices over others? I didn't give it to them and I'm going to do my best to ensure the courts don't give it to them. ) They wer

If you have been targeted by a couple of local police officers, your underage children pulled over multiple times in an unmarked car, a police car parked outside your home, your children targeted for manipulation, a large group of people pick fights and spread rumors to damage you, lost opportunity that the local college said you were "more than qualified" for, there would be a serious break in the legal structure if such behaviors were given a free pass. Looks like a local prosecutor was muted in their investigation of this group ( I cant say that 100% but there is some indication they left the area for that reason. Even if not true it detracts nothing from what I have seen. ) Worse, as this group was trying to set you up by staging undercover police ( These police figured out what they were being manipulated and stopped. They are the good police. ) they came to you and said, "We are doing this to you because your family is Muslim" we have what would normally be co

So an NSA employee gets caught trying to sell documents to Russia. You can read the FBI charges . Ok first, it sort of sucks that people are selling out their country for Russia. Money is awesome and 85K is a lot of money but that money can go quick! Doesn't really seem like such an incentive for such a horrendous act....maybe there was more motivation. I wonder if people who fall prey to temptation in a way that cancels their oaths have serious debt or other issues that make them sort of soft. For example, maybe they are gamblers or have lots of other debt. I wonder what drives someone to sort of take that low amount and then in turn sell out their country? No amount of money can be worth your integrity! What concerns me most is that people are willing to sell out everything for another country's needs. Especially a country we are in conflict with! As we move into the neuroeconomic choice of benefit and risk are they not considering how selling out one's nation will fundam

 Interesting....

I would agree with one thing. If projects don't start happening soon it will become increasingly difficult to make them work out as planned. When the iron is hot, it should be struck to start other investments. If it cools then you may loose out on other future investments. They should be reasonable but move at a faster pace and cut as much red tape as possible.

Law enforcement has an important function in our lives and must maintain certain standards and rights to ensure public trust and public support. Sometimes because law enforcement associates with certain groups they run the risk of warping the law to help these friends and associates. Sometimes groups carry racial and religious bias and when they begin to do bad or illegal things there are very few protections in place to help the chosen targets. In worse case scenarios, it creates a type of cleansing we see in lesser developed nations that can have a serious impact on the future health and vibrancy of our communities.  Cleansing is a concept that means if you are an "undesirable" based on superficial reasons you, your children, your rights, your property, your contributions and everything about you is discounted. When socially supported by a Good Old Boy network the risks become serious ( Think of how war torn countries are carved up by these networks comprised of racial, rel

 Personality is important and is one of the defining aspects of business, work and life. There has been a sense that "better than you" is a way to treat people. While excessive rudeness and self interest seems to make sense in the short run one must keep in mind the organizational benefits of concepts such as agreeableness and humility within one's personality repertoire.  Consider Two Studies.... -A research study of 3,900 studies found that agreeableness was an important trait for work success. Agreeableness Metanalysis . -Humility has an important and positive impact on the performance of organizations, individuals, and teams. Humility Study . The traits of agreeableness and humility are collective oriented in meaning as they are part of the process of developing higher group performance. Such people recognize the value of others beyond being tools or extensions of themselves or their needs. People are valued for their own sake. ( It is also why people stay with organi

Student loan forgiveness is all over the news and for those who went to college, are involved, or college students they likely have some interest in this information. Some love it and some hate! You may read.... 8 million student loan borrowers will get automatic forgiveness. Here’s what you need to know

This isn't a popular war for many Russian soldiers and many of the soldiers are relatively untrained. In line with Russia's history of warfare they often call on the lower classes (in the past peasant class) to fight for certain causes. In alignment with historical and cultural perspectives there are penalties for anyone who surrenders, doesn't fight, or tries to return home. In light of those concepts, Ukrainians are wise to be using sympathetic surrender terms in a way that could help defend their country and potentially help their economy afterward.  Some of these things the Ukrainians are already doing and a few might actually make sense.  1.) Easy Surrender Initiative: A soldier that surrenders is an amazing source of information. They also leave equipment behind, allows reallocation of military resources not used for fighting and could potentially save Ukrainian lives. 2.) Offer Path to Return Home or Ukrainian Citizenship: Because they have given up without a fight

 Probably a good idea. It shows that we are learning from our threats and making changes. Presidential Election Reform Act

National unity around key concepts and values we all share helps ties different communities to a bigger picture of democracy and self governance.  There will be some disagreement and arguments based on which political party one belongs but the big picture should take precedence.  I'm a light R but carry some values from the central L. Despite my party affiliation (RINO-DINO) I sort of just say what I think because I believe our country needs independent thinkers and people who can bridge gaps.  A few ideas I'm sort of thinking about that are important to national development..... 1. Economic Development and Environmental Protection: It is possible to develop, improve technology, and protect our environment. That takes a balance between improving our natural systems like the Great Lakes while also encouraging economic investment in the region ( I know short on facts but its just a quick statement. ) 2. Military Readiness, Space Development : Develop the world's strongest, m

We owe loyalties to our nation even when we may disagree within something we must be wise with those disagreements. If that disagreement can't be fixed internally then you find another safe channel to deal with the disagreement ( Perhaps consider other reporting channels, agencies, or Congress ). The mistake he made is he went overseas to a foreign adversary without considering how that information is worth more than any individual person or their cause.  No one is perfect, just like no system is perfect, and sometimes we need a little correction but the minute we go to a foreign adversary we open up a huge can of worms. Of course Russia is going to welcome him with open arms and give him safe haven. They are equally likely to get as much information as they can from him and exploit the PR of it all.  Sometimes it feels like we have a few politicians and people who think Russia is out to help them solve some of their political and personal problems. Whether that is running there wi

 All systems must function as intended and I personally think the FBI is doing what they need to do. That doesn't mean on the very high end there isn't some room for oversight but at the same time they need to be free to investigate what they need to investigate. Before my fellow Republicans want to throw out the baby with the bathwater they should think about a few things. The FBI's independence has uncovered potential espionage and an potential coup that would not have been discovered if we played politics as usual ( Remember that it hasn't been publicly proven yet but it is something that we should be concerned about .). Their objectives are to ensure we keep our democracy moving forward based on the laws passed by our legislators ( That is why there are different branches. ).  I'm always an advocate for change and think that general oversight is good on the upper levels but I'm not into angry retaliatory changes that further erode the ability to catch and ma

Policing is an important function in society and slow recruitment is a problem but it can under certain circumstances also be an opportunity. It may be an opportunity to recruit diversely and attract different types of people to the practice policing to ensure that is reflective of society and develops multiple new ways of looking at and interacting with people. If we review current police demographics   ( I cannot vouch for the statistics or how they are drawn .) we can see a good opportunity to shore up these slow recruitment/attraction by encouraging minorities and those with cognitive diversity to get involved and become officers. It is a chance for people to sort of take a bag of lemons and make lemonade in a way that improves the systems, encourages trust, and has a positive impact on drawing communities together.  Support our police and support our communities. Some may have left or retired and that can create a flow of new people if we can find a mechanism to attract new offic

Hate isn't an easy thing to deal with. Especially if the people who did so are not honest with the blind followers and corrupt officers they surround themselves with. They can pretty much say anything and people will assume its true. That is even more likely if no one asked for the alternative story that money went missing prior, they put kids in harms way, and that there has been long stemming mental health issues by the initiators of hate. In other words, the goal never was to understand it was to scapegoat a family for others problems and issues. It was to circumvent accountability. I have more obligation to ensure that corruption and hate don't get normalized then they do to protect their egos. Yes I do recognize that based in our current political and legal environment that those who are seen as minorities get taken advantaged of, targeted for ethnic cleansing, and will have few to no rights if someone views them as "the other" . I guess in many ways it has been

 Investments are on the down track. I wonder how long they will go down. According to the video there is correction and there is downturn in the market. The question is how long and how severe the downturn? I would think that some of the investments we have put into our infrastructure and economy may help reduce some of that downswing. However, that may or may not be true depending on lots of other factors. 

I would be sad if the GOP loses Liz Cheney. Whether or not we agree on a political level what we can say is that she has integrity. The far right has turned very far right and has begun to outstrip its party. There has been some movement back to the middle as more and more information is coming out about the inner circle of certain politically connected groups.  Instead of leaving I hope Cheney stays in the party and she begins to rally the "Old Guard" Republicans to start pushing out these far right extremists. While it won't immediately get her votes it is likely to be fruitful in the long run as the tide turns and hindsight kicks in. History often tells a different story that the way we see it at that time. I like some things Trump did in terms of a few policies ( i.e. boarder wall. Sorry its just an opinion and we still face some issues in society. We have to settle those and figure out an agreed path that helps those who need our help while ensuring we are not puttin

One of the problems we face within this country is we have far right and far left extremism. At present the far right extremism seems to be more of the issue but that doesn't mean it will always be. The problem is that these values can sometimes make their way into local judicial systems and create a type of corruption where normal laws and rules don't apply.  Ideology can be a dangerous thing if it leads people to the same conclusions over and over without considering the rights and values of others. As a people we rely on these systems to enforce the law and provide a level of protection. If they work on behalf of a single group, clan, or people it distorts the law and could someday lead to third world strife. That can change if you are considered "worthy" of being a target for hate and anger ( Heightened by religious, racial, ethnic or Good Old Boy considerations ). Its not based on the actual person or their merits but perhaps on things such as one's religion,

No matter what party one belongs domestic extremism is a big thing and when someone's house was watched, people planned on coordinating and killing our politicians its not a joking matter ( Same thing happens to intellectuals, visionaries, people who are different or even people who stand up for their American values. ). It is rhetoric like this that creates problems for our nation as some (R or L) normalize extremist behaviors. I'm a light R and that does not take away from the unique skills the candidates have. However, joking about kidnaping and death threats is not the way to go anywhere and at anytime. We need the best and brightest versus the most "connected" to make their way to the top. A bad joke is a bad joke and if if not well thought-out and blurted out with insensitivity then it should be retracted and deserves an apology. If she truly feels that extremism and support of violence is the way to go then I believe she will likely lose this election as the wi

We often think that justice has something to do with getting people in trouble. It has more to do with keeping the system focused on what is in the best interest of our nation and communities. We must be a learning and adjusting nation/governance that seeks the highest states of democracy and human capital development. A problem sometimes arises when we get confused about what justice means. I'm sure there is a lot of different perspectives on this but it is about appropriate weight based on the crimes committed. Each case is due to its merits. For example, a hungry man who steals an apple is not on the same level as someone who defrauds millions ( Which we are seeing more often ). Punishing one due to poverty more than one with fancy attorneys is not justice. Its just power and limited budgets! The same can be said for hometown hate. Free pass for self-enriching coordinated hate behaviors of a 100+ people ( Most of these people are good but caught into a distorted sports network w

Biden provides speech at National Educational Association. The audio on this channel sort of stinks but I couldn't find a better one. I do agree with one thing, work provides a level of pride for people, and having jobs helps. There is also a internal conflict between MAGA and Old Guard Republicans. I think that is start to switch back to the central stance as legal issues ramp up.  As with all speeches there are things I agree with and things I disagree with. Very wealthy people don't count their pay checks in the same way as poor people. So help on one level could be valid and beyond that we need to fix the system in general. That would include increased opportunity for people and ensure that health insurance functions well is another.  The devil is always in the details and it if was easy to solve it would have been solved a long time ago. Market forces should determine the price of drugs but at the same time an argument can be made that the pharmaceutical industry has respo

There are some good ideas and comments in the GOP's Commitment to America. I have listened to President Biden's speech and have seen some of the recent changes in the GOP and let me say that they are more similar than both sides pretend to be ( At least at their root .). At the end of the day they both want American to be strong and share some similarities in interest. I put my comments in in brackets below. Just in case you want to know I'm a light R and have no problem looking at things from different perspectives and angles. No one has to listen to me, or necessarily should, but certainly you should make up your own opinion regardless of what party you belong. Our nation is that important! I'm writing to understand myself.  As an observation what I would say there isn't yet a lot of information in there so I would suspect its a developing agenda. Taken GOP leaders roll out ‘ Commitment to America   -We will not allow it. The Commitment to America represents a new

The rule of law is important for order within society and its important for the development of our most important asset "The people". Sometimes law is misapplied in an avenue to protect certain races, religions, ethnic or social groups. When this occurs it needs to be corrected in order to maintain the integrity of the entire system as well as ensure such institutions stay in alignment with national values.  What happens when institutions move outside of alignment with national values and/or engaged in corrupted behaviors? If these behaviors are apparent then it might fall under the purview of US Public Corruption and Civil Rights Division . Such a division looks at cases where coordinated police, judicial, or and/or clan aggression appears to be in violation of some of our nation's most important/cherished values. We are a nation in transition and there are still places that feel that their clan is more important than the national laws and that is why Federalism exists t

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Human capital development is related to development of one's labor force and the capacity of people to move upwards and receive the rewards for their efforts. This is why I usually advocate for the benefits of training and development but also for the universalization of our institutions and opportunities. According to a publication the Brookings Institute entitled  The contribution of human capital to economic growth  employers should be hiring graduates based on their performance within universities, ability to conceptualize issues/problems, think clearly and originally on issues.  College Preparedness and Company Hiring Practices Ensuring graduates have the right skills is one things but the employers ability and willingness to hire and groom exceptional talent is another. My experience in the past indicates that most positions 70% are hired by people who know each other and that isn't always based on people's skills ( I did a quick search to see if that was in the ball