Switzerland, U.S. and Sweden Are the Top 3 Innovative Countries.

Some countries are more innovative than others and the U.S. has certain characteristics that is putting itself in the center of development. While Switzerland is smaller and more innovative the U.S. has much more economic power and that innovation is bigger number. U.S. policy makers should help ensure that the U.S. is not only the most innovative but also the best place for investment. 

Mapped: The Most Innovative Countries in the World in 2022

Source: Visual Capitalist

U.S. Capitol Riot Security Report Released

January 6th was an important day. Most people want to know what happened and of course there are will be different investigations, discussions, arguments, etc. Because it was a day of politics (..of which I believe both sides contributed to the ripe environment.) no one is going to want to touch the hot potato so we can kind of envision how the discussion will go forward. What we can say is that eventually after all the discussions, investigations, and debates we will land on something that sort of functions for everyone (Anyway, hopefully so, so we can put it behind us. That will depend on key power brokers and personalities. 🤞)

As a reader each side will sort of "frame" these things in certain ways but if you read the totality of reports you will sort of see where they align. There is no reason to judge, argue for/against, etc. because it is all just new ways of seeing and understanding a problem to have a more 360 perspective of it (Go to the root reports versus just the more subjective news reports.). 

I'm not going into that much depth on this topic because I kind of passively follow it now. Long term solutions will take longer to settle out........ 

So this report is just for your understanding and you may draw whatever conclusions you wish. ❓ Just read widely and understand everyone's perspective. Arguments brought forward from various stakeholders will likely make their way into future court cases and other issues. That will help you decide what you believe for yourself. It helps align you to the center of your own personal values and wisdom while hedging the knowledge of others (i.e. knowledge contained in the reports. More importantly, the collective of perspectives from multiple vantage points.)

Report of Investigation: Jan 6 Security Failures

Watch President Zelenskyy deliver address to U.S. Congress (Perhaps Sophisticated Weapons on Loan)

 This is interesting and definitely worthwhile watching considering how it has impacted our global economy and further set in motion major power changes! We are sitting in a very different situation than the world of the past (Old Cold War vs. New Cold War). Russia made some bad choices but I doubt it is truly over (Using history to make simple surface judgements. Pride might cause Putin to run the country into the ground before giving up. Unless removed internally by his own people. His downfall might be the inability to recognize that managing a country has to do more people then individual needs. If he learns that lesson he might withdraw his troops, work on normalizing relationships and try to move on in a way that is more helpful for his people. The other route is a more destructive. Military men have pride but strength comes from knowing when to put down your shield and sword to sort of metaphorically speak {Many wars in the Middle East were on egos and not necessity. They would have had a much better outcome if they didn't allow the ego to get in the way.}. So that is an important question. Will he run it to the end or will he cut deals that give him the insulation to live out the remaining time of his life? What do you think? I don't know could go either way! 🤷). I do believe it marks a turning point in the perception of Russian global power (Ending the Soviet legacy. Unless there is more.). 

Here is the thing. Most people would agree that Russia should leave Ukraine but would not agree to the collapse of Russia itself (There are risks to a full collapse that need to be considered. Sorry putting on my political science  and foreign affairs hat. ). Having the right weapons to decisively defeat an enemy while reducing unnecessary casualties, chaos and destruction is a good thing (Its a balance). War is an ugly, painful, and harmful! Maybe some of the more sophisticated weapons should be on loan (maybe they are already) and be managed by units that will eventually become Ukraine's special forces/intelligence officers with future self-defense oriented co-op training with the US and/or allies. When the fighting is done, return the sophisticated weapons not needed in precautionary defense/deterrence in case they are required somewhere else and at some other time in the defense of our democratic way of life. 

The Patriot Missiles might be a good thing to have on loan and remove when finished. They can be used as an immediate defensive system that will be managed by highly trained teams for a limited time under loan (In theory. In some ways it might be an opportunity not loose out on all that money, replenish our reserve stocks when war is over, and more strategically apply them in other places at other times if needed. It would also give us good data on the strengths and features of how these systems work on the ground in actual combat {Allowing the Russian invasion to improve our future capabilities}. A type of product improvement mechanism that reduces the cost of loaning these systems out. See special force/intelligence team idea above as those who would be trained on how to provide that feedback. Win-Win I think. Maybe not? )

(The blog is designed to get people to think and provide some thought provoking questions that lead to new questions. Its ok to disagree and as long as it is well thought out and coherent then awesome! Its about exploration of ideas.)

Less is More Text Resource for News in Title Only Format (Cutting Back on Advertising Clutter)

Whether you are engaging in research, an academic, business guru, student or just curious you likely have certain key terms and strings you use when trying to search for key topics. Advertisement can sort of get in the way of quick searches (Let me say that the business community should really keep up with the current news. ). 

Let us consider that it is difficult for traditional publishers to make money so advertisement is highly important and most pages are plastered with it (I empathize. More is more or less is more?). To me, you have to fund good news and that often comes through advertisement with credibility (..as long as you don't annoy your customers and its topic related). 

For those of us who search out information regularly news databases help in finding information. CTRL + F and you can search most pages and documents for key terms. Lots of libraries have searchable directories but below is a generic easy to read current news headlines (Libraries often require topic search. Here you can see a wide variety of news. There are benefits to understanding the broader aspects of our society.) 

What is nice is that most of our favorite news stations have text versions that simplify everything by stripping out all the messiness and focus more on content. 

GreyCoder More is Less a good example HERE.

So What Do You Do With Destructive People? After the Hot Strike of Hate!

There are individual actors and there and there are social group actors. The social group provides the acceptability for hate as toxic personalities feel a sense of entitlement over their environment, town, resources, people and others. It is this core belief that drives many of their other distorted perceptions that they are born superior and that others are nothing more than the tools to an end (To most It may feel like clan caring inside the group, but attention functions more like a series of transactions. It is an accustomed practice to structural gas light systems {Go back to a social construction theory mentioned prior.} for one's own bidding to self-medicate long buried childhood traumas by a consistent supply of reaffirmations of loyalty. Leading to groups that have certain "all with" or "all against" me black-white thinking that emulate their leader's beliefs and personality. i.e. groups led by narcissists have characteristics. It is the same on local and national levels. )

(Notice that under their exterior strength is a broken spirit that is desperately seeks affirmation of value. It causes a type of self-consumed narcissism where social interactions are bent around being the center of exchange. Unlike the immovable forms of narcissism, I believe this one could be resolved through mental health onion peeling {Narcissism is hard to fix but this one is very close to the persons conscious surface. In theory.}. Thus MI Track and Resolve is a system of using mental health interventions to help those as soon as they rear destructive tendencies that cross the legal line but have a psycho-bio roots. It saves society and it saves the person in the long run; at least attempts to make that happen. What do we have in a world where mass shootings, political violence and coordinated group extremism are on the rise? I haven't seen a lot of solutions out there!)

The biggest tip off that a group of Shallow Hal was being led astray was that their behavior was over the top (i.e. radical its a little of an obtuse resource but you get the concept of behaviorism and measurement.) and didn't seem to relate to anything that was going on near the ground. In other words, their behaviors (thoughts and interpretations) were being driven by an actor(s) because they were coordinated, had similar goals, same target. same social group, and similar beliefs. The problem was, none of it had anything to do with the targets.  It was their image of the "other" that was self constructed and self-destructive (Highlighting some important values and perceptions of group members.) 

(We know in the back of our heads when people are doing weird Steven King creepy stuff but because some have tried to pick fights, children were already being yelled/toward, stared at, at i.e. "your father is a bitch" among other aggressive behaviors you sort of have to step back for a second see everyone's patterns. There are differences between stepping back versus running in fear. Stepping back is giving space so as to allow the group to better define their intentions by giving them the space needed to make as many choices as independent from the targets as they can. It can be difficult if the very image of you and your children enrage them!)

(*I want to interject a point here. I could kind of tell a core nucleus group based on experience and knowledge of the parties. One concern beyond those spewing false information was others who hear it, get angry about it and act on it without any real ideas of 1.) why they are so offended and 2.) what is true and false. i.e. lone wolves that are driving by emotion and false logic. Not only did we have risks from use of legitimate authority for illegitimate things {i.e corruption and Good old Boy networks}, defaulting universities (i.e. rejection for adjunct ops you and the local college feel are qualified for}, damage of reputation safety {Tools the narcissist often uses. i.e. character assassination to make the targets "worthy" of hate}, but also the multiple potential lone wolf situations where chest beating could have easily turned into violence (i.e. truck driver, staring kids down, group rudeness, triangulating of conflicts that more than once turned into tricky potentially fatal situations.).

(The capacity to defend oneself is maintained but still reserves judgement and avoids movements that could be confused  in a way that allows the perpetrators to make decisions based on the way they see the world and minimizes interactive justifications. The goal of the groups "leader" was to engage in grotesque aggressive behaviors toward myself and children as well a direct attack on a family's character that normally would produce in the average person an automatic response. With the many people I have met across the world "honor" is important and its important here. In this case, honor is in doing the right thing and not in the older version of simple bravado {My youth has given away to age, wisdom on top of any physical skills I may have. Years of kickboxing, karate, self defense, sports, dance and other activities have left me somewhat confident in my general skills. Anyone can fight, but few can see beyond that to how to heal the situation for the long-term future. Recognize the science behind it, protect yourself/family, and don't let them determine the narrative or when and how one reacts. We are now in a situation where we can do a lot of learning, healing, and most of all helping others understand how to avoid this in the future. Lemons into lemonade. )

(Me, my children, our community is not a game for this group or their Good Old Boy network to play with. "The game" such individuals use to triangulate others through misinformation, use law enforcement members as tools to legitimize illegitimate behaviors and rally a core unquestioning followership to dip the tips of their toes into dark power. It can only be countered by truth. One must counter disinformation with information for the betterment of everyone involved {i.e. a looking glass reflection process}. A higher type of law and moral code that is culturally universal and yet is written into the laws of every people. It may not always be enforced but it is the purpose of law. )

(Its generally, not helpful to rush into situations if you are unsure of the factors, who is involved, corruption versus duty loyalty as it relates to officers/officials/others, how many institutions have failed, and most of all what the hate narrative is, etc. In my experience, if you don't need to rush in without all the information, tools, facts, etc. then don't! Remember that they used a well worn strategy of aggression, misinformation, targeting kids and over the top behaviors and comments that would have enraged the most noble saints {Pick a religion!}. Anger is acceptable but how we use that anger is important. Does it build new or does it destroy? Maybe a little of both?)

The group closest to the perpetrators continue to ostracize and I suspect that wont change any time soon. First, they are connected closely, have sworn their loyalty to lower order values (They lack deeper understanding so some level of empathy is needed.), and would likely be too embarrassed to really look at how they acted and the erroneous and in many ways the mob like beliefs they prescribed (Modern and open post-Nazi Germany wasn't built in a day. I suspect this will take at a minimum a few years for people to sort of grasp the behaviors fully; most won't ever be able to. My door is always open to an apology and reconciliation if someone so chooses to use it but that would be much more internal self-mastery than the average person can muster. So while I might forgive, I will not forget, I think deep down they would never be able to look at themselves the same way after their behaviors; I cannot look at them the same. This is where shame is justified and this is where they should first recognize the steps the road not often taken to self-improvement. 💁)

What Would Seem to Make Sense?

Maintain and/or Expunge charges depending on the perpetrator's ability to deal with their mental health behaviors/difficulties. If they can earnestly deal with their past traumas then let them expunge it and move on to live free and happy lives as long as they are never involved in such a situation again. I think they would need follow-up for a while to ensure they are no longer a danger to themselves or others.. Oh! and I would make them pay for it....its called "a gift".

There are other thinks such as departmental reform of one law  enforcement agency, correction to hiring practices at a local university, greater requirements to report properly hate crimes, investigations of community complaints, and auditing of some of the incentives to hate.  These are all necessary and still maintain their importance. We have to make sure others aren't getting caught in these types of miscued behaviors because that would erode the entire reasons for these institutions (Think about it. If they are not focused on truth, wisdom and justice beyond blind application of law that doesn't take into account its purpose or intent then we have lots of issues to work on. This place sort of marks in some ways whether we can or cannot overcome our challenges. Its just one data point in many data points.) We also have people intentionally misinterpreting the law and that is dangerous to locals and visitors alike. Proof is in the pudding.

For the most part I choose to not engage in their aggressiveness while maintaining the initial protective boundaries I set (I have maintained my first boundary and would very much like to avoid having to maintain a second more fundamental one. I'm happy at least self-interested fear muted their initial enthusiasm.). That isn't going to change right now because they have to earn that right through consistency of mature and thoughtful behaviors not intended to harm others or enrich themselves. So things will change, and they will continue to change, but the immediate risks have subsided for the time being. The risks of hate are still out there but they have lost their social "legitimacy" and any sympathizing lone wolf would likely be more aware now that they will be held to account if their derangement gets the best of them. (Unless they are drunk, on drugs, or they just had their gfriend dump them or lost a job or whatever sets them off. This is why the targets will always carry some risk and you really can't legislate it through the law, solutions, or anywhere else. It only takes one who beliefs the targets are "worthy" of hate! That is precisely why we need a better system to understand and work on it {Let us play a quick scenario. One of my kids is walking with his gfriend downtown next year and one of these "studs" drives by and starts yelling names or engaging in intimidation tactics. Could you be 100% certain everyone, including officials, will do the "right thing"? I want to fix that and be sure and know there are consequences in place if they can't or won't do the right thing. } . My plan is to be open, public, visible, go where I want, help my community, bring opportunities if I can, and ensure that intimidation, hate, and bigotry stays in the shadows where it belongs......always present to come back out and corrupt men's souls. 😈 {Ok sorry that was a little much poetic but kind of true.👹 🙈})

COP15: Framework to Protect Biodiversity

The world is changing and we are changing to protect our environment. As the world nears the tipping point, defined by scientists to help governments quantify global warming, we have come up with new fusion energy and technology to reduce bio-scarring. You can learn more about UN COP15 and the Framework to better understand how protecting biodiversity is protecting ourselves (We came from nature, live in nature, and will go back to nature.). 

“Nature is no wanton or random creator.” In De Anima, 432b Aristotle

(I support reasonable and sustainable development of more efficient greener technologies.)

Forest Processing Renaissance Zone: Could Wood and Other Muliti-Clusters be Forming in Delta County?

Big discussions on the Forest Products Processing Renaissance Zone in Wells today. (Go Wells...sorry that is my area. Some people cheer for teams and some for societal success. 📣). These zones allow for tax carving which can be good or bad depending on how they are designed (You can see an official definition and which taxes are protected in MEDC FPRZ.). In this case, Escanaba is getting a once in a lifetime opportunity to rejuvenate multiple arenas at once. We got a good team in office and the right environment. 

We only need to squint our eyes to see how this game changing, town changing, multi generational changing, branding opportunity, that could lead to new life to a budget crunched town as a future Smart City 😏🚜🌲🎄. We can never truly stay stagnant and the last 20 years since I left and came back appear to be just a little more sleepy looking (Infusion of investment helps reverse the declining population trend and create inflows of money, knowledge, and resources into the area.)

“It’s the largest investment ever made in the Upper Peninsula and it’s really to transform the Escanaba mill,” Fittante stated.... 

“...and so, we’re asking the locals to be actually part of that solution by passing a renaissance processing tax exemption.” (Truitt, 2022, para 2)

Tracking market change, economic elemental adjustments, political shifts and investment trends helps to understanding the market and create levels of forecast and Bayesian Method. ( See Verso Merges with BillerudKorsnas AB Investments in Escanaba (Delta County Economic Cluster Model and original work in progress paper Delta County Economic Transactional Cluster Model)

Consider the growing space race and investments to the north in Marquette, ship building/refurbish in Escanaba and to the south in Marinette (The need for new break wall.), manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. (a reason why this mill is converting to boutique cardboard boxes.),  interest in downtown (Marina, House of Ludington, Hotel, zoning, tourism, etc.)greater need to maximize our export infrastructure (U.S. supply chain development), internet and water infrastructure, a push into the Digital Era, electric auto invests in MI, and you start to see a ripe environment. 

There are steps to innovation. See Organizational Innovation Steps. Creating the framework for innovation is important that first it is cognitive focus that leads to organizational strategic development. With proper cultural awareness and a global mindset we might be able to make something out of it. Build some local wealth. (Maybe maybe not? 🤷 Its just fun to think and hypothesis about!)!

Some Light Related Reading:

TV 6 Article (Dec. 19th, 2022). Wells, Escanaba Townships to hold special meetings to consider Renaissance Zone

Truit, J. (Dec., 19th, 2022). New Life for Escanaba Paper Mill. U.P. Matters. https://www.upmatters.com/news/local-news/south-central-up/new-life-for-escanabas-mill/

MLive (Dec. 13th, 2022) Upper Peninsula paper mill could get $1B upgrade

(Seriously! I just saw all the snow in the background and I will be back in a few weeks. Brrrr I will need to snow blow. )

(This article and article like it are designed to increase stimulation of thought on important national development concepts.)