Delta County Board of Commissioners Special Meeting (5/9/2023): Comments, Corruption, Candidates, and Administrator Hired!

There are a lot of things going on within this meeting as it relates to an open full time county administrator position. The situation has been a little controversial because of a firing of one and the hiring of another. It is through this discussion and comparison of candidates that led to a vote based on fairly consistent voting lines of 2-3. What makes this meeting more interesting is that the words corruption were used and there has been significant community blowback on some issues. 

Business continues forward and moves on despite disagreements. Through the hustle of conversation a new administrator was hired and I would agree with most of the other commissioners with the sentiment that everyone wants the new administrator to do well no matter who is in the position. I'm getting this post out there because today's meeting I heard was interesting and I have been busy on other stuff.

Notes: I try and be accurate. Watch the video if I'm incorrect on something I can easily adjust. 

-Upset with the process but also feels there is corruption. Stated it as a power grab. An issue of a vote change and switching the candidate ranking in qualifications. Local expert opinion stated that the current interim isn't qualified but has potential. Another stated people support the current interim and her qualifications. 

-There was some discussion on each of the candidates. Candidates are generally chosen for strategic purposes based on where the county would like to go in the next 5 to 10 years. For example, if the area wants to grow economically then they need someone with economic knowledge and finance so as to create the investment mechanisms. However, we should not ignore other factors of leadership that has nothing to do with any specific industry background. 

-Significant discussion around each of the candidates and what each one likes and each one doesn't like. Each of the commissioners picked their favorites. 

-The idea of succession planning and junior study was brought up. Its not a bad idea to have people able to step in temporary to maintain core functions of different roles. Often that leads to greater systems knowledge of how the different roles coordinate to fulfill an organizational mission.

-Each candidates was brought up for a vote. There is a reason why I think that happened. 

-Somewhere around 1.38 there is a discussion on corruption and an argument between two commissioners. Corruption was initially defined as things behind the back and then it moved to illegal. Asking if one will resign if something happened that was corrupt. (Remember that those are the opinions of the sayers alone and I have my own unique opinions. I found a video on corruption, investment and other potential issues. Since we are discussing the terminology its beneficial to look at some resources. Kind of interesting by Investors Trading Academy 'What is corruption'.)

Haddock Fish Supply Declining so Quota Cut 80%: Keeping the Ocean Fish Stocks Healthy

East coast fishing have cut catch Haddock quotas by more than 80% to prevent the fish’s population from collapse. Fish is in demand across the globe and countries are in tons of commercial fishing battles. The U.S. has within its territorial waters and the Great Lakes the capacity to build their fish populations to a rich industry. Of course one might need to rethink on how to fund rebuilding through commercial fishing to ensure the population grows. 

I wonder in some ways if the tax, license fees, etc. were reworked and then streamlined we could save some resources. Furthermore, when we build sustainable systems we have to ensure the resources taken out are put back in to keep the whole system growing. If we are not doing that, then we are likely mismanaging the resources in an unsustainable way.

One way to think about such revenue is commercial fishing investing directly back into fishing growth, fisheries, etc. The other stuff beyond administrating that system are bonus returns to government and can be used for other sources. However, the majority of the revenue should be spent on growing fishing and on the administration of that industry to keep it functioning well. If you take, then it should go back there first.

You can read some stuff on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on Sustainable Fisheries

Fishing and commercial fishing is one of the things that keep me interested.  A sort of fantasy of building a part-time commercial hobby operation and spend more time out on the lake (Just sort of for fun and not anything serious). Anyway....

I keep thinking about how that might help manage fishing supplies, keep the protein supply growing, and allow for year to year better management. For example, having a strong central commercial fishing industry of different size operations helps maintain the industry if it is a size less then the regeneration rate. 

Using seasonal/yearly hobby fishing part-time commercial fishing license from year to year can create a cushion for the commercial industry because they are small vessels and are not guaranteed to be renewed. Of course that might also mean that the core commercial size would need to be of a size that it can be profitable and ensure the fishing supplies are growing in a clean and sustainable way. 

Haddock, popular Atlantic fish, overfished into population decline

How the Hate Narrative Works: Research Studies Help Show

All behavior is goal directed in one form or another. That is true whether or not behavior is rational or is not rational. The spreading of rumors to create the hate narrative has a goal even though we might not see that initially or see it hidden in the interwoven narrative. While some of those goals may be emotional there are other aspects of that goal that may be entirely malicious. There are differences between complaining versus creating an intentional hate narrative. Likewise, there are also psychological effects of those who push the hate narrative and the victims who are targeted. In this blog post we will discuss the goals of hate.

The Goal (s) of Hate: 

Let us think about all the reasons why someone would make up a story about someone else and/or a group and then push that story as a call to action . I'm sure you can think of many. When people are upset they can sometimes make up a story to help themselves fell better through punishing those who made them feel lower (i.e. keep in mind the concept of feel/feelings as an internal driven event versus an externally generated event. Another person can't make you feel anything unless it was there already. Sometimes those feelings are valid and sometimes they are not valid but the way we respond to them defines us.) Usually they complain to a few friends and that is the end of that. Its normal to feel a little jaded when things don't go your way but one should do so truthfully to create the most beneficial outcomes possible. In this scenario the goal is deflection of uncomfortable feelings

You might also meet someone really toxic who tries to spread as many rumors as they can in order to harm someone else (or group or family). These reputation attacks are often designed to isolate and diminish the targets in some way that could lead to contextual dangers. It happens in small towns a lot because reputation is everything. This becomes especially more true if someone feels they have something juicy to spread their false beliefs as facts (I don't believe in facts but just most plausible outcomes based on the data provided.). There will be manipulation, leaving out information, switching things around, projection of feelings, etc. to create that "narrative". In my experience they talk to everyone who will listen in order to spread the toxic viewpoints as false justification for bad/criminal behaviors. 

The goal in this case becomes more sinister because not only do they want to deflect uncomfortable feelings they do so in a way to lower value through reputation damaging stories, create barriers between people/communities, and seek to damage the other person as much as possible. In my experience, people like this almost never have the story right and the narrative they create is designed to control, manipulate and/or harm others. They may be completely at fault but they don't really care because truth is a social reality. We have all met a few people like this and generally we stay away. 

If these toxic behaviors set off a bigger chain of events then we have an issue. That becomes doubly so if they intentionally manipulated information in order to isolate and harm the victim(s). That could include encouraging people to be aggressive, lie about, ostracize, pick fights, show anger, and all the ways in which someone with dark triad traits would seek to create leverage. It moves beyond just bad behavior but could be very dangerous because one does not know the end result of such unleashed venom. Triply so if they have a lot of open ear friend network/clan unhappy with life or percolating jealousies.

A couple of studies to look at:

1. Hate is found in up to 25% of speech in many cases in college. It could be an indication of hate as a tool. I wonder if it is found more hate in older people? The young, except the radicalized young, seem to be much more open minded when compared to generations of the past. Something to look at in the future. Prevalence and Psychological Effects of Hateful Speech in Online College Communities

2. In this study we find that hate lowers certain neural functions that in turn reduce empathy taking among groups and in turn the inability to see the targets as worthy of fair treatment. Think about this one for a second. If you can triangulate a group to involve themselves through speech alone you can get them to act on targets (i.e. the slogan yelled at the Capital Riots was "Hang Pence". People acted on that and had no idea what they were talking about or the other factors or facts. I think they would have did it in hindsight. ). Exposure to hate speech deteriorates neurocognitive mechanisms of the ability to understand others’ pain

3. The UN has a discussion common targets of hate speech and the increase in trends. 'Targets of Hate'

4. The University of Sussex offers some of the motivations of hate and how there can be a number of factors that create motivation. 'Causes and Motivations of Hate'

5. It is also possible that when hate speech starts to increase, it can impact the amount of hate crimes in an area. The study by Cornell found that the amount of hate oriented speech on twitter was associated with the amount of hate crimes in that city (It wouldn't be a cause most likely, it would be a symptom). Race, Ethnicity and National Origin-based Discrimination in Social Media and Hate Crimes Across 100 U.S. Cities

What we find by looking at such situations is that hate speech has a goal and often that is to control, diminish others so as to raise or protect one's own status. The goal and the ability of the person to manipulate their environment is inherently of concern. When these intentional stories are spread it can be very difficult to minimize and that is why they are used in hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, and other power over events that have turned out to be atrocities later. As the narrative morphs through official and unofficial positions/channels it creates a backdrop for future hate as a social expectation (Unless one ensures that it isn't allowed so as to avoid future coordinated hate. That is called accountability. This is why integrity of legal systems and law enforcement is necessary.). 

It does say something about the strength of some of these institutions and whether they are more concerned about official functions or shadow functions such as groups, race, ethnicity, friends, etc. There are slightly different goals for each department governance levels and as one expands outwards the needs of the local social group become of less concern as objectives become different. Taking people out of their groups often helps them see different perspectives. In clan based networks, they share a sense of world view and that can be socially distorting if not challenged (There are many different types of victims of this behavior. Kind of why I'm writing this now. So I challenge and I challenge and push against the speeding train that may someday run out of track.) 

When systems treat each other fairly and universally they will come out on top as trusted entities. When certain crimes are allowed to happen in an effort to maintain ones group/clan status, superiority of religion or race, or simply because one holds false views of others and/or the power to enforce the false beliefs then we have an issue. These types of behaviors occurred at different times in history, so we also should be watchful of these things happening again. That is why we should always be diligent and on watch.  

There is a threshold that should not be crossed with words and actions. That becomes increasingly possible when the wrong narratives are created to lower social inhibitions of aggressive behaviors. This is probably why we need a better understanding of how mental health leads to hate in groups.

P.S. I think we can maybe discuss the type of people who believe, act, and spread such ideas and their quality of character and personal identity issues. 

 

U.S. Sales Revenue Rises on Sales to China. Developing A Stronger Economic Position

My shamefully sad sad attempt at
blog art in 5 minutes or less. 😰
Don't do graffiti! 
It was there already.

There is some interesting economic news in terms of improving exports in some business sectors. As the U.S. consumer spending declines/fluctuates revenue in sales increased for some U.S. businesses selling to Asia. China is reopening its market and that means they have demand and need for American made products. The U.S. is one major supplier and should maneuver itself as a supplier of products to Asia as a general strategy to maintain an economic foothold.

As a strategy the U.S. should maximize its global position by thinking about internal development that leads to external performance. We see some of that with infrastructure development and increased emphasis on technology/innovation. Maximizing economic benefits include manufacturing in the U.S. and then sending products overseas to places like Asia, Europe, South America, etc. in a way that returns revenue back to investors, U.S. govt in taxes and people in rises in quality/standard of living. Being at the center of the supply chain makes a big difference in the overall ability to maximize revenue outcomes. 

One could also say being at the center of intellectual, labor, education, research, etc. (Which I loosely tie into a human capital concept as factors of influence) has its advantages as well. The U.S. could invent and make products within the country by understanding these issues and then sell those products globally. A couple of ideas based in support of a not finished economic theory. Sustainable Reinvest, Interactivity of Hubs, Free Trade and Super Hub, Network Development, The Working System, Economic Platforms in History

While the U.S. has what is called a labor shortage with unemployment it also has some, like all nations, labor misalignment. It means that it will shift in the upcoming Digital Era in order to adjust with those jobs and get people working in fields that will draw the most value. That is projected to be within the next five years and the country should ensure its institutions are prepared to fundamentally change to meet this new need.

Keep in mind that even with labor shortages we can invest in improvements to labor productivity and creativity/research. There is new technology and tools that can help move jobs of little importance to automation and get people retrained to work in areas where their skills are maximized (Notice the need to find what people are good at and help them enter careers they can do well. That is where the education system helps.)

This is a pretty good article to read.

'China’s recovery lifts U.S. companies’ sales as domestic consumers pull back spending'

Lucas, A. (May 14th, 2023) China’s recovery lifts U.S. companies’ sales as domestic consumers pull back spending. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/14/china-sales-help-starbucks-yum-mgm-disney-tapestry.html

Police Complaints and Accountability: How The Public Can Help Them Help Themselves

One of the worst situations can occur when one's social networks and distorted personalities influence local law enforcement and accountability through various interactions and behaviors. While these behaviors were somewhat grotesque there was little to no attempt to ensure overall accuracy of beliefs and actions. I am at a little loss of words and sort of uttered "Oh my."  and "Can't be".

While this is speculative at the moment I do believe eventually I might be able to show there has been disparate treatment to many different people throughout the local justice system. The behaviors I have seen just didn't start overnight or in this particular situation. They were learned over time and through careful coordination in what appears an attempt to circumvent the intent of laws.

 You may want to review the United States Conference of Mayors published in 2020 a discussion the work 'Transparency and Accountability to Reinforce Constitutional Policing' Its a pretty good article. You also find that there are others out there who believe we should have policing that is designed around certain principles, values and laws.

One of the things the report states is a hinderance is the process of launching an officer complaint. They say that departments try and make these policies difficult in a way that deters filing and doesn't accept even videos of incidents because they are anonymous. There may be chain of custody issues with being anonymous but they do help in understanding and creating more leads. 

There have been concerns in many areas that because some communities don't feel protected that reporting crimes will have a retaliatory effect. I think people are afraid of some departments and that was intentionally created by some officers. The power over dynamic limits the ability to catch more crimes through lack of engagement (This I believe I have seen a few times. If you say something critical of someone's bad behavior some of these officers react and gang up on those trying to protect the public from misconduct. This may be a silencing tactic used in clan type enforcements. Alternatively, it could also just be bad practice. Or I guess alternatively there could be an alternative explanation.)

The other issue the report brings up is the purging of documents and issues when they relate to substantiated complaints. I think that is bad news if that happens. While 80% of officers are awesome and do good stuff there are some toxic souls out there that do bad stuff. A predator is a predator and sometimes they gravitate to professions of power. I think it would service this community and many other communities if such records are not destroyed but better utilized. They can be used to improve training and track back crimes if they have occurred. Our current system is a poor design (I think there is a way to work this so even unions might agree if crafted wisely. Maybe not.) 

You see these departments wobble in their attempts to maintain the balance between their loyalties to our Constitutional values and their loyalties to their social networks. While they navigate clan or country issues they also create victims along the way through allowing some crimes and misapplication of law. Their perspective becomes jaded and in turn those who are committing crimes are allowed to continue to commit crimes.  

When they talk about Justice I think they are confused on what that means. The version they use is an older one where some people in our society are devaluated and others are artificially inflated. The law should never work on the behalf of certain groups and even doubly more important when they shared ethnocentric perspectives harmful to others. The law is for everyone and it should not give a free hand to some engaging in behaviors and then not a free hand those who have an issue with it (See RF).

Because I believe some of these department heads (In one case I think they were involved in the promotion of disinformation.) are aware but are powerless to deal with this issue I think if they had a stronger complaint section. If you notice if you check out their pages there is no place to complain when officers engage in misconduct and that brings complaints right back to senior leadership that has little objectivity (Remember they protected some while crimes were committed and misused those laws to try and cleanse their community). Thus, we cannot say its a truly objective (I didn't see anywhere you could complain maybe you can find it.)

My recommendation is that to best uncover these group of rogue officers is to have more transparency of complaints. Let there be something on their webpage where they can submit a simple complaint and in turn that goes to an objective third party (That would have to be defined. Perhaps a citizens group with no active law enforcement parties involved. Of course department leadership should be aware as well but I feel that unless it is urgent it is important for someone outside the departments to review the complaints to make sure there are no concerns with retaliation and/or manipulation.). When issues and patterns are found they not only inform the department head in writing but also a state counterpart (We can't have this stuff just ignored. They are contributing factors in other victims and crimes.). 

Complaints are important because they tell you a lot about how individual officers act and behave when they are not being watched. It also ensures greater transparency of these issues at the top of the department that must decide where their loyalties lay in terms of serving the public or to their fellow officers. A complaint threshold and/or gross violation issue would launch an investigation. 

The other thing these departments could do is report the general aggregate findings on their web page. For example, the amount of accusations of lying by officers coded (use a coded system to protect identities), ethnic intimidation, civil rights, hate crimes, helpful, polite, took extra effort, quick to respond, theft, etc. We would have to look up some things that are reported publicly and their recommendations. Likewise, we also want good officers to be highlighted so we want to accept as many praise oriented comments/complaints in order to reward those officers over time as an aspect of performance and improve training to emulate prosocial behaviors. In this case, it looks like they could help themselves by being more transparent with complaints of poor behavior and then acting impartially on those complaints to rectify. 

The goal is to make our departments and officers the best they can be. That is difficult if they work in toxic environments where certain rights are mocked and dehumanized. While I don't believe any department does this intentionally I do believe that toxic officers spread their false information and their leadership is relatively powerless to do much about it even though these behaviors are dangerous. Its an issue of integrity of stated goals and ensuring the shadow system isn't primary over the official system.

Maybe in the next article we can discuss where to get access to existing complaints and whether these departments are transparent or make these this information hard to obtain. We can then think of the process of asking for these documents (If its even possible to get them because I'm pretty sure many people would not want them released for a variety of reasons.) 

Just so there is no confusion. I'm 100% in support of police and 110% in support of civil rights. Sometimes we have great police but the systems they work in don't always follow normal management protocol. For example, police complaint feedback is just as important as customer feedback. Providing a high quality service to the public is important and that requires consistently adjusting processes, capabilities, and systems to higher levels. Its the politics of it all that sort of mucks it up. We want to rid our city streets of crime and we want our departments to work on the behalf of the American people and not any particular race, or religion, or ideology. We have to create a better system. I say that as a person who really respects the profession of policing and has on many occasions helped them out (I know that they don't understand the depths of that and the depths of that effort. Now we must correct them). More than most people would have ever helped them out. I'm helping them out now again but in a way in which a friend helps a friend when they loose their sense of purpose. The next step is theirs.

In Memory of Bill and Karen. 

City of Escanaba: City Council Regular Meeting (May 04, 2023): Civic Engagement Up, Trust is U.P., Democracy Strengthens!

The School of Athens

1509-1511 by Raphael. 

Philosophy and Governance

The meeting was an interesting one and while it seemed on the surface sort of run of the mill you have to sort of understand the context and why that is a good thing. Most importantly you will notice that they have a relatively pleasant meeting and a lot of things get done right away. People are prepared for the meetings with information and for the most part everyone has been professional. Its sort of the way you want things to be as a shared perception of community health. 

You will also notice the improved civic engagement and that is a wonderful sign of the health of democracy. Ok....this is good kharma at play I think. 

Notes: I don't need to write these out because someone actually does it. Very nice system. May 4th, 2023 Escanaba City Council Meeting

 -Library appreciation.

-Budget approved.

-Thank you for OPRA designation. Will participate in community.

-Property condemnation.

-Garden and land. I like this idea of a history garden. We are a special people and should have something that tells our history. Just don't forget the little people. An artifact to small business owners and local workers would be nice. Likewise, include the Native Americans. I think the speaker does a great job with flowers and history in the area. Enhance Escanaba Agreement. 

Trust and Civic Engagement

-Apparently people want to be so involved that they need a new process to vet the resumes. We are a resilient people and when we know we can change something for the better, we get involved. This is fabulous or the community and can really get people excited about working with government (Contrast that with entities where people are less engaged and/or engaged for the wrong reasons. Trust is important. We kind of see that play out at our county meetings. I'm not saying they are right or not right I'm just saying it looks like a trust issue. That may also impact another area.) 

Governments work best when people are engaged and trying to accomplish great things for the community (Likely the same for the nation as well.). We should have people involved because that is what makes it all possible. That is also a truer form of democratic involvement where citizens vote with their engagement. You may want to read Rethinking Civic Engagement as well as an interesting publication by the World Bank on trust and civic engagement measurements 'Building Trust in Government through Citizen Engagement'

This concept of trust and engagement is important. If we look at available information about Escanaba during a higher time of engagement we might find that the city is also growing with investments. It isn't a 1-to-1 economic relationship but I believe them to be associated. They likely influence each other.  Healthy democracies draw in interest around shared goals and in turn they create greater engagement. (In my theory engagement and transactions are associated. One being the financial quantitative measurement of some form of the other. Positive engagement and increased transactions lead to economic prosperity through increased activity. The same can be said for declining entities and the loss in civic engagement. In this case, they have a community and they are engaging for a reasons. Let us just sit back and watch.)

Discipline is What Gets You There. Fitness and Life Motivation

Its early in the AM in California and the sun is just coming up. Today is day like all other days except something is different. The world looks a little more bright. With discipline and effort we achieve our goals. If you want to stay in shape get out there and jog, walk, hit the gym, climb that mountain, out fence your opponent, swim past your team, and do all the things that make you...you!

I have a fitness trainer license so if you need a little help hit me up.