Quotes for gearing up for the next adventure

I offer these nine short quotes so sum up my emotions this morning. I've recently concluded a rather intense and unsuccessful foray into public interest law. Down but not out. It's time to turn my energies to a new project, not to cloister myself: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Do the next right thing.” Dale Irwin (A Kansas City consumer attorney, a friend of mine, who I hold in the highest esteem) “If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough.” ― Mario Andretti There is no such thing as a disembodied mind. The mind is implanted in the brain, and the brain is implanted in the body. Antonio Damasio (Neuroscientist) “I will keep constant watch over myself and – most usefully – will put each day up for review… Let us balance life’s books each day…” – Seneca Many People Die at 25 and aren’t buried until they are 75. Benjamin Franklin “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire. “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” ― Buddha “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.” ― William Wilberforce

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Trump’s Three Main Techniques for Avoiding Honest Communication

I have a difficult time even wanting to think about the man who is further degrading the Presidency every day, but it is important that we cut through the noise and work hard to understand how he convinced so many people to vote for him. John Oliver identifies three specific techniques Donald Trump uses to avoid meaningful communication:

  • Delegitimizing the Media
  • Whataboutism
  • Trolling
This video is filled with video illustrating these problems. This video is one month old, but very worth watching for its precise analysis of these problems.

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America Retreats to Tribalism

At New York Times, Timothy Egan notes that Americans are retreating to tribalism, and this is not a good thing. Here is an excerpt from Egan's article, "The National Crackup."

The American experiment [is the] the audacious idea that people from all races, ideologies and religious sects would check their hatreds at the door after becoming citizens is our sustaining narrative. Within our borders, Protestants don’t fight Catholics, Sunnis don’t go after Shiites, Armenians share neighborhoods with Turks, and a family that can trace much of its ancestry to slavery occupied a White House built in part by slaves. But that tenuous construct is breaking apart. We are retreating to our tribal, ethnic and primitively prejudicial quarters. Everything is about race and identity. We come from privilege, or oppression. We choose politicians based on whether they help our tribe or hurt People Like Us. Stupidly, the left is playing its part in this crackup, perhaps ensuring that Trump will stay in office. When people shout, “Check your privilege” at a speaker at a public event, what they’re saying is, “Shut up, your opinion doesn’t matter because of the color of your skin.”

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