Exclusivity

Human beings are strange. 

We create definitions through exclusivity so we can restrict others. If you belong to a tribe the idea is to make sure others don't belong. 

Find any grouping in society and you are guaranteed to find policing watchdogs to restrict belonging. This is because humans operate out of fear rather than the idea of inclusiveness. 

The people I have most admired in my life were intelligent, sincere, confident and kind. These are traits that discourage fear and insecurity which meant they also didn't feel compelled to seek safety within a group that didn't share their value system. 

Many people live their lives scared to death which ends up infringing on their personal growth. They might join a group for safety where they can look down on others and find false confidence in doing so.

They find comfort with the rest of the fearful.

Damage

We are all born clean slates but then we become somehow damaged. We have parents who were themselves damaged and we live in a damaged society. 

We learn early on that the world is far from pristine. 

There isn't really an antidote for this but countless poets, philosophers, gurus, psychiatrists and playwrights have tried to find answers to what ails us and how to fix it. 

It appears that the imperfection is baked in under the guise of what we think is free will and the natural entropy of the universe. 

We cannot repair the world but we can repair ourselves to a point. We can learn to process the damage we've been exposed to and put context to it. We can understand that some if not most came from the wounds of others.

Playbook

The playbook has been repeated many times. A leader takes over a party and hollows it from the inside out. He demands loyalty and anyone who doesn't agree gets thrown overboard. 

Republicans will eventually no longer exist as a party and, as part of a US reset, another party free of Trump stench will take its place. 

You cannot have a political entity act as cult of personality because you have effectively created what the US was originally founded on: to escape the control of a monarch. 

The GOP no longer creates policy, they simply are a legion of whiny and vindictive moaners trying to derail social progress as a vengeance on what they call "woke culture". They do this while genuflecting before a leader whose tantrums they deeply fear.

The damage Trump has caused is so severe and the anger so pronounced among millions of Americans, that they will never vote GOP again. 

Well deserved.

WTF?

If you make the mistake of placing bets on humans having high intelligence, you will lose money every time..

10 times over

If I repeated the word psychology to you 10 times over it still wouldn't be enough to convey and emphasize its importance in our lives. 

Our success around grappling with issues and conflicts depends on it. Who we think we are revolves around it completely. 

When I was young my life was centered around immature psychology. I hadn't lived long enough to separate problems into order of importance and to analyze the world properly into what was pivotal versus trivial social invention. 

Needless to say, dramas were created out of nothing. As an example, walking in a mall dressed in feminine clothing as a young person was a gauntlet which now makes me laugh in retrospect. What I was wearing at the time was completely trivial.

What changed was my psychology and nothing else. 

We cannot wait to be permitted by society to do something because it often operates by irrational concensus. People do what they think is allowed and even then desperately copy in hopes of being accepted by the herd. 

Our work is about societal detachment, self-respect, kindness and critical thinking. 

All of it is contained in psychology.

The other cheek

The Christian message says to love your neighbor and even those who persecute you which is a tremendous challenge. 

Turning the other cheek is probably the hardest thing we are asked to bear. It's certainly a difficult one for me. 

As I got older my cynicism increased but so did my ability to see behind facades and into people's suffering. Life isn't easy and many take the road of aggression as a short cut to temporarily alleviate their pain. 

It doesn't work but for a time they can feel superior to someone else. 

If we recognize this we can be empathetic and not take glee in their suffering. 

Trump voters are finding this out the hard way and there's no point rubbing their faces in it for some may still draw a lesson from it.

Chess with an idiot

Trump is making sure that Canada moves permanently away from major trade deals with the US. This doesn't mean that all trade will stop between us only that our dependence on deals not worth the paper they're written on is over. 

We are moving towards Europe, Asia and to some degree China although the latter with some reservations. 

The latest Trump imposition of 50% tariffs on selected Canadian goods means Americans will pay even more for items they used to buy from us. Citizens already burdened with the highest inflation in the G7 will continue to shoulder higher costs. 

The justification for these tariffs changes day to day and is then posted on social media by the mad king. 

"America First" has turned into "America Alone". 

The problem with strongman tactics is that they can only work if there is a tactical strategy at play. Using bully tactics only meant to scare has resulted in Mark Carney's shrewdness and intelligence coming to the fore. 

In other words, Carney is playing chess with an idiot who doesn't know how to move the pieces but Carney plays nice and doesn't taunt because he knows better not to. 

The Republicans already face a daunting challenge in November and despite attempts at cheating likely will come out losers. They have played Russian roulette with the livelihoods of people who are being hurt by the geopolitical realities affecting all economies. 

They are of course also plagued by having tied their fortunes to a clown with a long history of failure and it will cost their party plus Americans as a whole very dearly. 

We in Canada have a highly motivated and educated population here that will not be bullied.

Arsenic

Sometimes I will pop in on toxic podcasts warning of the big bad transgender agenda.

They are all highly predictable and usually include a detransitioner who swears that they were guided by a bad gender therapist. It is the equivalent of saying I got a bad nose job (a much higher regret rate) and now no one else should either. Except that no one can force you to do anything.

In other words, it's all breathtakingly stupid and full of malice.

Blanchard is still making the rounds saying that the transgender legions refuse to acknowledge the reality of a term he invented. It would be comical if it weren't so badly intentioned but at least it allows them to high-five in their echo chamber.

I always go back to one point which is that their efforts are like putting drops of arsenic into a huge city's water supply. Their aim to do harm is insufficient to stem a tide that can't be stopped.

Do people sometimes make decisions in life they later regret? Every day and for the foreseeable future that we are on this planet. Besides, not all transgender people medically transition nor should they by default.

However not everyone is the same and lumping them all together for the sake of an agenda is beyond disingenuous and just plain evil.

If only

A FOX News reporter on perenially smug Jesse Waters' program, was featured visiting a homeless encampment in New York city for the purposes of attacking Zohran Mamdani. 

The propaganda network of America was seen belittling people on the presumption that they want to live in squalor. The reporter after touching the belongings of the people who lived there, proceeded to push a microphone into the faces of those sleeping on the pavement asking "why are you sleeping here?" 

The smugness was deliciously punch worthy. 

The exploding global crisis of inequality is getting ready for payback and blaming the victims as lazy is not going to fare well. 

The world is in crisis and the desperation is growing among people who used to be able to keep up. As the middle class dwindles down to a nice idea that once existed, we are ending up with a scenario that is untenable. 

The relative economic stability a large swath of North Americans experienced growing up is now increasingly reserved for people who have much more money than they know what to do with. 

At one point the reporter pushes his luck and asks a homeless man "Sir what do you do for a living?" 

The man responds sarcastically 

"I hold up news reporters at gun point" 

If only.

Calculated risk

Personal growth isn't measured by how safe we were in life but by how willing we were to step outside our comfort zone. 

This I have learned in spades and I am now finishing a cleanup stage that is resulting in what I feel is the best version of me yet. 

I am never going to be perfect but the little steps taken always in a forward direction have moved me closer than ever to the most authentic version of myself. 

If I hadn't taken calculated risks I wouldn't be where I am.

Into the void

There's an early episode of Futurama where professor Farnsworth invents a hat which gives a monkey superior intelligence including the ability to speak. It's one of the funniest of the series because of the dislike between Frye and the monkey leading to some hilarious exchanges. 

Larer, the monkey becomes disappointed with his situation. His parents are brought into a social function where they proceed to engage in mayhem. Some poop may have also been flung. 

Near the end of the episode the hat is damaged just enough to reduce the monkey's superior intelligence by half. He is happy beyond words and asks the professor not to repair it. 

He wants just enough intelligence but not more. 

The philosophy behind here is spot on. We can spend time analyzing everything to death but then not live. There is a balance to be had between instinct and introspective thought such that we can enjoy the best of both human capabilities. 

As a serial over-analyzer it was a bit of a touche reminder. 

At the end of the episode the monkey is asked by Farnsworth what he will do now. 

"I think I'll study business" he says gleefully. 

Farnsworth, shocked from disappointment, screams into the void. 

"Noooooo!"

Cut to black.