The assertion & question of unity, unifying the country, wondering what the hell the problem is, and why is all this happening is taking center stage. Dramatically.
As is the corollary question being tossed about, "How to heal the Nation?".

There is a #systems principle

that is a powerful insight into these, & related, questions.

"You cannot solve a problem at the same level it was created."

If the problem we were solving for were some detail, 'where to place a road; what $ to allocate to this or that project' sort of thing, then the way to
think about the problem, the impasse, is to appeal first to the functions of prior planning, history - meaning what did we do the last time, maybe pragmatics...Eventually, if the organization (whether business, community, or governance) may make a decision and that becomes the
decision. Often, typically, the decision is some sort of amalgam of the various ideas and 'camps' in the room. Rarely, but sometimes, the decision is made out of pure hierarchy..."What the boss says goes, I don't care what you think..." sort of thing. Largely that is old school
and is not the normal way of conflict resolution. Especially in the context of solving a problem.
But a decision is made, and typically people, and the various factions, come together and get to work in the context of the decision. Sometimes called 'teamwork'.
If this works, it works because there is a tacit, typically unconscious agreement to the rules and structure of the organization, and everyone moves on and gets to work on the resolution.

In other words, the problem was actually solved at the level of the commonly held values
and principles that everyone essentially shared. It made the resolution at the level of the problem at hand able to be resolved.

The problem we are having today is exactly of this type, but the levels are far deeper. Deep enough to where there are no more levels upon which
there is a general, unconscious, or better a' priori, agreement. The breaches that are becoming the concretized divisions within our country are finally being driven down into levels we do not typically "work out of".

Historians understand how these divisions are the drivers
of history. Our own American history has many confluence, including the Enlightement, Capitalism - itself a conclusion of economic reality, theory, and practical social relationship developed in the same crucible as the "New World" and its political dimensions. Science, later
the practical applications that became the Industrial Revolution... all of it... and much more, are the ingredients that made/make up what is America. Ultimately these ideas were expressed & manifested in the Constitution.
This catalog of the deep, axiomatic, paradigmatic principles that organized the basic relationships of power, the Governed to the Government, and the underlying first causes for establishing a new state... all of it, is embedded and embodied in the Constitution and relevant
documents. The ones often appealed to, but few have actually read, and fewer actually understood. But that line for another chapter....

For now it is relevant to assert the proposition that the Constitution is the bedrock of America. It is the axiomatic premise upon which
everything after is predicated upon. The laws, layers of organization and etc.
And, more darkly, who is and who is not part of this experiment... Not so much stated in terms of "why", that is the social context... but in absolute terms of "Is".
It is upon this point that the American Experiment almost did not get off the ground. The compromises required to gain the Southern states are well known.

Later, because of the unresolved, inherent contradictions, the country would be plunged into the Civil War.
As Lincoln put it: 'To see if that nation or any nation so constituted could long endure...".

That was a hard example of the principle I am attempting to articulate.
In the end there was no deeper appeal to common values. As such there was no room for compromise, an agreed
vision or desired outcome. The divide was not at the day to day level of practical life and living....but at the deeper, typically unconscious level of ones axiomatic values. Those beliefs, values, ideas and principles that do not have a deeper predicate. "It is just who I am".
At the level of tribal affiliations, it is "This is who we are.". There is no questioning why. There is no rationalization of whether it is a good or bad thing. It is the essential "isness" of ones-self. Or, the tribe, or community, state, sports team.... Or.... Country.
This is the state we are in now. The divisions in the country are not at the policy level. Not at any level that has an appeal to a deeper level for calm... for coming together and working things out.

Now, as many times before, we are busting at the seams with fundamental
contradictory notions of what is, and what is right.

I submit it is this basic fact that is the context of the manifest strife, and its seeming impossible reconciliation.
Impossible, because, it is, in fact, impossible.

Not without thinking (being) different. And no one wants
to make that move. To be the first to examine their values, beliefs and motives in light of the times. Much easier to demonize the opposition, cling to the tribe that is your community, be absolutely certain of your rightness, held with unwavering righteousness.
So here we are. With the rumblings of a new 'civil war', once distant and easy to ignore, now shoved onto the main stage and impossible to ignore...
Now what?
Others have done a deep dive into some of the particulars that make up this fundamental division. What is interesting, to me, is the recursive nature of the problem.

It is said the Original Sin of America (even before its founding 1776 version) was slavery.
That fundamental fact, so complex in terms of economy (who does the work that creates the wealth), human nature (I will be comfortable at your expense. Me first), religion (We will use you for our purposes as "god" decreed it should be"), power (who has it, and who does not)
and more, all going to the singular question: Who is and who is not part of this community, state... Country.

Constitutionally this was answered with whitewashed contradictions in terms of blacks, and also the American Indian. But it was the issue of Slavery, which has
riddled our social contract from before the very beginning.

And...it is still a vital force that once again is forcing the question onto the main stage.

It is a question so deep that it has no deeper level to appeal to in order to find a common ground from which to resolve it.
A reason the opposing sides are so inscrutable to one another is, I suggest, on this point. The premises of the opposing world views - how the world is understood to be, to work, what is right and what is wrong - what once was a common value that could be appealed to to help
resolve conflict, is now the conflict. There is no deeper level of agreement to appeal to.

This, of course, is not true. But it is functionally true.
To end this endless loop into the imperative questions of who, what, why and how all this is happening. How did Jan6 happen? How did Trump happen? And "why cant you, the other side, see how wrong you are?"

These are the questions that people now want to sweep under the rug
again in the wan hope of "calming things down", under the impossible resolution of "Unity".
One side, the losers in this particular battle, want to "move on" for the sake of unity. "Don't tear the country apart by impeaching Trump". Or investigating who was involved in the Jan6
insurrection. Don't even call it that. Some of this comes with the implicit, sometimes explicit threat of "if you do they will do it again.".
So we are facing the same daunting question as we have in the past outbreaks at this level: How shall we deal with this irreconcilable division at the level of first values? The basically different a priori' premises?

A problem cannot be solved at the same level it was created.
What if the problem is created at the very first level?

It sets up the stresses that become untenable compromises, that eventually break out again in a Civil War. And again in the Jim Crow era, sanctioned & instantiated by the arbiter of our foundational Constitutional norms,
the Supreme Court. And etc throughout our history. We have been struggling with this one non stop, in varying degrees of social outrage, for ever. Making incremental gains on our way to a "More Perfect Union".

But now, those gains are again the center of the dispute of these
different foundational value systems.

How we go about finding a true common ground (which is, in fact actually there for the taking, if we could just see it) will determine just how hard these next months & years are going to be.

More from Michael Beaton

It is not just wrong
& it is not just the epitome of historical ignorance,
& a comprehensive misunderstanding of the relationship of religious and civil society,
This is the declaration of a much deeper intention of instantiating an "American Fundamentalism".
Think "Gilead".


This is the low information ranting of fundamentalists who lay out the emotional, fact & history free, case for what is essentially an American Taliban.
There is no "compromise" or a sense of comity between differences. When you have "the truth" it is a violation to "compromise".

Others, like "The Grand Inquisitor" use the froth and confusion--and subsequent absolutist certainty of their "righteousness" generated by such as this. (and thus justification for killing/harming anyone who disagrees..In the name of God, of course)

It is useful demagoguery.

This battle has been raging for years. Perhaps forever.

One distinctive characteristic of America, has been keeping this level of fundamentalism out of secular power. Individuals, yes, but not the entire system.

One of the consequences of Trumpism is to equate patriotism w religion in a way that births what becomes a passionately ignorant fundamentalism, unmoored from fact or truth,wedded only to its own self as the measure & guide of truth.
It creates a condition of deep tribal devotion
When (if) the full story of Jan6 ever comes out I predict it will have multiple levels of intention and complicity.
Broadly
1/The "base" level of the mob reacting out of what they believe & has been taught & insinuated into them for years.
I think this chaos is the cover for


other levels that seem to have a much more clear, "calm" mission.
These are the people who are now utterly confused that what they were told turns out to not be true.
These people being disbarred from flying, or taken into custody, thinking they were just returning home, are

bearing the brunt of the response by the law enforcement system. They are the easiest to see, find, and catch.
They are the pawns. They are the Orcs in the Trumpian system...expendable. Useful. Necessary. But Expendable as the strategy & tactics require.

Who knows if these

people, so adamant in their emotional pumped up outrage will figure this out. For now, the fact that they are the ones being hauled in, the first ones facing the consequences of their actions, seems to be solidifying their martyr frame of mind. I suspect they feel a kinship

with Trump, who does nothing but proclaim himself a victim and a martyr. In this they get to feel even moreso that they are part of the righteous army, gods army, doing gods work.
And they will be used again and again as necessary for the other levels.

More from For later read

There is some valuable analysis in this report, but on the defense front this report is deeply flawed. There are other sections of value in report but, candidly, I don't think it helps us think through critical question of Taiwan defense issues in clear & well-grounded way. 1/


Normally as it might seem churlish to be so critical, but @cfr is so high-profile & the co-authors so distinguished I think it’s key to be clear. If not, people - including in Beijing - could get the wrong idea & this report could do real harm if influential on defense issues. 2/

BLUF: The defense discussion in this report does not engage at the depth needed to add to this critical debate. Accordingly conclusions in report are ill-founded - & in key parts harmful/misleading, esp that US shldnt be prepared defend Taiwan directly (alongside own efforts). 3/

The root of the problem is that report doesn't engage w the real debate on TWN defense issues or, frankly, the facts as knowable in public. Perhaps the most direct proof of this: The citations. There is nothing in the citations to @DeptofDefense China Military Power Report...4/

Nor to vast majority of leading informed sources on this like Ochmanek, the @RANDCorporation Scorecard, @CNAS, etc. This is esp salient b/c co-authors by their own admission have v little insight into contemporary military issues. & both last served in govt in Bush 43. 5/
the whole point of Dunks was you could go cop them at VIM whenever you wanted for $65. this shit is like having to enter a raffle to buy milk.


like seriously why not make a ton more of them if they're gonna be so sought-after? they land at outlets? so? nike still makes money off that.

the only reason to keep making them so limited is that they KNOW all that matters is the profit on the flip and if they were readily available FEWER people would want them, not more

the whole system is super broken, but it's just gonna go the way it goes, because at this point it all caters to the secondary market. the only reason Nike can sell Jordan 1s for $200 is because the people buying them can flip them for $500

adjusted for inflation, a $65 AJ1 in 1985 is like $160—and modern-day AJ1s are made from cheaper materials in factories staffed by cheaper workers. they don't HAVE to be $200 retail. but the secondary market nuked the whole concept of what sneakers are "worth"

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Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"


The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.

1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!

2) "Repressed memory" syndrome

3) Facilitated Communication [FC]

All 3 led to massive abuse.

"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.

Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.

FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.
THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ

1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE


2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less.
https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n


3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)

(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)


4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.

For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3


5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)
1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.