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A sampling of opinions, political cartoons, history, science, humor, satire and utter nonsense.
Saturday, July 20, 2024
Flooded
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Not to worry
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Saturday, July 13, 2024
Good luck with that
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Despotism for Dummies
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Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Project 2025
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Saturday, July 6, 2024
Incendiary
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Friday, July 5, 2024
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
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Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Quora.com: SCOTUS Who Loves Ya Baby?
Chicago Tribune: I’ve learned that it may be best to email like a cat
I've discovered that cats, extrusions of our human souls, have much to teach us about how to use email to our advantage.
I send lots of emails. Too many emails. I also respond instantly when other people send an email to me. And truth be told, I go on and on, interminably, in my emails.
While you might assume this superior level of responsiveness is a good thing — as it implies a loyalty to friends and family and a professional business attitude — in reality, the impact of being a responsive fool turns out to be perversely negative. In personal and work settings, an overly friendly and chatty email personality can produce the opposite of the intended effect.
Like it or not, relationships are about power, leverage and advantage. In face-to-face conversations, verbal and nonverbal communication is often about positioning yourself in relation to others so that you can achieve your goals and reinforce your sense of self. That doesn't mean we have to be jerks. But confidence surely matters in our presentation of ourselves.
Oddly, power dynamics play out differently in email. Because there is no physical presence and no spoken words, power presents itself by holding back.
In reviewing email relationship dynamics, you may have noticed that the advantage often seems to accrue to the person who is most aloof. Who responds rather than initiates. Who responds slowly rather than quickly. Who uses fewer words rather than more words.
The effect is to communicate relative indifference. People who initiate email conversations may respond instantly and be overly verbose in their email threads, communicating a perhaps too-eager desire to please.
To use email to your advantage, you need to recognize that it is not just a means of communication. It is a tactic and part of a larger presentation strategy.
I'm not suggesting you should never initiate conversations with other people. I'm also not suggesting you not respond with reasonable dispatch or be so clipped in your replies that you sound brusque or unfriendly. Clearly, all relationships are ultimately about giving, as well as taking. You cannot meet the needs of others without a caring, solicitous persona.
But particularly with email, the flip side holds true, as well. In the absence of nonverbal cues and tonal signaling, it becomes even more important in email relationships to communicate confidence and a professionally styled regal dignity. There is simply too much opportunity for people to misread your intentions and your state of mind. So you need continually to balance those two goals — being caring and solicitous, while also projecting confidence and dignity — in your email outreach.
Try this exercise. Think about people who email the way dogs or cats respond to their owners. Dogs bound up to their owners, love attention, wag their tails, jump around, bark happily, follow their owners about the house, lick their owners and generally make it clear 24/7 how much they love and need their owners.
Cats could generally give a damn about their owners. They want their owners to feed them, empty their litter boxes, open the door for them and otherwise stay the hell out of their way. They are not rude. But their relationship with their owners is a practical relationship. Let's call it a "professional" relationship. That's why dogs drool and cats rule.Consider whether, in your email conversations, you are a dog or a cat. I am a dog trying to become a cat. If you think you are a cat, no worries. But if you recognize doglike qualities in your communication style, think about ways you can assume more of a "cat" persona.
Peter H. Schwartz publishes the Wikidworld newsletter on Substack. ©2024 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
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Saturday, June 29, 2024
The scream
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Don't forget to tip your justice
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Hunter in hell
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Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Thou shalt not lie
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Thursday, June 20, 2024
Trump’s Second Term
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
The Thomas seal of approval
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Monday, June 17, 2024
Boo-hoo, Bannon
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Saturday, June 15, 2024
First things first
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Thursday, June 13, 2024
Rigged
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Wednesday, June 12, 2024
The long, hot summer
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Alex Jones agrees to liquidate assets to meet $1.5 billion Sandy Hook judgment : NPR
Glenn
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/07/nx-s1-4996347/alex-jones-liquidate-bankruptcy-sandy-hook-families
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones agrees to liquidate assets to pay Sandy Hook families
Alex Jones, who spread lies about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that killed 26 first-graders and staffers, has dropped efforts to declare bankruptcy and agreed to liquidate his assets in order to finally start paying the nearly $1.5 billion in damages he owes the victims' families.
The relatives of the Sandy Hook victims won their defamation suits against Jones in 2021. But they have yet to see a penny since Jones and his media company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022.
Chris Mattei, an attorney representing some of the Sandy Hook families, said Jones is on the "brink of justice" and the victims' relatives are determined to keep him accountable.
"The Connecticut families have fought for years to hold him responsible no matter the cost and at great personal peril. Their steadfast focus on meaningful accountability, and not just money, is what has now brought him to the brink of justice in the way that matters most," Mattei said in a statement.
That might change now that Jones requested to convert his bankruptcy into a liquidation. The request comes after the victims' families had asked a bankruptcy judge in Texas to liquidate Jones' media empire and Infowars parent company, Free Speech Systems.
Liquidating will not be nearly enough to cover the amount owed to the families, but it will likely force Jones to forgo ownership of his alt-right outlet, Infowars, where he spewed false conspiracy theories for 25 years.
Jones lied on Infowars that the shooting in Newtown, Conn., which killed 20 first graders — 6- and 7-year-olds — and six teachers, never took place. In lawsuits filed against Jones, the victims' families said they were harassed and tormented by Jones' listeners as a result of his lies.
Since then, Jones testified in a Texas courtroom that he now understands it was irresponsible of him to say the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax and that he now believes it was "100% real."
Following the defamation suits, both Jones and Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy. In Jones' bankruptcy petition, he said he had between $1 million and $10 million in assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities.
In 2023, Jones attempted to settle with the victims' families by offering a a minimum settlement of $5.5 million a year for 10 years, with more possible depending on Jones' income. The families filed a counterproposal, which requested liquidating nearly all of Jones' assets, including those related to his media company Infowars. The two sides were unable to reach an agreement.
On Sunday, the victims' families filed an emergency motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, asking the court to liquidate Free Speech Systems. The bankruptcy judge is scheduled make a decision on June 14.
Over the weekend during a taping of Infowars, Jones got emotional — alternating between anger and despair — while discussing losing his show and company.
"I'm not trying to be dramatic here but it's been a hard fight," he said.
NPR's Tovia Smith contributed reporting.
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Sunday, June 9, 2024
I see corruption, dictatorship, internment and deportation
Thursday, June 6, 2024
Injustice
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Turkey pardons president
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Flooded
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Zb9iUi0JM -- Sent from my Linux system.