Cliff W. Gilmore

I’m not sure whether to be relieved, or disappointed.

I mean, an asteroid colliding with the moon about now would be thematically consistent… :)

I’m a business school bubba (org mgt & ldrshp), not a hard sciences type, & can’t affirm the veracity of this piece, but I enjoyed it. :)

I had 2. Both were solid academics, but the 1st let me my wheels spin for many tuition cycles. The second was a fellow retired military officer who knew how to get me past the churn of topic selection & the “blank page problem.”

I finished on time. Just. If my defense had failed, I’da bin SOL.

The posting of which, it occurs to me, might reasonably be perceived as virtue signaling. Ha!

I should probably just said up front: High Five. Glad to have made your acquaintance.

My doctoral advisor drove home that my dissertation amounted to adding something the size of the head of a pin to the vast pool of knowledge & that I would always be ignorant of far more than I can ever know.

He delivered the message kindly but professionally & I try to keep it front of mind.

Diana? Or karoline?

Sorry.

Silly question.

Either way: Yes.

Nah. Diana had a sense of ethics.

Jacob Collier creates a song with an orchestra in real time YouTube video by Jacob Collier

Not sure this will help, but a friend sent it my way by txt at random this a.m. & it lifted me a bit.

All strength to you.

youtube.com/shorts/Wfm-V...

Thx for your kind explanation.

I apologize for making you feel on the defense. I popped into the conversation in a different space than you that was out of sync. I meant no harm, but clearly caused a bit.

I’m tired, too. Every day is exhausting. Sorry to have added to your burden!

Keep chargin’.

Jacob Collier creates a song with an orchestra in real time YouTube video by Jacob Collier

My thanks to a good friend who dropped this into my morning via txt.

These days are HARD.

I am apparently on an emotional edge w/o knowing it.

This made me cry & also smile.

I hope the smile part for you.

youtube.com/shorts/Wfm-V...

The (lower) courts are for the most part working as designed. But, by design, they are reactive & subject to inertia. Courts can only hear what comes before them & must allow time for the gears of justice to turn.

Meanwhile, the Legislative branch has abrogated its duty to check a rogue Executive…

I’ll have to ack my own ignorance about that term, but from context I’m pretty sure I dude-stumbled into causing offense again there.

For that I’m genuinely sorry & can only offer that while I’ve yet to recognize, let alone overcome, my programmed biases, it’s my work to do & I’m committed to it.

I used “willful ignorance” recently & a wise friend who is one of the most calm, non-antagonistic people I know, quietly offered, “malicious ignorance.”

I think he nailed it.

I’m probably just picking up on it, but came upon “post-Constitutional” as a descriptor for the current R block, & it gave me a framework within which to organize many of my own observations.

A number of officials (elected & appointed) seem to genuinely believe the Constitution allows dictatorship.

Pick red or black and a number. I’ll just put my chips where you do on that bet.

I’m picking up on the distinction you seem to be making between planning & decision-making.

I tend to view planning & decision-making as a continuous cycle, but in an instance, if one has a good plan & a bad plan, & the bad plan is chosen, presumably that’s poor decision-making, not poor planning?

I think you’re making a distinction w/o a difference there wrt planning vs. choices; or perhaps we’re thinking of planning differently. Either way, I continue to follow & concur w/ your point.

So many areas of weakness in this admin, they can be described in numerous ways, each of them valid.

Fair point well received.

My apologies.

You framed it as a political failure, not a planning failure.

Your point about it being a political failure is rock solid. (I know you don’t need my validation, but I’m not sure how else to agree w/ you.)

But is it not ALSO a planning failure?

I completely agree with your position & your quals (not gender) are why I follow you.

I regularly recommend people consider “Yes, and…” over “No, it’s…” because it often helps strengthen their argument.

This wasn’t nonchalant, it was peer-to-peer, & you asked me to be explicit in my point.

In the “Funny and I’m crying because it’s true” category.

So were they lying then? Or are they lying now?

Amazing & confounding, this crew has figured out how to lie on both sides of a contradiction.

The original comment was about poor planning & you responded with a, “No, it’s…”

I think you let the “winter coats” distract you into negating rather than building on their fair observation that trump ain’t a planner.

“Yes, and it’s political…” would make YOUR valid point more effectively.

I get your point but think you may be missing mine, which is fine. *shrug*

Pumpkin & Koda appreciate your message.

I’m fairly sure that happened in approx 1953.

If someone would just tell him to look toward the horizon and talk quietly to him about the rabbits…

norm seemed like the kind of person who might have done that. Alas…

Perhaps: “Yes, and it’s a political error…”?

Solid.

If the time comes to resort to violence, we’ll know it — &, to lift a sad quote, there will be plenty of rifles laying around.

There is no turning back from that, though, so no reason to commit to that path until all other options have been exhausted & it becomes door-to-door, HOA to HOA.

Apparently, according to the unserious people, mere hyperbole. The contemporary equivalent of, “I’m sorry if you were offended. Obviously I was JOKING.”