Revolution 2.0

Introduction I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Reno recently. The place was a mess due to a remodeling which included laying new tile on the main floor. A man who looked to be about 30 and Hispanic was on his hands and knees spreading adhesive prior to laying the next piece of tile. I stopped and said, “It looks good.” He turned from his work, looking up at me with a huge grin and said, “I want to make this good for everyone.” He said it in a way that I believed every syllable, because he clearly believed in what he said to me. I can’t tell you if he was here legally or not, and I am beginning not to care. America, by its lengthy and callous inaction on immigration policy, has given up the right to criticize anyone who is here illegally. And we will continue to have forfeited the right to be incensed about illegals until we as a nation have a simple, clear and consistent immigration policy, and stop using immigration as a political football. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing

For well over 2 years, I believe I have done only one or two Encore Episodes. Creating and delivering two episodes per week, every week, is challenging, But there is a lot to share with you; part of me wishes that I could do more. But it is time for a creative rest–with family. Last Tuesday and today I am sharing well-selected Encore Episodes. This episode was selected because I believe it does a fun job of showing how–and why–selecting sports teams to follow and root for must be a very different process than choosing and committing to more consequential beliefs, e.g., politics and finance. Introduction My step-father, Charles J. “Chuck” Warner, bought two season tickets to the Broncos in 1960, the first season of the old American Football League. The family shares those tickets to this day; I am a dyed-in-the-wool Broncos Fanatic. When it comes to more substantive issues, e.g., political, religious and economic beliefs, I take a far more studied approach. And I adapt and change as new a

For well over 2 years, I believe I have done only one or two Encore Episodes. Creating and delivering two episodes per week, every week, is challenging, But there is a lot to share with you; part of me wishes that I could do more. But it is time for a creative rest–with family. Today and Friday I will be sharing well-selected Encore Episodes. The George Floyd ‘n’ Me episode was selected because I believe it does a credible job of injecting humanity onto the aftermath of the horrendous Floyd killing. Introduction I grew up in suburban Philadelphia, until I was 15 and left for Colorado to live with my Mother in early 1959. I lived on the “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Main_Line (Main Line)” in the 1950s, where I remember an often played and frequently discussed public service spot on radio that featured the suggestion, “Take a Negro to lunch.” I was about 12, and having had almost no contact with Negroes, I thought that was a good idea. We could all start to get to know each ot

The Hug Rule (EP.245) Introduction The Hug Rule: It takes four hugs a day for survival, Eight hugs a day for maintenance, and Twelve hugs a day to thrive. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing During these COVID days (daze), I am falling below the survival level. But the no-hug COVID days will eventually be behind us. Will the division bordering on hatred also recede? It does seem to be growing.  In the 1969 British romantic drama film “Women in Love” one memorable scene has two men wrestling physically, and apparently emotionally as well. One of the men asks the other, “Why can’t men say ‘I love you’ to each other as freely as women do?” Dang good question. And, just perhaps, women should be more free with verbal expression of love as well. So, let me be the first in this conversation to say it: I love you. BTW, hugs are not only an expression of love, but can lead to beginning to learn to love another, and to further bind that love.  Practically every religion on ear

Introduction We are busy taking today’s idea of morals and correct principles and applying them to yesterday, rooting out anything that does not “fit.” There are no set rules, no committee and no governing body. No “civilian review board” has promulgated agreed-upon criteria by which to make judgments, a thumbs up or thumbs down on historical personalities, yesterday’s heroes and monuments. The crowd has become the Emperor in the Coliseum. We cannot predict what the morals and concepts of correct behavior will be fifty to a hundred and fifty years from now, but very likely much will be different. Whose memories, whose statues, will be vilified and erased then? Perhaps the very people who are doing the vilifying and erasing now will be erased–cancelled–then.  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing “Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone.” No one threw a stone–or even a pebble. Everyone walked away, hopefully to contemplate their own faults, and not anyone

Introduction “The killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta demands we severely restrict the use of deadly force. Yes, investigations must be called for – but so too should accountability. Sleeping in a drive-thru must not end in death,” Stacey Abrams, former member of the Georgia legislature and 2018 gubernatorial candidate, wrote in a tweet “Hands up, don’t shoot.” Out and out lie. Mr. Brooks is not dead simply because he was sleeping in a drive-thru. And “Hands up, don’t shoot.” referring to the Michael Brown killing, is an aggressively perpetrated lie. Lies and fictions like these are callously spread to advance agendas–all while claiming the moral high ground. If a policy or an agenda cannot stand up to the, “Truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” then it needs to be either changed or completely discarded.  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing The first time I came across planned and coordinated fiction and lies by a major entity was during

Introduction In the 1988 movie, “Stand and Deliver”, Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a Hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he persuades them, including gang members and no-hopers in an overall underperforming school, that they could take and pass the rigorous Advanced Placement exam in calculus.  Mr. Escalante, played by Edward James Olmos in this true story, convinced his students there should be more for them than the usual life for poor minorities in East LA. There is more for us than just being well informed and regular voters. We, too, must Stand and Deliver. The Silent Majority cannot stay silent any longer, or it will no longer be the majority. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing In an episode on https://revolution2-0.org/americas-unqualified-voters-ep-89/ (voting), commenting on America’s unqualified voters, I made the point that I am not a supporter of get-out-the-vote campaigns. I am strongly in favor of getting

Introduction “You Are Leaving the USA” is the sign greeting anyone at the border of CHAZ (CHOP?), AKA Antifastan, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in downtown Seattle. And the sign is 100% correct.  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing There is absolutely nothing American about CHAZ, its leaders or followers. They do, however, bastardize many of our principles in the name of their cause–whatever that may be on any given day. Here are a few examples: They have borders, and they enforce them.  They have armed police, just not the trained ones with body cameras. They act in the name of “the people”, but no one has been elected–they simply assert the authority they claim at any given moment.  And further, they: Rip American flags from the hands of those who dare wave them. Deny entrance to business establishments to those suspected of anti-CHAZ thinking. Challenge many of the occupants of the 500 living spaces in the occupied zone as they go about th

How To Fix Race Relations, Or Any Relationship. (EP.240) Introduction Here is the process: Take 100% responsibility for the relationship. Tell the other party that the relationship is important to you. Ask them to speak first; seek first to understand. Tell them about what you see and feel. Discuss, find and implement correcting and healing behavior. Repeat. Oh, and take 100% responsibility for the relationship This applies to everything from person-to-person relationships, race relations, and police and community relations. Trust is a 2-way street, with both sides being equally responsible. We will look at how that applies in today’s racial anger and confusion, but first we’ll look at some foundational principles. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing The key to fixing any relationship is to take 100% responsibility for the fix, to take 100% responsibility for making things better. Not 50/50 or 75/75; 100/100. Ideally both parties will step up to this level of responsi

Introduction Only correct speech is not violence. And only correct speech is acceptable. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing In the movie, “Cool Hand Luke”, Paul Newman plays prisoner Luke Jackson. Strother Martin is the Captain in this Southern chain gang prison film. After trying to escape for the second time, the Captain says to Luke, “You run one time, you got yourself a set of chains. You run twice, you got yourself two sets. You ain’t gonna need no third set ’cause you’re gonna get your mind right. And I mean RIGHT. [To the other inmates] Take a good look at Luke. Cool Hand Luke?” Powerful forces are working, with increasing success, to get all of our minds “right”. And it is not just the media, powerful political groups and social media working on our minds–sometimes it is family and friends.  Luke never beat the system, but he refused to let them get his “mind right.” And he left an important legacy for his fellow inmates.  The First Amendment i

Introduction I grew up in suburban Philadelphia, until I was 15 and left for Colorado to live with my Mother in early 1959. I lived on the “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Main_Line (Main Line)” in the 1950s, where I remember an often played and frequently discussed public service spot on radio that featured the suggestion, “Take a Negro to lunch.” I was about 12, and having had almost no contact with Negroes, I thought that was a good idea. We could all start to get to know each other. One of my favorite bits of wisdom is that behind every face there is a story. In the midst of racial upheaval in our country, America, I am going to “get naked” and share the racial part of what is behind this face.  That is the subject of today’s 15-minute episode.  Continuing Like most of the middle class families in my lily-white area, Dad went to work and Mom was the homemaker. As was common, we had a Negro housekeeper, Elsie Kayah, who came in once a week. She kept to herself and worked hard. I thought it

Introduction Today we are going to hear from Charles (Charley) Bobo. Charley is a close and respected friend. More important to the Revolution 2.0™ audience, Mr. Bobo has well researched, strongly held and thoughtfully delivered thoughts about a recent COVID-induced debate: nonessential vs essential work and workers.  That is the subject of today’s hour-long interview. Continuing “I recently heard an interview with Mike Rowe, the host of the TV show Dirty Jobs, discussing his thoughts on the COVID shutdowns. He stated something very interesting when he said, ‘In regards to an economy, every job is essential.’ How incredibly true that is. Medical workers are essential and the spotlight has been on them for the past several months during COVID. However, without the electricians to keep the power flowing in the ER — without the sanitation workers to keep the hospitals clean — without the steel fabricator who repairs the bed frames — without the assembly worker who sews bed sheets — without the c

Introduction The actions of the former Minneapolis officers were horrifying, inhumane and intolerable in every way. The aggressive taunting on both sides of the video camera recording the event was sadly revealing. And the days of widespread looting and burning had nothing to do with honoring or seeking justice for George Floyd.  Were the officers being racist? No, not directly. What we are seeing here is the racial component of the deepening and destructive divides on our country, America. And there are dangerous divides in politics, between the sexes, the so-called haves and have nots, and an increasing number of identity groups–many invented for political purposes.  There are no heroes here, and we need them. There are no heroes here, and precious few people are even doing the right thing. Where are they? Who are they?  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing The antagonism, the distaste and distrust, and, well, fear, that is often evident on both sides of different issues

Introduction The “Reader’s Digest” used to be in every home and waiting room in America. The stories, humor and features were widely popular, and often passed along. All of the stories were said to be true; here is one from yesteryear about a Captain Smith during WWII. The good Captain was working away in the bowels of the Pentagon, handling vital war-related paperwork. He always  arrived on time at his department, but he never finished until hours after everyone else had gone home. This happened everyday for over a year. He noticed that another Captain always finished early, and finally approached the lucky one asking, “How do you do it? You leave two hours early every day, and I work about two hours of unpaid overtime.” The response was, “I just take the harder work and mark it, ‘Refer to Captain Smith’. In a department this big, there has to be a Captain Smith.”  Dodges like this used to be called goldbricking or passing the buck. When individuals do it, that is what it is still labeled. When groups do

Introduction My step-father, Charles J. “Chuck” Warner, bought two season tickets to the Broncos in 1960, the first season of the old American Football League. The family shares those tickets to this day; I am a dyed-in-the-wool Broncos Fanatic. When it comes to more substantive issues, e.g., political, religious and economic beliefs, I take a far more studied approach. And I adapt and change as new and better data are available, and as my thinking advances. Not so with my Broncos; I am a fan(atic), loud, opinionated, and unchanging in my loyalty. My devotion to the team was an accident of history, and does not need to be earned through performance or results. Now, isn’t how I became a forever Broncos fan exactly the way so many people come by and defend their beliefs in areas that actually matter, like politics, economics and religion? That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing In the early days, the Denver Broncos were a lousy team, with underfunded ownership, shaky management, and

Introduction I keep reading and hearing that we are all, “In this together.” and “We will defeat COVID together.” Is that really true? Or are we on very different agenda-driven teams? Are we “In this together.” in life overall?  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing Wow, Will, you usually have such professional and provocative featured images; what’s up with this pile of plastic-wrapped doggie do? I am frequently on this little used fire road deep in the hills with an access point less than 70 yards from my home. I see an occasional fellow hiker, sometimes with a dog or two, horseback riders and the odd mountain biker.  And here by the side of the fire road is this carefully wrapped and tied plastic bag of do-do left in plain sight. And not all that far from one of the more recent piles of horse road apples. It takes work to get a small thing like this all wrong. The best thing to do is just leave the droppings. Very few people come by, and it will return to nature a lot fa

Introduction COVID-19 has budgets being reassessed and often cut, in homes and at different levels of government. Here is a remarkable opportunity to change our thinking from, “This is good, let’s pay for it.” to, “Here’s the budget, let’s rank our priorities and see what we can afford.” Today’s Money Tip: Treat all money, e.g., your employer’s and the taxpayer’s money, like your own.  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing Here’s something we hear frequently. “Having an educated population is good for society, so it should be taxpayer funded.” Well, having a well fed, clothed and housed population, with everyone having adequate healthcare, is also good for society, so by the same logic all of it should be free.  How many of us have heard our parents or others say, “Money does not grow on trees.” Money, wealth, is created by people acting as individuals and in groups working together in businesses. On the other hand, governments do not create wealth, they exist by taxing tho

Introduction  “Your liberty to swing your fist ends just where my nose begins.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes, a well respected American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932. My guess is that we would all agree with Justice Holmes. The question comes in how to apply this general rule to the corona world.  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing Before we can get into today’s topic, we need to deal with misplaced assumptions about other people’s and groups’ motives; let’s start with a few: “Democrats are so invested in defeating Trump they are willing to utterly destroy the economy to get the job done.” “Republicans are so invested in having Trump reelected they are willing to risk additional, widespread serious illness and death, especially among minorities and the elderly.” Me. “I believe the evidence that wearing a face mask protects others.” Response. “So, you are a supporter of the lockdown that is destroying businesse

Introduction Today we are going to hear from a respected friend of mine, Jim Kuhn. Jim is an Air Force Academy graduate, a pilot and an instructor pilot. Mr. Kuhn has a long and distinguished career as a project management professional. He has a solid platform of success and personal growth for talking to us about focusing on doing the right thing. That is the subject of today’s hour long interview. Continuing “Before we get into the real topic of today, it’s probably best to talk a little about my early years growing up and how I came to the beliefs I came to and still hold today about what character consists of and how to develop and maintain a moral compass which I will define in a bit. I grew up in the 1950’s in middle America in a stable, middle class family with one sister who was two years older than I but we didn’t run in the same social circles. My father was an Air Traffic Controller and worked extra jobs for extra money and once I was in junior high school my mother returned to work mainly as

Introduction All the examples of character and the types of behavior we see in individuals, groups, political parties and governments during the corona crises, were baked in well before this crisis. Crises don’t build character, they reveal it.  That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.  Continuing Today’s Key Point:  Character is developed over the years, little by little. Following examples, trying on what feels right, seeing what works in the little things. Then taking those lessons and applying them to larger and larger issues. And along the way, our character is formed. Thinking and reactions are less deliberate and more automatic; actions and reactions are quickly taken as a result of the character we have developed, far more than from any spur of the moment introspective thought. So when we come face-to-face with a crisis, we react in accordance to the character we have developed for ourselves.  We are going to look at a series of examples as we explore this topic. If we see citizens in c