Ray Bell, LPC, Psychotherapist

#Psychotherapist, #Jungian #Therapy, #DepthPsychology, #Changeagent, #SecondOrderChange

[Richard H. Ebright @R_H_Ebright]

The law of the land is absolutely clear (from Burdick v. United States, 1915):

"Acceptance of a pardon implies as acknowledgement of guilt."

[Sean Davis @seanmdav]

If Mark Milley didn’t commit treason when he conspired with Communist China to thwart lawful orders from President Donald Trump, why would he need a pardon?

I guess Mark Milley really is a filthy traitor who committed treason against the United States.

[MAZE @mazemoore]

December, 2020. Jake Tapper asks President-elect Biden about the rumor that Trump may issue some preemptive pardons before leaving office.

Biden: You're not going to see me do that. 🤣

[Dougie Kass @DougKass]

Preemptive pardons represent a sad state of affairs (and I am a Democrat). We apparently no longer trust the Courts - another blow to the institution of rule of law in our country. @dougkass @tomkeene @ferrotv @business @lisaabramowicz1 @carlquintanilla @CNBCFastMoney @HalftimeReport @Convertbond @pboockvar @guyadami

[Steve Burns @SJosephBurns]

Warren Buffett said he could end the U.S. deficit problem in five minutes:

"You just pass a law that says any time there's a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election." - Warren Buffett

[Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 @JerryDunleavy]

The dismissiveness of Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks in this clip is simply astounding. Jon Stewart points out the Pentagon keeps failing its audits & she literally tries to laugh it off. This is the entrenched mentality the next SecDef will face.

[Brian Wesbury @wesbury]

“From 2019 to 2024, the Chicago Public Schools added almost 7,000 employees while CPS enrollment declined by more than 30,000 students.” from WSJ Editorial.

And last I looked, 83% of CPS students were not proficient at math.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

This platform is at all-time highs.

You are the media now.

[Kron @Kronykal]

Before you start freaking out about Pete Hegseth, let me educate you.

Pete has a bachelors from Princeton, a Masters from Harvard, 2 bronze stars, was a Major in the Army National Guard, has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan (has a CIB), and listen to this…

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

I am fortunate to be able to spend 6-8weeks in Italy every summer. I work in Milan for 4-6 weeks and then take my summer vacation for 2-3 weeks.

More importantly, I get to eat non American food sources for an extended period every year. And I always lose weight! Usually maintaining muscle mass, losing fat.

This summer, as usual, I ate pasta, bread, drank wine, ate gelato and got moderate exercise by walking around most days. I lost 5lbs and came back from Europe 164lb.

After 2.5 months back in the US, I’ve gained back 2.5lbs. I work out more. Drink less. Eat the same or better…but I can’t seem to outrun the American food supply no matter what I do.

If I can’t outrun an American food supply with the resources I have access to, how are most other Americans expected to do so?

Is it any wonder, then, that 1/3 of all kids are obese/near obese?

Make America Healthy Again

[Ray Bell, LPC, Psychotherapist @RayBelliii]

@NickAdamsinUSA What a wonderful and astute assessment of the #Election #GoodolUSA #CommonSense #AverageJoe #ElectionDay2024
#TrumpVictory

[Nick Adams @NickAdamsinUSA]

"This election is something of an indictment on the political information complex. The story that was portrayed was not true. We were just ignoring the fundamentals."

Scott Jennings does a flawless job taking down an entire panel of woke CNN hosts.

[Jenny VL Harrington @GilmanHill]

Awesome. We’re not refilling the SPR. We’re not doing nearly enough to help Ukraine single handedly fend off the existential, global threat of fascism. We’re not functionally supporting our ally in Israel. We’re not functionally addressing the border.

BUT we are recording w Howard Stern in lieu of visiting the Columbia campus. We are forgiving student loans which teaches a gggrrrrreat lesson in responsibility. We are letting the interest payments on our national debt eclipse all past %s of revenues. And best of all, we’re feeding our geriatric narcissistic egos in lieu of stepping aside and making room for better candidates who are less morally bankrupt.

Amazing state of the world.

[Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla]

With David Sanborn’s passing, much of the key personnel from “Young Americans” is now gone:

* Sanborn
* Luther Vandross
* Bowie, himself

Recording the iconic album, Sanborn said, was “one of the great pleasures of my life.”

#RIP @DavidSanborn 🙏🏼

“Dick Cavett Show” (1974)

[miha schwartzenberg @mihaschw]

What a refreshing post !

[Ray Bell, LPC, Psychotherapist @RayBelliii]

https://t.co/mOCU2AWgVP

[PGA Tour @PGATour]

One of the smoothest swings the game has ever seen.

Class is in session with Ben Hogan.

[jim iuorio @jimiuorio]

We still haven’t had an open discussion where you explain why you voted for..
1) open borders.
2) crime friendly cities.
3) mandatory medical procedures.
4) wildly reckless spending and inflation
5) lockdowns..this is an honest plea..can someone articulate why?

[Dan Go @CoachDanGo]

30 things no one tells you when you reach the age of 40:

1. No one prepares you for the fact you will go to more funerals & this will increase as you get older. The people you love will eventually pass, so we must cherish them now while we have them.

[Thea @TheaEuryphaessa]

Psychologist, James Hillman on the loss of beauty in the world and its effect on us.

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

How to reduce antisemitism on campus:

In 2018, Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) warned that "we all live on campus now." He described the identitarianism that had captured elite schools, and he correctly predicted that it would soon spread beyond campus and change society in ways that make liberal democracy more difficult:

"When elite universities shift their entire worldview away from liberal education as we have long known it toward the imperatives of an identity-based “social justice” movement, the broader culture is in danger of drifting away from liberal democracy as well. If elites believe that the core truth of our society is a system of interlocking and oppressive power structures based around immutable characteristics like race or sex or sexual orientation, then sooner rather than later, this will be reflected in our culture at large. What matters most of all in these colleges — your membership in a group that is embedded in a hierarchy of oppression — will soon enough be what matters in the society as a whole."

In Sullivan's most recent post, he shows the direct causal path between campus identitarianism and the new wave of campus antisemitism:

"Freedom of speech in the Ivy League extends exclusively to the voices of the oppressed; they are also permitted to disrupt classes, deplatform or shout down controversial speakers, hurl obscenities, force members of oppressor groups — i.e. Jewish students and teachers in the latest case — into locked libraries and offices during protests, and blocked from classrooms. Jewish students have even been assaulted — at Harvard, at Columbia, at UMass Amherst, at Tulane. Assaults by woke students used to be rare, such as the 2017 mob at Middlebury that put Allison Stanger in a neck brace — but since 10/7, they’re intensifying. If a member of an oppressor class says something edgy, it is a form of violence. If a member of an oppressed class commits actual violence, it’s speech. That’s why many Harvard students instantly supported a fundamentalist terror cult that killed, tortured, systematically raped and kidnapped Jews just for being Jews in their own country. Because they have been taught it’s the only moral position to take. They’ve diligently read their Fanon, and must be puzzled over what the problem is. Palestinians are victims of a “colonial,” “white,” “settler-state” and any violence they commit is thereby justified."

https://t.co/McUKeVm8B2

In other words: The only way to end antisemitism on campus is to end the identitarianism. Don't be satisfied by a university president who promises a new center or commission on antisemitism. It won't have much effect on campus culture as long as a critical mass of students (5-10%?) are taught to see everything through oppressor/victim glasses, in which "punching up" is virtuous, even when the punching is not metaphorical.

And if these new centers try to incorporate Jews as a new victim class, as some of them will, it will just make things worse, and it will harm Jewish students. Young people who embrace identitarianism become disempowered, depressed, and difficult to work with.

Sullivan's prescription is much more challenging than just endowing another center:

"End DEI in its entirety. Fire all the administrators whose only job is to enforce its toxic orthodoxy. Admit students on academic merit alone. Save standardized testing — which in fact helps minorities, and it’s “the best way to distinguish smart poor kids from stupid rich kids,” as Steven Pinker said this week. Restore grading so that it actually means something again. Expel students who shut or shout down speech or deplatform speakers. Pay no attention to the race or sex or orientation or gender identity of your students, and see them as free human beings with open minds. Treat them equally as individuals seeking to learn, if you can remember such a concept."

Whether or not you agree with all of these measures, I think Sullivan's insight is the key to getting this right: Antisemitism will sprout wherever the soil supports it. It always has, it always will. The spores are everywhere, especially in the age of TikTok. The cure is to change the properties of the soil, not just to plant a new center for the study of antisemitism in soil that is fertile ground for antisemitism.

I expect that the Ivies will implement only superficial measures, to placate donors. But please don't give up on the entire higher ed sector. The cultural revolution that swept across the academy in 2015-2016 may have met its Waterloo last Tuesday, in that congressional hearing room. Now is the time to support schools that break from the pack, under bold leadership. Now is the time to support organizations that are supporting reforms and reformers.

The outlook for higher ed is dark right now, and trust in the sector continues to fall. But I am excited by the new possibilities for major change that have opened up in the last week.