Derek Miers

Transformational Change Strategist & Industry Analyst - Research Director

[𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 @politicsusa46]

Time for another Truth Matters Musical moment. This one needs no words from me.

The creativity that emerges from tyranny remains an inspiration, while being absolutely spot on when it comes to truth telling.

🎥 TikTok - https://t.co/R8gVEm6c0N

[David J. Bier @David_J_Bier]

I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I discussed the largest fraud in the history of the US immigration system perpetrated by DHS and the State Department. Even Republicans on the Committee were shocked by what this administration is doing to legal immigrants!

[🎼🌺Music Love♥️ @ThoNg676733]

Tuba Skinny takes Royal Street by storm with Jubilee Stomp!🎺🎶

[James Clear @JamesClear]

I think about decisions in three ways: hats, haircuts, and tattoos.

Most decisions are like hats. Try one and if you don’t like it, put it back and try another. The cost of a mistake is low, so move quickly and try a bunch of hats.

Some decisions are like haircuts. You can fix a bad one, but it won’t be quick and you might feel foolish for a while. That said, don't be scared of a bad haircut. Trying something new is usually a risk worth taking. If it doesn't work out, by this time next year you will have moved on and so will everyone else.

A few decisions are like tattoos. Once you make them, you have to live with them. Some mistakes are irreversible. Maybe you'll move on for a moment, but then you'll glance in the mirror and be reminded of that choice all over again. Even years later, the decision leaves a mark. When you're dealing with an irreversible choice, move slowly and think carefully.

[𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 ✨🎵 @Hoang_HQ]

Amazing🙌👏
🔥Thunderstruck by Steve'n'Seagulls (LIVE)

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

I need you to listen to and share this story - of how Trump is preparing to abandon Ukraine in exchange for Russian money for his billionaire friends.

It could be the greatest corruption of American foreign policy in our history. Russia gets Ukraine. Trump's friends get rich.

[Roger L. Martin @RogerLMartin]

Everybody is both using AI and worried about it. The key to companies and society benefiting most from AI is leveraging augmentation not just exploiting substitution.

That entails leaders mastering the five levels of AI superpowers:

-       Knowledge & Research
-       Task Automation
-       Skill Levelling-Up
-       Blind Spot Detection
-       Groupthink Counterbalance

To make this happen in their organizations, leaders have to:

-       Set the strategy for AI
-       Set the bar & rituals
-       Pair tools with training & metrics
-       Role-model & derisk

It is everybody’s job to show productive leaders hip on AI, aiming for the best not the easiest.

https://t.co/OspaoijBPY

[Daractenus @Daractenus]

Theres a very long list of US products that cannot be sold in the EU thanks to EU regulations. Since the favorite pastime of the Trump regime and every US oligarch is now to demonize EU regulations, I thought it would be very much worth going through some of those products.🧵

[FischerKing @FischerKing64]

In lieu of a serious musical weekend post, here is something light-hearted. Comedian Dudley Moore (who was musically talented) does a spoof on Beethoven, using the theme from Bridge on the River Kwai. Comedy used to be a lot more sophisticated than Andrew Dice Clay.

[Julia Davis @JuliaDavisNews]

Garry Kasparov is 100% correct. Thank you for always telling it like it is, @Kasparov63. Listen before it's too late.

[Devana 🇺🇦 @DevanaUkraine]

A large flash mob was held in Paris, gathering 100 musicians at the same time to perform a world-famous Ukrainian carol by composer Mykola Leontovych, who was persecuted by the Russians.

[NSTRIKE @NSTRIKE1231]

‼️‼️‼️🇺🇲🇷🇺🇺🇦 BREAKING - Meanwhile, a major scandal has “erupted” following a publication by Bloomberg.

🔹 It has become known that the 28 points of the so-called American peace plan were in fact drafted by Kirill Dmitriev and Yury Ushakov, and later presented by Steve Witkoff and the Trump administration as an American peace proposal.

🔹 According to the leaked recordings, Steve Witkoff was also advising Putin’s aide on how to better speak to Putin about the peace agreement — this became known from the telephone conversation between Witkoff and Ushakov, the transcript of which was released by Bloomberg.

▪️ During the telephone call held on October 14, Steve Witkoff gave several specific recommendations to Putin’s adviser Ushakov on how Putin should conduct his conversation with Trump so that the latter would not transfer TOMAHAWK cruise missiles to Ukraine — at that very time (September–October), the issue of supplying these weapons to Ukraine had become particularly relevant.

▪️ Witkoff suggested that Ushakov develop an analogue of the “20-point plan” that the United States had used for the Gaza agreement.

🔹 During the conversation, Witkoff advised Ushakov that Putin should congratulate Trump on the peace agreement reached in Gaza, emphasize Russia’s support for this initiative, and publicly portray Trump as a “man of peace,” which, according to Witkoff, would create a positive tone for further discussion.

🔹 Witkoff stressed that the call should be made before Trump’s planned meeting with Zelensky, in order to influence the U.S. position in advance and effectively present the idea that Russia was allegedly already prepared for a new peace initiative.

🔹 Ultimately, Ushakov agreed that such a scenario looked promising and accepted Witkoff’s advice ahead of the upcoming call.

🔴 Bloomberg also obtained a recorded portion of a conversation between Putin’s representative Kirill Dmitriev and Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov — this call took place after Witkoff’s conversation with Ushakov. They discussed “the very peace plan that Witkoff would later present as his own.”

▪️ Dmitriev: “We will simply draft this document according to our position, and I will pass it to him informally. Let them present it as their own. I think they won’t take our version exactly, but they will at least adopt something very close to it.”

— Ushakov: “You know, the problem is that they might not adopt it and could later say that this was coordinated with us. That is what worries me.”

— Dmitriev: “No, no, no. Exactly as you said, word for word — that is what I will tell him.”

— Ushakov: “They might later distort this document — that is all. Such a risk exists. Yes. Very well, it’s fine. We will see.”

— Dmitriev: “Yes, that’s just how I see it… and then you can also speak with Steve about this document. We will proceed carefully.”

See the latest updates with us: @NSTRIKE1231

[Tren Griffin @trengriffin]

Buffett and Munger both had hearing issues. "They would scream to each other,l. It was likely meant to be confidential, but anyone within a mile’s radius could hear them.”

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

Michelle Mone can be expelled from the House of Lords by a simple majority vote in the Commons, and then in the House of Lords.

Like if she needs to go.
RT if she has to go.

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: Trump’s State Department just declared abortion, DEI, and LGBTQ+ rights “human rights violations” — and the world is stunned.

In a jaw-dropping escalation of the Trump administration’s war on basic freedoms, the State Department has quietly rewritten the definition of “human rights” to target abortion access, LGBTQ+ equality, DEI policies, free-speech protections abroad, and even countries that allow refugees into their borders. Yes — Donald Trump is now trying to redefine human rights as the opposite of human rights.

The stunning new guidance, sent to every U.S. embassy and consulate on Earth, orders American diplomats to treat the following as human rights abuses:
• Countries with state-funded abortion
• Countries with workplace DEI protections
• Countries that allow gender-affirming care for transgender youth
• Countries with “hate speech” laws that crack down on extremist threats
• Countries that accept migrants seeking safety
In other words, if a country protects women, LGBTQ+ people, minorities, immigrants, or the public from violent speech, the Trump administration wants the world to believe that country is violating human rights.

You truly can’t make this up.

The administration even wants diplomats to count how many abortions each country performs each year — as if a public health statistic is some kind of war crime, instead of a tool that saves lives.

And while Trump is suddenly obsessed with “human rights,” his first human rights report under this new philosophy was one-third the length of previous years and conveniently left out horrific conditions in El Salvador’s prisons and China’s abuses against peaceful protesters. Because when Trump says “human rights,” he apparently means “rights for my base, not for human beings.”

Naturally, human rights experts are sounding the alarm.
Former senior State Department official Uzra Zeya called the new rules “jaw-dropping animosity toward LGBTQ+ people” and slammed Trump for trying to label DEI as a violation of human rights — calling it a “new low.” Amnesty International warned that Trump’s changes tell the world the U.S. no longer believes in the human rights system it helped build in the aftermath of World War II.

Even foreign policy veterans who rarely criticize administrations openly are aghast. One official put it bluntly: “The Trump administration is weaponizing human rights to attack the marginalized instead of protecting them.”

Let’s be clear: This is not a human rights policy. It is a culture-war wish list disguised as diplomacy.
Trump is using America’s global platform to export the most extreme parts of the MAGA agenda — punishing countries that protect equality and rewarding those that align with far-right ideology.

The State Department’s deputy spokesperson even had the gall to claim “destructive ideologies” have taken root around the globe. The truth? The only destructive ideology here is the one that says basic equality is evil and discrimination is freedom.

This is the Trump doctrine in a nutshell: Oppression is liberty. Equality is tyranny. Human rights are whatever Donald Trump says they are.

And now he wants to impose that worldview on the entire world.

This isn’t foreign policy. This is fanaticism wrapped in a flag — and America, along with the global community, will be living with the fallout for decades if this nightmare continues.

Please like and share to spread the news!

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

🚨BOOM!! The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has now rocketed past 50,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 100,000. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done!

https://t.co/68OwbUeG3V

[Nick Reeves #RejoinEU #NAFO #FBPE @nickreeves9876]

This deserves revisiting – Farage squirms as Rep. Jamie Raskin obliterates the "Putin-loving, free speech imposter, Trump sycophant."

Please share as widely as possible. We need an antidote to media promotion and protection of Farage.

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

The real weakness of the BBC, as exemplified by recent events, is its failure to stand up to ludicrous claims from the right that it is somehow hugely biased to the left. Listening to Telegraph journalists bleat about a biased BBC, or Reform MPs enjoying more platforming than any minority party in history, underlines that. This is the work of right wing journalists and owners working hand in glove with right wing forces inside the BBC to undermine it. The Labour government needs to help the BBC stand up for itself and clear out those forces that want the BBC to fail.

[Roger L. Martin @RogerLMartin]

Just posted my latest Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights series piece, this one on what has changed most in the context for #strategy. https://t.co/GsLUR73owI