Joseph P. Downey

JPD & Co. | Tier One Sales Operator | Sales Manager Alliance

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

The US mows roughly 12 million acres of roadside every year. That's larger than the state of Maryland, maintained as mowed grass that feeds almost nothing, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

North Carolina figured out a better use for it in 1985. What started as 12 experimental acres of native wildflowers planted along roadsides has grown to 1,500 managed acres across the state, saving an estimated $200,000 a year in mowing costs while providing habitat for pollinators, birds, and the beneficial insects that control crop pests on nearby farms.

A 2024 BioScience review found something surprising to many: a mown safety strip immediately adjacent to the pavement, with native wildflowers planted in the wider verge beyond it, actually reduces insect mortality by keeping pollinators on one side of the road rather than crossing it.

12 million acres is an enormous amount of potential habitat that currently does almost nothing. The fix isn't complicated. It's mostly just stopping the mower in the right places.

Studies:

Doi 10.1093/biosci/biad111
Doi 10.1007/s10841-018-0051-2

[Saronic @Saronic]

To mark America's 250th anniversary, we deployed Corsair through U.S. waterways, past harbors, rivers, and coastlines that tell the story of how these waters have shaped this country's security and prosperity.

For 250 years, the seas have underwritten American freedom. Up to 80% of the world's traded goods still move by water. The next 250 years will demand new solutions to protect that.

At Saronic, we're building the autonomous fleets that will help secure free trade, protect peace and preserve the freedom to operate on the world's most important waters, for generations to come.

Read more: https://t.co/hUrwqyl04J

[U.S. Navy @USNavy]

Sailors and Marines assigned to USS Arlington (LPD 24) received a New York City welcome upon arrival in the Big Apple ahead of the International Naval Review 250, July 3-8.
Celebrate 250 years of the United States of America with the World’s Finest Navy in the Greatest City in the World!” 🇺🇸🗽🍎⚓️ #INR250 #America250

[Baseball’s Greatest Moments @BBGreatMoments]

EVERYONE should listen to Tim Tebow’s response to overcoming doubt.

[Zach Brandon @MVP_Mindset]

PJ Fleck discusses how he's grown the most as a coach and the "control trap" for young leaders.

"Control is for amateurs...You're the leader of the organization. You set the tone and the message. You need to be the example of the culture 24/7. And other than that you've got to hire really good people and trust them that they're going to do their job."

One of the hardest transitions in leadership is realizing your value is no longer just measured by how much you do.

It's measured by how many people can thrive without you doing the work for them.

📹: Fox 9

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

California’s Property Seizure Act - called “The Billionaire Tax” to fool voters is now on the ballot. @HooverInst has a short 4min video breaking it down.

https://t.co/A7jqSTnbcH

You should vote for this if you are comfortable handing over 5%, in cash, of all your tangible and intangible property every year. You should vote no if you don’t want to do that.

If it passes, the remaining Billionaires will sue. This will take a decade to meander through the courts and will find its way to the Supreme Court where the odds it survives are low.

But in that intervening decade, far fewer business builders will want to bet on California and will focus on building in other states.

This will drive a large loss of revenue that will make California’s budget hole even worse. The only solution there is more borrowing and higher taxes on EVERYONE including those that voted NO. This will particularly impact the middle class who are Californias largest revenue source.

The only path out of an avoidable budget spiral is a hard landing and structural reset. Sadly, a hard landing will mean a near-miss with California bankruptcy and, more punitively, a reset/retrade of state pensions with California lenders to not come collect.

If you aren’t sure or don’t believe me, vote YES and bookmark this post. A decade from now you can tell me I was wrong or give me the opportunity to lord over your stupidity, jealousy and gullibility for voting YES when I am proven right.

[Joseph P. Downey @josephpdowney]

@teslacarsonly Where do I get that jacket @elonmusk was wearing?

[The All-In Podcast @theallinpod]

🚨 ALL-IN INTERVIEW! Friedberg sits down with Charles & Chase Koch: How they built a $150B private empire

(0:00) David Friedberg welcomes Charles & Chase Koch

(1:04) Koch Industries Overview: Scale, Business Lines & History

(2:21) Building the Business: Early Days & Charles Koch Joins (1961)

(11:31) Failures, Creative Destruction & Learning from Mistakes

(19:22) Culture & Principle-Based Management

(33:53) Georgia-Pacific Acquisition & Culture Transformation

(56:17) Stand Together: Education Reform & Social Change

(1:12:37) AI, Economic Challenges & the Future of Capitalism

--------------------------------------

Thanks to our partner https://t.co/HFpRpqlQLi for making this possible

Most advertisers have never heard of the platform with an $11B annual run rate in ad spend.

https://t.co/HFpRpqlQLi by AppLovin — 1B+ daily active users, full-screen video ads watched for a median of 35 seconds, and businesses are profitably spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day on it.

Advertiser access is in closed beta. The window is open at https://t.co/GDPKNzfNXy

@AxonAdsManager

[Brian Cain @BrianCainPeak]

Three men were laying bricks. Only one knew he was building a cathedral. A traveler walked past three men doing the exact same work. He asked the first man what he was doing. The man snapped back that he was laying bricks. He asked the second man. A little kinder, he said he

[Dakota Meyer @Dakota_Meyer]

SERVICE

I’ve been trying to put into words what I saw last night.

What struck me most wasn’t the fight, the venue, or the people in attendance.

For one night, the focus was on veterans, service members, first responders, and the men and women who have dedicated their lives to something bigger than themselves. I honestly can’t remember ever seeing an event of that scale centered around honoring them.

As I walked away, one thought stayed with me.

Of all the things I’ve accomplished in my life, the greatest honor I’ve ever earned is knowing that one day, when my time comes, an American flag will be draped over my body.

Not because of who I am, but because of what that flag represents.

Freedom. Opportunity. Love. Faith. Good.

When I think about last night, that’s what it was really about.

A country honoring those who have served it, and a reminder that there is no greater privilege than earning the right to be covered by the flag of the nation you love.

Thank you, President @realDonaldTrump , for opening the White House and creating an opportunity for so many Americans to come together and celebrate this country and the people who have dedicated their lives to serving it.

God Bless America. 🇺🇸

[Baseball’s Greatest Moments @BBGreatMoments]

Awesome mindset from Derek Jeter on failure

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

Pete Carroll on Coaching 🎥

Great coaches don’t just demand compliance. They teach athletes to think, adapt, and figure it out.

Coaching = Belief in someone’s potential + Commitment to their journey.

[Rodney Smith Jr @iamrodneysmith]

Dear @WhiteHouse, my name is Rodney Smith Jr., founder of Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service in Huntsville, Alabama. Through our 50 Yard Challenge, over 6,000 kids across the country have signed up to mow free lawns for the elderly, disabled, veterans, active-duty military, first responders, and single parents. With America celebrating its 250th birthday this year and me also being born on July 4th, I wanted to humbly ask if a few kids from our program and myself could travel to Washington, D.C. to help mow the White House lawn for this historic celebration.

More than anything, I want these kids to see how a simple act of service something as ordinary as mowing a lawn for someone in need can lead to extraordinary places. What better lesson in community service than showing them that helping others can take them all the way to our nation’s capital? I’d also love to bring my American flag-themed mower in hopes that the President might sign it, so I can later auction it off and donate 100% of the proceeds to a nonprofit supporting veterans. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight the importance of service, patriotism, and the impact young people can have when they choose to make a difference. 🇺🇸

[Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness @coachajkings]

Tom Coughlin said, "You never want an opponent to see you in anything, but strength."

"You don't want bad language. You don't want that as a stamp of who you are."

Your body language speaks before you do.

Your presence, your tone, your energy - everything speaks.

[Race 🕊️ @multiplanet1]

Elon Musk cried on national television when his childhood heroes called him a fraud.

Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, the first and last men to walk on the moon, publicly testified against SpaceX. They said Musk was reckless. That private spaceflight was dangerous. That he was going to get people killed. They asked Congress to shut him down.

These were the men Musk grew up worshipping. The posters on his wall. The reason he built rockets in the first place. And they went on television and said he was a disgrace to space exploration.

In a 60 Minutes interview shortly after, Musk was asked about it. He started speaking and his voice broke. His eyes filled. He couldn't finish the sentence. The richest man in tech, the guy who argues with regulators and fires engineers mid-meeting, sat on camera and cried because his heroes rejected him.

He didn't stop building. He didn't change direction. He didn't even respond to them publicly. He just kept launching rockets until the rockets proved him right.

Armstrong never lived to see SpaceX land a booster. Cernan never saw Starship. The men who said it couldn't be done died before the man they doubted did it.

Most people need approval from the people they admire before they act. Musk got the opposite of approval and acted anyway. That's the gap. Not talent. Not money. The willingness to keep building while the people you love most tell you to stop.

[Joseph P. Downey @josephpdowney]

@naval With or without AI, you still have to execute.

Techniques are many.
Principles are few.
Techniques will vary.
Principles never do.

[The Winning Difference @thewinningdiff1]

"Once your commitment is greater than your feelings, that's when you get results. That's when it happens for you."
Show up when it’s boring, inconvenient, or uncomfortable, and those quiet deposits become the unstoppable momentum everyone later calls “overnight success.

[Brian Cain @BrianCainPeak]

“Do you have a mental skills coach?” “Yes. Brian Cain.” Before Game 7 of the World Series, John Schneider talked about something every elite level leader and performer needs to understand… Consistency is a skill. Not just physically. Mentally. When asked how he handles the