If you are interested in investing in the area, want to start a business, or seek to partner with local entities you can might want to contact the DDA and/or Delta County Chamber of Commerce.
If you haven't visited the area in the winter you really should think about it as a future eco tourism destination. I like to hike and snow shoe. Sometimes cross country ski. Summers are about boating and beaches. In my case diving and fishing.
Information on MEDC on Creating DDAs.
(Its hard to blame many politicians and officials who don't understand hate because many/most were raised with resources, in the right crowds, and with lots of support. They don't really have the same connection to what happens on a ground level with real people trying to make ends meet. You can sort of see that with our politics where people are treating politics like a personal game when lots of people live on the outcome of that tit for tat Monopoly spin.)
(Sorry I digress. I'm not a hate supporter and I'm completely confused on why hate has become acceptable and in many ways supported by large groups of people. I'm even more confused about how to find a solution because it relies on the often self oriented, subconscious, self awareness of people to see the bigger picture and the risks to our local/national institutions beyond their own needs.)
Here are a few benefits of why people support hate and why systems often default in handling it (I'm looking at this from an incentives perspective. As a general rule, people believe and do things on a social level and make decisions based on what helps them. The vast majority of people will never truly be aware of their own behaviors and the long term consequences of that behavior. If you want to understand why hate persists you have to understand its incentives and how people at different developmental levels react to internal angst. Hate as an outlet for inner dissonance.)
(One possible explanation of hate is related to lower needs fulfillment/development as postulated by Kazimierz Dabrowski’s and his theory of positive disintegration (TPD). Developmental levels are based on a person's capacity to grow from some very core rources rooted into their essence called Developmental Potential (DP). What we potentially have seen during hate crimes, ethnic cleansings, and mass shootings is a higher concentration of mental health disorders within the Level 1 stage. Such individuals are often surrounded and supported by similar Level 1 individuals. As one moves up the development ladder they are less likely to engage in such behaviors and/or rigidly adherence to group norms. At Level 4 and 5 kindness and empathy are seen as strengths but are often misconstrued as weakness by Level 1 individuals/groups. See Dabrowski's TBD. )
Here are a few benefits to the distortion of hate (Ok...its just role reversing to understand the incentives of why people do these things):
-Social approval: Its hard to hate without a community that also engages in hate (Community just meaning group and not an actual community. It could be an actual whole community but that isn't the intent of the meaning.) You will notice in most of these cases where crimes of aggression were committed there was some connection to others who thought in similar ways.
-Suppressing of inner pain: Internal pain of the aggressors often leads to attempts to make the targets associated with and eventually responsible for that pain even though they are unassociated. Almost as saying, "If I make them feel it, I don't need to feel it about myself.". By dehumanizing others they feel a temporary sense of relief from their own despair, shame, and "less than human" feelings. It can become a habit.
-Scapegoating collective faults: Sometimes societies have issues they have not fully discussed, vetted, and resolved. For example, this ex-sports group has developed a sense of blind loyalty, constant comparison, rumor spreading, and caddyness toward others. Yet none as far as I know can say the targets did anything to them and it appears to be intentionally spread "hear say". The ability to coordinate on a family is reflective of some of their inner values of this group (as well as some officials) and is a false socially constructed reality based on the distorted perceptions of key influencers.
-Avenues to power: There is power in having a mob of blind supporters willing to act and work on the behalf of such divisionary. Mental slaves, as related to mob behaviors, reflects the emotional states of their leaders/influencers. The lower the developmental level of the supporter, the more likely they will closely mirror their leaders behavior. They easily relinquish their own personal power to group power. Good leaders use power to influence followers to be better and poor leaders influence followers to be worse through the use of mirror neurons. Strong nations grow through good leadership with shared values and are destroyed off of poor diversionary values (I prior talked briefly about social construction and the activation of neural synapses based on which mental pathways people have been socialized to prefer leading to closely related socialized values and decision making. i.e. heuristic thinking and mob mentality. All the bravado, rudeness, and group aggression and not one knows what they are talking about or has any of the "facts". They acted through social mimicking in a way that invalidated such misaligned perception of manhood they were trying to cloak their true selves in. In other words, within groups and against kids anyone can be bravado but when your out there alone standing against a large irrational aggressive mob then walk the talk and taking the higher road isnt always easy; even when it helps the perpetrators be better people. i.e. flying monkeys See mirror neurons and leadership. 👆)
-Mask other issues, crimes, and behaviors: Sometimes there are bad histories that when the truth starts being revealed and the carefully woven lies unbonded the best thing to do is to make the targets "blameworthy" so the focus shifts to maintain the smokescreen. Isolation, accusations, rumors, etc. are all designed to created "blame worthiness" so as to deflect criticism and keep the truth suppressed (Trace back most hate networks and you often find mental health and other poor behaviors at the root of the group's leadership.).
-Economic reasons: Some groups want more access to jobs and opportunities than others. They have no issues suppressing others to maintain positions and/or gain new opportunities (i.e. local college that said I was more than qualified and then ghosted based on their distorted beliefs and social connections.). Good Old Boy networks exist to maintain this power and opportunities. Yet when they also incorporate racial and religious distortions that begin to cross between multiple local institutions therein lays the danger to democracy.
 |
| Keeping the seeds of democracy feeding future generations. A painting of early pilgrims and Native Americans. |
(Today is Thanksgiving and lets reflect on how we came here for freedom and have the responsibility to maintain that freedom. The survival of the pilgrims was based on their ability to make a human-to-human connection with Native Americans. Without that they would have perished in the wilderness and without that same spirit today we risk cracking the foundations that hold the pillars of democracy skyward. Just imagine if the indigenous people thought the newcomers were savages and not worth saving. 🧐 Just saying.)
The world is a tricky place and lots of different cyber threats emerge, hacking groups form, money is spent, and people try and get information for gain. We are into a time when we are interconnected and have to protect sensitive data. As a department the DOD, like any other organism, must continuously update to its environment or risk being compromised. The DOD will update, our adversaries will update, and natural pressures encourage us to be adaptive or lose out on competitive advantages.
The name of the game for the future is innovation and how that allows us to be central to the Digital Era. Our data will need to be further insulated so as to ensure that our adversaries are not using espionage and other malicious methods to obtain information they didn't put the resources in to discovery for themselves.
I didn't read through everything but here are some resources if this topic is of interest to you. Its important to sort of understand changes from an IT perspective. Government policy often impacts suppliers who then impact their industries. Some of these policies will impact how business conduct its cybersecurity so staying on top of change is helpful.
Keep in mind that businesses are often targets of hacking to obtain secondary data and have responsibility to protect that consumer data. New ideas, inventions, and methods will come forward and the DOD will likely adapt what seems to make fiscal, practical, strategic and tactical sense. Industry and government sort of watch and impact each others development (i.e. Arpa)
(Am I making a stretch here? 🤔👺I'm making a small stretch. You can see people starting to work together to encourage more local development through zoning changes and moving projects forward. For those of you who don't know "cutting the red tape" refers not only to regulations but also getting through the many delays of bureaucracy. Better strategies forward often create better cutting of tape to achieve those milestones.
In small towns there are is less bureaucracy but more caution with community concerns. That can actually be a good thing for business because small towns can be very flexible if people see the need for change. Yet the community is the ultimate stakeholders of change and local individuals can communicate one-on-one with council members. The seeds to democracy are here in small towns just like this! See SWOTCH.).
Escanaba received some beefy grants that will make a difference in the local water infrastructure (Good infrastructure can improve business prospects and reduced downtime costs. See an article on America's water infrastructure history and economic growth. HERE). Attracting additional resources such as more grants, tourists, businesses, etc. is a good thing. Towns have inputs and outputs just like businesses and either must become sustaining (hopefully perpetually sustaining governments) or must rely on outside support.
Infrastructure is important and helps create the platform businesses and communities need to grow. Many times we spend resources on immediate needs and defer other needs. Strong infrastructure can encourage businesses to consider starting operations and could be a beneficial marketing piece to include in any business investment outreaches (I don't think the city does this yet but as a proactive approach one could find a way to reach out to businesses and the investment community when opportunities present themselves. See Esky Downtown Dev. Start Up Delta and Delta County SME)
You can read the November 17th, 2022 City Council Agenda A few of the main concepts are below....
-Water treatment project moving forward.
-Stipend for interim City Manager
-New dog sniff
-$20 Mil EGLE Grant: 1 phase water project and 2nd phase lead replacement.
-DDA application process
-Mutual aid alarm box system for emergency support.
-Stump grinding
-Closed bridge
-Prior city manager Patrick J. resigns.
-Appointments
-Committee reports
Informed citizens keep up with the news and some of the important things that are occurring every day. When big announcements like this occur they signal a direction and potentially a change in the environment. Special Counsel Jack Smith has been appointed to provide an objective analysis of whether charges should be brought forward, dropped or some other direction taken.
(Good or bad there will be an adjustment/reaction by some members of society. Former President Trump is as expected not happy so from a theoretical perspective we should consider what his options are and his level of support among Republicans. You can read some of Former President Trump's response HERE.
Much of this is going to depend on where Republicans want to expend political capital and what they hope to accomplish with their time in office. Because of the different investigations going on it will come down to being a more personal choice by politicians so it will likely be encouraged for Republicans to stay neutral. In other words, we do not encourage support or discourage support.
The primary purpose of the Republican party is to advance its long stemming values and governance principles/philosophies. Beyond the criminal investigation and January 6th review the biggest influencers in Republican decision making will be the actions of reelected Senate minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) He will decide if he will give a thumbs up, thumbs down or just support your conscious comment about Trump's investigation. Nail biting.😬)
What does the Special council do? "....the Special Counsel shall exercise, within the scope of his or her jurisdiction, the full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States Attorney (U.S. Gov. n.d.) (This is a Federal Document so I think its correct)
Two investigations:
Investigation 1: January 6th.
Investigation 2: Classified Documents
U.S. Govt. (n.d.). Section 600-General Powers of Special Counsel. Retrieved 11/18/2022 from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2016-title28-vol2/pdf/CFR-2016-title28-vol2-part600.pdf
What is the G20? Lots of news on the topic and conversation on what the organization does and what it hopes to accomplish. The G20 tries to create shared perspectives of economic, political and health challenges. (NY Times as a solid description HERE. ) It is a way for countries to coordinate policies on things that are important to all the major participating nations. It can impact anything from economics to public health policies. Sometimes they might raise money and other times just awareness.
What I find sort of interesting on a personal level is the commitment to the Digital Era/Economy and some of the changes that will likely not only impact how business is conducted but also the forms/structure of business across the globe. More international cooperation is likely and there will be new rules as it relates to global data security and theft of data.
(Legislation will play catch up with technology. Because most cultures would accept that data theft is a root moral violation like other forms of theft so chances are most will agree with some changes. How much, where, how, etc...is part of a longer term negotiation.)
"The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transformation of the digital ecosystem and digital economy. We recognize the importance of digital transformation in reaching the SDGs" (White House G20, Nov. 16th, 2022)Car ramming into and injuring up to 25 LA Sheriff recruits is sad, horrendous, dangerous, and hopefully not a trend! If this was an intentional act I would say it is getting close to being considered an impromptu convenience target of terrorism (..of course unless it was planned...which would be even more concerning.). If it was not an intentional act then the situation will need to be reviewed carefully so we protect against other such incidents in the future (i.e. by ensuring greater escort protection, switching to jogging on football fields, etc. policy changes. Personally I think we should be in a safe country and jog anywhere we want without fear of violence. This could be another sign we need people to start working together to solve our problems. Working across the isle solves issues today but solidifies a path forward for everyone to anchor on tomorrow.)
The big questions are why were they hit (intentional or unintentional) and how might that fit (or not fit) with other trends? Its hard to answer that today. We will need to wait and see. ( I guess some of it comes down to if the gas or break pedals were pressed as soon as it was apparent the driver was aware there were recruits. It will depend very much on the witnesses of everyone present and the background of the alleged i.e. what did they post on media, what were their views, what their friends say about them, etc.).
On the surface the video looks intentional, directed, and direct. We will have to see what the case holds.
