• AS ANOTHER NEW YEAR COMMENCES, WE’VE ENTERED THE AGE OF THE ABSURD. Masses of people now believe that Wokeness is the Way, and that pronouncements from the cultural elite via collaborating media are ‘True.’ Stuff like: (1) Fewer policing, elimination of penalties for criminal activities, and immediate ‘no bail’ release of criminals will lead to lesser crime; (2) Free Speech doesn’t allow for (whoever’s version of) ‘hate’ speech; (3) America is ‘systemically’ Racist, and opposition to racial segregation is also racist; (4) Human sexuality is not binary, just a matter of ‘identity,’ and men can give birth; (5) Diversity is the greatest strength and protector of Security; (6) Capitalism is evil, per se. Twilight Zone is yet to come, but hopefully sanity can prevail. [DENNIS PRAGER – PATRIOT POST] 
  • THE LIKELIHOOD IS THAT “FUTURE GENERATIONS will find at least one part of today’s contemporary morality almost unintelligible: HOW could decent people have believed that? And they may well have to conclude that we were just stupid… ‘Stupidity’ is not incompatible with intelligence or higher educational achievement, but more the property of a political culture than of the individuals in it…  When combined with lack of necessary intellectual equipment to see oneself and world, the result is an inability to make sense of what is happening, and thus a tendency to force phenomena into crude distorting pigeonholes… Unlike character flaws, stupidity is primarily a property of groups or traditions versus individuals, since most of our concepts & mental tools evolve from the society we are raised in… At the head of almost every dumb movement, you will find the Stupid in charge, especially politics, where a stupid slogan chimes with a stupid voter, mirroring the way they see the world… But once we understand stupidity’s nature, things are a little brighter than they might seem.”  [PSYCHE – 12/15/23]
  • “POLITICIANS SOMEHOW MANAGE TO OUTPERFORM THE STOCK MARKET, year after year buying and selling millions in stocks of companies they’re supposed to be regulating, while Wall Street and Big Tech work hand-in-hand with elected officials to enrich each other at the expense of the country, ignoring conflicts of interest including shaping of U.S. defense and pharmaceutical policies… A decade ago, the ‘Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act’ was passed, following insider-trading scandals that rocked Congress.” But still, this year – after recent investigations found 77 Senators & Representatives along with 182 high-ranking congressional staffers  violating the Act (including one Rep with 300 personal transactions and another with $17 million in trades) – along with national publicity surrounding family member trading, Speaker Pelosi rejected calls & bills for enforcement or further regulation stating: “We are a free-market economy and should be able to participate in that.”  [BUSINESS INSIDER – 12/31/22]
  • ONE MORE SOBERING PERSPECTIVE ON THE FUTURE from McKinsey Global Institute: While America has emerged from ‘earthquakes’ of economic & political turbulence in the past, and after three decades of relative calm, today’s “unnerving combination of a global pandemic, energy scarcity, rapid inflation and geopolitical tensions, we may be in the early throes of a seismic shift that is reshaping our world toward a new era… In this current era, the world has converged into a globalized economy, providing rapid catch up growth for billions of people while we have managed to keep the gains, but with disruption to established constituencies, pangs of imbalance, and powerful new players asserting their place at the global table… Going forward, the next era could include: (1) Multipolarity with realignment into regionally & ideologically aligned groups; (2) Technology expanding Artificial Intelligence and Bioengineering to the forefront of geopolitical competition – calling into question the very meaning of being Human; (3) Critical resource and energy systems becoming economic & geopolitical pinch points; (4) The global Balance Sheet reversing and giving way to an Asian century.” [McKINSEY – 10/20/22]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:      Why seeing is no longer believing: https://biggeekdad.com/2022/12/short-magical-clips-3/

Real bummer: Consumer Reports tested 28 Dark Chocolate Bars to find over 80% containing lead & cadmium – enough in each bar to “create health risk, especially acute for children & pregnant adults to whom exposure to heavy metals (especially lead) could drastically hinder development and cause lasting brain damage.” Popular brans testing harmful included Hershey’s/ Godiva/ Trader Joes/ Lindt/ Dove. [NEOSCOPE]

In response to universities having “changed their product,” the demise of College Degree significance has officially begun. Utah is the first state to eliminate the requirement for bachelors’ degrees. Effective 2023, the state’s “hiring managers & committees will consider ‘comparable experience’ as equal to educational qualifications at every step in the evaluation & recruiting process for 98% of executive branch jobs, and will emphasize similar support by local governments and the private sector.”  [RED STATE]

Last year, North Korean hackers obtained personal login data for identity theft, ransomware attacks, and classified information, through some 500 ‘decoy websites’ – which included NFT marketplaces and targeted nearly 900 South Korean ‘Foreign Policy Experts.’ NO person or business is immune from risk of breach, as Cybercrime continues to increase dramatically. Failing to plan is planning to fail. DCG can help.