Meeting with Norwegian PM Jonas Store in White House, President Trump Delivers Remarks on Ukraine/Russia Conflict

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President Trump hosted Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in the Oval Office and took questions from reporters on Thursday.  The majority of the question from both the U.S. and Norwegian media encompass the current effort to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine.

One of the ceasefire ‘sticking points’ per se’, is that immediately following the breakout of the conflict the government of President Zelenskyy changed many of their constitutional rules to include the legal elimination of opposition parties in the country, removal of religion or faith-based social influence that runs counter to the Ukrainian Nazi mindset, the cessation of elections in Ukraine, and other “emergency measures” intended to assist the stability of Zelenskyy’s government as they entered a war footing.

The results of the legal changes and constitutional framework, which included non-recognition of any lost territory, is now being leveraged by Zelenskyy in negotiations for a ceasefire.  President Zelenskyy is now saying the ceasefire terms proposed, which include accepting regional losses of geography to Russia, are not constitutionally possible and he has no power to agree to them.

In essence, Zelenskyy’s emergency government changed the constitutional power of the President, cemented a new constitutional status during war, and now says those previous changes make it impossible to accept proposed terms.  This self-fulfilling creation, intentionally done with forethought for exactly this kind of current scenario, is the baseline for frustration toward the Ukraine position.  President Trump notes this Ukraine position is frustrating, while thousands die weekly in the process. WATCH:

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UPDATE: I do not consider Zelensky to be a Ukrainian or working for the benefit of Ukraine. Crimea is old Russian territory and vital to their access to the Black Sea. Much of Ukraine was always part of Russia, so a lot of the back and forth on territory lost or gained is, sadly, nonsense. Here is a map of languages spoken in the territory in question. It’s a very telling map and ridiculous to pretend the history of this region is not very Russian. Crimea was ‘given’ to Ukraine by Khrushchev at the stroke of a pen. Odessa became a Russian navy harbor in 1794 by decree of the Russian Empress, Catherine the Great. ABN

X’s bottom line

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Denis may have some details wrong but the gist is correct, far as I know. I visit X to find random info or get insights from people like Denis. Pro-tip — if you want to enjoy X without seeing any ads, just follow a bunch of conspiracy theorists. Money is everywhere and affects everything and thus should always be a consideration when assessing any information. ABN

Bangor Newspaper Company Has Received More Than $2.4M from Mills Admin for ‘Public Affairs’

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Bangor Publishing Company — the company that owns both the Bangor Daily News (BDN) and a lesser-known marketing agency — has received more than $2.4 million from state agencies since Gov. Janet Mills (D) took office in 2019, according to a review of contracts filed with Maine’s procurement office.

The payments to Bangor Publishing Company are not regularly disclosed by the company’s newspaper arm but are available publicly via the state’s vendor payment disclosures and its procurement record websites.

State financial records show that payments made to either Bangor Publishing Company, Pulse Marketing Agency, or Pulse Marketing LLC began almost immediately after Gov. Mills entered office and totaled more than $2.4 million as of fiscal year 2024.

Source: Maine DAFS’ vendor payment data via https://www.maine.gov/osc/administration/data-share

The Maine Wire’s review of those contracts sheds new light on the murky and ethically questionable dynamics that arise when a newspaper company is simultaneously reporting on state government and profiting from lucrative contracts with state agencies.

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Consciousness reveals there’s no single objective world — Christian List

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Science as we know it won’t explain consciousness

…Over time, humans went from an anthropocentric to a geocentric to a heliocentric and eventually to a more universal view of the world, and each step constituted scientific progress.

Yet the crux is that there is at least one important phenomenon that resists such objectivization or “de-perspectivization,” and that is consciousness itself. If we accept that the core of consciousness is subjective experience, then consciousness is the ultimately subjective phenomenon. The core of my consciousness lies in the fact that I find myself in a world in which there are first-personal facts. I am conscious, I have certain experiences, I am in a particular perceptual state, and so on. First-personal facts are irreducibly subjective. They are “centred” around my perspective as an experiencing subject, and unlike objective facts, they are not invariant under shifts in perspective.

Crucially, each of us is inextricably tied to our own conscious perspective. I can reflect about your experiences and empathize with you; I can hypothetically try to place myself in your shoes; I can try to simulate in my mind what things must be like for you. But I cannot literally leave my own conscious perspective. It is an essential fact about me that I experience the world from my perspective and not from anyone else’s. To be conscious, one might say, is to have a subjective perspective around which some first-personal facts are centred.

…The lesson, I think, is that the attempt to “objectivize” consciousness – to represent it as an ordinary property that can be found in the objective world, like gravity and electromagnetism – fails to do justice to the irreducibly subjective nature of the phenomenon. Physicalist theories of consciousness are not alone in running into that problem; standard versions of dualism face the same problem too. We will better understand consciousness only if our scientific and philosophical theories fully come to terms with the existence of first-personal facts and recognize that reality may not be captured by a single objective book of the world, but only by a library of subjective ones.

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This is a good essay. It provides an overview of consciousness studies to frame the worthy assertion that: ‘We will better understand consciousness only if our scientific and philosophical theories fully come to terms with the existence of first-personal facts’. This kind of thinking fits well with Buddhism, and especially well with the Buddhist emphasis on samadhi states, which are deeply subjective. A Buddhist might say samadhi is describable and sharable with someone else who knows it. Or a Buddhist might not say that. The full essay is 2,578 words long and worth reading because the point is well made and the overview fits it very well. It’s quality information briefly stated. ABN

Big bennies for illegals make Minnesota a magnet for illegal aliens and rigged voting

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This is how they undermine USA at the state level; and at local levels through similar strategies. This is also happening in Maine; Portland Maine has already fallen. Northern states with old-school, mild mannered rural populations are easy prey for this kind of takeover. In just a few years, these states will be under one-party rule with no way to vote their way out of it. ABN

Driverless trucks are rolling in Texas, ushering in new era

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Drivers along a 200-mile stretch of I-45 between Dallas and Houston should get ready for something new: The semi-truck in the next lane might not have anyone in the driver’s seat.

Why it matters: Autonomous trucking companies have been testing their fleets on Texas highways for several years, but always with backup safety drivers in the cab.

  • Now, one company, Aurora Innovation, says it plans to go completely driverless at the end of the month, a key milestone that promises to reshape the trucking industry.

Driving the news: After years of development, Pittsburgh-based Aurora is launching commercial driverless operations this month on a popular freight route between Dallas and Houston.

  • The first autonomous truck is expected to roll down I-45 in the coming days, although Aurora officials declined to share any details.
  • The company has said it will begin slowly, with one truck, and will gradually expand the fleet over time.

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Parts of our DNA appear to evolve much faster than previously thought

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Knowing how human DNA changes over generations is essential to estimating genetic disease risks and understanding how we evolved. But some of the most changeable regions of our DNA have been off-limits to researchers—until now.

A team of researchers from University of Utah Health, University of Washington, PacBio, and other institutions has used multiple DNA sequencing technologies to develop the most comprehensive atlas yet of genetic change through generations. 

The new investigation revealed that parts of the human genome change much faster than was previously known, laying the foundations for new insights into the roots of human disease and evolution.

“It’s mutations that ultimately differentiate us from other species,” says author Lynn Jorde, PhD. “We’re getting at a very basic property of what makes us human.”

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Anxiety is frequently misdiagnosed leading to the wrong treatment being chosen

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Story at a Glance:

  • Anxiety isn’t just one thing—there are different types, each with its own causes and treatments
  • Unfortunately, doctors often treat it as if it’s all the same, frequently giving medications that make it far worse. As a result, despite the billions being spent on treating anxiety, the condition affects more and more people.
  • In many cases, anxiety can only be treated if you understand the root cause of it.
  • This article dives into the different types of anxiety and their causes so you can seek the correct treatment and avoid the harmful therapies frequently prescribed by rushed physicians.
  • One of the most common treatments for anxiety are benzodiazepines. Unfortunately, these drugs have many severe side effects, including being highly addictive. As a result, once individuals are started on them, they often cannot stop.
  • In contrast, many natural therapies exist for anxiety which work in harmony with the body and do not create the immense issues benzodiazepines often do.

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FIML and Symbolic Interaction Theory

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Symbolic Interaction Theory, also called symbolic interactionism, provides the best large-scale framework I have found so far for explaining FIML practice.

Three basic premises of symbolic interactionism are:

  • “Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things.”
  • “The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with others and the society.”
  • “These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretative process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters.”

These basic premises have been taken from the Wikipedia article linked above. I tend to agree with most of the general framework, as I understand it, of symbolic interactionism and believe that FIML practice can reasonably be understood as a method that can fit fairly comfortably within that framework.

FIML differs from symbolic interactionism in that FIML is much more a form of interpersonal psychotherapy than a sociological theory. FIML is a communication technique that focuses on meaning as it arises and is apprehended during short periods of time. FIML’s focus on very small units of interpersonal communication is what allows partners to understand how their sense of meaning intertwines with their emotional responses.

From a FIML point of view, society does not appear very well structured in many of its contexts, especially interpersonal contexts involving emotions, friendship, and intimate bonding. From this point of view, a great deal of social structure appears to be a substitute for authentic interaction between individual minds.

FIML seems also to show that a great deal of human suffering arises from the paucity of meaning that can be exchanged between individuals in most social contexts. Indeed, even in intimate contexts, most individuals, if not all of them, have great difficulty in attaining profound mutual understanding. This happens because our perceptions of our selves and others—due to how we use language and semiotics—are too crude and vague to allow for communicative complexity equal to the complexity of our minds/brains.

FIML corrects this problem by focusing on the details of interpersonal communication. Incidentally, FIML theory/practice can be falsified by having many couples do FIML practice and measuring the results. A criticism of symbolic interactionism is that it is not falsifiable. FIML differs from symbolic interactionism in that it is a practical technique that uses objective data (agreed upon by both partners) to optimize communication and improve psychological well-being.

I am pretty sure I will have more to say about symbolic interactionism in the days to come. A friend just sent me the article linked above, so I put down a few thoughts after one reading. FIML partners may find that symbolic interactionism helps with a general understanding of FIML practice.

first posted JUNE 26, 2014

UPDATE 01/13/22: The Wikipedia page has been updated since the excerpt above. I found this update interesting:

[Symbolic interactionism] is a framework that helps understand how society is preserved and created through repeated interactions between individuals. The interpretation process that occurs between interactions helps create and recreate meaning. It is the shared understanding and interpretations of meaning that affect the interaction between individuals. Individuals act on the premise of a shared understanding of meaning within their social context. Thus, interaction and behavior is framed through the shared meaning that objects and concepts have attached to them. From this view, people live in both natural and symbolic environments.

I agree with this and would add that the the shared understanding and interpretations of meaning that affect the interaction between individuals occurs all-importantly and very profoundly on the level of intimate interpersonal relationships. What FIML does is discover, foster, and create a much more accurate shared understanding and interpretations of meaning between FIML partners. The benefit of this is enormous since it has an extremely profound effect on individual psychology and all other shared understanding and interpretations of meaning encountered in society everywhere. ABN

reposted from June 26, 2014