the news these days

Lincoln University names director of new Security Sciences Institute komu.com

Adrian kf0ohs S. Petrescu, Ph.D., J.D.

Chief Future Architect, InnovationTrek

We got here. What's next?

Accelerate Innovation. 

In companies and self.

Grow flow. Naturally.

ASPetrescu@InnovationTrek.org

listen in. it matters. a lot. act. to stop government attacks on liberty itself.

the transcript (courtesy a member of Omaha NE based Free Speech Society):

Here's Scott Pelley's graduation speech at Wake Forest.  It's one of the better one's I've ever seen.  Feel free to compare it the one the president gave at West Point--if you can actually find a copy.

"Good morning, everybody. What a beautiful day. What a beautiful North Carolina day for a graduation. Incredible.

Thank you, President Wente, Provost Gillespie, members of the Board of Trustees and Katy Harriger, my faculty sponsor, for this precious Wake Forest honorary degree. I am honored and grateful to be with you today.

Good morning, graduates! A special shout out to our Reserve Officer Training Corps members who are going to be commissioned today in the service of their country today. Thank you so much.

Oh, this has been a challenging road. You have worked, you have worried and you have wondered if you could reach this day. I'm not talking about the graduates; I'm talking to the parents and the families.

Why are there so many people here? Because nobody got here alone.

First, a quick word of warning. I was reporting a story for 60 Minutes not too long ago, and I had a chat with a young astronomer. And I asked her, "So, what took you into astronomy?" She said, "Well, you spoke at my college graduation…"

And she went on and she said, "I was graduating with a perfectly sensible degree. But as I heard you speak, I realized my love was astronomy, so I re-enrolled. Now, I have a Ph.D. in astronomy and now I work on the Webb Space Telescope."

So, if there is anyone here today who does not want to be an astronomer, this is the time to space out.

You know, if we were in London, we might be walking past Portman Square on a beautiful spring day. We would encounter the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation, a nearly 100-year-old building from which Edward R. Murrow, the original CBS News correspondent, stood on the roof and broadcast back to America word of the falling bombs of fascism that fell on that free city month after month. If we walk a little bit further past the BBC, we will encounter another hero in the fight against fascism, George Orwell. He'd be standing there, frozen in bronze with his words carved in the side of a building: "If liberty means anything at all, it means something worth saying that some people don't want to hear."

I fear there are some people in the audience who don't want to hear what I have to say today. But I appreciate your forbearance in this small act of liberty.

I'm a reporter so I won't bury the lead. Your country needs you. The country that has given you so much is calling you, the Class of 2025. The country needs you, and it needs you today.

As a reporter, I have learned to respect opinions. Reasonable people can differ about the life of our country. America works well when we listen to those with whom we disagree and when we listen and when we have common ground and we compromise. And one thing we can all agree on – one thing at least – is that America is at her best when everyone is included.

To move forward, we debate, not demonize. We discuss, not destroy. But in this moment – this moment, this morning – our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. An insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak. In America? If our government is – in Lincoln's words – "of the people, by the people and for the people" – then why are we afraid to speak?

The Wake Forest Class of 1861 did not choose their time of calling. The Class of 1941 did not choose. The Class of 1968 did not choose. History chose them. And now history is calling you, the Class of 2025. You may not feel prepared, but you are. You are not descended of fearful people. You brought your values to school with you and now Wake Forest has trained you to seek the truth, to find the meaning of life.

Let me tell you briefly about three people I have recently met who discovered the meaning of their lives in moments of crisis not unlike what we have today.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, spent his entire career as an entertainer on television. His first elected office was president of Ukraine. And three years ago, the Russian army came at him from three directions. He had a decision to make. And so he reached for the most lethal weapon in the Ukranian arsenal: his cell phone. 

He walked out of front of the presidential offices in Kyiv and made a video selfie. He told his people, "I'm still here and your army is still here, and we are going to fight." He galvanized 44 million people instantly. Today, three years later, he is all that stands between a murderous dictator in Russia and the rest of free Europe. I asked him, "Where did that come from?" And he said, "Well, you look in the mirror and you ask, 'Who are you'"?

Nadia Marad, a woman whom we at 60 Minutes found in a refugee camp in Iraq. Her family was murdered by ISIS and she had been sold for money into slavery. We convinced her to tell her story on 60 Minutes, which she did and she found her voice. Then she began to write, and then she began to speak about the crimes that women suffer in war. And a few years later, this young woman who we had found in a refugee camp won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Who are you?

Finally, Dr. Samer Attar, an orthopedic surgeon in Chicago and a professor of surgery at Northwestern who volunteers to do surgery in war zones. In Gaza. In Ukraine. In To save lives of innocent people by using whatever meager supplies he has at hand. I asked him, "Where does this come from?" He told me, "It's not much, but it beats burying your head in fear and ignorance."

Who are you?

What is the meaning of life?

Today, great universities are threatened with ruin. So what did President Wente and Provost Gillespie do? They spoke out. They joined other institutions signing the call for constructive engagement, a declaration of the relationship between government and higher education. It reads in part, "Institutions of higher education share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation."

Who are you? What does this make Wake Forest in this moment? Well, I think we know.

Did you hear that phrase in the Declaration? "Pursuit of truth?" Why attack universities? Why attack journalism? Because ignorance works for power.

First, make the truth seekers live in fear. Sue the journalists. For nothing. Then send masked agents to abduct a college student, a writer of her college paper who wrote an editorial supporting Palestinian rights, and send her to a prison in Louisiana and charge her with nothing. Then, move to destroy law firms that stand up for the rights of others.

With that done, power can rewrite history. With grotesque, false narratives, they can make heroes criminals and criminals heroes. And they can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality.

"Diversity" is now described as "illegal." "Equity" is to be shunned. "Inclusion" is a dirty word. This is an old playbook, my friends. There is nothing new in this. George Orwell – who we met on the street in London – in 1949, he warned of what he called "new speak." He understood that ignorance works for power.

But it is ignorance that you have repudiated every single day here at Wake Forest University. Who are you? I think we know.

Can just speaking the truth actually work? Well, consider this day. This day. May 19. May 19, 1963. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was published for the first time. In that letter, Dr. King says, "The first thing that has to be done in the pursuit of justice is collecting the facts."

Power was telling him in a jail cell, "Do not speak the truth because power will crush you."

But consider that just months before that letter was published, Wake Forest University became the first major private institution of higher education in the South to integrate. In 1962.

The year after Dr. King's letter –1964 – the Civil Rights Act is passed. And the year after that – 1965 – the Voting Rights Act is passed. Now today both of those are under attack. But can the truth win? My friends, nothing else does. It may be a long road, but the truth is coming.

Did you hear the other phrase in the declaration that was signed by President Wente and Provost Gillespie? "Without fear."

That does not mean there's nothing to be afraid of. It's an affirmation that you know who you are. That you know what you stand for. And that you know in the end – the long end – the Constitution will defend you even in the face of fearsome times.

In the words of one of your former Wake Forest professors:

"You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies.

You may tread me into the very dirt, but like dust, I'll rise.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, I rise.

Into a daybreak that's wonderfully clear, I rise.

Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave me, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise.

I rise.

I rise."

The poet Maya Angelou taught at Wake Forest. She saw the fear that power sought to impose, yet in her famous phrase, she still knew why the caged bird sings.

This university, old and wise, has seen worse. It has overcome existential threats before to our country. You are not alone. A legion has gone before you. And now it is the Class of 2025 that is called in another extreme time.

Will you permit me another word of advice? I think this is how I created at least one astronomer.

Do not settle. You only get one pass at this. This world is going to tell you no a thousand times, but listen to the song in your heart. If they can't hear it, that's on them and not on you.

In the 1980s, I was rejected by CBS News over and over and over again over the years. They told me at one point, "Please stop applying." They really did. And at the time, I thought "What's wrong with these people?" They couldn't hear the song in my heart. Maybe they were smarter. Every time I was rejected, I got better. Maybe that was the plan. But I finally made them hear the music in my heart.

You only lose if you quit. Do not settle.

What is the meaning of life? Who are you? You are the educated. You are the compassionate. You are the fierce defenders of democracy, the seekers of truth, the vanguards against ignorance. You are millions strong across our land.

You might be sorry that you were picked by history for this role. But maybe that was the plan. Hard times are going to make you better and stronger. In a few minutes, when that diploma hits your hand, it's not a piece of paper you're holding. We're handing you a baton. Run with it.

Why am I here today? I'm 50 years farther down the trail than you are, and I have doubled back this morning to tell you the one thing I have learned from Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Nadia Marad and Samer Attar and a thousand others: In a moment like this, when our country is in peril, don't ask the meaning of life. Life is asking, "What's the meaning of you?"

With great admiration for your achievements and with confidence that you will rise to this occasion, I thank you very humbly for the honor of being with you.

Thank you very much."

follow in the footsteps of the great. 

look inside. 

repeat. 

our country however is not truly in peril. not yet. it's under attack, indeed. seriously so. it could get there—to be in peril, as Scott suggests. but it won't. because our country is us. not its government, or its White House tenant. because of everyone like you. like us. we won't let it. we are the country. each and every one of us. of you. who care. for truth. for each other. thank you, neighbors.

Adrian kf0ohs S. Petrescu, Ph.D., J.D.

InnovationTrek

ASPetrescu@InnovationTrek.org (office)

ASPetrescu@alumni.pitt.edu (private)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/aspetrescu 

"I have learned the novice can often see things that the expert overlooks. All that is necessary is to not be afraid of making mistakes or appearing naive." Abraham Maslow (1908-70)

"Cogito, ergo sum" (Rene Descartes, 1596-1650) 

"Who is John Galt?"

“we don’t need no education.”

United States of America did well all these years without an "official" language. Lingua franca across the country and the world, by organic adoption, beats any other means possible—especially the not very democratic executive order tool—to have something be in language use. 

I recall a time when neighbors to the East of where I was back then decided to include in a Constitution words to mean "the official language of the Republic of Moldova is Moldovan." The provision over time led to massive protests and a democratic taking down of the government and political party that was so badly informed and ill intended as to wield their temporary power of the state to put that idiotic statement in a Constitution. Obviously there is no and there has never been a Moldovan language. This was a propagandistic attempt by a moldovan post-Soviet elite group in power at rewriting history as to wipe out the Romanian language away from the people's attention and to distract away from the people's convictions about the Republic of Moldova's unity in heart and soul and history with sister country Romania. The youth of that country took down the government democratically of course in reaction to terrible policies and really bad deeds by the state but the spark & the unifying factor that fueled the movement was that "Moldovan language" lie put into the Constitution.

One must be very careful with words. They have powers that by far exceed the power of only people.

Think about it for a second. Does the United States need an official language _decreed by executive order_—a highly undemocratic ruling device that is hardly ever recognized as representing the will of the people governed—and named English? What actual good will that do? Something that is not happening already? 

I for one will just start speaking French much more often. Why not? 

We will start a French language critical thinking learning channel. 

We will start a learn Dutch for everyone weekly podcast. 

We will host a Romanian language and literature monthly workshop both in person and online.

We will also be continuing to host Dari/Farsi/Persian based career development and entrepreneurship sessions for learners who are our neighbors. It turns out in one language you say _shower_. In another you say _douche_. Written with different letters than the Latin alphabet yet the words are different. Coming from British influence or French influence, but Persian language didn't actually have a word (that is still remembered).

Let's stay careful out there. I like John Oliver a lot. He's been helping me live a happier life. I've been watching BBC for a long time. I've been laughing and learning baking and so much more. Do I want though these personal preferences of mine for a really good comedian or good TV to become translated into an "official language" of the United States of America?

In our house we host parties. Ten languages can be spoken at one time. Imagine some neighbor listening in and calling the police to arrest us all, for that neighbor's total lack of understanding of the Bill of Rights and the (First and) Fourth Amendments.

Let's not make any more dumb mistakes in government. They are quite costly. Some can turn deadly. To individuals but also to political careers.

Remember Meyer v Nebraska. 1923. 

Adrian kf0ohs S. Petrescu, Ph.D., J.D.

Chief Future Architect, InnovationTrek

We got here. What's next?

Accelerate Innovation. 

In companies and self.

Grow flow. Naturally.

ASPetrescu@InnovationTrek.org

a few reasons why it is misleading to say “run government like a business”

After the terrible Challenger disaster someone asked an engineer during a Senate hearing "you mean an o-ring?". we need a Richard P Feynman great explainer for everything. 

 the argument has been made so many times that I cannot count them all. yet, is it a good one: can government be "run like a business"?

governments cannot simply be "run like a business" because businesses never have the full ability to do what governments can and must do. medium and long term strategic effective management of resources for everyone's benefit. think of the space program. dams and hydroelectric power plants. electrifying entire remote states. the railroad. the interstate system. clean air and clean water. maintaining the country's natural environment—trees make oxygen in this world, and we cannot live without it. first and foremost, flow of capital and sovereign debt in a nationally backed currency. backed with national reputation and power. including military and diplomatic plus of course economic benefits of interacting with us in mutually beneficial commerce. things the President's businesses have all benefitted for and yet rarely paid for in full. true of all businesses. including those by the President's special first buddy ❌🐦, or a lot of those others who helped elect the President. 

businesses always rely on governments to externalize plenty of necessary resources to run the business that the business doesn't need to pay for and which do not need to be listed on balance sheets. businesses in the same field may seem to compete with others in the same field and yet they all cooperate more than meets the eye to hold consumers dependent on all those de facto "monopolies"—think of the "Rockefeller-Ford+ matrix"—our dependence on the automobile. similarly the "information disinformation ecosystem." what brand you're paying for is totally irrelevant as long as you're paying for the product that is you—you're attention to stay dependent and in the game. the game now is the North Klownistan Show. but that's not everything. and it's certainly not all that new either. after all the Romans came up with "bread and circus" and it's worked so well for them that even after the dismantling of their empire several other baby-empires, including this one, have been following suit. 

in contrast we must expect our government to equalize the plainfield for _and by_ everyone. the government must deliver _to everyone_ fundamentally things guaranteed in the US Declaration of Independence. it cannot and it should not be allowed to say "yes, we do that but simply not for you!" whoever the you is. whatever the that is. as long as we recognize it—that—as a right and duty that the government is in charge with helping with. here rests the massive burden of selection. the Reagan government never intended to solve the homeless crisis—it may have in much part created, or at least helped create, or failed to avert—because philosophically it never agreed that it had anything to do with people's ability to find and pay for shelter. think about it. the FDR elections were won in part by saying that the Hoover administration created the Hoover-viles problem. which of course President Hoover did not create. businesses allowed to happen with the 1929 stock crash. one that President Hoover has tried his best to avert. yet to no avail. it didn't bother President FDR to place blame where it was not for political capital gain. then he, FDR, turned the country "saving capitalism from itself" by doing something no business alone no matter how large could have done. hiring the unemployed for national projects of significance to the entire country but for which nobody alone would have paid for individually. I take weekly hikes to this day on trails made by FDR's conservation corps. 

he—FDR, like President Teddy Roosevelt before him—in a sense did run government like a _meta business_. meaning like a business of many supra-businesses, recognizing together that each person is a contributor in many ways to that meta business. without life and liberty there cannot be pursuit of happiness. without all three and more the meta business of our nation can but only die a slow but steady and certain death. to put it simply: computers and robots neither buy products and services nor pay taxes. 

one lesson that for all his errors of judgement and positions, Henry Ford understood thoroughly: his workers had to also be able to afford to be his customers _and_ needed a place or more to go to with his vehicles and those places were national parks. where the railroads were also taking their customers, and where the same railroads were building cabins and internal roads and operations to make it appealing for folks to go. recall that in basic economics the human capital must _rest_ to replenish itself for tomorrow. all too often "run like a business" meant discarding the human capital at a slow but steady rate, or all too often instantaneously, called death, otherwise, and replacing it with new one, as opposed to minding the one in front of you. as terrible as it may sound it is real that the Gilded Age was built with dead people. if we don't spell it out we may just miss the essence. we don't want that kind of "run like a business"—coded in Lockner v New York (1905), and no longer good law—anymore. 

recall that government is in part there to help protect all of the people from being overworked and underpaid to death. because some "business" simply can't see past their own massively consequential mistakes from ignorance. 

Adrian kf0ohs S. Petrescu, Ph.D., J.D.

Chief Future Architect, InnovationTrek

We got here. What's next?

Accelerate Innovation. 

In companies and self.

Grow flow. Naturally.

ASPetrescu@InnovationTrek.org

Q & A from 16 years ago when platforms were about community of knowledge

let me know if you have questions. would love to help out. still. always. forever.

Adrian S. Petrescu, J.D., Ph.D.

ASPetrescu@InnovationTrek.org (office)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/aspetrescu 

"I have learned the novice can often see things that the expert overlooks. All that is necessary is to not be afraid of making mistakes or appearing naive." Abraham Maslow (1908-70) 

"My country is the world and my religion is to do good." (Thomas Paine, 1736-7, 1809)

"Cogito, ergo sum" (Rene Descartes, 1596-1650) 

"Who is John Galt?"

Think freely 0.0: you must learn critical thinking from before you were even born!

We are in the business of tricking the mind…

…be careful how you use your mind because if you don't, somebody else will!

Adrian kf0ohs S. Petrescu, Ph.D., J.D.

Chief Future Architect, InnovationTrek

We got here. What's next?

Accelerate Innovation. 

In companies and self.

Grow flow. Naturally.

ASPetrescu@InnovationTrek.org