Look, and If I'm Completely Wrong and Kim Jong-un Is a Mad Man...

And not just a dictator in a country we bombed to hell in the 50's trying to keep himself and his people alive while Washington's occupying military forces regularly conduct war games to practice invading his country...

And he totally is just insane and potentially suicidal...

And he's got nukes...

And he's almost got missiles that can fly them to us...

Then we definitely don't want to put more pressure on him.

You think this is how hostage negotiators talk?

To crazy, potentially suicidal guys who've taken hostages?

We're gonna meet you
"with fire and fury like
the world has never seen!"
Hell no.

Hostage negotiators talk those guys down.

They don't try to scare them and stir them up.

They don't put pressure on them.

Here is the NYPD Crisis Negotiations Team's
7 essential crisis negotiation skills:

Crisis Negotiation Skills #1. “Talk to Me”
[Keeping lines of communication open]

Crisis Negotiation Skills #2. Patience
“avoid jumping to conclusions and rushing quickly towards a resolution"

Crisis Negotiation Skills #3. Active Listening
affective: when it is used to build trust and rapport
effective: resulting in information gathering

Crisis Negotiation Skills #4. Respect
Active listening and patience are high on the list

Crisis Negotiation Skills #5. Calm
the most critical police negotiation techniques

Crisis Negotiation Skills #6. Self-Awareness
oh Lord help us

Crisis Negotiation Skills #7. Adaptability
negotiations are never uniform or universal

Obama keeps pushing the bipartisan religion of interventionism

Michael Scheuer is deadly accurate - foreign interventionism is a bipartisan religion (or disease, whichever you prefer). Too often, I believe, Americans think about Washington’s interventionism only as the actual physical intervention of U.S. military forces abroad in places where no U.S. interest is at risk. That activity certainly is intervention, but President Obama’s despicable decision last week to have his administration leak intelligence claiming that Israel has concluded an agreement with the government of Azerbaijan to allow its use of Azeri airfields for an air strike on Iran is just as much an unwarranted intervention by the United States government. Readers of this blog will know that I carry no brief for Israel, that I believe it is a state that is irrelevant to U.S. national interests, and one whose U.S.-citizen supporters are disloyal to America and involved in activities that compromise U.S. security and corrupt the U.S. political system. That said, Israel — l...

How Thorough a Brainwashing

Saw this on Facebook: Left this comment: It's more thorough of a wash job than that. They don't just believe they are not brainwashed, the question has never occurred to them and as long as they keep reading TIME and watching MTV, it's *impossible* for the question to occur to them. Oh brave new world, that has such people in it. EDIT: And one more thing-- don't ever stop considering what questions it is currently impossible to occur to you . This is what I've been thinking about a lot lately and I'm worried just how large and numerous my own blindspots are. The only solution is to be as intellectually curious as possible. To learn voraciously. To read things that challenge us. To read things that are hard for us to understand and then try to understand them. To expose ourselves to ideas far removed from our present culture and place on the timeline. Read old books. Read foreign books. Turn off the TV. You have already absorbed its biases and blindspots. ...

How To Gain More Twitter Followers

Earlier today, I wrote : "My goal is to write a book before the end of March. My goal is to spend no more than a week from start to publication, spending as much time as I need in order to get it done during that week. My goal is to give it away to you for free here on HumbleLibertarian.com. What's a goal you have? Something you may have been putting off for years? Something you could accomplish in one month if you were determined? If it's near-term enough of a goal, and specific enough of a goal, and you share it in the comments below, feel free to tell me how I can help you and I'll do whatever I can. If it's a libertarian / news / politics-related goal, my manner of help would be easy to determine. I could promote it, introduce you to someone via email, (etc.). If it's something apolitical like quit smoking cigarettes, start exercising, learn guitar, start a business, gain more Twitter followers, learn another language, eat a paleo diet, or...

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