Working Away On This Easter Week-End......

It has been a busy Easter weekend as the team is finally gearing up to test out the new "Beta Site" as our journey continues.     It included releasing a "Thought For the Week" To the Education Channel in celebration of Easter as it underscores a sense of the possible.   The thoughts the team chose from +Jonathan Huie  was in this spirit.

We have also been witness to a horrific week in our World.    The aftermath of Brussels continues to be felt throughout the World.   A march against hate scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled in Brussels that underscores how the City continues to be on the edge.   I have also been quite horrified by how Belgium asked for trouble as there are multiple police agencies with no one talking  As the campaign against #Daesh is continuing, #Daesh lashed out as a suicide bomber attacked a Football (Soccer) match in Baghdad killing kids as long as 10.  They were buried in Baghdad earlier today. It appears that Europe is pulling its' act together though as I am just seeing reports of an Algerian being detained in Italy based on an European Arrest Warrant by Belgian Authorities.

As I was on the prowl before being off for the night, I saw reports on two victims of hatred that I wanted to pay tribute too.    Asad Shah was a shopkeeper in Glasgow Scotland who was seriously injured and subsequently died in a religiously motivated attack.     Reports I reviewed note that the guy who committed the crime was Muslim:

He was well-liked and the GoFundMe page has raised almost 36,000 Pounds (approximately  7 Thousand Dollars).   He had written an Easter Greeting earlier in the day.    One of the other young victims was Sascha Pinczwoski who was killed with her brother and she had posted a note right before she died in the Brussels attack reminding the World to be tolerant always.    I salute both these ordinary folks who in their own way tried to make a difference.

While finishing my own "Virtual Walk-About" On the Grid, I saw this that one of my cousins released to her own Facebook Wall.   It was from an injured British Soldier that is so powerful in its' message--It was in sharp contrast to the debate that goes on today that is dominating the Republican Party and somewhat echoed by the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan who cited a 10% rule in her rationale to combat what she deemed "radical Islamic Jihadism".    I hope she takes note of what this soldier reminded us all of: 

British soldier who lost leg in Iraq issues powerful message
A British soldier who lost his leg in Iraq has posted a powerful message to people "expecting racism" from him just because he "got blown up".For Chris Herbert's full message: http://bit.ly/21OyRjz
Posted by ITV News on Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Hopefully the spirit of Easter will prevail.

As our team goes "dark" For Easter Sunday, on behalf of myself and the entire #Outsider team, Happy Easter!!!


 

On This Good Friday: On this US Election Campaign (@tedcruz; @realDonaldTrump), #Gandhi & Other Thoughts

It has been quite a morning here in #Outsiders as the team worked away on the Twitter Channel with the daily hashtag watch series.     I was also on my personal twitter feed as I was just taken aback by the nasty tone in the political discourse by the leading GOP candidates.   I made it a point of noting an admonition to both Senator Cruz and Mr. Trump that they need to grow up because the people deserve better as their wives were brought into the conversation which deflects from their policy positions which are literally either non-existent.    I was glad to see I was not alone as MSNBC's Joe Scarborough underscored this specifically admonishing Senator Cruz on his call to monitor Muslims.  Senator Cruz doubled down on it as he took the criticism as a "badge of honor" as if he was doing something right.

As our team races to work on weekend editions of Notations, I am excited about the Musical Interlude that would be available on the #outsider properties within the next few hours.   The team was busy as all of us were working away on the curations.    For me, two interesting things crossed my desk that made my day: 

By popular request, 2 of @RGalbrath's rejection letters! (For inspiration, not revenge, so I've removed signatures.) pic.twitter.com/vVoc0x6r8W

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 25, 2016

J.K Rowling's story is well known.   But taking this bold step; was fabulous in making sure all understood that one must never give up.   The perservance of such people is just amazing which is a lesson for us here at #outsiders as our journey of service continues.   She noted in a subsequent tweet that, "..... I had nothing to lose and sometimes that makes you brave enough to try...." This is as I was thinking about the discourse on leadership as I saw this from the ever-eloquent Darren Hardy on Leadership during my daily review:

Click to Play

Before I ever ask someone to do or be anything, I think of a story I once hear about Mahatma Gandhi.

It is such a great example to live up to and delivers an invaluable lesson on the character of leadership...Go to post

I could not help but wonder why what Gandhi, Dr. King and Mandela taught us seems to have been forgotten.  But I remain optimstic because I see no other way.    This is what we're about in the end here in #outsiders.

Happy Easter and a Happy belated Purim to all Jewish Brothers and Sisters....

Working Away w/Thoughts on #leadership, #Belgium & #giving.....

It has been admittedly a challenging week  as our World was once again was witness to violence.   The Belgian Prime Minister called it a black day for Belgium--it was a black day for the whole World.   While on the "Grid" this morning, I saw this which I also posted on my own Facebook wall that underscores what we must all do:

It is a simple call--but was a call that Francois Hollande so eloquently noted when he spoke in Paris as France and the World remembered    It is ever so true now.    The team only decided on one formal release in the Education Channel as it also finished the daily Twitter Curation to have a day to reflect. I eagerly await what the artist of the week is as the Friday Musical Interlude looms.

It was with a point of pride as I was witness to my Community, Laguna Niguel, honoring Belgium which I featured as a Good Turn for the team--and once again appreciate of the team having featured it on the #Outsider Twitter Channel: 

 

As I worked away supporting the #outsider properties,  this from the Fortune's Alan Murray crossed my desk which was quite disturbing--excerpts of it are noted below:  

March 24, 2016

Fortune's annual list of the World's Greatest Leaders is out this morning, and you can read it here. You'll see it includes none of the current candidates for President. That's not an accident. The U.S. political system is broken, and we see little reason to think the current contenders can fix it. Start with Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. It's stunning that, well into the 21st century, the two candidates generating the most enthusiasm are throwbacks to the 20th. One is channeling a fascist strongman, the other running as a self-styled socialist. Neither has the vision or skills to take us into the future, but both have tapped into the public's deep dissatisfaction with the recent past. The failures of government since the financial crisis have handed supporters of these candidates their strongest talking point: Could it get any worse? Hillary Clinton talks about building bridges instead of walls and built a record of bipartisan cooperation in her post-First Lady life as a senator and secretary of state. But by mimicking her primary opponent - and opposing the trade agreement she once championed - she has alienated even those business leaders who once supported her. Then there's Ted Cruz, who celebrates, even as he exacerbates, Washington's dysfunction. The good news is that Fortune's search for great leaders was not in vain. Even in Washington, we found some—including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While unyielding in their competing worldviews, they each have that key quality of empathy essential for today's challenges. From the business world, we've included Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who recognizes that the current political climate also demands a different kind of business leadership. Top of the list? Amazon's Jeff Bezos. His company got pummeled in a New York Times story last year depicting Amazon as a sort of high-tech sweat-shop, where the pressure caused workers to break down at their desks in tears. But leadership comes in various flavors, and the Bezos strain is yielding world-changing results. Also today, Dov Seidman, CEO of LRN, has a worthy suggestion for how Hillary Clinton could remake herself a real leader. Read it here.   It is a tragic testament as the two leading Presidential Candidates did not make the list--although Justice Ginsburg and Speaker Ryan were very interesting choices. Onward.....