Links

AT&T CEO: “Tolerance is for cowards”   ◆

Randall Stephenson, speaking to a group of AT&T employees:

When a person struggling with what’s been broadcast on our airwaves says ‘black lives matter,’ we should not say ‘all lives matter’ to justify ignoring the real need for change,” Stephenson said.

I’m not asking you to be tolerant of each other. Tolerance is for cowards. Being tolerant requires nothing from you but to be quiet and not make waves, holding tightly to your views and judgments without being challenged.”

“Do not tolerate each other. Work hard. Move into uncomfortable territory and understand each other.”

Unexpected for the (white, cis male) CEO of a major American corporation to express these sentiments. I’d like to see other CEOs step up and say similar things.

The entire eleven minute video is worth watching.

You’ll Likely Be Reading One Of These 5 Articles The Day After The Election   ◆

Of these five hypothetical post-election ledes, only the last one truly terrifies me, but all but the first one worry me. We need a complete repudiation of Trump and his brand. Even one vote is a vote too many for this divisive and unqualified man. That he could get as much as 41% of the vote and 119 Electoral College votes in a landslide loss should scare anyone who cares about this grand experiment called American Democracy.

Hamilton’s America on Great Performances   ◆

Fantastic behind-the-scenes look at what will surely go down as one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time. Great idea including modern-day politicians reflecting on the impact of Hamilton-the-man.

I can’t wait for the official video of the stage production and inevitable movie.

How to Talk Politics at Work Without Alienating People   ◆

If you’re going to talk about politics—or really anything potentially divisive and emotionally charged—these four suggestions from Harvard Business Review can help:

  • Focus on learning
  • Ask for permission
  • Show respect
  • Focus on common ground

HBR used actors to represent different styles of communication in a study:

The results were remarkable. When the actors used the four simple skills, they were:

  • Five times more likely to be seen as diplomatic
  • Four times more likely to be seen as likeable
  • Three times more likely to be seen as knowledgeable
  • 140% more persuasive
  • 140% more likely to stay in dialogue with others
  • 180% more likely to maintain relationships with others
  • When these same actors didn’t use the four skills, observers labeled them as “abrasive,” “unlikeable,” and “ignorant.”

Who Are Police Killing? — Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice   ◆

Apropos of the aforelinked police shooting:-

The racial group most likely to be killed by law enforcement is Native Americans, followed by African Americans, Latinos, Whites, and Asian Americans.

Native Americans, 0.8 percent of the population, comprise 1.9 percent of police killings. African Americans, 13 percent of the population, are victims in 26 percent of police shootings. Law enforcement kills African Americans at 2.8 times the rate of white non-Latinos, and 4.3 times the rate of Asians.

“I was never so scared in my life as in that moment right then”   ◆

That’s from Betty Shelby, the police officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher last Friday, a man who was walking away from her with his hands raised above his head.

As many people have already noted, you may be in the wrong line of business if a man with his hands in the air scares you.

(Even Donald Trump is “troubled” by this shooting, suggesting you shouldn’t “be doing what they are doing”. I mean, you know you fucked up when Trump has a reasonable position I can agree with.)

I have no doubt the victim’s race (Black) had something to do with the fear, which makes this statement from the officer’s lawyer odder still:

Crutcher did not respond […] so Shelby ordered him again to get his hand out of his pocket. He then pulled his hand away and put his hands up in the air, even though he was not instructed to do so1, which Shelby found strange

Really? A police officer finds it strange that a Black man with a gun trained on him is going to raise his hands, whether asked to or not?

Does she not watch the news? Does “hands up, don’t shoot” have no meaning to her?

Disgraceful.

  1. Emphasis mine. In one of the earliest statements from the Tulsa Police Department they first said:

    > They asked him to show his hands. ↩

TRUMP: A TRUE STORY   ◆

The Washington Post details a 2007 Trump deposition after he sued a reporter:

For two straight days, they asked Trump question after question that touched on the same theme: Trump’s honesty.

The lawyers confronted the mogul with his past statements — and with his company’s internal documents, which often showed those statements had been incorrect or invented. The lawyers were relentless. Trump, the bigger-than-life mogul, was vulnerable — cornered, out-prepared and under oath.

Thirty times, they caught him.

Thirty times Trump said something that was demonstrably false. Thirty times.

This is the man America wants to be its president? Sweet Jesus.