The next item of business is a statement by Shona Robison on medium-term financial strategy. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions nor interruptions. I call on Shona Robison, cabinet secretary, around 10 minutes please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Today I am publishing the sixth medium-term financial strategy. My first fiscal statement as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance is very clear that sound public finances are key to ensuring that we can tackle poverty, build a fair, green and growing economy and improve our public services for the needs of future generations. However, I recognise that our current financial situation is among the most challenging since devolution. Scotland has faced a succession of economic shocks with the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and, of course, soaring inflation. All of those are driving significant pressures on the economy, society and public finances. To some extent, those are global challenges. However, the impact of those challenges is felt more keenly in the UK as a result of the UK Government's damaging decisions, not least a decade of austerity, Brexit and the disastrous autumn mini-budget, which, of course, sent borrowing costs to a 20-year high and led to the Bank of England having to intervene with a £65 billion package to stop pension funds from collapsing. Despite the increasingly challenging context, we have successfully balanced the Scottish budget every year while taking clear, decisive action to protect the most vulnerable. With the Institute for Fiscal Studies having noted that the tax and benefit system in Scotland is considerably more progressive than in the rest of Great Britain. In this statement, I will set out our approach to meeting the challenges ahead. I will turn first to the outlook for the Scottish economy and public finances. I wish to start by extending my warmest thanks to Professor Graham Roy and the commissioners of the Scottish Fiscal Commission for providing the forecast at a company this publication. The use of entirely independently generated forecasts on the economy and the Government's funding outlook is one of the great strengths of the Scottish fiscal landscape. Where independent forecasts are not available, we are transparent and open about the assumptions that we have made. Although the Scottish economy has proven more resilient than expected, the economic outlook remains extremely challenging. Despite both the SFC and OBR forecasts projecting that inflation will fall sharply, reaching 2.9 per cent at the end of 2023, it will still remain high on average at 6.1 per cent across 2023. While I welcomed the announcement yesterday that inflation is now falling, low inflation cannot reverse the increasing pressure on households. Indeed, real disposable income per person is falling cumulatively by minus 4.1 per cent across 2021 to 2023-24. Those record falls in living standards are not set to recover to pre-pandemic levels until around 2026-2027. While resource funding is projected to grow in real terms between 2023-24 and 2027-28, we still face a real-terms reduction in the resource block grant in 2024-25. At the same time, resource spending is projected to grow, and that means that our resource spending requirements could outstrip our funding by £1 billion in 2024-25, rising to £1.9 billion in 2027-28. In addition to inflation, the key drivers for this pressure are in social security, the public sector pay bill and health and social care. It also affects the current budget year. Since the 2023-24 budget was set, we have agreed pay settlements for teachers, firefighters and NHS staff, which of course recognise the impact of the cost of living crisis that is having on our valued public sector workers. That will require us to carefully manage our limited resources with any changes clarified via the autumn and spring budget revisions. The pressures are more severe for capital spending, where the price of infrastructure projects has risen by 14.1 per cent this year, according to the Office of National Statistics. Combined with the UK Government's failure to inflation-proof our capital budget, we are facing a real-terms cut every year up to 2027-28. This challenge is particularly acute in 2024-25, where funding will reduce by 3.7 per cent in real terms. On the current trajectory, we expect the divergence between capital funding and expenditure to grow to around £900 million by 2025-26. That is unsustainable, and we will need to reset our spending for both capital and resource in the 2024-25 budget, to which I will return. The MTFS sets out three pillars to underpin our approach to managing the public finances over the medium term. The first pillar is a laser-like focus on ensuring that spending is focused on achieving three critical missions. I will not back away from the tough choices for the decisions that I can control, but I will point out where the levers available to me are insufficient. I call again on the UK Government to increase the capital funding in line with inflation. I also call again for the UK Government to provide additional funding to cover reasonable pay settlements for our public sector workers, but I cannot rely on the UK Government to take action, so I am fully committed to prioritising our resources towards realising the Government's strategic missions. Our first mission is to tackle poverty, and I am proud of our record here. Our expenditure on social security benefits is expected to grow from 10 per cent of our resource budget in 2022-23 to nearly 15 per cent in 2027-28. In fact, in 2027-28, we are investing £1.3 billion more on social security than we received through the block grant adjustment. This money will support families with their living costs, help older people to heat their homes in winter, and enable disabled people to live full and independent lives. I will ensure the continuation of public sector reform in order to achieve effective and person-centred, ffiscally sustainable public services. In order to prioritise programmes such as early learning and childcare, which will have the greatest impact on delivery of our three missions, we need to de-prioritise programmes that make a less-meadiful contribution to our central missions. Today, I commit to refreshing both our resource and capital multi-year spending envelopes as part of the 24-25 budget through which I will set out this Government's plans to put our public finances on a more sustainable path. Our policy choices and priorities will be set clearly for all to see, and if others disagree with these, they can, of course, bring forward alternative spending plans as part of the budget process. Choices over tax policy and the strength of the Scottish economy are key to our ability to invest in public services, and this is why generating economic growth by supporting businesses to invest and create jobs is the second pillar of our strategy. The Scottish Government has limited powers with which to pursue this objective. Our borrowing powers are constrained and have been further eroded through this period of high inflation. We also lack the powers to tackle Scotland's historically slower population growth relative to the rest of the UK, such as powers over migration policy, which we are trying to mitigate as best we can through the creation of the talent, attraction and migration service. Even with limited powers though, we are already making Scotland wealthier since 2007, whilst GDP per capita has only grown by 5 per cent in the rest of the UK, it has grown by 9 per cent in Scotland. As we deliver our national strategy for economic transformation, we will prioritise those policies and actions with the greatest potential to transform Scotland's economy. For example, we need to help parents to access more and better paid work, so childcare provision has a vital role to play here, particularly when integrated with other local services, ensuring we find the fiscal headroom to expand our childcare offer will be a key part of our approach. That brings me to the third and final pillar, which is maintaining and developing our strategic approach to tax policy. The most recent forecasts show that tax devolution will add an extra £574 million to the Scottish budget in 2023-24, increasing to almost £1.7 billion by 2027-28. The tax policy choices of the Scottish Government are, however, limited by the current devolution settlement. The revenue for the Scottish budget is heavily reliant on Scottish income tax, which of course is only partially devolved. I currently do not hold all the levers necessary to make the Scottish tax system work in the most effective way. There are, however, choices for this Government around who and what to tax and by how much. Scotland already has the most progressive tax system in the UK, ensuring that the burden of taxation is placed on those with the broadest shoulders, and that will continue to be the cornerstone of our approach. I commit today to publishing an updated tax strategy alongside the next MTFS, which will build on the principles that we have set out in the framework for tax in 2021. In order to support this work, I will also chair an external tax advisory group to ensure that our future tax strategy is informed by a broad range of views. Finally, I recognise that this Parliament is at its best when we work together. I therefore wish to take this opportunity, given the scale of the challenge, to invite my colleagues from across the chamber to work with me in identifying how we can advance the three pillars of this strategy. Presiding Officer, these are incredibly challenging times, not helped by the limited levers at my disposal or the actions of the UK Government. I am committed to taking the tough decisions required to deliver focused, ambitious and affordable measures that protect our environment, promote business growth and improve wellbeing through the reduction of poverty for the people of Scotland. The MTFS sets out how we will manage our public finances over the medium term to ensure that we deliver on these key priorities for Scotland's people. In doing so, we will continue to make the very clear and compelling case for Scotland to have the key fiscal levers that other countries have to enable us to meet the fiscal challenges now and into the future. I look forward to taking your question. Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business, and it would be helpful if those members who would wish to ask a question were to press their request-to-speak buttons now, and I call Liz Smith. I thank the cabinet secretary for prior sighting. Just a cursory look at the accompanying document that has come with that statement is further proof, if any, of the very precarious situation that is facing the Scottish economy, most especially the very significant gap between projected expenditure and income. It is yet more proof of the SNP's utter failure when it comes to addressing the really big issues that have been flagged up by economists and forecasters for the whole of the last decade. All we get is an excuse that it is the problems of Westminster, and that is just simply not true. Indeed, measured against what Kate Forbes said in this statement last year, the SNP has been failing to deliver on the imbalances in our labour market on addressing Scotland's persistent low productivity on ensuring that Scotland is far more competitive than is currently the case and, worst of all, on boosting economic growth. I ask the cabinet secretary three questions. Will the cabinet secretary finally acknowledge the widespread concern in the Scottish business community that Scotland is the highest tax part of the UK with the serious detrimental effects that this has had on innovation, jobs and growth? Secondly, the cabinet secretary says that we are commissioning a new tax group to look at the future. Given the urgency of the situation, what is it that the Scottish Government is going to do to address the very serious warnings that are contained within the Scottish Fiscal Commission sustainability report, which is flagging up that we do not have the necessary revenue and will not have the necessary revenue to current fund the projected expenditure for the Scottish Government? Thirdly, with regard to the proposed new tourist tax, which was flagged up in the media this morning, what message the cabinet secretary thinks this sends to the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors, which are still all reeling from the SNP's failure to provide the same business rates relief that is available in the rest of the UK, which is obviously so vital to Scotland's economic recovery? Let me try to take those in turn. First of all, on the visitor levy, I do not know if Liz Smith has seen the comments from the STA, who have actually been very supportive of the levy being introduced. Of course, it is ultimately a choice for local government as to whether to use the levy, and that will be a choice for each council to make that judgment. However, there is a pattern here from the Scottish Conservatives that any leaver, whether it is a leaver here or a policy here or a leaver, an empowerment of local government, they, of course, oppose every single one of them, and that really is incredible in the current financial environment. Let me say to Liz Smith that the situation is very challenging, which is why in the MTFS I have set out very clearly the reasons for that challenge, many of which relate to inflation, which of course relates to some of the decisions and actions taken by her government, and the pillars that I have described in terms of the action that we will take. Yes, we will make sure in terms of our public spending that we absolutely focus on the public spending that will meet the needs of our ambition around reducing poverty and indeed growing the economy and making sure that our tax policy is fair and sustainable, which is why I have and will establish the group, the tax group, that she referred to. I do not accept the characterisation that Liz Smith put forward. If you look at the tax going forward, the SFC have said very clearly that 52 per cent of taxpayers in Scotland will be paying less compared to that of the rest of the UK. That is the SFC's analysis of that. Of course, we have to make sure that the business taxation is fair and she referred to the issue of the non-domestic rates and hospitality, but of course, as Tom Arthur said in the chamber just yesterday, that did not recognise the very extensive package of responding to the number one call, and that was the freeze of the poundage. Of course, the small business bonus scheme is the most generous anywhere in these islands. Finally, on the point about population growth, it is a bit strange that in the week that the Tory UK Government are saying that they want to bear down on legal migration to this country, that Liz Smith would cite population growth. What we want here is to have powers over migration, so we can attract people to come and live and work in Scotland and to pay their taxes here. Of course, that is why we want those levers to be able to do so. In the meantime, my colleague Neil Grahame is taking forward the talent migration attraction scheme, because we want to do what we can even within the powers that we have. I would just point out to everyone that we have around 20 minutes for this. We have already used up nearly six minutes. I call Michael Marra. The most relevant part of this statement today is the recognition that we are set to experience a record fallen living standards in Scotland, average real disposable income fallen by 4.1 per cent. There are far too many people who are seeing their lives diminished in Scotland, the end of the paycheck before the end of the month. In that context, it is disappointing that there is almost nothing in this document about a strategic approach to growing wages and helping household income for the vast majority of the population. There is no answer to the central question of our public finances—the £1.9 billion gap between the tax that we collect and the policy commitments that this Government has made. The cabinet secretary has said in her statement that she will not back away from tough choices for the decisions that she can control, but she is just not going to tell us about any of them today in the strategy that is put in front of us. There is an invitation for other people to come up with those ideas. Part of the job of Government is to set out where that gap is going to be addressed. Businesses and public services have to plan ahead. They have to make decisions for the long term. How are they supposed to do that when the Government will not tell them where their plans are changing? The much-talked tax policies of the new First Minister are, by the looks of this document, at least another year down the line. It is astonishing in the context of the gap that we see. Labour looks forward to that tax consultation. The First Minister might get to the questions, please. I shall present the answer. Who will be in the room and who will ask the questions? Is it little wonder, then, that 58 per cent of Scots feel that things in Scotland are headed in the wrong direction? Do you not agree with them?  Of course, the main driver of that is the rampant inflation that is due to the UK Tory economic mismanagement. I would say about the focus on the economy and the growing wages. That is exactly what NSET is about. It talks about a 10-year programme of growing the economy, growing wages, growing the sectors that are the sectors that are the most likely and have the biggest opportunity for Scotland to grow. All of that is set out. Michael Marra asked me why I am not setting out the budget today. Well, because this is not a budget. This is a medium-term financial strategy. The plans, policies and what we will spend on what will be set out fully in advance of the 2024-25 budget. In advance of that, we will make the decisions around that targeting. Of course, the tax policy has to be set as part of the budget process, not during the MTFS. I am happy to work with Michael Marra and his colleagues if they want to bring forward ideas. That is not about passing the buck on to anyone else. The responsibility will be with us to bring forward a balanced budget that sets out how we will make the ambitions of our key missions, one of which is about tackling poverty. When you look at the spend on social security here in Scotland, one of the drivers of the financial pressures, I would hope that Michael Marra will not disagree with that. Members, please resume your seat. I do not want all this chit chat and we also need to pick up the pace with all respect because we have 11 minutes and we have 10 more members seeking to ask a question. I do not know if you have anything to add to that answer. Thank you, cabinet secretary. I could make a plea for succinct questions and answers from now on. Otherwise, I will have to drop members from being able to ask any question, which I really do not want to do. I call Alex Cole-Hamilton to be followed by John Mason. It is clear that cuts are coming. There is a £1 billion hole in resource spending next year, £2 billion the year after, but the cabinet secretary has refused twice now to treat this chamber and the general public like adults and tell us where those tough decisions in those cuts are coming from. That is in large part caused by suboptimal GDP growth and low productivity. The Scottish Government, rather, has just cut £46 million from our world-class universities and colleges. They are generators of growth. Can the cabinet secretary understand the anger that is felt at their being deprioritised and now badged today as making, and I quote, a less meaningful contribution to the Government's central missions? I say very clearly on the £46 million that Alex Cole-Hamilton raises that has been made clear time and time again that the reason for that, which was unfortunate and of course no one wants to reduce funding to any area of public spending, was to help to fund the teachers' pay deal. In this chamber, we heard over and over again the need to settle the teachers' pay deal. At the time, the cabinet secretary of education said that there would be implications because that money would have to be found from somewhere. We then set out where that money had to be found from. Unfortunately, that is the reality of having to find money in-year because of pay deals that have been settled. Of course, the pay deals have been driven by inflation and, of course, we do not resent giving pay deals to public sector workers at all in a cost-of-living crisis, but the money has to come from somewhere. In terms of setting out our spending plans, of course we will, in detail in the forthcoming budget, because that is where the spending plans are set out and where the tax policy will be set out in order to help to pay for those spending plans. What we will do in making those decisions is to make sure that we have a laser focus on targeting resources to those who need it most. I would have hoped that that would garner some support across the chamber. I call John Mason to be followed by Douglas Lambson. Thank you very much. Scotland clearly has some very wealthy people and so I very much welcome the updated tax strategy that the cabinet secretary is promising. Can she say any more about the external tax advisory group? For example, would the STUC be part of that? We will set out in the next few weeks who will be involved in that group, but yes, we would want a group that has a range of views clearly on the best way forward for tax, so it will include expertise from the tax profession itself, but also the varying interests within Scottish civic life around how we should go forward with our tax policy and I look forward to working with them over the summer. As can be seen from the strategy, average earnings are growing slower than the rest of the UK and are now less than 92 per cent of the UK average. Does the cabinet secretary not understand that Scotland being the highest tax part of the UK is making this worse? Well, I do not accept that. As I said, 52 per cent of Scottish taxpayers will play slightly less income tax in 2023-24 than if they lived elsewhere in the UK. Of course, we have prioritised a fair and progressive approach to taxation, one that balances the need to raise revenue with the impact on households and the economy. If the Scottish Conservatives want a different set of tax proposals, i.e. they want to cut tax as the list trust's budget wanted to do, then they have to accept the impact on Scotland's public finances. Quite often we hear Tory members coming to this chamber asking for more money to be spent on Scottish public services. You cannot do that and then, on the other hand, want to cut taxes. That just does not stack up. Therefore, we will continue to have a fair and progressive tax system that balances the needs of households with the needs of public finances and the economy. As noted, the Scottish Government has to balance its budget every year. That leads to challenges with demand-led budgets such as social security in-year. What assessment has been made by the Scottish Government of its ability to manage demand-led budgets and what specific fiscal levers would the cabinet secretary ideally want to be able to utilise to make this job easier? The analysis of the funding position set out in the MTFS clearly shows that the volatility that the budget is subject to is greater than the levers that Michelle Thomson spoke about that we have available to manage. The limits on our borrowing and reserve powers are clearly inadequate to deal with the changes in tax and social security forecasts that we need to manage. What is more, those limits are fixed and the value is eroding over time, not least again due to inflation. The upcoming review of the fiscal framework really has to address that and really needs to give us the tools that we have to have to manage that volatility that we see in demand-led areas such as social security and the budget more widely. The ONS data is very clear. In recent years, job growth and wage growth have been slower in Scotland not just in all the other UK nations but also compared to key comparator regions such as the north-west and south-west of England. Does the cabinet secretary have an explanation for that? Given the centrality of growth of per capita income tax receipts in the fiscal framework, why was there no mention of that in her statement whatsoever? Let me say to Daniel Johnson that the recent evidence suggests that economic performance is improving. The latest forecast of the net position for income tax, for example, in 2023-24 has improved, rising from £325 million at the time of the Scottish budget to £411 million in the latest forecast. That is due to a number of factors, but most importantly, significant shifts in the underlying forecast of relative earnings compared to the rest of the UK. Provisional in-year PAYE tax data for the first 11 months of 2022-23 suggests that the Scottish PAYE income tax receipts have outperformed the rest of the UK and that the SFC forecasts that nominal earnings in Scotland will go through a period of higher growth relative to the growth of earnings forecast by the OBR for the rest of the UK over the next five years supporting our tax base. Surely that is something that Daniel Johnson would welcome. Last year, a number of Tory MSPs in this chamber were calling on the Scottish Government to replicate quasi-quartangs catastrophic plans for tax cuts for the rich. Following the UK Government's disastrous mini-budget, which ended up crashing the economy, we are told by some commentators to the tune of £74 billion, Scotland's share of which is around £6 billion, not a word of comment from the Tories about that £6 billion lost to the economy. Can the Deputy First Minister advise what the likely impact would have been if those tax cuts would have been implemented by a Tory administration and what the effect of the Tory spending cuts for Scotland would have been? Keith Brown is absolutely right. If we had matched the Tory calls on tax policy over the past year, we would have been worse off by up to £0.5 billion. Cutting taxes for the wealthiest in society when many vulnerable households are facing hardship would have made no sense, either from an economic or indeed a moral standpoint. For the Tories to explain how their defining mission of slashing taxes and running down our public services is an attractive proposition for this country. Instead, we have continued to take a responsible approach to our tax policy, making it work to support revenues for public services. One, of course, which carefully balances the impact on households and the economy, is the need to raise that revenue to support our vital public services, including our NHS. We know that, since 2014, the Scottish economy has grown on average at around one-half the rate of the UK economy. What assessment has the Scottish Government done of the additional tax revenues that would have been generated for it had we at least matched the UK average growth during that period? As I have set out in my earlier answer, the tax performance is improving and the economic performance is also improving. Murdo Fraser wants to criticise the Scottish Government. The question has been asked and we need to hear the Cabinet Secretary's response. We need to hear the Cabinet Secretary's response. Members have anything else to say? Do not say it from a secretary position. Can I say to Murdo Fraser that the recent GDP growth in Scotland is better than the rest of the UK? It is not something that he might want to hear his shakery say, because he does not like to hear anything positive about the Scottish economy. However, there is this fundamental point. Murdo Fraser comes and asks us questions about what we are doing to grow the Scottish economy, but then refuses to support us in getting the fiscal levers that we need that would help us in our mission to grow the Scottish economy. In the MTFS statement, I have just made one of the key pillars that I have set out is growing the Scottish economy, using inset and the levers that we have at our disposal to grow the Scottish economy and by investing in childcare and other measures, because we know that that will help to grow the tax base that will help the Scottish public revenues. I welcome the comments on public sector reform in the strategy and the DfM's offer to work with others on addressing the challenges that we face, which I will certainly be delighted to take up even if the opposition parties apparently will not. The spend on the non-frontline costs across the public sector are significant, running into billions. The spend on core Scottish Government alone is now in excess of £700 million, with significant increases in recent years. Can I ask what assumptions the Government has made about the value of resources that will be freed up and deployed to front-line services as a result of the public sector and government reform work that the DfM has taken forward? I welcome Avie McKee's offer. I want to work with people across the chamber and to look at any ideas that people have to support taking this work forward. A programme of reform will support all aspects of public services to change within that overall envelope to move to greater sustainability. That means that reform must be more than transferring resources to the front-line of our public services. This is about transformation in both the back office and front-line functions. Our programme of reform includes a laser-like focus on securing the sustainability of public services. There is no particular predetermined savings target because we want public bodies to do what they can to be more efficient, to look at exhausting and testing all options for efficiency savings and to focus on making those savings as soon as possible. That is a vital area. It is one that I will be taking forward on behalf of the whole Government to drive that progress as quickly as we can. We are in a dire financial situation and our options are limited, but I am glad that the Scottish Government acknowledges that it cannot just cut its way out of this situation. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister if she agrees that this is the time to be bold with tax policy to ensure that the wealthiest are paying their fair share, for example, through a new income tax ban for those earning between £75,000 and £125,000? Ross Gray will appreciate that we are at the early stage of looking towards the 2024-25 budget and the tax policy that will underpin that budget. Of course, I have agreed to chair a group over the course of the summer to hear a wider range of views on that direction of travel. I would say that we have strong foundations to build on in terms of progressive taxation. That progressive taxation has made a huge difference to the Scottish budget, without which we would not have the hundreds of millions of pounds to spend on public services. We will make sure that we balance the needs of taxpayers and household incomes with that of our public services. Finally, on the point of taxpayers in Scotland, the social contract is very important here in Scotland that taxpayers get a social contract and public services that are way ahead of what is offered elsewhere in the UK, whether that is free tertiary education, free prescriptions and, of course, a childcare offer much better than anywhere else in the UK. That is something that we should be proud of. That concludes the ministerial statement. I apologise to those few members who had pressed who I was not able to take, but I had already indicated from an early point in the statement that that would happen if the questions and answers remained at the length that they did. I obviously need to protect the time for the next business. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next side of business in order to allow front bench teams to change positions should they so wish.


There are two primary ways of communicating with beings of higher consciousness. One is through astral projection, where you leave your physical body and communicate to them in person. As much as I'd love to break into astral travel right now, we have to save that for later. The other method involves having a being come to earth and communicate through a trained person, and this is called channeling. A channeler can choose who or what they want to channel. As long as the other party has an interest in communicating, the link is made and the channeling can begin. Now don't worry, there's no possession or anything harmful taking place here. The body is still under the complete control of the channeler. But the channeler and spirit are communicating through thought. Messages are communicated on levels of emotion and thought rather than spoken word. The channeler will then decipher what the spirit tells him into human language. Contrary to popular belief, entities do not generally use human languages because it is considered awkward and clumsy. The majority of this message is conveyed through an elegant series of sensory feelings.


Pentagon wants to return Special Ops propagandists to Ukraine. An article by The Washington Post titled Pentagon Looks to Restart Top Secret Programs in Ukraine contains some interesting information about what U.S. Special Ops forces were doing in Ukraine in the lead-up to the Russian invasion last year, and what they are slated to be doing there in the future. The Pentagon is urging Congress to resume funding a pair of top secret programs in Ukraine suspended ahead of Russia's invasion last year, according to current and former U.S. officials, writes the Post's Wesley Morgan. If approved, the move would allow American Special Operations troops to employ Ukrainian operatives to observe Russian military movements and counter disinformation. Much further down in the article, we learn the specifics of what those two top secret programs were. One of them entailed U.S. commandos sending Ukrainian operatives on surreptitious reconnaissance missions in Ukraine's east to collect intelligence on Russia. The other entailed secretly administering online propaganda, though of course the Washington Post does not describe it as such. We had people taking apart Russian propaganda and telling the true story on blogs. Wapo was told by a source described as a person in the Special Operations community. Now, U.S. Special Forces employing Ukrainian operatives to take apart Russian propaganda and tell the true story on blogs is just U.S. Special Ops forces administering U.S. propaganda online. Whether or not they actually see themselves as telling the true story or taking apart Russian propaganda does not change the fact that they are administering U.S. government propaganda. A government circulating media which advances its information interests is precisely the thing that state propaganda is. The U.S. government is theoretically prohibited from directly administering propaganda to its own population, though even that line has been deliberately eroded in recent years with measures like the Smith-Mont Modernization Act and U.S. government infiltration of Silicon Valley. But there's nothing stopping the funding and directing of foreign bodies to circulate propaganda on the Internet, which has no national borders. Back when U.S. propaganda was limited to old media like the CIA's Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, it was possible to claim that the propaganda was solely being targeted at the populations where that media was broadcast. But propaganda circulated online will necessarily trickle over everywhere, including to U.S. audiences. The Washington Post explains that these secret programs were discontinued ahead of the Russian invasion last year because a stipulation in the 2018 NDAA law, which permitted their funding, forbids their use during a traditional armed conflict. So the Pentagon is working to persuade Congress to repeal that condition. Part of its sales pitch to Congress to get those secret operations restarted is that they will be, quote, what the U.S. military calls non-kinetic or non-violent missions, end quote, which the administering of propaganda would certainly qualify as. As we discussed recently, it's very silly that there's a major push in the U.S. power alliance to begin administering more government propaganda in order to counter Russian propaganda when Russian propaganda has no meaningful influence in the Western world. Before RT was shut down, it was drawing just 0.04% of the U.K.'s total TV audience. The much-touted Russian election interference campaign on Facebook was mostly unrelated to the election and affected approximately one out of every 23,000 pieces of content according to Facebook. While research by New York University into Russian trolling behavior on Twitter in the lead up to the 2016 election found no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior. A study by the University of Adelaide found that despite all the warnings of Russian bots and trolls following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the overwhelming majority of inauthentic behavior on Twitter during that time was anti-Russian in nature. In reality, this push we've been seeing to pour more and more energy into propaganda, censorship, and other forms of narrative control has nothing to do with taking apart Russian propaganda and everything to do with suppressing dissent. The U.S. Empire has been frantically ramping up propaganda and censorship because the great power competition it has been preparing against Russia and China is going to require economic warfare, massive military spending, and nuclear brinkmanship that no one would consent to without lots of manipulation. Russia is going to consent to being made poorer, colder, and less safe over some global power struggle that doesn't benefit them unless that consent is actively manufactured. That's why the media have been acting so weird lately. That's why dissident voices are getting harder and harder to find online. That's the purpose of the new fact checking industry and other forms of narrative control. And that's why the Pentagon wants congressional funding for its propaganda operations in Ukraine. The fact that the Empire's great power competition happens to be occurring at the same time as widespread access to the Internet means that drastic measures must be made to ensure its information dominance so it can march the public into playing along with this agenda. The more desperate our rulers grow to secure unipolar planetary domination, the more important controlling the narrative becomes.


What's up guys, my name is Michael and welcome to my YouTube channel today We are going to go over planning trips, which is with the second problem of the top coder contest of SRM 799 okay, so Basically the problem is asking that This guy is going to travel the end locations This girl this girl is gonna travel the end locations. Okay. She's playing everything and she knows the travel costs the So the weird thing for travel costs is that the travel costs is It's the cost for a travel cost is basically summing a to the Cost of each ticket so the travel cost for the ticket trip turned out to be special It's the cost of all tickets powers for the same a so more precisely the travel costs of the location I cost a to the num I tickets units of money, okay, so She wants to pay for all n tickets at the same time and her payment must be a power of 8 Okay, so to avoid paying for more than necessary She wants to find the smallest non-negative integer case such that the payment of a to the k is enough to pay for all the tickets okay, so Here I'll explain what that means. Okay, so in the first example, we have 10 a is equal to 10 so let's actually Open this up So in the first example, we have a is equal to 10 and then The array is for each for the values for each tickets five six and three. Okay, so it's five six and three Okay, so these are the values for each ticket and the sum of the whole trip is going to be a to the the power of each Ticket right num of I Right, so it's a summation of a to the num of I okay, that's what it is so in this example what this is doing is that Hold up, let me just move this up real quick Okay, so in this example Basically, if you in order the total cost of the trip is going to be 10 Because it's a right to the fifth plus ten to the six plus ten to the third. Okay, and Basically after you add up all these numbers right You get a certain number right, which is going to be I think they even gave it to us Even gave it to us. Hold up Yeah, it's 111 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0. Yeah, which is this number, right? Okay, and the what she wants is she wants to find The smallest k such that it's greater than this Okay, smallest a to the k. So here This value right we need to find 10 to the k has to be greater than or equal to this number Which is 1 1 0 1 0 0 0. Okay, that's what we need to find Is able to play for it. So in this case 10 to the 7th is greater than or equal to so in this case 10 to the 7th K is it would equal to 7 because 10 to the 7th would be greater than or equal to this Okay So how do you do this problem? Well before we Even get started doing the problem Let's think about powers Understand about powers. Okay, so let's say I had like a is equal to 4 or something right so let's say I'd like 4 to the 3rd plus 4 to the I have no idea Yeah, 4 to the 3rd plus 4 to the 3rd plus 4 to the 3rd plus 4 to the 3rd right so in order to understand how to do this problem Think about this. How would you simplify this? Right this expression? Well If you had this expression right you can't just add the exponents because In order to add the exponents That that only works from laws of exponents only works for multiplying them together So you cannot add the exponents what you can do is that because it's 4 to 3rd plus 4 to 3rd plus 4 to 3rd plus 4 to 3rd What you do you realize that? This is actually just 4 to 3rd is getting added To itself four times so if you want to simplify this expression You would be 4 to the 3rd times 4 right and because anything to the first power is 1 so this would be 4 to the 4th Right, so this is just like a basic example how you would simplify summations of exponents, right so Basically based on this conclusion as long as if I add a certain power Like this this power added a certain number of times and it's actually equal to a If it's if the if I add the certain number of times it's actually equal to a then then Then we could just simplify it down and remove the number of times this showed up And then this would be 4 to the 4th right so if you had a like if you give in like a giant expression So let's show another example Let's say this is this example 2 to 2 13 13 right so 2 a is equal to 2 and we have the arrays 13 and 13 right It's in this example The summation is going to be 2 to the 13 plus 2 to 13 right and in this case This is going to equal to 2 to the 13 times 2 whoops Right if you simplify this down, it's going to equal to 13 times 2 so then because these are Now multiplied and this is a 1 this is going to go 2 to 14 So the answer returns the n is going to equal to 14 right k would equal to 14 right because this is equal to 2 to the k Right, so the smallest k that is just larger than or equal to this value is going to be 14 So the idea for this problem is basically to simplify the exponents every single time Is basically to go through the array Every single time you add a certain number of occurrences of the exponent Right if it reaches a So in this case a is 2 right so if I added added this These values a certain number of times and it reaches a in this case is 2 right so 2 to 13 plus 2 to 13 I did that twice right what I would do is I would remove 13 from my number of occurrences and then I would add 14 right because I would that's the next largest exponent Right, that's just simplifying the next largest exponent That would add the next largest exponent right so if I keep doing this while I'm looping through my array of exponents In the end I'm going to get the largest exponent that I could use in order to do it right Um There is a caveat so let's say I couldn't simplify anything down So let's say I had like I don't know let's say I had 14 1312 or something right so in this case And a is equal to 2 right this case 2 to the 14 plus 2 to the 13 plus 2 to the 12 right In this case, I cannot simplify this down anymore Ideally I can't I don't think so. Yeah, you can't Yeah, because you're not adding to the 14 this down. So in this case It can't just be the largest exponent that you kept track of it. It's not it can't just be 14 So what you have to do is in this scenario you actually have to add one to the largest exponent So 14 plus 1 is 15 Right because if you sum up if you add these together the maximum exponent 2 to the K they're just larger than this Has to be The next exponent of your largest exponent, right? K would have to be the next exponent because 2 to the 14th is Not greater than it is smaller than the sum of 2 to the 14 plus 2 to 13 plus 2 to the 12, right? So like if I sum these up The largest exponent 2 to the K, right? It's can't be 14 Right because that's smaller than the rest So you have to take the largest exponent here 14 and add one by one. So in this case K would equal to 15 Okay, so yeah, that's basically how you do this problem. So you would loop through the loop through your array Keep track the number of times a number of occurrences You're doing a keep track the number of occurrences that you're adding up and then when once you reach The number of occurrences that you're adding up for each exponent reaches a you remove the previous You remove the previous exponent from your array and you add you add one to the next occurrence, right? So if it was 14 14 if this was To the 14 got added with to the 14 again, and it became to the 15 I would remove 14 from my array and I would add 15 to my array in the end Whatever value is just going to be your maximum exponent if Your maximum exponent if you have more than one if you if you have more than one size in your number of exponents like in this case 14 13 12 You have to add one to your final exponent, right? So if you had more if the size of your exponents in the end is greater than one Then it's just you have to add one to your final exponent. Okay? So I hope I hope I explained that correctly. So basically keep loop through your array Keep track of how many exponents you added While simplifying it, right? If you added a certain exponent The number of occurrences of exponent is equal to a right Remove that exponent add the next exponent. So add one 15 continue doing that until you're done with your array in The end if your array has more than one value, right? So in this case 14 13 12 if your array has more than one value and you can't simplify it anymore It's just going to be 14 plus one It's just going to be your largest value of your exponent plus one or so 15 if it's not Like if if if all your values are exponents actually simplified down to one exponent like two to the 14 Then it's just two to the 14. Okay, so yeah That's how you do it. I'm gonna code it up with you guys because I didn't actually submit this yet But yeah, so this solution is actually brought to you by this guy who actually coded this up He hacked me during the contest. So yeah but His solution makes sense. So I'll actually just code this up with you guys. Okay, so I'm in the practice room And um Yeah, so here we have find we have there We have find a vector int num. So this is like the The class and the method you have to submit So I'm going to include Map because I need to use a map to keep track the occurrences of each exponent So num is the number is the array of your exponents. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to loop through my Every single exponent, right? Now I'm going to keep track in any map. So let's call this map Uh, let's do long long int. Okay This is occurrence.  Okay, that's what they mean so so in this case While my occurrence at num at i Is equal to a Right. So this is simplifying down the exponent While num at occurrences. So this is like Wouldn't I add it up a certain number of times? Right. I got the same a value, right? Um, what I'm going to do is I'm going to I'm going to what I'm going to do is I'm going to increase the count I have to erase the value. So first let's actually get our current Current value is actually occurrence at num at i I think so. Yeah Uh Oh, no, no, no, it's num at i what what's the one I'm doing Num at i so that's the current exponent. We're on right current current exponent. Let's call a current exponent Okay, um, what we're going to do is we're going to erase the current exponent from our Map, so we're going to erase this. So once we we erase this exponent and then once we have that Once we erase our exponent, what we're going to do is we are going to, um Increase the count, right? So the current exponent is now going to Increase right because we're going to when you add to the 14 plus to the 14, right and is equal to Uh two right you did that twice. You're going to reduce the exponents Down so this what this does is it adds one to the exponent, right? So once you finish adding one to the exponent, that's what happens Um, and then oh, yeah, you also have to increase the count Of the exponent so occur at current exponent Here plus plus, okay All right at the end of this what you want to do is you need to check if the size of current is equal to one Because after you're done I'm actually going to make this larger. Yeah, so it's easier to read Okay, so at the end of this Okay, so at the end of this, um What you want to do is you want to check if the occurrence The size of the occurrence is uh equal to one. So yeah here equal to the one Or um And one is yeah. Yeah, okay. So yeah, so you have to check if the size of the occurrence And um the number of occurrences at I think it's back back. Oh begin. Whoops Uh at the beginning Dot second is that what he did Yeah, okay beginning second So if this is the case then we return Um occurrence at beginning First Right Uh, yeah, I think I think it's first. Yeah. Okay. So we return for occurrence at beginning first And um, why do we do this? So remember in our scenario when we reduce the exponents down to one exponent So let's go back to this Is two we have 13 13 So two to 13 plus two to 13 Can be two to 13 times two it's reduced two to the 14, right? So at this point, um, what the code would do is remove both the 13s and uh at 14 So if our end of their array Is the size is one And the number of occurrences is one that means you can't reduce it anymore So this is just the right value the answer would just be two to the uh just be 14 Okay So that's the reason why um If it was like if there's more values then you can't you you have to add one So that's what the guy did on the next one So over here Yeah, it would be you have to add one to the last value. So So otherwise you have to do Arbygan Okay, so the reason why he does arbygan Um occur dot arbygan is the last value, which is the largest Value in your map the largest exponent in your map. So what he's doing is that he gets the He gets the largest exponent of his map and then he adds one right and the reason why arbygan Arbygan is the last value of your map of occur and occur what occur is is that it's uh, it's actually sorted from From lowest to highest right because it's it's a map. It's sorted So if you get the last value, that's just going to be the largest exponent That's you stored and you add one Okay, so ideally this would work. Um, let's compile Do not compile. What was the problem? Oh a long line was not declared in the scope So let's actually define long long uh long long as Oh define l allows long long Okay, um And now we just go to the test panel check all run all tests To we got wrong return 15. Did I not remove it pretty sure I did hold up and Num at n count dot erase Oh, I think I don't think okay if you're gonna loop from I to zero to the size I don't think the map Erases a current number If I recall Let's see map Yeah, it erases the wait. It also erases the key wise I don't know don't know why this is not current erase Race and and plus plus current and I Hmm, I don't know. I mean we couldn't make it auto auto at and I just don't know why it's not racing Auto current exponent Maybe it's because it has to be in order. I was not declared in scope. Oh current exponent It has to be current exponent also Mm-hmm Something's not right current exponent count auto n and num Oh, whoops num not occur. Yep. Let's test panel Now it works. Okay, so that's really weird how it didn't erase it. Maybe it's because like It sounds super weird weird. I didn't erase it Maybe you had to like erase at a position I don't know because when you use auto it actually gets the position of num num So maybe that's why but I don't know. I don't know why it didn't oh Wait Oh Okay, whoops. Okay. Yeah, I think I got a got a reason why I didn't Well, whatever. I think I understand. Okay. Um, submit it here. Uh, let's run all system tests And the solution pass system test So yeah, that's how you do this problem I hope you guys understand the solution of planning trips raycom subscribe. I'll check you guys later. Peace


Hi everyone, Joe for Jaspy's CaseBreaks.com, coming at you with 2022 Hit Parade Football, Case Hits Edition, Series 16, all case hits. This is random team number two. Big thanks to all of these folks right here, thanks to all the people who bought their spot straight up and thanks again to the people who took the risk on that filler, that prestige pack number five. All 32 teams are in. Let's roll it, let's randomize it, names and teams, five out of five, ten the hard way, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and tenth and final time. After ten, we got Russell down to eight, five out of five, ten the hard way for the teams, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and tenth and final time. We got Eagles down to commanders. All right, so here's how it shakes out for everybody.  All right, let's sort alphabetically by team and we're going to pause the video. We're going to see if there's any trades when we come back and then we'll also have the break. Stick around, we'll see you on the other side. All right, welcome back everybody, trade window closed. So here on a Wednesday, new release day, hump day, first of the month, all of that stuff, that list remains the same. It was a decent amount of trade chatter, but no deals were done. Here we go, as that suggests, it's all case hits. Downtown, Kabooms, another case hit each time. Stain glass case hits, color wheels, color blasts. Some of these can be graded as well, which is also nice. Saves you the trouble of getting a case hit graded. Good luck, everybody. And we've got from downtown, Daniel Jones. If you've never been to the Big Apple, that's exactly what New York City looks like spot on. Gigantic Apple, a gigantic giant holding the Statue of Liberty. It's exactly what it looks like. Giants, that's going to go to Sal. Well, I think had Giants up for trade, tried to trade couldn't trade Mojo. I'm not quite sure. Sal just wrote Giants in the chat. I'm not sure if he was offering it and confirmed. I looked at, I've been to New York City. It looks exactly like that. There is a giant, is a giant Apple hanging over the skyline as well. All right. Kaboom, it's George Kittle. So let's actually like to look at this too. So the downtown is from 2020 Donner's Optic Football Sal. Tried to trade couldn't trade Mojo. This is from 2021 Absolute Football. And that's a Kaboom for Steve Burch from the Niners with a spot that he won from downtown. There is Michael Vick, Falcons Edition. If you've never been to Atlanta, that's exactly what Atlanta looks like. There are giant Falcons, giant birds of prey, peach trees everywhere. That's just that's just how it goes. Twenty twenty one Donner's football. That's exactly what it looks like. That goes to David M and the Falcons, the ATL, the Dirty Birds. Next one. Love the downtown look. I wonder who the artist is for those downtown cars. You think it's like a team of people. You think it's one person. This is a person not getting any credit. Just just a faceless designer over at Panini designing these cars. Another downtown and it's graded. It's a PSA 10. We're going to go from the ATL across the country to Seattle. There's downtown Seattle spot on. From 2018, Donner's Optic Football. Russell Wilson downtown PSA 10. Nice. And that'll go to Tim and Seattle tried to trade couldn't trade mojo. Another downtown. We're going to go to Denver. There's Jerry Judy. This is a cool looking downtown car. Yeah, that's I don't know if there's a giant white water rapid in the middle of downtown Denver. But there is that giant Bronco in the sky. I like this one. That's a good looking one, even though it's the rival of mine. This is from 2020. Donner's Optic Football. That will be for Denver. Brian Hayes Broncos with a spot that he won. All right. Next one. Graded. It's a Kaboom. PSA 9. Kaboom. Justin Herbert. From 2021, absolute Justin Herbert PSA 9. Who's got the bolts? That'll be for Alan Matsui with the spot he got straight up. Very nice. Love the. What a great idea. Love the case hits here. Is that a cell sheet hit? Logan saying that's the case hit of the case hits. Nice. Congrats, Alan. All right, we still got four more to go. Keep those fingers crossed. Going back to downtown. And we're going to go to downtown Oakland, Oakland. 2021 Donner's Optic Football, Vegas. A magic show going on here.  Well, this card is going to end up with Joe Simone, who has the Vegas Raiders. There you go. Three more. Ryan Harrell is thinking jets on his couch. You don't you don't think anyone's going to sign him? A warm bench. Card chart thing. I think he's going to I think he's going to get paid and I think he's going to be a starter somewhere, right? Disrespect for Derek Carr. Brandon saying the XFL. All right, from downtown Vegas, we're going to go to. Minnesota, there it is, downtown Minneapolis. Looks pretty much like that. There is a gigantic horn out there. Constantly blaring. And you don't see the skywalk there, but they are they are there. 2018, Panini Dauners football, Adam Thielen downtown. PSA eight. That's going to go to Edward Petty in Minnesota. Two more to go. Logan says jets, not not for the money he wants. Maybe maybe not. Strip club battle saying I don't think Derek Carr, Super Christian. I don't think you're going to find that a strip club. Bucks, Nick Galvin thinking Bucks. All right, two more to go. Another graded. This is a PSA nine. This is a storm chasers case hit from Mosaic. It's Justin Fields, 2021 Mosaic football. Storm chasers, rookie Justin Fields. PSA nine, nice. Give that man some help, Chicago. That Zachary H with the bears. Give him some weapons. Let's see what he can do. All right, final box. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for getting in. Hope you're out for more hit parade. Hit parade basketball, baseball, football. Just keep an eye out for more hit parade on JaspiesCaseBreaks.com. Now that's fair. I appreciate you playing to the whistle though, Ryan. Appreciate that. Appreciate you getting in. Appreciate you and everybody getting in. We're going to close out with a graded card. It's going to be looks like another storm chasers. This time it's a PSA 10. It's going to be Matt Jones from 2021 Mosaic. Storm chasers, Matt Jones, PSA 10. Return of the Mac. That's going to be Mark Russo and the Patriots. There you go, gang. I'm Joe for JaspiesCaseBreaks.com. Thanks for watching. Thanks for breaking the list. And I'll see you next time for the next one. Bye-bye.


So Mira here is wondering sometimes, particularly in Todoist, but this could be true for other systems too. So we put something into a project, or should we categorize it under another task as a sub-task, right? Do you actually have an example that comes to mind? Yes. So for me, because it's with, I have my university studies as the project, and then I have individual papers as tasks. Right. But then, like, they're broken down, you know, I need to submit, for example, I've got an essay due next Friday, and I want to get the readings done first, then I do the notes, then I do the drafts, then I do that. And to put it as a project seems like a big thing. It does. That seems like kind of like a, it's almost unnecessarily big. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't want to do dates. Like the due date for the actual completion is not till Friday, but then there are sub-task, like little things that I need to get done for the due each day. So I just noticed I was struggling to totally get that in and make sure I had what I needed to do today.  In that, so yes, in Todoist, for example, you could create sub-tasks under one task with different deadlines. I tried it out and I never liked it. Somehow it was always confusing to me. So if I were in your shoes, I would actually create a project per paper and just have, just then it's very simple. I just have to do, I just have tasks within a project with different due dates. And, you know, thankfully it's not hard to create a project to do is you click on a plus sign and you type in something and now it's a project and now you can put. And once a project is done, once a paper is done and submitted, you can archive the project easily as well. So yeah, I feel like so that's one option. The other option is simply to create a single task and then use comments. That's what I do a lot. Either use comments or use the description field. So let me show you what I mean. So in Todoist, let's say I was saying paper about topic XYZ, right? So that's a big task. And then the due date would be, you know, by 10, 8, read the literature about it, you know, by 10, 15, and make first draft. I would literally just do it like this, you know, and then, and I would put this the first due date would be, you know, I actually, you know, it should it should be the due date should be like, I would I would make it more granular so it's like, by 10, 5, read the first, the first article, you know, 10, 6, read the second article, you know, I would make it more granular, read third article or whatever. 10, 8, finish all articles, you know, like that. And so that way, that way I would schedule it as 10, 5, you know, 10, 5. You'd reschedule it each day. I would reschedule each day and and each day I would come in here and go, yep, I did that I read the first article, and I would just delete it.  Oh yeah, I did that and I would just paste it down there. You see what I mean. So this is all in the description field to do is now has something called a description field. Let me see if I can find it find that thing now see. Oh wait, let me sort by prior sort by sort by due date here. So, paper about topic XYZ. There we go. So the description field you can actually see a quick summary of everything in the description field. If it was in the comments, you couldn't see the summary you can only see how many comments there are. You see that. That's the difference between the description field and the comments field. Yeah. Yeah, so hope that helps. Thank you. Thanks.


Hi, welcome to Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. A couple of weeks ago, we had probably one of the most interesting shows that Seymour's World has had in four, four-and-a-half years. And we had Paige Davis on the show. And she talked about her journey, her journey through her cancer, how she went through it, what enabled her to have a better, better lifestyle during that period of time. And something hit me. We all know that family, friends are very, very supportive. But she had somebody else. She had a man named Flint Sparks, who is a Zen teacher, a psychologist. He's probably one of the most mentoring persons I have met. And I am so lucky that this man has moved from Austin, Texas to Molokai, very recently, and he is here to join us today. So we're going to talk to Flint about meditation, about life, about journeys, about love, about breaking barriers, all these things that I hope we can get in this one session, if not we'll do another one. So may I introduce you to Flint? Flint, welcome to Seymour. Thank you for having me on the show. This is wonderful and great to follow Paige.  And I think it's critical that we as individuals understand that support is so important. It's essential. So tell us a little bit about what you do. Well, I have been, as you mentioned earlier, in my sort of former life as it were, a psychologist and a psychotherapist for nearly 40 years. And during that time I had a specialty in which I worked a lot with people who had severe medical illnesses, especially cancer, hence my relationship with Paige. And over those years I also began to, because of the requests of those people who were ill, questions of their deepest soul, I wanted to respond to them not in a religious way, but to those spiritual levels. And so I began to train in Buddhism and meditation so that I could offer something deeper. So now I lead retreats, teach, write, and do things like this. Coming on to Seymour's world for me is an honor. It's an honor to have you here because I think it's so important that we have shared so much. Just in a few minutes before, when I first met you, we share so much of the same value systems and the value of appreciating life the way it is and making sure that you can pass that on to others has become a key motivator in my life. And you said that's exactly the way you think too. Absolutely. Because I've worked as a psychotherapist and if you look at a lot of the research on what predicts happiness and well-being for adults, one of the most robust predictors from research is secure attachment for the infant. Someone that's there to love them, to be with them, to care for them.  Well, if love is the most important thing in the beginning and it's the most important thing at the end, it seems like that might be something to focus on for the entirety of life. How do we care for each other? How do we allow care from each other? How do we connect in a way that humans really require for health and well-being and happiness? I think you've answered a big question. What is the most important part of your life and if the word is love, to be loved and to also give love, I think that, of course, love has many, many pieces. But that in itself is such a great legacy for all of us to live by. Can you be loved by all the people that you've affected and can people love you for everything that you have done in your life? Those are big, broad things. But what we know is that if you're operating from your sort of deepest, truest self, then probably what's going to come forward is something that has some integrity and some truth and some clarity and some kindness and some compassion. Those qualities come forward naturally when our reactivity and our fear relaxes. I think you're right. I think one of the other things that I wanted to discuss with you is the ability to show gratitude.  And believe it or not, I'm enjoying life more today than I did two years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer. I really didn't allow the negativity to come into my life. So I have as full a life as possible for 18 hours a day and I do what I want to do. That word, gratitude. Tell me what that means to you. Well, I think the capacity to view life through a lens of what's possible, what's available, what's present rather than what's missing, what you hoped would be. In those ways, you become smaller, more self-contained, more self-centered. Is it what I want? Is it all about me? But if you open to what's available, you find that life is remarkable. And there are many, many gifts that are being given to us all the time. Even if they're a gift that you wouldn't suspect, like your cancer, would make a difference. Here's something that people don't believe. I worked for, like I said, 35 years with people with cancer, mostly quite severe. And people will say, so what's the main thing you hear? And they expect me to speak about fear, difficulties. I say, we won't believe me. They say, come on, what is it? I said, over and over, I hear some version of this. Cancer is a terrible thing. I wish I didn't have it. I wouldn't want it on anyone. And it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. Because it makes you appreciate life more? Some version of, but is this open to me? It turned me. It woke me up. It did something so that a lot of the smaller ways that I was caught or contracted began to fall away. You're right. Paige talked about that in her book. Yeah. She was very, very emphatic, actually, about the idea that the cancer actually helped her in understanding her own life, what her journey was. Yeah. I never thought about it that way. We call it in Zen, since I'm a Zen priest and teacher, that spirituality is about the great matter of birth and death. This amazing reality of existential existence. And when we have a diagnosis in our world, that's the kind of wake-up call that's the like, oh, okay, I really have to pay attention to this. Not, will I get the next job? Will I get a better car? Will I have a better husband or wife? Those things may come and go, and they do come and go. Everything's impermanent. Right. But what doesn't come and go amongst all the things that change? And that's that heartfelt sense of gratitude of being alive and appreciating your aliveness. Isn't it funny that it takes something as strong as maybe getting hit by a car or a cancer or something that makes you realize, am I ever lucky to be alive today? And really, that's the spiritual question. What wakes us up to saying, oh, I'm going to go beyond what it means just to develop myself as a material, functional human being. How can I open to that greater space of spirit and of the ineffable that which is sort of inconceivable? And that place, we open to awe, and then we can be the recipients of grace. I think it's inspiring for all of us to sit here and listen to you. I feel like I'm a student in a classroom. Well, I am, because for me, I try to do what you do in my way. You know, I do it in my foundation with my Make Him Smile program for the kids in the hospital. I do it with the foster kids. I do it with Holocaust teaching. It's the gratitude that I feel and I get from the kids. I read you a letter before from the kid in school who just said that I made a difference to them, you know, that in itself. And when I get those, I feel so satisfied. Me too. It's an amazing, and rather than feeling like an ego nourishment, it's actually more humility. It's like, if I'm able to do that, then I want to offer more. See, that's the thing. It cultivates your generosity. You want to offer more. You want to grab more. So the circle gets bigger. And it's more, you become more humble in the face of it, not more egotistical. That makes you open to more gratitude. And so humility, generosity, and gratitude begin to flow together rather than egotistical kind of separation or small selfhood that you do. It's interesting that you say that because I, as you know, I'm very busy with all the stuff that I do. And it all comes and stems from the need of gratitude. Yes. The need to, I feel like I get more out of it when I'm in the hospital playing for the kids. For instance, with our musicians, I get more out of it than the kids do. I know they get a lot out of it. Of course. But you're fed by it, aren't you? But man, do I get something when I see a parent putting their arm around the child and there's tears coming down their arms because they see their kids smiling again. Nothing beats that. And that smile may be the best thing. That's right. One of my teachers would say, most of us, if we get what we want, or we feel like we're satisfied, then we think, then I'll be happy. This is no. Open yourself to gratitude and then see what's around you. Start with gratitude. Gratitude doesn't come just from being happy. Gratitude is the source of happiness. Absolutely. It's the other way around. Yeah, yeah. And you need to hear that. And I hope all of you out there hear that because it's important to realize that when we talk to somebody like Flint who has been around for a long time in this business and he understands what the barriers of love are all about. And I want to touch upon that because we only have a few minutes before our first break. But if you could explain a little bit about your theories on barriers of love. Well, I think we mentioned earlier someone had asked me one time, you've been a therapist for a long time, been as in priest. What is it that you really do? And I heard myself say, well, I think I help soften or remove the barriers to love. And all that really means to me is help people relax the kind of tension or tightness that sometimes are conditioning or past our stresses. If those things can soften, then we have an open hand that we can offer. And it's an open hand in which we can receive. And that's really the practical thing that I'm talking about. Can we just offer ourselves to each other? And can we receive each other? How do you get away from the practical side of it though? The stresses that people have in their lives creates barriers from love or for love. How do you remove that? How are you able to get people back on track again? Well, that's sometimes why I say it's about softening the barriers instead of removing them. Right. It's through presence.  I find too many people I know have forgotten how to do that, Flint. They really have. I mean, I see couples and friends who have been married for years and years and years, and they've lost it. They've lost that ability to connect to each other.  I mean, my wife and I were sitting on the deck, and I told you where we live, and we're sitting on the deck enjoying the sunset and just feeling how good it is to be alive, of feeling that connection that's there sitting in that spot of earth. And so grateful that you could. Absolutely. When I was about to do my TED Talk, somebody said, what do you want the result to be? I said, at the end, when I stop, what I want people to do is turn this way instead of to their phone. If they do that, then I've made my point. I think you're right. I find eliminating barriers, and I love that word, eliminating barriers, and that could be in business and personal lives and financial structures and love, all that stuff. You eliminate those barriers, and all of a sudden life becomes much easier. That's right. It's infused with an energy and a nourishment that's always there, but we don't notice it because we get so caught up. Yeah, I agree. And that is really what we wake up to. It's amazing. Flint, we have to take a short break, and then I want to talk about meditation, because people look at me and they say, Seymour, don't tell us you meditate. You don't have the personality for meditating. You're too busy. Yeah, I'm too busy. I wake up at four in the morning, and I'm going at 150 miles an hour, but yet I do meditate, and I want people to understand what the term really means, because too many of us think of it looking at somebody in the corner. So we'll be back in a minute. We'll meditate during the break. Let's do it. We've got 60 seconds to do it. I'm Seymour Kazimurski on The Seymour's World with Flint Sparks, our wonderful, wonderful guest, a Zen teacher, a psychologist, and I think he's going to be one of my very best friends. Be back in a minute. Oh, I'm Yukari Kunisue. I'm your host of New Japanese Language Show on Think Tech, Hawaii, called Konnichiwa, Hawaii, broadcasting live every other Monday at 2 p.m. Please join us, where we discuss important and useful information for the Japanese language community in Hawaii. The show will be all in Japanese. Hope you can join us every other Monday at 2 p.m. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Jane Farrell, founder of Think Tech, Hawaii. And I'm Andrea Gabrielli, the host for Young Talent's Making Way. Wait a minute. This is not a new episode, is it, Jay? No, it's not a new episode. You know, that show is over, Andrea. So what are you going to do now? Why don't we have a summer edition of Young Talent's Making Way, where we focus more on education as a mean for our young talents to max out, becomes role models, and achieve their dreams. What a great idea. So when do you want to begin, Andrea? July the 3rd, 2018, Tuesday at 11 a.m. Young Talent's Making Way summer edition. Stay tuned. Hi, welcome back to Seymour's World on Think Tech, Hawaii. If you listened to the first half of this show, you were probably just as mesmerized as I am by this young man, Flint Spark, sitting next to me. What an amazing individual, somebody who can basically explain life to you, explain love to you, explain how we should lead a better life, how we can make a difference. And by the way, after the show, I'm going to be filming my commentary called How to Make a Difference. So Flint, we are back together again. And the first half of the show went too quick because we only answered one of the five questions that I had for you. So I don't think we're going to be able to do them all. But one thing we ended off with was meditation. Yes. Definition of meditation, please. I think the essence of meditation, or aside from any different form of meditation, because there are many, is when you stop manipulating your experience in any way whatsoever. Well, that's an counter-intuitive definition because many people think, oh, I'm going to meditate, so now I'm going to change what I'm doing. But meditation really is in some way stopping. If we can be just grounded, sit here, but open and aware, not go inside or pull away, and be very deeply present with ourselves and each other, then some people think of meditation as like fighting, like stopping your thinking or trying to slow. And if you're- Or emptying your mind. Yeah, and if you do that, you know, you're going to be at war with your mind forever because it doesn't stop. But there is a primary awareness that you can rest in. It's like the sky outside when you're sitting on your deck. We were going to talk about that in a second. I know. So the clouds go through the sky. The sky doesn't get confused in things, the clouds, what's going through it. But we get confused with the contents of our awareness. We get- We hook onto the fear. We hook onto the worry, the planning, instead of resting in that space of awareness. And you can actually learn to remember to rest in the space in which everything is bubbling around instead of getting caught in what's bubbling. The bubbling can continue sometimes. Sometimes it slows down. Well, for me, meditation, as I said to you before the show, I go into the hot tub three days a week, at six o'clock in the morning, and I'm there for half an hour, and you're right. I allow the bubbles to surround me. It's allowing. I allow the clouds to pass over me. I allow the trees and the birds to do their thing. And I find myself, after that half hour, so much more relaxed. I'm calling it meditating, and it may not be the essence of what meditating is all about. No, you're talking about it. But to me, that's what it is, the ability- Is the deed allowing. Right. And I think it has to be done on a fairly regular basis so that people understand it's something that you can cultivate over a period of time. And I've been doing it for years, and I find that I miss it. If I'm out of town, for instance, and I don't have that half an hour to just... You could call it vegetate. I don't care what you want to call it. I'm calling it meditating. Of course. The ability to allow your mind to just totally relax, to totally forget about all of your ills and everything that's going on. You can't stop it from thinking. There's no such thing. And even if you don't forget at all, you remember, over time, because you do it a lot, that there is a space of clarity and simplicity that's always there, even if you're not touching it, but you remember it, and that you don't ever lose that, even though you might not be able to reach it every single time.  It also begins to actually change your physiology and your neurology in a way that things are more in alignment, more in balance, and are much more healthy. It's so strange.  Well, he's not teaching me how to meditate on the show. He's validating that what I'm doing in the hot tub, what I'm doing in those moments, are giving me a meditative state, a state in which my mind is able to totally, totally relax and allow, as you said, physiology. It allows your mind and your body to leave that state half an hour in a much better state than it went into. Yeah, it's a portal. It's an opening, and you know what your opening is. If we're just vegetating and hanging out, that's not meditation, that's resting. Correct, correct. This has an attentive quality to it, a quality of presence to it. There's some energy, but it's not an energy that's grasping at anything. Correct. And that's what's really difficult for folks because we're so used to doing something for an instrumental gain. Right. And this is doing something without that and resting in the gratitude of the present moment and seeing what comes. You know, one of the issues are that we as a society want definition, and you don't want to define meditation as a certain way of thinking, a certain way of doing. It is an individual issue. It's an issue of how to do it. And again, if you watched my commentary last week about happiness and I told you to write things down about one of the first two or three or four things that you could do to be happier, one of those things that I had so many people talk about was meditating. And I had not suggested it. I had not suggested it to you. It came up on its own. It came up on its own. I probably of the 400 or 500 people that commented, probably at least 100 of them said, I wish I could meditate, meaning they know that their body and their mind needs this. They need to be able to totally feel it. That longing is something about, for most of us in this culture, a longing to rest, to be more quiet, to be more peaceful. But people don't really understand what it might mean. How would one do that to actually rest? Because it isn't just hanging out at the beach. It's something about a deeper resting. Oh, man, you are so on track. And to those of you who I've been speaking to this about for the last three or four years about how important it is to get the... You don't have to call it meditating if you don't want to, but I call it meditating. If you could do that, if you could get your mind and your body into a state, like you're discussing right now, it is not that difficult. It's just a matter of practice, slowly, even for five minutes, 10 minutes, and then you build up to it until you feel comfortable. And here's the warning label. You know, on the package is always a warning label.  Everything. And so sometimes in the beginning people will say, well, actually I'm more disturbed because now all these things are floating up, that I kept at bay by being busy. So there are ways in which more things become available to you. That's the good news because now you can attend to them and you can take better care of yourself. But at first, if you think it's like taking a pill that's going to wipe everything out, that's a naive view of meditation. You're right. It's going to open you to everything so that you can meet everything more fully. And over time, that's going to transform your life, not just give you symptom relief from stress. And that's a big difference. Very, very big difference. You're preaching to the choir here. I'm a real believer in the ability to allow your mind and your body to focus on what's most important at a period of time. Not everything. You can't do everything at one time. You have to be able to sift through some of the funnel, stuff that you put in the funnel and decide, this is what I want to work on. This is what I want my life's purpose to be. And as we mature, notice I didn't say get older, as we mature and also as we have challenges, which we spoke about, these are things that refine our view. We realize, oh, I don't have an infinite amount of time. Maybe I'm not going to achieve every single thing I thought I would. But as those things fall away, they can be deep disappointments or they can be openings and refreshment for something that you didn't even expect would happen. You're right. You're right.  It can make you feel much younger than you were before. Exactly. And totally unexpected. It's not, it wasn't in your plan. It wasn't in my early plan to move to a strange little island in the middle of the wine archipelago. Oh, when we hadn't even talked about that, I wanted to talk about it. But I do want to bring up something. Sure. I came up with a saying, and I have it here. It says, focus on what you have, not what you don't have. Exactly. Now that phrase by itself, how do we get people to do that? How do you focus on what you have and not wish I had this wish I could, you know, the wishing well is endless, right? Because you always want more. Yeah. How do you focus on what you have, not what you don't have? Well, that's part of what meditation is about. Because when you stop and you're not doing anything, all that's there is what you have. You're not going to be able to stop people from thinking about what they don't have. That's like human brains do that. But it's also a choice issue as well. But do you put your energy into it and focus on it, or do you provide an antidote that is right next to it, rather than fighting the longing to say, okay, let's right next to it, let's appreciate what we have, let's use gratitude as a balancer. And what happens over time is that there's a generosity of spirit, there's an openness of heart, there's a quieting of your mind that begins to emerge when you put them together. So you're not fighting the acquisition mode. You're just offering an antidote right next to it, which begins to change the balance. It's so interesting because that leads into my last topic that we only have time for and that's listening. How important is listening? How many people over talk? And I happen to be very guilty of it. My wife, Sue, who is watching this show right now can probably tell you how many times she said, you're over talking because my mind is going faster than my listening mode. And listening is the key. So I came up with something on listening that is, and I'm going to read it to you, how to listen. It says, truly listening requires a person to fully disconnect himself from all other preoccupations and thoughts and make himself available to the other. You need to focus better. You need to shut out external visual stimuli and concentrate. When we listen and allow the words we hear to penetrate us, we make space for the other person. Right, and that space and that quality and that discipline that you're talking about, I would encapsulate in the word presence because if I can allow other things to not take such forefront in my attention, that attention opens. And I can really look in your eyes, feel your body here, be with you, and be present with you.  You're going to feel my attention. I do it now. Yes, absolutely. And we listen to each other. We see each other. We feel each other. And that's the essence of really what I hope people are removing barriers to, because that's really the essence of care. I think once you remove the barriers, something pops in. It's natural attitude. Yes. Compassion. Yes. Presence. All of these issues become part of people's lives and it's something that I've been trying to struggle with myself and I think I'm getting there at my tender age. I'm starting to understand that that's a lifelong thing. I know. And it makes me happier. Absolutely makes me happy. There are four qualities, without going into a Buddhist stuff, but there are four qualities that are talked about in the way of maturing into one's spiritual practice. And they are essential qualities that are there that get opened. And they are compassion, the ability to meet suffering and not turn away, loving kindness, which is unconditional friendliness, equanimity, a peacefulness, and then the last is sympathetic joy, the happiness that comes from when the other person's happy. And those four qualities of compassion, loving kindness, equanimity, and sympathetic joy are what are in your definition. You are right. They're all there. You're right. I have to say this, and I hate to say it, Flint, but we're at the end of our show. Oh, no. Yes. Believe it or not. We're having too much fun. Well, actually, we only did one. So we have five more topics to do and I'm hoping we can continue this because it has been, for me, a pleasure and education. And I just think for our audience in general, if they watch the show and they just glean a little bit of it, they will have a better life. Well, maybe we'll have some more time together. I'm only an island away. Oh, thank you. Thank you. And you are coming to our Hanukkah party this year, right? We'll see about that.  Thank you so much. Thank you, Seymour. Love to have you. It's a pleasure. Absolutely love to have you.  I will not be here on August the 9th, I believe, but I will be back on August 24th with a guest and a new commentary as well. So today, I think I will probably get hundreds of comments as well because Flint is an amazing, amazing individual and a man who I look up to is my mentor. So Aloha from Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. See you next month.


Hello friends, I am Dr. Mohan Kumar, Consultant Intervention Radiologist, Kolumbiasa Hospital, Sajapurot, unit of Manipal Hospital. Today I am going to discuss about mycardial infarctioning ink. Mycardial infarctioning ink means less than 40 years, others developing mycardial infarction. It most commonly happens in the main predominantly. Mycardial infarction is a silent epidemic which we are going through. What are the reasons why we are seeing so many ingotels presenting with mycardial infarction? The most common reason is the change in the life style. Smoking, which is very common in ingotels and smoking is one of the most common reason why the ingotels develop mycardial infarction. Apart from that family history of premature pulmonary disease, then physical inactivity, stress, apart from the type, hypertension, diabetes, dyspipidemia, all these three factors are responsible for mycardial infarction even in young adults. What is the presentation of mycardial infarction? Even in patients anger, then 40 years also will have a similar clinical presentation as that of elderly people. So the most common presentation is the chest pain, breathlessness, sweating. So whenever the patient has this symptoms, they should never ignore and consider it as


Talk to me about all these dating coaches in the Manusphere.  Let me be politically correct, semi-politically correct. I think everybody should just genuinely be looking to be as honest as possible, as individuals. And I think a lot of the reason why they lie is because they feel like they wouldn't have a brand or they wouldn't be able to say anything if they told the truth.  Yeah, I think they're kind of dumb.   Receipts, receipts. You're seen as a big one because guess what? You can't read the sign that isn't really into you.


Russian Aerospace Forces Space Communications Center located in Crimea has been attacked, Russian Telegram channels reported on Dec. 20. The first attack took place at 4 a.m. The center located in Selniknogorskoy village of Olushda city came under drone attack three times during the attack. As a result, an employee of the Federal Security Service was injured, while equipment and a satellite communication antenna in the venue were damaged. The following two strikes that took place an hour later, were delivered by a storm shadow missile and targeted the space communication center located in Sakhi district's Vatino village. One military equipment was damaged during the incident. There have been no casualties.