Category Archives: Golden Rule

When it comes to newsworthy stories about tech and startups, the majority of headlines and conversations focus on funding announcements, valuations and IPOs. And yet, only a mere fraction of startups actually raise venture capital. Coupled with the appalling funding disparities for women and people of color who already facehistorical, systemic inequitiesthe lack of access to capital further marginalizes underrepresented founders from innovation, creation and wealth-building.

As such, we shouldnt be asking about whether people are missing opportunities based on their identities; that much is obvious. The better question is how many and how big are the opportunities that theyremissing?

Heres what we know:

More in Diversity and InclusionThese 4 Companies Discuss Their Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives

Through Grid110,theLos Angeles-based startup and small business accelerator I co-founded in 2015,Ive worked with over 300 entrepreneurs, the majority of whom are women and people of color.Theyre building businesses ranging from side hustles to profitable, bootstrapped companies to high-growth ventures. Ive seen firsthand that VC is absolutely not a one-size-fits-all model.

VC is often likened to jet fuel for high-growth companies, but most companies cannot sustain that type of acceleration. In fact, its likely to be more detrimental to them than helpful. After all, you wouldnt fill up the gas tank of a Volvo with jet fuel.

At Grid110, my team and I first work to understand the type of company an entrepreneur is building and then educate them on the funding pathways that make the most sense for them. Unfortunately, few viable funding instruments exist for entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of building their businesses. Therein lies an opportunity to create innovative funding models that occupy the space between traditional bank loans and VC. Yet the tech industry continues to rely primarily on a single model for advancing innovation. This narrow focus results in a bottleneck that disproportionately affects those who are already underrepresented in the tech economy.

There is a huge white space opportunity to fund the 99.95 percent of companies deemed not suitable (or that are perhaps overlooked) for venture capital. Companies led by underrepresented founders who are able to do more with less, stretch their resources and close economic opportunity gaps are particularly good places for this kind of investment.

Where do we start? With the limited partners (LPs). Institutional LPs (things like pension funds, endowments, foundations and corporations) invest in venture capital funds and are primarily focused on generating returns on their investments. So, why arent they prioritizing investing in diverse teams that routinely outperform their all-white, male counterparts? And what needs to change in order to see more innovation in the venture capital ecosystem?

The first step toward fixing things is for investors to diversify the founders they choose to fund. Its simply smart business. Women and ethnically diverse founding teams are outperforming their all-white, male peers, but theyre still the least likely to raise funding. According to a recent industry report by All Raise and Pitchbook, women CEOs have exited companies faster than their male counterparts in nine of the last 10years.

If a funds focus is on the returns, why the stark contrast in funding? Studies released by First Round Capital, McKinsey and Kauffman Fellows support the claim that investing in diverse founders yields better economic returns. So, from an economic standpoint, anyone looking to invest in a company would be well-served to choose one with a diverse founding team.

This disparity also raises the question of why investors arent more interested in funding these companies. To truly effect change on a large scale, we need to diversify the funders. Investment decision makers are 72 percent white men, so it shouldnt be a surprise that the majority of startups that receive funding are led by also white men. The current funders tend to invest within theirsimilar networks and pedigrees, leading to a vicious cycle in the investment space.

By contrast, diverse funders will fund diverse founders. Organizations like BLCK VC, HBCUvc, VC Include and All Raise are working to change the demographics and diversify the career paths into venture capital from various levels. How can we support the expansion and growth of these and other, similar organizations to create more non-traditional pathways into VC, knowing that doing so will be the best way to impact the industry as a whole?

LPs should prioritize this type of diversification from their current funds and continue to seek out to support diverse emerging fund managers who will change the landscape for the better.

You might conclude that venture capital is not meant for 99 percent of businesses. It is most suitable for a specific type of business that has the ability to accelerate growth in a very short period of time, resulting in an exit (either by IPO or acquisition) in order to provide investment returns back to the fund. Finding these companies is essentially a venture capitalists job: They want to invest their LPs money in places that will result in outsized returns.

But most businesses are not built to sustain this type of growth in the target time frame. And even worse, most venture-backed businesses wont even achieve the outsized returns expected of them, and 75 percent will fail altogether.For an industry that invests billions of dollars annually with these results, the fact that there has been so little exploration of alternative models in this space is really surprising. We need to revolutionize outdated models and structures to keep up with emerging opportunities in the market.

Some people in the VC world have made efforts to establish alternative models of capital. Examples include revenue-based financing (Lighter Capital), rewards-based crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Indiegogo) or equity-based crowd investing (Republic, WeFunder, Start Engine). But some of these have fallen short of LP expectations.

For example, after investing in companies for six years through what began as an experimental funding strategy, IndieVC recently announcedit would no longer be investing in companies through itsinnovative funding model. Indie preferred real businesses focused on sustainable growth and profitability. Although its portfolio showed returns on par with more traditional investments, it faced increasing difficulty in getting LPs to commit to this model. Still, IndieVC and its GP Bryce Roberts have proven to be a pioneer in this space, igniting the conversation and paving the way for alternative funding models like Earnest Capital, Chisos Capital and Collab Capital.

There seems to be a shared sentiment that the industry cant change unless institutional LPs actively change it. If LPs feel both that diversity matters and that returns benefit from it, then more of them should be mandating it from their funds or investing in funds intentionally focused on diversifying the industry through economic inclusion like Backstage Capital, Harlem Capital, BBG Ventures, MaC Venture Capital and Slauson & Co. These are a handful of examples of whats possible, but there should be more. This type of focus on diversity should be the standard.

Read Next10 Networking Communities for Underrepresented Sellers

After all, the golden rule says that those who have the gold make the rules. LPs can be the biggest drivers of change, but they seem to be averse to changing their own habits.But perhaps theres another way to look at it: Instead of changing what the LPs believe, how do we change who the LPs are?

In just a few short years, equity crowd investing platforms have shown that theres an appetite amongeveryday people to become retail investors. In 2016, the SEC made changes that enabled non-accredited investors to invest money into companies through platforms like Republic and WeFunder.

The most recent batch of changes increased the limits of how much companies could raise through these types of campaigns. Backstage Capital raised $5M (the new limit) in just seven days to support the operating arm of their fund. So, what would need to happen for the SEC to allow retail investors to invest in actual funds through these same platforms?

Paige Finn Doherty wrote a brilliant piece entitled The Essential Guide to Syndicates that outlines how anyone (even a non-accredited investor) can organize a special purpose vehicle or syndicate for other investors (e.g., angels, VCs or even traditional LPs) to invest directly into a pop-up fund for a company. Similar to equity crowd investing, this path is another way to democratize access to capital for founders that also creates new opportunities for funders. Rather than having to raise a traditional venture capital fund, an organizer can rally support for one-off investments in companies using a platform like Assure, which handles all of the back-end fund administration. The good news is that, in this model, the organizer doesnt have to be accredited themselves or have the track record needed to raise a traditional fund.

VC is largely focused on growth at all costs, but it continues to shy away from growth opportunities for itself. The sector has largely eschewed innovation in its own niche by overlooking new funding models that could benefit both those companies that are already in the market and those trying to enter. Changing this structure will allow for greater diversity in the economy as a whole and will prepare VC firms to capitalize on a changing marketplace.

Although we have quite a long way to go in changing the equity in funding gap, there are emerging, innovative opportunities (if able to scale) that could bring about meaningful change to the industry. We need more education, accountability and amplification/attention to the voices on the ground that are closest to the problem at hand.

See the rest here:

How to Start Funding More Than Just White Guys - Built In

For Hudson Valleys Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein, Save All The Old Houses isnt just a cheeky slogan to slap on crewneck sweatshirts, pennant flags and canvas totes (though theyve done that too) its a rallying cry. The duo behind the wildly popular Instagram feeds @CheapOldHouses and @CircaHouses have amassed a staggering 1.7 million followers, but theyre not stopping there.

This summer, theyll take to television with a namesake show on HGTV, scoping out old homes around the country and checking in on some of their past listings that have been saved. The opportunity evolved, in part, thanks to their followings insatiable hunger for the house porn they showcase on their feeds weekly and that powers a public real estate obsession via Zillow and other real estate sites.

The story of Cheap Old Houses is kind of crazy, Ethan says. We didn't even know the impact the feed was having until maybe two years ago, and now we have over 100 stories of people who bought houses they saw us list, and it really has just inspired us right back. We see the good that it's doing and the community that it's built. Its easy to look at designers on television and be inspired, but the most important story is the neighbor that has restored an old building, and whats happening at ground-level in communities across the country.

Elizabeth and Ethan may have met as city dwellers in New York City, but it was a love for old homes and a penchant for nostalgia that brought the two together (Were both very old souls, Elizabeth explains). Growing up, Elizabeth was, as she says, totally spoiled by her childhood home, an 1850s Greek Revival near Saratoga Springs.

Some of our earliest dates were me asking Elizabeth if she wanted to leave Brooklyn and go move to the country and buy this farmhouse with me, says Ethan Finkelstein of the couples early relationship and love of old real estate. The duo lives in the Hudson Valley but are renovating an old home upstate.

I watched my parents love on their house all the time they invested a lot into it, she says. I think some people grow up in a situation where they either move a lot or their house is just kind of just a place they live in and they can lock the door and not really think about it. That wasn't the case for my parents. I always knew that our house was different than everyone elses, and I remember growing up with a lot of pride in it.

Ethan came to the table with a totally different perspective on the permanence of home, having moved around a lot due to his fathers Navy career. Still, the digital marketing pro felt the undeniable tug that storied real estate can hold, dreaming of one day buying and restoring a beloved centuries-old farmhouse that had been in his family for decades.

Right when Elizabeth and I first started dating, my grandmothers house went up for sale, he explains. Some of our earliest dates were me asking Elizabeth if she wanted to leave Brooklyn and go move to the country and buy this farmhouse with me I dont even know if we were official at the time.

The price for his grandmothers house was a bit out of reach, but the rural pipe dream remained until something even bigger bloomed for the couple.

In 2016, after years of peeping online listings and hitting up open houses together on the weekends just for fun, Elizabeth started Circa Old Houses, a site and namesake Instagram feed that allowed her to further fuel her love for old homes outside of her 9-to-5 as a historical preservationist in New York City. [Disclosure: Elizabeth also is a real estate columnist for Country Living, a Hearst magazine. The Times Union is also owned by Hearst.]

There initially wasnt a price cap on the homes featured, but Elizabeth soon found herself with a veritable buffet of excess old homes on her radar thanks to hours spent scouring real estate sites like Zillow, Redfin, and more many of which were listed at less than $50,000. Thus, an additional social profile and site, Cheap Old Houses, was born, with the goal of connecting the showcased properties with buyers who wanted to care for them.

It quickly racked up the followers, surpassing 100,000 fans in just over a year, and generating buzz (and up to thousands of social shares) for unique listings like a converted Swedish church in Michigan for $57,900 and a 1906 home in Syracuse, NY listed for just $1,000.

The houses that end up on @CheapOldHouses are interesting in so many ways, says Elizabeth. We live just outside of New York City [in Nyack], and whenever a house is on the market, the kitchen is redone, the bathroom redone, everything is flipped. But in some of the places I'm posting houses, they haven't had that kind of economic investment, and [the houses] are kind of vulnerable because theyre not being shown to people and given that chance.

We started Cheap Old Houses, in a sense, a little selfishly, she continues. We were living in a place that was so expensive and unsustainable, and I think we fit the mold of a lot of our followers homeownership was a pipe dream. Weve been looking for our own cheap old house for even longer than weve been running this feed.

Almost five years after starting @CheapOldHouses, the pair finally got the chance to participate in the old home community they fostered. They looked extensively for a home under $100,000 and hit the jackpot on a federal-style farmhouse built in the late 1700s, nestled on 10.5 bucolic acres in upstate New York between the Adirondacks and Vermonts Green Mountains.

The homes first floor had been completely gutted, but echoes of the past including plaster walls, original wood siding and tons of historical windows still remain intact. For Elizabeth and Ethan, the chance to walk the walk theyve built their social empire on is the thrill of a lifetime.

I once heard someone say that the more you give to something, the more you love it, recounts Elizabeth. Once we fix this house and it requires so much fixing I cant imagine giving it up. It feels like weve found our piece of paradise.

With old houses, you need to live with them a while to understand their worth, and let things grow on you, says Elizabeth Finkelstein, shown here with Ethan, her husband and co-founder of Cheap Old Houses.

For renovators in the same boat, the duo cant stress enough the importance of research. Elizabeth has taken on the brunt of the historical reconnaissance for their property, while Ethan helms the gritty-but-necessary work of making sure walls will stand and pipes will function.

Digging into who has lived in your house and when it was built can lead to a better understanding for how the house should function and be brought back to life, says Elizabeth, who suggests combing through resources like Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com, as well as your location historical society, to glean further information on a new-to-you property.

From there, the ambitious pair plans to follow the golden rule they suggest that all old homeowners abide by: Do your absolute best to save anything original.

We live in a country where newer and fresher is thought of as easier and better, and we have a lot of marketing that's pushing that, says Elizabeth, who playfully names the freakin window industry as one of the most-guilty culprits of a buy-and-replace mindset. Rehabbing historical windows is always better than replacing with cheaper vinyl versions, she says.

Old windows have been here for 200 years and are made of materials that are meant to be replaced unlike vinyl, which will last 10 years and end up in a landfill.

Taking your time to preserve an old home should be part of the process, she advocates. There's also a bit of a slow renovation that needs to happen with old houses. Everybody expects their house to look like an Instagram feed immediately, and the concept of walking in and gutting a place is popular, she says. With old houses, you need to live with them a while to understand their worth, and let things grow on you.

True to their dichotomous relationship, Elizabeth and Ethan are both looking forward to different parts of restoring their forever home. He stresses the importance of working with contractors who appreciate the value of historical architecture and cant wait to see if the septic works, while she daydreams of fixtures and finishes that will allow the homes age to sing.

Still, the pair have been aligned on many things from the start, including one big truth: This home is not theirs.

I think a lot of old house owners, us included, would describe themselves as stewards of their homes, says Elizabeth. The house doesnt belong to you its its own living thing, and it goes beyond you. You take care of the past, but you also make sure that the next person that lives there has something thats been well-maintained and cared for.

Adds Ethan, Well never be bored in this house, thats for sure.

--

Alyssa Longobucco is a freelance writer, editor, and interior design enthusiast. She lives in the Hudson Valley, where she's renovating an 1820s colonial alongside her husband and son, Liam.

For More Hudson Valley Real Estate News

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@CheapOldHouses founders start their own old home renovation - Times Union

Today I got my second vaccination shot. Lots of people have strong opinions about the vaccine. People have strong opinions about everything these days.

When I got sick from that awful virus in October, I formed a few strong opinions of my own. I never want to be that sick again. So, when the vaccine became available, I wanted to take it.

This was not my first vaccine. I have a scar from a smallpox vaccination. Most readers dont have one of those, because Americans stopped getting that vaccine in 1972 when smallpox was declared gone in the United States. If it ever comes back, though, Im ready.

I am also vaccinated against measles, mumps, tetanus, diphtheria, polio, rabies, and kennel cough. Maybe those last two were for my dog; its hard to keep track.

Ive been meaning to get one for shingles. Everyone I know who had shingles hated it. When the health department can start doing those again, I think Ill ask for it.

Some folks dont want any vaccines. Thats really none of my business. I dont intend to ask anybody about their status.

If they want to risk infection from any of those things, its their choice. I believe that the vaccines I have received do their job. I do not fear polio, because my vaccination works.

I will not criticize you publicly or privately for your personal health decision.

Not everybody feels that way, though. Today, I made a friendly social media post to announce my vaccination. Dont make fun: most of you have posted a picture of your dinner plate.

I got some friendly comments from several folks. One person, though, messaged me to tell me that people who take the vaccine are pure evil. Apparently, according to this person, I bought into the devils lies.

Now I dont get called evil every day this got my attention. I thought for a second about what nefarious act I might have committed by protecting myself from a disease.

Just a second, though. I quickly concluded that I dont have to have the same beliefs as other people. I told the person to have a nice weekend, then I turned my attention to something else.

Why would a person insult a stranger like that? The Lord told each of us to treat others the way we want to be treated. There are thousands of laws and rules in life. Most of them are covered by just doing that.

Treat other people how you want to be treated. Be an adult.

Most of us use social media for important things. We post pictures of our dinner and of our pets. We wish one another happy birthday. We share really silly jokes, and we share videos of people doing funny things.

Some of us arent happy enough in life to do those things, though. Some of us have to pick fights.

We all have political views, and everyone has expressed a negative political view on social media at one time or another. Were human.

We should, however, try to act like grown-ups. We should act that way at work, at home, in public, and online. Have you ever watched a parent scream at the officials in a childrens sporting event? Dont be that guy.

We can do better. We can disagree without being jerks. We can have the strongest of opinions, and still treat others the way we want to be treated.

Someday maybe a smart doctor will invent a vaccination that keeps adults from acting like reckless children online.

Ill go get that one, too. We all should.

Mike Daugherty is Judge of the Clinton County Municipal Court.

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A needed vaccine and the golden rule - Wilmington News Journal, OH

Posted: Mar 30, 2021 / 06:22 PM EDT / Updated: Mar 30, 2021 / 07:33 PM EDT

GUYTON, Ga. (WSAV) Her home is tucked away down a Guyton back road. Its teeming with guineas, goats, and aging horses. And according to Judy Shearouse, most call the place her geriatric farm.

When Shearouse shows off her collection of animals, she does so proudly. Save for a few roaming ducks and cats, each animal has a place inside a stall or a fenced, grassy area.

And once a day, during feeding time, she says it is the most peaceful place.

Thats my time. So I get out there and I talk to my animals. And they dont talk back, said Judy with a smile. But thats a special time and I enjoy that.

Shearouses backyard farm is bordered by a home she has lived in since 1967. She moved there with her husband, Charles. The two have been married now for nearly 60 years.

I asked her for a date and we got it and then we had a date the next weekend and after that its been me and her from then on, said Mr. Shearouse.

For the past few years, Mrs. Shearouse says she has been taking care of her husband. After a work-related accident and other related medical complications, doctors say Mr. Shearhouse will not again be able to walk.

Dont know what wed do without [Judy], he said.

Mrs. Shearouse thinks back to her vows.

For better or for worse, she said. Sometimes we have good days and sometimes theyre not so good, but the majority are good.

A Christian woman, Shearouse thanks God for those good days. Close friends say she is to thank for many of theirs. They say she lives by the Golden Rule.

You know what the Golden Rule is? Do onto others as you would have others do onto you. Thats what she always does, said Barbara Russell, a neighbor and friend.

Shearouse may not be in the limelight, but she is there when friends like Russell want fresh blueberries and eggs.

And she is there when childhood friends like Jane Henshaw are recovering from surgeries.

I love her completely and I trust her completely and she blesses my life. Thats the kind of friend I have. Truly, said Henshaw.

Further, Sherouses grandchildren say she is there when they need a long talk.

I know not everyone has someone like her, so it means so so much to have someone who I know loves me unconditionally and just does everything, said Shearouses granddaughter Casey Weredyk.

And though, as Shearouse noted previously, her animals dont talk back, if they could, they would agree that she is always there, especially in the mornings when they need breakfast.

I just love her. Always will, said Mr. Shearouse.

Others who love Mrs. Shearhouse say that when you live a life like hers, eventually, you may also get what she has: everything from a geriatric farm to a yard full of people who are awed by a life of selfless deeds.

Lovethats what our family is based on, she said. Everybody loves everybody, so I guess in the long run, thats what we all live on.

They do everything they can for the world by being good people, said Henshaw. I think thats something to aspire to? Dont you?

WSAV News 3s Kelly Antonacci has featuredRemarkable Womenevery Tuesday of March, Womens History Month.

Four finalists were chosen from more than 100 nominations from people throughout the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry.

The winner of WSAVs contest will be announced on April 1 and will be considered for the Nexstar Woman of the Year award.

Read more from the original source:

She blesses my life: The remarkable woman making a difference in her own backyard - WSAV-TV

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves 3PL Summit.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Carrier safety and vetting why theres no golden rule

DETAILS: Nuclear verdicts have rocked carriers over the past several years. For 3PLs, insurance requirements and vetting carriers is still opaque and the legal ramifications are significant.

SPEAKERS: Chad Eichelberger, president of Reliance Partners, and Emily Chiarizia, general counsel, Armstrong Transport Group

BIO: Eichelberger joined the Reliance team in 2015 and has been a catalyst in its exponential growth of 20X over the past six years. He leads strategy and operations of the high-growth organization, where the firm has a niche in the logistics and truck insurance marketplace.

Chiarizia manages the carrier, claims and legal operations departments at Armstrong. In her role, she is responsible for litigation management, internal policy development, compliance, risk management, contract negotiation and the resolution of commercial cargo matters for Armstrongs 130 agency offices.

[With] the number of sheer billboard attorneys in the country right now that are targeting motor carriers and now freight brokers, theres not a perfect scenario where you absolutely can remove yourself from any potential liability. Chad Eichelberger

A good rule of thumb is to hire a carrier with an under-70% safety score rating in all five categories. If you see over 70% in any one category, I would stay away. Emily Chiarizia

Make sure youve vetted the carrier properly, that you understand the contract youve signed. Were seeing more brokers being named in these accidents than weve ever seen before. Chad Eichelberger

Read the original:

3PL Summit: Carrier safety and vetting why theres no golden rule - FreightWaves

George Orwell told us in Animal Farm that after the animals took over the farm, their governing leader, a pig named Napoleon, posted this immutable rule: All animals are equal. The farm would now be run by democratic processes where leaders were answerable to all animals.

But over time, Benjamin the donkey, sole literate among those governed, thought he noticed a change in the rule. He suspected something was wrong but didnt quite have the smarts to figure out what. So Napoleon patiently explained that the rule really was the same as always. All animals were still equal, but some were more equal than others.

Orwells Animal Farm was a parody of particular governments. What about America? Are all men still created equal? Is our government still of the people, by the people, and for the people?

Theres unsettling evidence that the answers are no and no. In American Values, Bobby Kennedys son Robert wrote, It can credibly be argued that America is now, officially, a plutocracy controlled by wealthy politicians.

Today, half of all members of Congress are millionaires, two-thirds of senators are, and no president since Truman has had a sub-million-dollar net worth. Only nine of 46 presidents have had less than a million.

Washingtons wealth equaled $325 million today. Jefferson, no pauper he, weighed in at $212 million.

So, in some ways, things really havent changed. The golden rule remains the gold rules. Yet today as never before, Americas leaders answer to the super-rich and their lobbyists.

The Center for Responsive Politics says that in the first quarter of 2020, the amount spent on lobbying about $938 million was the highest on record. The four largest lobbying groups represented pharmaceutical and health interests ($156 million), then electronics, insurance, and oil and gas. The four largest recipients of lobbyists contributions were Biden ($772,834), then U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler, Ga.; Thom Tillis, of North Carolina; and Kentuckys Mitch McConnell.

Our Supreme Court, of which eight of nine members are millionaires, has greased the process for others of their moneyed set to further rig the system to their advantage. In 2010, the court loosened limits on political contributions, and hundreds of millions of dollars have since flowed to political action committees. And heres the thing, 80 percent came from fewer than 200 rich folks.

Larry Bartels book Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, analyzed Senate votes and demonstrated that senators votes are influenced by the preferences of their rich citizens but not by poor ones. As money plays an ever-bigger role in politics, the clout of the ultra-wealthy grows, particularly to block things they dont like.

In 2014 a Princeton University study of Americas political system concluded that American democracy is now illusory. The people do not govern. Politicians respond almost exclusively to the desires of special interests and the wealthiest citizens. The data show that politicians cater to rich people and groups organized to advance their own narrow interests.

One standout example of that is the progressive tax system America once had the more you earned, the more tax you paid. All that has been recalibrated at the behest of the elite. Now they pay less tax on income, less on gains in the value of stocks, most of which they own, and more important, less estate taxes, or money passed to their heirs.

Thus, ultra-rich dynasties are created. The Institute for Policy Studies says the top determinative for extreme wealth is now not hard work or intelligence, its the family youre born into.

America presently has 400 billionaires, five of which are centi-billionaires (they cross the $100 billion line), thanks largely to politicians. The super-rich know theyve rigged the system. Theyre also aware that Americas glaring economic disparity is unsustainable.

Former New York banker Morris Pearl chairs Patriotic Millionaires, a super-rich group that actually backs higher taxes on the wealthy. Pearl laments, The whole system is so fundamentally unfair. One of the worlds richest, Warren Buffett, a member of Pearls group, says his 16 percent federal income tax rate is lower than his secretarys.

And billionaire Nick Hanauer warns that if something is not done to rebalance the scales, there will be open rebellion.

And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It wont last. If inequality keeps rising as it has been, eventually it (revolution) will happen. We will not be able to predict when, and it will be terrible for everybody. But especially for us.

In 2018, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote that in 1784, America was the first democracy in modern history. Earlier, Jefferson wrote, all men are created equal. So relax, nothings changed, right? America is still a democracy and all are still born equal, right?

And some are more equal than others.

Michael Smith is a Southern Pines writer.

Excerpt from:

Column: Skewed Wealth Threatens To Overturn Political System - Southern Pines Pilot

On Tuesday, March 16, a 21-year-old gunman shot and killed eight people, six of whom were of Asian descent, at various massage spas across Atlanta, Ga. The shooter claimed he was simultaneously a devout Christian and a sex addict and that he aimed to rid his environment of temptation a vile claim. Indeed, his own church condemned his actions in the name of Christianity. But religious beliefs have been used many times to justify various crimes.

In a recent political example, there have been multiple instances of wedding providers discriminating against LGBTQ+ couples in the name of religion, many of which have been considered justified, as people are entitled to their beliefs. If religion can be used to justify some actions but not others, where is the line? Which actions are appropriate if they are justified by religious beliefs but not if they are justified by individual beliefs, and why?

In accordance with the tenets in most major religions that call for equality and peace, no action directly harmful to others can be justified by religious beliefs.

The major world religions have many differences, yes, but one of the tenets they all share is some form of the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. This general principle can be found in religious texts, including those Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism, among others. My understanding is that most of us would prefer not to be harmed, so, if one subscribes to a major religion, they should, accordingly, aim not to harm others. In belonging to a religion with the overarching commandment to treat others the way you want to be treated, one cannot use their religious beliefs to rationalize directly hurting others.

Sometimes, though, religious texts are perceived to command followers to not live their lives in certain ways. In the case of discrimination against LGBTQ+ couples, Christian wedding providers have justified discriminatory actions because of their religious beliefs, claiming the Christian Bible names homosexuality as a sin. However, as followers of our individual religions, it is not our job to impose those commandments on others. All we can do is follow the guidelines of our respective religious texts to the best of our abilities; we cannot control others actions, only our own.

Harming another on the basis of them not obeying a commandment is not justified by most religions because, in doing so, you fail to abide by the Golden Rule, while also enforcing your own rules in a situation in which they may not apply. The best thing for religious individuals to do is to follow the rules they, personally, can follow, while others must make that decision for themselves. Obeying the Golden Rule ourselves has to supersede imposing guidelines on others, causing harm in the process.

If religion is never a justifiable excuse for harmful actions, why, at the present, can it be used to justify some actions and not others? Where is the line between discrimination in an economic setting and murder?

I think the difference between which actions are and are not historically justifiable by religious beliefs lies in what kinds of harm we think of as acceptable. Societally, it seems as though we find physical harm more unjustifiable than emotional or psychological harm, as physical harm is more visually apparent. For example, a violent physical act creates corporeal harm with material consequences. We can identify with the physical pain and feel empathy, so we find it harder to justify. Conversely, an act like refusing someone service does not directly cause physical harm. We cannot see the pain such an act causes as clearly, and we may not be able to empathize, so we find it more easily justifiable.

Harm, though, is harm, regardless of its tangibility. I wouldnt want someone to punch me in the face, and I also wouldnt want someone to call me an offensive name or deny me a service on religious grounds, so why would I find it appropriate to do either to someone else? To treat others the way you want to be treated, with kindness and empathy, is to be a good follower of religion.

To hurt others in the name of your religion, though, is to contradict the very rules you claim to follow. No direct harm to another can be ethically rationalized with religious beliefs, for religion cannot become a breeding ground for hate.

Ilana Mermelstein is an Opinion Columnist and can be reached at imerm@umich.edu.

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What can religion justify? - The Michigan Daily

Bill Fox

By Bill Fox/Columnist

About 25 years ago, my wife and I had an opportunity to join a group visiting the Holy Land.The idea that we would ever visit Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, and The Sea of Galilee was beyond our wildest dreams.But it did happen!The three places that most impressed me were The Sea of Galilee, the Mount of the Beatitudes, and the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus retreated just before his crucifixion. These three sites were mostly untouched and it was easy to imagine them, even today, as places where Jesus spent time. Most of the other historical sites had changed and developed over the centuries.

One could not help but realize thatthe baffling growth of early Christianity, despite opposition and Roman persecution, was due to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth really did rise from the dead.If the crucifixion was about everything that is bad about the world, Easter is about how we can be free from everything bad.For Christians, Easter commemorates the fact that the resurrection of Jesus changed something fundamental about the world and about humanity.In the end, the meaning of Easter is as simple as it seems: it says that life triumphs over death.

I always find it amazing, maybe more so at this time of the year that Jesus preached, among other things, a simple message that is a part of most major world religions, even those that predated Christianity.So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you,for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12.We are more familiar with hearing this as The Golden Rule.

With a little research I found versions of the same rule in other major religions as outlined below:

From theBahaiFaith:Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself.

FromBrahmanism:This is the sum of Dharma [duty]: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.

From Buddhism: One should seek for others the happiness one desires for oneself.

A state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?

InConfucianism:Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence.

From Hinduism: This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what which would cause pain if done to you.

In Islam:None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.

From Jainism: A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.

In the Jewish Faith: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And also, What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.

From our North American Native Spirituality: Respect for all life is the foundation.- From the Great Law of Peace.

Also attributed to Black Elk: All things are our relatives and what we do to everything, we do to ourselves.All is really one.

It is unfortunate sometimes that society is pushed to dwell on our differences. While the cultures we came from may be quite different.Our culture may include our customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements that may be quite unique.

However, regardless of all our cultural differences, here we are at Easter, maybe realizing that we have much more in common with our fellow man, than perhaps we realized, seeing as in one way or another, The Golden Rule is part of all of our heritages.

May this Easter and the rest of this year be a time when we all aspire to follow the Golden Rule in all our affairs.

Im at bdfox@rogers.com if you wish to comment.

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Easter and our trip to the Holy Land - Oshawa Express

On Haaretzs front page on March 30 as a news analysis, not an opinion piece Jack Khoury analyzed the election results among Israeli Arabs. At the end of his analysis in Hebrew, Khoury arrived at the following insight: Theres the ideal and theres the reality, and for now, the Arabs have chosen the reality.

Its been a long time since Ive seen a slogan so at odds with human dignity. After all, MKs Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir are also the reality. Should we hook up with them this time, as per the old defeatist Arab adage kiss the hand you cannot break?

And if so, why shouldnt this golden rule also guide our brothers and sisters demonstrating outside the prime ministers residence, who, for almost a whole year, have taken the trouble to come from all over the country to topple Benjamin Netanyahu? And in general, how is it possible to effect change if you choose the reality? After all, its the nature of reality to remain as it is, whereas the human impulse is to strive for the ideal.

Sorry, but this isnt the way of the Arab community, which marked the 45th anniversary of Land Day on Monday. On that day in 1976, six of our best sons were shot and killed by the security forces when they went out to protect their land. But they thereby broke the siege the government had been imposing on them for many years. By fighting rather than acquiescing to the reality, they prevented the expropriation of tens of thousands of dunams.

This reality that the Arabs ostensibly chose also includes incitement by the United Arab List and its supporters against the rival Joint List. They demonized Joint List MKs Aida Touma-Sliman and Ayman Odeh because they supported a law banning conversion therapy which, to be clear, is a law to ban the torture of members of the LGBTQ community. And they wrapped it all up in religious packaging.

Yet despite this unbridled incitement, the majority didnt buy the UALs propaganda. Take a look at most Arab towns, Khoury, and youll see that the Joint List won a clear majority.

The UAL is going back to the days of the Arab satellite parties that supported David Ben-Gurion and his Mapai party. On the other hand, its the way of governments to sow divisions among the oppressed: This one is good, so it will get a carrot; that one is bad, so it will get the stick.

In the meantime, even the good one is getting the stick. Our supervisor of Jewish racial purity, Smotrich, and his Kahanist friend Ben-Gvir have brutally rejected UAL chairman Mansour Abbas. As the Arabs say, We agreed to the bitter, but the bitter rejected us.

Khoury finishes by venting his anger at what is called the left. This is understandable, even though the left is virtually nonexistent, given that parts of it behaved shamefully after the last election, before Netanyahu formed a government with Kahol Lavan chairman Benny Gantz.

Nevertheless, Netanyahus opponents together with the Joint List almost thwarted passage of the nation-state law, of which Netanyahuwas the spiritual and biological father. That alone is grounds for rejecting this, the ultimate reality in the form of Netanyahu, who will stand trial on Monday on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Today, were telling our children that their grandfathers and grandmothers, even when they were under military government, raised the banner of the battle for the refugees return. I, for instance, tell my children that when I was still in my mothers womb, my late Uncle Said was fleeing from the police because he and his friends had prevented a grand party that was supposed to take place in Nazareth to mark the tenth anniversary of the states establishment.

Purely by chance, that day was also when thousands of people were deported over the border. And the next day, more than 500 demonstrators were arrested in Nazareth, Umm al-Fahm and many other places for protesting against the military government.

When the day comes in another 20 or 30 years, what will we tell our children? Will we tell them that in 2021, we took a sharp turn, sought out the reality and chose it? The beating heart inside us says no.

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Israel election results: Arabs will not bend their principles to fit a twisted 'reality' - Haaretz

Discoveries of new overarching rules or laws in nature are very rare.

Surprisingly, my colleagues and I have found a new rule of biological growth that explains unexpected similarities in sharp structures found across the tree of life in teeth, horns, claws, beaks, animal shells, and even the thorns and prickles of plants.

The discovery could help us look forward in evolution to predict how animals, including humans, and their many parts are likely to evolve. Our findings are publishedin the open-access journal BMC Biology.

Some patterns are very common in nature, such as logarithmic spirals that follow the golden ratio. These patterns appear because of the very simple processes that generate them. For example, a logarithmic spiral is produced when a spiral grows faster on one side than the other.

We can describe such patterns as following rules of growth. These rules help us understand why animals and plants are the shapes they are.

In my research Im fascinated by patterns in nature. And for many years Ive searched for a pattern in how teeth grow. By looking at hundreds of teeth and measuring how they get wider as they get longer, my team and I identified a simple mathematical formula that underpins tooth shape.

This is a power law, in which theres a straight-line relationship between a tooths width and length when you take a logarithm of these measurements. Power laws are also found in the sizes of earthquakes, extinction rates of animals, and movements of the stock market.

Read more: The Golden Mean: a great discovery or natural phenomenon?

We named the new power law the power cascade, as it describes how the surface of a tooth cascades down while following a specific pattern. We looked at teeth from hugesharks, Tyrannosaurus rex, mammoths, and humans, and saw the power cascade pattern in all of them.

Amazingly, the rule also works for claws, hooves, horns, spider fangs, snail shells, antlers, and the beaks of mammals, birds and dinosaurs. We even observed it in the horns of a Triceratops skeleton to be displayed at Melbourne Museum.

Perhaps these structures have a common shape because many of them carry out the same job. For instance, a sharp dinosaur tooth is useful for puncturing the flesh of prey, as is a sharp claw.

Nonetheless, we still find the power cascade pattern in physical traits that arent for piercing and have different shapes overall, such as shells and backward-facing horns.

While I first noticed the power cascade about 10 years ago using a technique Id developed to measure 3D shapes, the long road to its discovery began much earlier.

The pattern builds on an idea first put forward in 1659 by Sir Christopher Wren, a polymath anatomist, physicist, mathematician, and the architect of St Pauls Cathedral in London.

Wren considered a snail shell may be a cone twisted around a logarithmic spiral. We now know shells and other shapes such as teeth and horns follow the power cascade shape, called a power cone.

The power cascade, then, seems to be the missing piece of a 350-year-old puzzle of how animals grow. But despite how common it is, can we really deem it a law of nature?

It was reasonably common for previous generations of biologists to refer to strong patterns (including the logarithmic spiral) as biological laws.

Biologists these days are very hesitant to use this term, as it implies an unbreakable rule, such as the law of gravity. However, we can show there are very simple processes of growth that produce the power cascade pattern.

Therefore, when animals and plants grow in this way they will inevitably produce the power cascade shape, just as is the case with logarithmic spirals.

Certainly this rule can be bent, as seen by grooved snake fangs. But given the immense variety of animal parts it works for, and the many shapes it makes, theres a strong case to be made for classifying it as a power law of nature.

Future research will be able to confirm this.

What can we do with this newly discovered rule? Well, to start, it can help us think about the likely course of evolution.

The evolution of animals is usually thought to include a lot of random factors. This makes it difficult to know exactly what animals will end up looking like many millennia from now.

That said, the power cascade is perhaps the simplest way for a pointed structure to form when an animal is growing as an embryo or juvenile. Thus, wed expect this shape to be very common both now and in the future and we know the former to be true.

We can even apply the power cascade to imagine what shapes the teeth, horns and claws of mythical creatures might look like if they followed rules in nature. In other words, we can now design dragons in Game of Thrones and fantastic beasts in Harry Potter to look as realistic as possible.

Moreover, many structures such as horns have evolved independently in different animals. So each time this happens in the future, it will probably follow the power cascade shape. Humans with horns remain may an unlikely reality, but at least well know what this would look like.

Read more: How animals got their spots and stripes according to maths

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

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A new rule that explains why animals' pointy parts grow the way they do Monash lens - Monash Lens