What are your cognitive biases? Do you know?

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ArtsyBee / Pixabay

If you’ve followed me for a while, or attended one of my classes, one of the concepts I talk about that affects your ability to spot deception and even understand other people is your emotional biases.

Essentially, what you like or dislike can affect your ability to clearly see the truth.   Scientists have studied emotional “bias” and know these biases have powerful effects on us.

As an example, if you dislike people who you think are politically opposite then you, then you may incorrectly judge a person, because you are biased before you even consider what they have to say.  You may take something they do as a kind gesture and think they were being underhanded.  In the same way you may not trust them when they are completely honest.  This is what biases can do to us.

As humans, we have many biases that can affect our lives.  I ran into an article that mapped them all out in a graphic, and it was quite stunning to see.

Are you familiar with the:

  • Fading-effect bias
  • Less-is-better effect
  • Ambiguity bias
  • Decoy effect
  • Suffix effect

Me, neither!  It appears there are dozens and dozens and dozens of cognitive biases that affect us as humans.  Who knew there were so many?

Here is a real cool info-graphic that has mapped them all out for you: Check it out.

What are your biases? Do you know?

The more you know and understand, the better you will be at making good solid decisions!

Jimmy Kimmel: Must Watch

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This is a must watch clip of the Jimmy Kimmel show.

Jimmy Kimmel calls Bill Cassidy a liar, and rightfully so.  Do watch until the end — his last skit sums it up perfectly.

It’s ridiculous our elected officials think the public is this stupid.

I’m glad people with influence are standing up and calling a spade a spade, and a liar a liar!  It’s about time.  It’s the only way to get away from a politically correct “sick” society which has rejected the truth and reality for way to long!

We need to speak the truth.

Thank you, Jimmy!  Thank you!!

Steve Bannon: My Thoughts

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Here are some quick thoughts I had about Steve Bannon watching his 60 Minute interview:

  1.  I do believe Bannon doesn’t care about the GOP or the democrats.  That’s the truth.  I’ve been saying that to my readers on FB for months about Trump. Both only care about their own self-serving interests.
  2. Trump and Bannon share a LOT in common in how they approach life, but aren’t always on the same page with their ideas, beliefs, etc. Bannon has his own ideas, Trump follows everyone who makes him feel good. Bannon knows this.
  3. Bannon knows how to play Trump for his gain.
  4. I do believe Bannon wants to support Trump outside the White House for various reasons:
    •   He is not a guy who conforms and the White House was too much pressure
    •   He went crazy watching Trump swim around aimlessly. He feels he has more power to influence his agenda by leaving
    •   Bannon knows if he plays Trump right, he will have Trumps ear and he craves that power — hence the loyalty statement
  5.  Bannon convinces himself that his beliefs and feelings are correct, regardless of fact, much like Trump. I call it delusional.
  6.  He knows how to say a few things to get people’s ear and then twist them around to get what he wants. He’s good at manipulation.
  7.  When Bannon says he and Trump are street fighters, what Bannon means is that they don’t play fair, they don’t care about ethics, they will play you to the death match to win–these two don’t back down, don’t have fear and know how to push people to their limit to win. They care about what they want and nothing else.  Both men would have no problem taking you for all you have. If you’re that dumb, they would reason and tell you that it’s YOUR PROBLEM, no theirs.

Final word?  Chilling.

Tomato Deception. Yes, seriously.

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Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay

So this weekend, with fall fast approaching in the north, I decided to go out for some farm-fresh tomatoes so I can cook them into a heavenly sauce and freeze fresh packets of summer for a long winter. I didn’t do this for a couple of years and I miss it.

I’ve noticed with our heavy rains this year, the tomatoes I’ve bought so far haven’t been the greatest. Everywhere I went, they are bruised, look beat up and just not appetizing. And the ones I ate? They were tough, and flavorless.  So I drove around to a few new places.   One farm that I entered had nice looking tomatoes for sale right out front in wooden baskets.  I figured I could work with those.   I went in to inquire about the cost of a half-a-bushel.  I was told that those wouldn’t be sold by the bushel, but they had “slicer” tomatoes in back that I could buy in bulk.

“Slicer?”  I thought that didn’t sound right.  Who grows “slicer” tomatoes?  I hadn’t heard of that before.

I went back and looked at the ones they wouldn’t sell me and I noticed the boxes they were sitting in were professionally printed boxes that had the correct name for each type they contained. That seemed odd.  I then went back inside and when I questioned the girl if they were grown on their farm, she told me no, they bought these tomatoes.

A FARM bought their tomatoes.

Hello!  I feel like I am living in an alternate reality sometimes. How does that make sense???

I was shocked.  I’m in farm fields for miles and miles and I want to buy tomatoes and they aren’t growing them. They are buying them!!  And its profitable for them to sell them?   Well, of course, it is!  They are selling them as if they were homegrown when they aren’t. I can guarantee dozens and dozens of unsuspecting customers paid for “farm” grown tomatoes and got greenhouse.

Just wow.

Unbelievable, isn’t it?

Next time you think you are getting farm-fresh — you might want to ask first where it was grown. I certainly will going forward!

Trump’s Interesting Words

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I don’t believe it takes any skill at all to see that Donald Trump is not honest, changes facts, says whatever he feels regardless of the truth. It’s clear he doesn’t care. But  more often than not, he says things that reveal more than he wants to.

In the interview with the New York Times that was released yesterday, it’s fascinating what he says.

TRUMP: Look, Sessions gets the job. Right after he gets the job, he recuses himself.

BAKER: Was that a mistake?

TRUMP: Well, Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else.

HABERMAN: He gave you no heads up at all, in any sense?

TRUMP: Zero. So Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself. I then have — which, frankly, I think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, “Thanks, Jeff, but I can’t, you know, I’m not going to take you.” It’s extremely unfair, and that’s a mild word, to the president.

First off, Jeff Session didn’t take the job as Trump suggests and then immediately recuse himself.

No, Jeff Sessions was confirmed on February 8 and didn’t recuse himself until March 2, 2017, after he was exposed by the Washington Post on March 1 to have met with Sergey Kislyak twice, which he had previously denied in his confirmation testimony.

Trump then says, “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.”

Well, if there was no collusion, and Jeff Sessions didn’t have anything going on with Russia, why would Sessions have told Trump “before he took the job” that he would or wouldn’t recused himself? It makes no sense to even think like that. An honest person would never even consider that, but a deceptive person in collusion would.  Especially if someone he counted on to be loyal turned on him.

Ironically, when you look at the statement Sessions gave in his recusal, he doesn’t take responsibility for recusing himself. He says in referring to the Department of Justice, “They said that since I had involvement with the campaign, I should not be involved in any campaign investigation.”   That’s as passive as you can get!  That’s a man who doesn’t want to take the fall and give excuses just like Trump. Two apples from the same cart.

They tell me I have to do this so I am.  Don’t blame me!

Trump obviously trusted Sessions to stick by him and NEVER (Trump’s word) recuse himself if they came under fire, which did not happen.  Why would Trump even expect that? That’s not the law of our country, but Trump seems to think he is always above the law, which he continued to reveal when he said later in the interview that the FBI reports to the president.  Um, no, that’s not correct Trump.   Time and time again, Trump he acts like he is an authoritarian, not the president of a democracy.

I do not believe Sessions will resign unless he believes it is in his own best interest. If he can stay for his own benefits, and stick it back to Trump any way he can, he most certainly will.  I don’t trust either of these men farther than I can see them.

It’s so ironic that all the people in the Trump campaign have been involved with Russia and oops, forgot to tell anyone.  A mistake?  No, and if you believe that, you are high risk to be a victim in your life. Please take my warning seriously.