Arthur C. Brooks – “People flourish when they earn their own success.”

I think he is right and that means the words “I can’t” are an obstacle.  What’s worst of all is they are almost always self-inflected words. Typically we say “I can’t” when what is really happening is “I won’t” or “That’s too hard,” or “I don’t want to work that hard,” or any number of other variations.  Think about it, even that rock that is way beyond human ability to lift can be lifted with the correct application of engineering and tools and teamwork.  People lift the unliftable every day.  Mankind has walked on the moon for crying out loud!  “I can’t” is an excuse because with enough energy and effort I can.

So why do we say and hear those words, “I can’t” so often?  I think there are two reasons.

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The audio:

06-23hhs-pompeo

The transcript:

HH: Secretary Pompeo, thank you for having us.

MP: Hugh, it’s great to be with you. Welcome to the State Department.

HH: Let me start…great to be here. Let me be practical. You’ve got some empty offices at the Department of State. Is the Senate working with you to fill them so you can have the leadership in place with the best diplomatic corps in the world?

MP: So the answer is we need to move faster here. Everyone in the process needs to. We’ve got to get our diplomats out to every corner of the world, do that as expeditiously as possible. It is the case when I took over there were some big gaps in important places. And we’ll soon have our ambassador in place in South Korea, and some of the places that are absolutely most essential. But we need everyone helping, and I’m confident that Senators Menendez and Corker will help me achieve that.

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Every now and then the host gets a bee in his bonnet and asks me to write something.  He recently found out I am a big fan of James Bond movies and asked me to write a list of them – worst to best.  I resist this idea because it is mostly asking to start a fight.  People have very definite ideas about these things.  Bond fans are a rabid bunch.  The Bond cult in the UK is amazing (I once heard the Bond theme played by the Queen’s band at the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace!)  THIS IS FOR FUN!  I will not defend this list, my commentary is meant to entertain, not reason.  Bond movies are all about fun, that’s it, good fun.  Just have fun.

BTW – If I sound like a misogynist in my comments, what can I say, that is part of Bond movies. Again, this is fun and some of these movies were made at a very different time, you have to take them at face value.

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Arizona’s governor Doug Ducey joined em this morning:

Audio:

06-21hhs-ducey

Transcript:

HH: I’m joined by Arizona’s great governor, Doug Ducey. Good morning, Governor, how are you?

DD: Really good, Hugh. How are you?

HH: I am terrific. I’ll be you’re relieved we have a resolution on the border and we can go back to both enforcement and economic growth as opposed to the separation of families.

DD: I really am. It’s the right thing to keep these families together, but we do want to have border security. We know it’s national security, and this is an issue we’ve been dealing with in Arizona for over a decade.

HH: Now a lot of people saw you when you were on with me on MSNBC a couple weeks ago talking about STOP orders, the Severe Threat Orders of Protection. And I believe you got a lot of converts. Have you got coverts in the legislature, Governor Ducey?

DD: We’re getting converts in the legislature. You know, Hugh, for a leading conservative like you to come out and talk about what a good idea this is, that this is a tool that as conservatives and people that believe in law and order, we should be proactive in protecting people. We should be proactive in public safety. And when we have somebody like a Nicholas Cruz who’s been visited by law enforcement and social services 39 times, identified to the FBI by name, and he posts personally on YouTube that he wants to be known as a school shooter, that we should not allow this individual to have the same rights that you and I enjoy. So yes, we’re getting converts. I think it’s just something where when you demonstrate leadership and actually be proactive rather than reactive to these tragedies that are happening inside our country, and that are preventable.

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