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Oh snap . . . I’m not falling for THIS (election year promises to eliminate Federal Income Tax).  

Photo above - If President Trump makes good on his promise to eliminate Federal Income taxes, will Taylor Swift buy an even bigger jet? Or just repaint the one she has? (disclaimer - Taylor Swift and the future Travis Kelce-Swift have not publicly taken a position in favor of eliminating income taxes).

There are a lot of taxes I’d like to see eliminated or rolled back. But the amount of media attention Trump’s proposal to eliminate income tax gets is disturbing and irresponsible. It goes beyond clickbait, since there is zero discussion of what happens next. (see MSN link below)

In yesterday’s column I highlighted 6 separate fees/taxes which California levies against a nightly hotel room. These were evidently the brainchild of politicians wanting to cash in on the 2026 World Cup tourism bonanza. (some of the taxes/fees predate 2026, of course).

Some taxes are regressive – they fall equally on everyone, meaning harder proportionately on the working poor. Or they’re PROgressive, meaning the poor are somewhat spared, and instead people with more disposable income are on the hook to a greater extent. A lot of Federal spending IS wasteful, but let’s agree we cannot do without highways, schools, national defense, and the Food and Drug administration. If there’s no federal income tax, either the national debt is going expend beyond the solar system (it’s already over the moon), or tariffs and fees – the regressive kind – hit even you and me even harder. Maybe both happen at once.

Sales taxes are regressive - we all go to the store. So are gasoline taxes. Social security taxes - you can’t escape these even if you’re a min-wage Starbucks barista high fiving because your tips are no longer considered taxable. I’m less concerned about alcohol, tobacco and firearms taxes, but obviously the working poor are big consumers of those items. At least if they live in the ‘hood, or in the rural misery belt, or someplace where it snows 8 months out of the year.

Trump promised voters that his every changing litany of tariffs would be paid by “someone else” instead of you and me. That’s absurd. There is no pot of gold Ford is sitting on. Or Rite Aid Drugs. Or Del Monte Foods. Or Pfizer. They all lost money, and a few filed for bankruptcy recently. In fact, in any given year at least 10% of the companies in our 401K accounts lose money.

So we’re paying those Trump tariffs through higher prices, and by shifting to cheaper alternatives. The $100,000 battery powered F150 is dead. The Ford Maverick compact pickup is ascendant 0 the base model. No need to tow 10,000 pounds when you're only picking up half a dozen bags of mulch at Home Depot.

There is no way ANY politician can come up with a credible way to replace income taxes. Our politicians can’t even balance the federal budget. We already have $38 trillion in national debt. Every day we go $8 billion further into debt. You could build an aircraft carrier for $8 billion.

Let me be clear: I don’t want to justify – or increase – federal income taxes on the basis of our ridiculous and unnecessary spending. No matter what kind of spending your own political party rants about. Both parties had an equal hand in creating our $38 trillion national debt.

I want to see politicians' plans for a balanced budget, rather than inane gibberish about eliminating income taxes.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

How much you’d take home making $250K a year if Trump eliminates income taxes

You're cordially invited to ROAR. Jordan here,

You're cordially invited to submit a paper for the inaugural issue of ROAR, the new Research in Applied Relatefulness Journal.

This is a powerful endeavor to

• build our communal body of knowledge
• cross-pollinate new insights, failures, and best practices
• celebrate all the incredible practitioners, innovations, and generally showcase the community

We believe relatefulness has a lot to contribute to civilizational knowledge and inquiry about intersubjective awareness, communication, group facilitation, and the strengths and limitations of our how these practices interface and apply to other fields of study. 

What kinds of papers?

(1)  Cross-modal integration: what happens when relatefulness meets other frameworks in practice? eg: IFS & relatefulness, functional medicine and relatefulness (coming in the first issue)

(2) Practitioner Case Reports: internal relatefulness experiments and best practices. eg: a particular exercise, event flow, or structure 

(3) Field notes / failure reports. failures and lessons learned. eg: 

(4) Theoretical & philosophical contributions exploring the conceptual foundations of relatefulness and advancing new frameworks. eg: I'll be publishing an article version of my Relateful Camp 2024 talk "How Not to Start a Cult"

This is meant to help us see all of our play and exploration as research (because it is) and take part in the larger, ongoing human conversation by being more visible, citable, and propagating what we're doing, what works, and what doesn't, so everyone can learn from everyone and iteration can happen faster. 

Why you?

You get to be a founding contributor to a new field, your work becomes citable, you build credibility as a practitioner-researcher, and you get visibility within a growing community.

If you're not sure, post an abstract to the ROAR UpTrust group and people will weigh in and give you feedback.

Why now?

I'm just really excited for the experiential knowledge interchange for the sake of itself. That said...

We're in an era where our globe's biggest problems require coordinating across wildly different perspectives with very distinct values and desires. 

Relatefulness can be a key contributor to emerging social-psychotechnology (consciously created intersubjective infrastructure) to help people communicate, and find internal peace and sanity amidst unprecedented pace of transformation.

Submission Deadline 

Track 1: March 15th. Your article will be ready for the Camp Preview; a physical artifact at the chow hall at camp that proves the concept and inspires people to submit.

Track 2: May 15th. Full Founding Issue This gives the broader community a real runway to write something worth publishing. The full issue goes up on relateful.com, gets a downloadable PDF, and is available on Amazon.

Details

Formats:
Practitioner case reports (1,000-2,000 words), cross-modal integration papers (2,000-4,000 words), Field notes / failure reports (500-1,500 words); Theoretical / philosophical contributions (2,000–5,000 words)

Review/editorial process.
Submission:
1) Submit draft to a private UpTrust group, anytime starting day of announcement
2) Get community feedback (this is not quality control and you should not assume that all comments are good, it just helps the community get involved in our style) Editorial review proceeds on its own timeline and does not depend on community response. 
3) Editorial review: v1 at least Jordan Myska Allen will review, whether or not you get comments before approval depends largely on the number of submissions; we may expand to a founding editorial board (TBA)
4) Accepted articles will be published in the following:

Distribution/format.
- announced on TTT email list
- announced on Substack
- a linkable, indexable page on relateful.com
- a downloadable PDF
- A printed copy that people can order through amazon (this may not be ready by Relateful camp. But we will have at least one printed copy at the chow hall)

Guidelines:

• Abstract (150-300 words) (unless field notes/failures- (50–150 word abstract is fine)
• Author info: name, relevant background (facilitation credentials, affiliation with Relateful Company, professional practice, academic training, whatever establishes your credibility in the domain you're writing about, and contact email (for editorial use only, not published))
• Originality statement (A line confirming the work hasn't been published elsewhere and is the author's own)
• Conflicts of interest / disclosure: (any relevant personal/financial stakes)
• Permissions (If you reference specific client work/sessions in a practice that emphasizes confidentiality, this confirms you have consent or have sufficiently anonymized)
• Voice: first, second, and third person are all welcome (I, we, it) but no need to label them; use whatever constructs enact the experience you're hoping to communicate, including shifting views if needed. We can't study the relational while pretending there's no I or we. (Drawing from Integral Methodology Pluralism).
• References/citations: We're not imposing APA formatting on practitioners bc we think it'll kill submissions. if you reference someone's work, name them and link to it. 
• Co-authored pieces should list all contributors with individual author info. Designate one corresponding author for editorial communication.
• Authors retain copyright; Relateful Company has permission to publish, distribute, and reprint

(Skipping for V1: Detailed style guides, structured heading requirements, blinded review formatting, cover letters, IRB approval documentation, etc.)

How to submit: Post to here in this ROAR UpTrust group.

1001 Albums Generator. I've been using the 1001 Albums Generator for a few months now, where it emails you an album from that list of albums to listen to each day. So far there have been a few surprises, some validation that I don't like certain artists, and even got me listening to a Janet Jackson album. 

Politics self-assessment quiz from an integral perspective. I’m obsessively working on a course I’ve been trying to build for 4 years and have recently made big breakthroughs with. I’ve just completed the first draft of questions in the topic of politics.

Ideally, the way this would be scored is that people could rank all of the statements that are true for them, put as many responses as they want in a no way bucket, and put as many responses as they want in a I don’t get it bucket. I haven’t found a quiz builder tool that will let me build it that way yet, so in the meantime I’m using one that lets me randomize the order the responses are shown in and lets them rank the answers.

Here’s the first draft of the prompts, would love any and all feedback, support, and nit-picking!

What are your opinions and feelings about politics?

 M I personally don’t care, that’s just not where my focus is in my life.

 R I’ll stand firm until I die to defend my country.

 A I worry that things could be heading in the wrong direction.

 O The people with the best strategies will always win.

 G The efforts of good intentions are persistently threatened by corruption and greed.

 T The current political landscape shows me a mirror of my inner world, and the most impactful solutions start by looking within.

What are your priorities in how you interact with politics?

 M I’m not going to do anything that might make my people reject me.

  R As long as I can live my life the way I want to, we’re good, but as soon as someone tries to get in the way I’m going to fight for my rights.

 A I perform my civic duty, like voting, writing to my senator and staying aware of local politics, because that’s what a conscientious citizen does to maintain what matters.

 O I leverage connections and resources to move the cogs of the political machine in directions that support my endeavors.

 G I volunteer for causes that work to fix systemic flaws and care for those in need.

 T I trust the overarching trend that life has always had toward greater good, and I take action when needed.

What do you want or expect from politicians?

 M As long as me and my family’s lives stay the same, whatever they do is ok by me.

 R Take charge, get shit done, and don’t get in the way of what I want.

 A Protect our valued traditions and morals.

 O Make everything as functional as possible without getting in the way of progress.

 G Undo antiquated laws that systematically oppress and harm people, and create safety nets to ensure everyone’s basic needs will always be met.

 T Stay aware of societal patterns, and look for solutions that balance holding firm limits with honoring the current views of all who live here.

What are the keystones of our political culture?

 M I’m not really sure.

 R Honoring our forefathers who fought for our independence.

 A Maintaining law and order.

 O The system of checks and balances makes sure history doesn’t get in the way of innovation.

 G Legislation that protects people and the environment.

 T Public and private entities interacting to create policies that accurately represent the beliefs of the people.

When you talk about politics, where do you tend to come from?

 UL My feelings- what makes me feel safe and protected, and what makes me feel threatened.

 LL The people I love- what matters to them and will help them feel safe and protected.

 UR Data- polls, statistics, and effectiveness.

 LR Systemic impacts- how voting functions, ways laws are implemented, etc.

When you take in information about politics, what do you want most?

 UL Personalization- ask me questions and find out what matters to me.

 LL Connection- let’s listen to each other and see what we discover.

 UR Facts- I want to study what’s happening and why it’s happening.

 LR Structures- I want to explore the methods and protocols at work.

AMA with John Mackey. Wednesday, 2/11 at 2:00 PM CT

We’re here to talk about A Course in Miracles, and The Disappearance of the Universe, and how we can help each other home with the practices of true forgiveness.

John Mackey is well known as the co-founder of Whole Foods (and CEO for 44 years), innovator in Conscious Capitalism (including creating billion dollar company while changing food systems for the better, implementing executive salary caps, radical health care and employee wellness programs, etc,) and most recently founder of Love.life - a cutting edge medicine, nutrition, fitness, center w/ pickleball, cafe. 

Is this gonna be another Ello? I like the mission statement of this platform, but I'm always wary when a new social media site comes along — because I know there's every chance it won't be here in six months.

Maybe UpTrust will prove me wrong. I hope so. How is your experience so far?

Hello. Hi everyone — I’m Tarnell Brown. Still figuring out how this site works, but I’m jumping right in. I’m an economist who studies how institutional and structural incentives can hide the real costs of discrimination, especially for people who are already starting from behind. A lot of my work lives at the intersection of economics, policy, and fairness, asking how we can raise the cost of discriminatory outcomes without killing innovation or choice.

If that sounds like your lane, I write longer essays, replication notes, and policy briefs over at Meanderings of an Eccentric Economist (eccentricecon.com), where I explore how institutions shape real-world opportunity for disadvantaged groups. Looking forward to seeing what UpTrust becomes and finding the people here who like to argue about incentives, discrimination, and institutional design in good faith.

Faith Science and Leadership . The Institute for Faith, Science, and Leadership proposal is pending at 3 local universities. I want to integrate Faith science and the future of leadership education to heal at least one division in our world. The fracture was based in a misunderstanding of science in order to protect the power of the Church 500 years ago. Time for reasonable discussion about how these two disciplines/schools of thought can integrate holistically. 

On the plethora of Therapeutic modalities.

There's a genre of book that's the therapy modality book. They're all the same. They go

I was a therapist and what I was doing wasn't working, and then I discovered <specific technique the book is advocating> and then it cured me and all my clients and now things are great and we just need to teach everybody this technique.

So many therapy books are like this. Focussing, the IFS book, the EFT book, to name a few. The various ACT books. Waking the Tiger.

And the specific technique is different from book to book. Radically different. And even contradictory.

So what's going on here? Apart from probably there's some book somewhere about how to write a therapy book, or some ghostwriter that's cranking these out?

If we take these stories as more or less true, how do we make sense of these seeming contradictions?

This is not a rhetorical question! I'm going to give you my best guess below, but please take a moment to think of your answer, and ideally post it in the comments for everyone to see. I am very much interested in other answers here.

Ok, my best guess (at least, the guess that I find most interesting):

What works is having a therapist who believes they are helping. It's like the placebo effect. If the doctor handing you a sugar pill is like "Yeah, idk, people told me this is helpful. lmk what you think", my guess is, you're not going to get much placebo effect out of that pill (actually they've done research and you do still get some but not as much iirc).

So when the therapist is out of school, they're doing what they were told works, but for a certain kind of mind, that doesn't give them confidence. So then they have to go on a big heroes journey, and come back with some technique, some approach, that for whatever reason they believe in.

Now they're back, and they believe it works, and low and behold, it does!

It's like Dumbo's magic feather.

"some technique, some approach, that for whatever reason they believe in."

So why do they believe in the technique they chose? Because they love to do it. Because, when they're doing it, they feel most like themselves, and they feel most connected with the person they're working with. Or they feel most connected with what they consider important, about a mind, about a heart, about a life.

And maybe this gives it some extra sauce too. Maybe this love of themselves, this intrinsic interest, radiates out, and reminds their clients that they too can love themselves, love life, be enthusiastic, and intrinsically interested.

Or maybe that last part is just what I have come to believe works ;)

how do i browse all the conversations? This might be an obvious question but I don't understand....

Is there a way to just see all the threads by date? 

I see the two tabs for Top convos for you and Your Timeline and I also see Your Topics. But are all the threads showing up in one or all of them?

How much are you Uptrusting? Downtrusting? I mean pressing the green and red arrows on peoples posts and comments.

Just curious how people are using this feature, as you can't directly see who has Up and Down trusted a post.

Currently, my threshold is reasonable high. I hit UpTrust if something is well thought out/I like the thought process behind it, and/or if it presents something novel that I like/agree with/find plausible.

That means something like 1 in 10 things I read, I hit the green button. Maybe? That's very approximate, it's hard to gauge without measuring it.

And I've been using the site regularly for a couple of months, and I don't remember having downtrusted a single post/comment.

BTW, this is very much not advocacy! I've no idea if this is how I should be operating, or it would be better (for any of numerous versions of "better") for me to be doing something differently.