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Frauds Promising to Change the World: But What about How World Is Changing on Its Own and Your Retirement

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  Off to the slammer. That's where visionaries Elizabeth Holmes, who was going to upend healthcare, and Bernie Madoff, who heralded that for investing, wound up. They were false prophets whose fraud could have impinged on your retirement. And now after those disclosures, you might wonder if the bad guys you have to watch out for will include the front lines of AI. That's especially if the bots go rogue and plunder civilization as we know it. Good lawyers, as with the fatal contamination of peanut butter, can put business leaders in prison. What did they know and when did they know it? Lots to think about. But the current reality is that we have more to fear from how the world is changing on its own. Maybe mankind did get that started, as with urban density and fossil fuels. But the universe is running with the consequences of all that on its own. In the tarot that is symbolized by the Tower card. This has become a pressing issue for the aging like you. The majority of my tarot...
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Sure, You're Changing, But Not Fast Enough

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  "That colleague blocked me. No conversation why." A new client told me that. But the lament wasn't new to me. This is "cut-off culture."  No longer do people feel the responsibility or the need to talk about why they're exiting your life. The client was intuitive. So they had a hunch that this particular former friend sized them up as "stuck." In this fast-moving world in which just about everyone has to scramble for an edge, being perceived as stuck is right up there with being known as unethical or hostile. As we proceeded in the tarot reading I picked up that this client wasn't stuck. They were changing. The reality, though, is that they weren't doing that fast enough. At least, not what it takes to be in synch with 2026. Instead of taking concrete steps in a reset in how to earn a good living, they remained in the limbo of emotionally gearing up. Obviously, that was being held against them.  The focus of the reading shifted to what wa...
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You're Wondering the Once Unthinkable: Not Caring for Aging Parents

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Euphoric, Brad Karp drove from college to the hospital to show his dying father the acceptance letter from Harvard Law School.  But, in addition, Karp told his mother he would go to Yale Law School, where he was also accepted, to be located close enough to help her out. She turned down the offer.  That was 45 years ago. Back then this now partner at Paul, Weiss was ready to do what adult children did at the time: sacrifice to care for a vulnerable parent. Now, that value is being questioned. Often, with great confusion, plus seething resentment and some guilt.  More and more in tarot readings clients are essentially asking "permission" to ask if they "have to" be responsible for their parents as they age. That ranges from hands-on care to any legalities. In the tarot that internal turmoil is depicted by the Tower card. Those askers are in their 40s. They're spotting decline in parents. Vividly they're also having flashbacks from childhoods which weren't ...
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Jesus Christ V Capitalism: And, Don't Be Sentimental about Networking

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  "I helped a colleague. Why did I do that?" In our professional lives we tend to learn the most from hands-on client situations.  Over and over it has come up recently in tarot readings that both females and supposedly hard-nosed males were thrown for a loop. They assisted a "drowning" or at least vulnerable co-worker. The aid was not reciprocated. Now and then those helped even turned on them. This interpretation of those dynamics won't get me friends. But it resonates with clients. Immediately, they identify.  Long story short: Christianity socializes us to reach out to the weaker. Classic is Luke 10:25. That's the parable of Good Samaritan.  The meme is selfless reaching out to help, even when that might fit with dominant social norms. Actually, that whole mindset is the antithesis of capitalism, an individualistic economic system. It is the individual, not the system, who is responsible for success and for failure.  In its rawest form it mandates moving...
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Change the World: Become a Karen

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It was a version of "Karen" which blew up the alleged sexual misconduct at Fox.  Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit contending that was the standard MO of Fox founder Roger Ailes. Soon enough the Murdoch brothers called in law firm Paul, Weiss to investigate. That was the end of the Ailes era. Yet, the concept of a Karen carries so much negative baggage. If you are a white middle age female who reports suspected wrongdoing or subpar service you risk being type-cast as obnoxious. For example, your server brings the steak well-done, not rare. After you complain, everyone in the kitchen laughs and rolls their eyes about your being a Karen. You bet, you can feel the vibes. So, chastened you might tend to surrender your ability to change a snippet of the world as we know it. In tarot reading the Karen Effect is symbolized by the World Card.  It exudes possibility. Life opens, even in the midst of obstacles. On free streaming platform Tubi, featured are film genres about the SS'...
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Is Lack of Courage a Crime Punishable By Death?

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The slow-moving minimalist 2016 film "The Interrogation" is extraordinary. All the moving parts push us to actually have sympathy for former commander of Auschwitz Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hoss. The movie is now playing on free streaming platform Tubi. Essentially the plot is about Polish Judge Albert's assignment to get a confession from Hoss. Albert, although young, has been successful in the past. He is at this too. But what is disclosed creates questions about the justice of the coming death penalty for Hoss as well as some other SS members. What Hoss feels is his real crime was his lack of courage. Himmler forced the Auschwitz "mission" on him. Quickly Hoss sized up that he didn't have it in him to say, no, I can't handle this. That's because he also sized up what that could cost him professionally. The rest is history.  Later, when on the job, Hoss also couldn't summon the courage to allow anyone to see that he experienced compassion for th...
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Boomers Return to "Catcher in the Rye" Search for Phonies

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  There we oldest of the Boomers were: jumping through the system's hoops to get into the college of our choice and simultaneously embracing as our hero teen rebel Holden Caufield from "Catcher in the Rye."  We ran around eager to denounce among ourselves the phonies. Of course, we didn't share that bit of subversion with authority.  Well now hitting 80, we're back. This time we have very little to risk fingering the phonies in very public ways. Since we're now more worldly we can expand the category beyond people to ideas and institutions. But unlike the zest with which we did that as high school juniors and seniors it's with sadness. In the tarot that's captured in the Five of Cups card. You bet, we regret how we might have been duped for more than half a century.  At the top of the list is our hefty consumption of higher education. The mindset was: The more education the better. Only the non-ambitious stopped at the BA/BS.  We scramblers after succe...
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