Mujica was a real one, perhaps the most successful of the Latin American revolutionaries of the 60s to transition into mainstream government.

Former Uruguayan President José Mujica , a onetime Marxist guerilla and flower farmer whose radical brand of democracy, plain-spoken philosophy and simple lifestyle fascinated people around the world, has died. He was 89.

As leader of a violent leftist guerrilla group in the 1960s known as the Tupamaros, Mujica robbed banks, planted bombs and abducted businessmen and politicians on Montevideo’s streets in hopes of provoking a popular uprising that would lead to a Cuban-style socialist Uruguay.

A brutal counterinsurgency and ensuing right-wing military dictatorship that ruled Uruguay between 1973 and 1985 sent him to prison for nearly 15 years, 10 of which he spent in solitary confinement.

During his 2010-2015 presidency , Mujica, widely known as “Pepe,” oversaw the transformation of his small South American nation into one of the world’s healthiest and most socially liberal democracies. He earned admiration at home and cult status abroad for legalizing marijuana and same-sex marriage, enacting the region’s first sweeping abortion rights law and establishing Uruguay as a leader in alternative energy.

Through his remarkable political journey, Mujica captivated audiences with his humble tone, austere lifestyle and ideological earnestness.

Shunning the pomp and circumstance of the presidency, he drove a beat-up 1987 Volkswagen Beetle, wore rumpled cardigan sweaters and leather sandals with black socks and lived in a tiny tin-roof house outside Montevideo, where for decades he tended to chrysanthemums for sale in local markets.

He was an interesting guy too. Mujica really did reject pomp and circumstance. He really did believe in a sort of vow of poverty. And he never apologized for his role as a revolutionary but rather grew into understanding how to navigate the world he lived in while staying true to his values. He was also quite successful, both in terms of popularity and in terms of policy.

Mujica’s greatest innovations came on social issues. During his tenure, Uruguay became the first country in South America to legalize abortion for the first trimester and the first in the world to legalize the production, distribution and sale of marijuana. His government also legalized same-sex marriage, burnishing Uruguay’s progressive image in the predominantly Catholic region.

Mujica’s government also powered a green energy revolution in Uruguay. Today Uruguay is considered among the world’s most environmentally friendly nations, generating 98% of its electricity from biomass, solar and wind energy.

His tenure was also not without controversy. The opposition complained of rising crime and a swollen fiscal deficit on his watch that forced his successor to raise taxes.

Some world leaders disapproved of his disdain for the established order. Conservative Uruguayans voiced outrage over his progressive policies.

Still, Mujica ended his tenure with a 60% approval rating. Ineligible to seek re-election because of the constitution’s ban on consecutive terms, he continued to wield considerable influence as an elected senator.

What more could you want from a leader?

The post José Mujica, RIP appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

My gargantuan senator is throwing a hissy fit. According to reporting by the Associated Press, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman attended a meeting last week with representatives for a teachers union, at which Fetterman says that they "had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration’s cuts to our education system." The other people in the meeting say that the Senator started repeating himself and shouting. They say he was yelling, "Why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do?" and "Why is everybody mad at me?" A member of Fetterman's staff ended the meeting, ushered the visitors into the hallway, and then broke down crying and had to be comforted by the teachers.

This is toddler behavior. Why does everyone hate me? What did I ever do? Why is everyone mad at me? Sir! You are 6-foot-8 and a Senator for a purple state. By the nature of your job, something like 50 percent of the people in your own state will hate you at all times, and that's not including the people in your own party who also don't like you. Being an elected public servant is not a long red-carpet strut where everyone treats you like a pop star and bows to you and asks who you're wearing. Power is a responsibility, and with it comes the reality that not everyone is going to like you.

Back in 2015, journalist Sarah Hagi wrote a prayer that goes, "God give me the confidence of a mediocre white dude." It's a real strategy in the working world, confirmed true by CEOs and cabinet picks alike. For me, it sits atop a more-universal piece of advice: fake it till you make it.

In my career there were several times when I felt like I had to "fake it." Faking it came after a promotion or after I took on a new task I hadn't ever done before. I had to figure things out fast. I think for BIPOC folks like myself, there's a pressure on us to be more than mediocre. I learned early on that if I said I hadn't done something, I wasn't given even the chance to try. For some people, not knowing something I "should" know was instant confirmation that I wasn't good enough.

In so many cases, I faked it well enough that I did make it. I kept the promotions. I added new skills to my toolbox. I did fail, sometimes, but my confidence and privilege usually helped me learn and get through it. After all, I'm not white but I'm still a dude.

So many of us get the advice early in our careers to fake it. But what if we keep having to faking it? What if we never feel like we fit in? What happens if the performance becomes more than who we are? Objectively, to some extent faking it helped me in my career. We all need to get a foot in the door sometimes. But how might it be doing us harm?

It can strengthen majority thinking. When I don't know how to do something, I often try to learn from people who do. Some of those people learned what to do from someone else. So if everyone is faking it, who's driving the bus? Faking it reinforces the status quo in ways we might not realize.

It sidesteps opportunities for real learning. This used to happen to me in college. Someone would mention an obscure concept and I'd act like I knew what they were talking about. I could've interrupted and asked them to explain, but I would have to risk the pain of looking like an idiot. I saved myself potential shame at the expense of actually learning something. No matter how good I was at "faking it," my organic chemistry grades showed few signs of "making it."

no faking

I still go after jobs and projects I haven't done before, but I don't try to fake it anymore. Here's what I do instead.

Focus on what makes me unique. I can't do everything, but I have plenty that I do well. Some people lord their credentials over each other as proof they belong. We all have something to teach and we all have something to learn. We grow so much more when we trade those experiences instead of ranking them.

Reflect on the skills I do have. Think about what you know. How did you learn it? What did trial and error look like to earn that knowledge? One way I offset the risk of not knowing something is by starting with what I do know. What have those experiences taught me, and how might I apply it here? I'll talk through my approach with someone who knows more about what we're doing.

Find safe ways to fail. The mediocre white men have a point. Matt Wallaert conducted a study on them with Tyler Burleigh and Rhapsodi Douglas. They surveyed a bunch of people to test whether white guys really do have higher confidence. It was! They found that white men rated themselves more competent than women and people of color did. But that confidence has to come from somewhere. In the study, they were also more likely to describe their workplace as a safe place to fail. If we want more people to navigate challenges with more confidence, we have to make it safer for people to screw up.

it’s honestly all fake

"Fake it till you make it" is a term for outsiders. But why are we outside in the first place? The concept of whiteness didn't exist before the 17th or 18th century. People in power rigged institutions and political systems for cis white men to thrive. These rigged systems shouldn't still hold so much power over us. The rules for getting ahead are made up: they're flexible by design and always changing. Some qualifications exist only to shut some people out. Just because we wriggle and fight our way in doesn't mean we have to conform to every norm.

Faking it is a reasonable strategy if you will try anything to get ahead. But I can't help but think about the conman in one of my favorite movies, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Matt Damon as Tom Ripley laments, “I always thought it would be better, to be a fake somebody... than a real nobody.” When we fake our right to be somewhere, we risk losing our sense of self. I want to ask: is it worth going through all the trouble of faking it? Is making it, in this place, what I really want to do?

In a show of discontent, REI Co-op members voted to reject the slate of candidates put forward by the company in this year’s Board of Directors elections. 

The election results represent a victory for the REI Union, which urged members to vote against the uncontested slate of board candidates. Members were encouraged to vote “withhold” to protest REI’s decision to block two union-backed candidates from the ballot; its approach to unionization efforts; and the company’s endorsement of Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, which was retracted last month after backlash from members. 

During an annual REI member meeting on Thursday, newly appointed REI CEO Mary Beth Laughton acknowledged the election results as a “clear sign to me that we have a big opportunity to actively seek out and listen to what our members and employees are telling us.” 

“Going forward, I’m committed to elevating more member and employee voices more regularly,” said Laughton, a former executive at Nike and Athleta who took over as REI’s CEO on March 31.

The REI Union celebrated the election results, writing in a statement that “REI members and REI workers stood together to send a resounding message that it is time for the co-op to return to its core values.” 

The company didn’t provide information on how many members cast ballots, or what percentage voted against the board-backed candidates. But the REI Union said it is aware of more than 115,000 members who voted by following a link on the union’s website, “likely making it the highest turnout for an election in REI history.” 

REI is structured as a consumer cooperative, meaning any active member of the Washington-based outdoor retailer is eligible to vote in annual Board of Director elections. Any REI member can also nominate themselves to run for a board seat, but bylaw changes in the early 2000s stipulated that only candidates approved by the current board can appear on the ballot. 

Some REI members have criticized the process as undemocratic and a departure from the company’s co-op roots. Most elections are noncompetitive, with members given only the option to vote Yes or “withhold” on the company’s nominees. 

As a result, REI elections are typically quiet affairs — with low member turnout and an uncontested slate of candidates handpicked by the board. This year’s election was an exception. 

Last fall, unionized REI members nominated two candidates to run for board seats: Tefere Gebre, chief program officer at the international advocacy group Greenpeace USA, and Shemona Moreno, a Seattle climate activist who leads the nonprofit 350 Seattle. 

The labor-backed candidates ran extensive social media campaigns and gathered signatures from thousands of members asking the board to let them on the ballot. But when the board released its approved list of candidates for three open seats in March, Gebre and Moreno’s names were absent. The REI Union criticized the move as undemocratic, and called on members to vote “withhold” on the three board-backed candidates. 

Two of the board’s candidates — PolicyLink CEO Michael McAfee and Elizabeth Huber, former senior vice president and CFO for Getty Images — were incumbent board members. The third was Monica Schwartz, executive vice president and chief digital officer of BJ’s Wholesale Club. 

During Thursday's member meeting, REI Board Chair Chris Carr announced that members had voted to reject all three. 

“We are disappointed with the outcome, especially because we’re losing two incumbent directors and also one promising new director,” Carr said. 

If the number of “withhold” votes is greater than the number of “for” votes in an uncontested election, REI’s bylaws say the seat the candidate will be considered vacant, and the remaining directors will then fill that vacancy by appointing someone from a slate chosen by the board. 

Carr didn’t provide detail on what the board plans to do next, but said the three board-backed candidates “will not be appointed to the open seats.” 

“These seats will remain vacant until the Board of Directors fills them,” Carr said. 

In statements on Thursday, both Moreno and Gebre said they would be open to filling the vacancies. 

Laughton, the new CEO, said REI will be “returning to its roots and putting members at the center of everything we do.” 

The board election reflects a broader identity crisis facing REI, which has struggled to balance member input with business pressure during its growth from a scrappy outdoor cooperative to a nationwide outdoors supplier that did more than $3.5 billion in sales in 2023. 

During the meeting, REI leaders choose to answer several questions submitted by members. 

In response to a question about why the two union-backed candidates weren’t allowed on the ballot, the company said it can’t speak to specific individuals, but that each candidate goes through a “rigorous evaluation.” Carr stressed that all self-nominated candidates are considered, and that the board screens candidates for “relevant experience operating a business of similar size and scale to REI.”  

One member asked about the ongoing contract negotiations, saying it seems “REI is stalling and will never reach a contract” with the 11 stores across the country that have voted to unionize since 2022. Unionized workers have accused REI of union-busting, retaliation and bad-faith bargaining, a claim the company denies. 

In response, the company said it is negotiating in good faith, and that contracts take a long time. 

Company leaders also reiterated their apology for endorsing Trump Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who has been criticized by environmental advocates over his support for drilling on public lands. The company retracted its endorsement of Burgum in April. 

Joe Mizrahi, the Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW 3000, which represents unionized REI workers in Bellingham, said in a statement Thursday that the election results should be a “wake-up call” for REI to “listen to workers and members who make this company successful” and “live up to the democratic co-op values you claim to value.” 

During Thursday’s annual member meeting, which lasted a little under 40 minutes, board chair Carr thanked members for making their voices heard. 

“As a co-op member, engagement and participation are foundational principles,” Carr said. “Your voice and participation helped to shape our direction, and this annual meeting is part of that. It reflects our shared commitment to transparency, accountability and cooperative action.” 

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Fiona Apple dropped a new song - Pretrial (Let Her Go Home). The song, as it explains itself in text, is an ode to the thousands of women sent to jail for simply not being able to pay a fine during the pretrial process. Despite being innocent, their lack of payment for bail takes them from their family and community. The statistic are harrowing - "On any given day, 60,000 women and girls are caged in jails.", "Over 66% are mothers to minor children."

It's harrowing and heavy to say the least (tho the song is quite catchy). While I appreciate Fiona using her visibility to spread awareness about a terrible issue, what I really love is that she provides a direct call to action to actually help. Too many times we hear how bad things are and the takeaway is simply "sucks, right?"

Not in this case, Fiona ends the video with a call to action to visit Let Her Go Home, a site that provides a central source of information and ways to donate both to Local Bail Funds and national organizations working to help people in this situation. I immediately sent some funds to Free Hearts, a TN local bail fund. I hope you do similar.

It's not cinema, it's user retention

The post There Is No Getting Back On This Ride appeared first on Aftermath.