What I Think About What Other People Say (WITAWOPS)

I mourn USAID the way we knew it. The agency that I worked for a decade has essentially disappeared, with only a fraction of it reincarnated and subsumed into the State Department. I empathize with all my former USAID colleagues, contractors, grantees, sub-grantees, recipients, project beneficiaries, vendors, and suppliers in the United States and around the world. All of you are economically and emotionally harmed. The battle will ensue in the Courts and in the end, Congress will have no choice but to act (see my January 4 post explaining this locus of power). The next incarnation of US Foreign Assistance will be skinny, laser-focused, more intertwined with U.S. Peace and Security, and obviously A.I.-driven. Disclaimer: the views expressed in this post are solely my own, published under my first amendment rights, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government or any of its current or former federal agencies. What Other People Say Designed by  Freepik “Aft...

"All the world's a stage" monologue from As You Like It by William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene VII): "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts. His acts being seven ages.  At first the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail, unwillingly to school.  And then the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrow.  Then a soldier, full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard. Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel. Seeking the bubble reputation, even in the cannon’s mouth.  And then the justice, in fair round belly, with good capon lined. With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws, and modern instances;  And so he plays his part.  The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. With ...

When a controversial cult leader builds a utopian city in the Oregon desert, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal. …This show is….riveting, provocative, true crime, media circus, critically acclaimed, cerebral, docuseries, TV -- Netflix Series description of Wild Wild Country, 2018 Yes, this is still a non-fiction blog and the description that Netflix provides is pretty accurate. I was flabbergasted when I heard about and began to research Rajneeshpuram, a real city in Oregon (yes, that is the 33rd U.S. state). The city existed between 1981 and 1989. I stumbled across the name when I was looking at a list of cities in Oregon; the list included a number of former cities now disincorporated and I began to wonder where it came from and where did it go? Typical Rural Landscape Picture designed by Freepik  This is not a spoiler for the Netflix docuseries; I will not disclose the outcome(s). In a nutshell, an Indian, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, facilitated the purchase ...

Portland’s Summer of Rage, coffee shop boycotts, and university campus protests are recent examples of Americans attempting to influence a particular outcome. But were they successful? Today I offer a recent practical example of a successful boycott. "Our audacious, innovative, and patient actions, backed by USAID and the U.S. ambassador to Kenya, offered a twenty-first-century example of a successful, peaceful protest. I reaffirmed what history had taught me, that organized campaigns, grounded in economic impact, are more powerful than standalone protests." -Galeeb Kachra, 2021 What Do I Think? Were recent protests as successful as the lunch room boycotts in the 1960s that led to the civil rights movement in the American south or Gandhi’s 1930s salt march in India that led to Indian independence? In 2009, I had the opportunity to help apply the lunch room and salt march lessons to help Kenyan youth stop the illegal development of a public park. The Illegal Grab “Taifa Park, ...

There is heightened interest in the inefficiencies of the executive branch of the federal government. Today, I unravel some of these inefficiencies using a recent fish farm example.  U.S. Court of Appeals , 5th Circuit, 2020 : “Harvesting,”  we  are  told,  implies  gathering  crops,  and  in  aquaculture  the  fish  are  the  crop.  That  is  a  slippery  basis  for  empowering  an  agency  to  create  an  entire  industry  the  statute does not even mention. We will not bite”    Natural predator guards a tilapia fish farm in Lake Victoria, Uganda The Problem There is heightened interest in the inefficiencies of the executive branch of the federal government. All organizations—whether private, governmental, or non-profit—must engage in continuous optimization to stay effective. They may achieve this through internal reforms...

In a January 2009 interview, President Obama confirmed that the United States “was the only Western power with no colonial legacy.” Stuart Whatley, a contributing editor for the Huffington Post, wrote “America is not a colonial power” in an unfortunately named article in 2010. What do I think Both President Barack Obama and Stuart Wheatley were entirely mistaken in believing that the United States lacks a colonial legacy, either in the past or at the present time. Our history is a prime example of how facts and truths can be spun, reinterpreted, and ultimately morphed into widely accepted narratives. While school textbooks and our national discourse often present a sanitized version of events, the advent of artificial intelligence offers a quick and simple tool to explore multiple perspectives. Curious about this dynamic, I asked ChatGPT to analyze whether the President's 2009 statement truly reflected historical reality. It said: “Obama's statement highlights America's sel...

“If you’re a seal, the Ballard Locks are a great place to find a snack. Seals eat a lot of salmon as they migrate through the Locks’ fish ladder to try to reach spawning grounds on the other side. Some of those salmon are Chinook, the only food of the starving Southern Resident orcas.” -- Elis O’Neil, KUOW.org , September 23, 2020. What I think If you’ve visited the Ballard Locks in Seattle or Willamette Falls near Portland, you might have witnessed sea lions or seals, known as pinnipeds, feasting on salmon in a natural buffet line. These man-made choke points—perfect for a patient, opportunistic pinniped—exacerbate the struggle to protect salmon runs while managing a booming population of protected marine mammals. Despite costly attempts to scare pinnipeds off with rubber bullets or loud deterrents, they continue to make their way back to these salmon-rich bottlenecks. Stories like that of Herschel, a notorious sea lion relocated hundreds of miles down the California coast at a signif...

" His detailed account of five projects that mattered intensely to him, which did their little bit to make the world a better place, is sprinkled with humour and charmingly idiosyncratic, while packed with serious intent."   — Michela Wrong,  author of "It's Our Turn to Eat: the Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower" in March 2021 about my book " How I Changed The World In My Own Unique Ways ".  What I think I showcase five real cases, based on my international development experience in Kenya and Pakistan. It covers disaster preparedness, anticorruption, youth empowerment, judicial reform, book bans, and procurement reform. The book is available in ebook and audiobook formats at your favorite online bookstore or visit https://tinyurl.com/booksbygaleeb . Why should you care Anyone can really make a difference. This short book shows real, practical examples on how we can all change the world regardless of our specific interests and technical skills. There is p...