Trump's strategy for re-election is fear mongering.

From The Conversations on 08/28/20 by Jennifer Mercieca:

Trump spoke in stark terms about the choice facing Americans in November. “This election will decide whether we will defend the American Way of Life, or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it,” he said.

And Trump promised to be the nation’s hero. He said that he would protect “the patriotic heroes who keep America safe,” while his opponents would “stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters and flag-burners.”

He quoted one of his own memes, saying he is the only thing standing between vulnerable Americans and what he calls the nation’s dangerous enemies within. “Always remember,” he said, “they are coming after me, because I am fighting for you.”

Image posted on Donald Trump’s Twitter feed December 20, 2019.

Trump’s Republican nomination acceptance speech didn’t reach across the aisle to draw in the support of Democrats or Democrat-leaning Independents. It wasn’t a speech for all of America – it was a speech designed to appeal to Trump’s base and terrify them into voting for him. That’s authoritarian.

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Fouled up broadband provision in the United States hampers online educational efforts.

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Trump's restrictions of travel from China did little to mitigate Covid-19 contagion despite Pence's claims

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Trump disbanded the National Security Council's pandemic preparedness office back in 2017

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Voters tend to vote based on ideology more than race and/or sex.

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President Donald J. Trumps lies about the economy. What are the facts?

We all know by now that President Donald J. Trump is a pathological liar. The Washington Post as catalogued over 20,000 lies during his presidency. Currently, in the summer of 2020 Trump is lying about the economy. What are the facts?


 

How to vote for candidates for governmental offices

This management tip of the day appeared yesterday, 08/21/20, on the Harvard Business Review's management tip of the day. It struck me as applying to candidates for governmental offices as much as for business leaders. Supposing voters took the same approach to selecting their candidates for their vote?

Today’s Tip

Stop Promoting Incompetent Leaders

There are too many incompetent men in leadership positions — in large part because businesses tend to promote people on the basis of charisma, confidence, and even narcissism. Instead, companies should be putting people in charge who demonstrate competence, humility, and integrity. If you’re responsible for assessing leadership candidates, you should work on your ability to distinguish between confidence and competence. Remember that overconfidence is a natural result of privilege, which is often linked to gender. Fortunately, you can use scientifically valid assessments to measure the traits you want (or don’t want) in your leaders. You can ask company leaders, including emerging leaders, to take self-assessments, and then measure their responses against their leadership style, performance, and effectiveness. The resulting data will help identify patterns that characterize good and bad leaders at your company. Of course, this practice will take time and effort, and many organizations won’t want to invest those resources. But vetting candidates for leadership roles will pay dividends down the line.

This tip is adapted from “How to Spot an Incompetent Leader,” by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Profit for the few or the common good?

From "Meditations In An Emergency" by Asad Haider in the July, 2020 issue of The Baffler on page 6 :

THE WORLD, WE ARE TOLD, is in crisis. We hear of medical crisis, financial crisis, and crisis of leadership, suggesting that the scope of the term is almost unmanageably broad. Now these crises converge in the suspension of the everyday social order sparked by police violence and the uprisings against it. In these various converging crises, we are called upon to make decisions.

The thing to be understood is that these things are not "crises" in the sense of the unexpected or outside of human control. These crises have been human made right here in America. They are the result of deliberate and intentional policy crafted and implemented by and for the capitalistic ruling class for the purpose of financial profit. They are the consequence of the system which we all participate in most of us unconsciously.

Americans have be clear about their values. Do they prefer money and profit or the common welfare? As things are going, we can't have both.

Covid IXX in the good ole U.S. of A.

Replace Columbus Day with Juneteenth as a National Holiday