Bill Maher Just Broke His Silence to Address Donald Trump

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Carrie Fisher, 'Star Wars' Princess Leia, dies ...

Trump supporters: victims of the Stockholm Syndrome?

Given the intelligence community’s belief (supported by overwhelming evidence, apparently) that Russia intervened in our election on behalf of Donald Trump, it’s probably premature to say that, like it or not, he won fair and square, so let’s just say for now that he won it square. My heart can never accept this individual as the leader of the free world—hell, I wouldn’t accept him as leader of a Cub Scout troop—but, my mind says that once the voters have spoken, the system must be allowed to work its way back to something approaching normal.

With the things he said, and the things he’s done since the election, though, my mind is having trouble coming to grips with the adulation and adoration he still gets from crowds of supporters. It’s like they exist in a different universe from me and are not seeing and hearing the same things. Or, maybe they are, and they just don’t give a damn, because to them, ‘he’s one of us,’ and he’s saying what’s in our hearts.

Trump got tons of support from poor whites in the south and desperate working class whites in the Rust Belt base on his promise to ‘Make America Great Again.’ He’s never explained just what that means, but it seems to have struck a chord. What are some of the things he’s said he’d do to make America ‘great?’ Well, he’ll cancel all trade agreements. Sure, they hurt factory workers and unskilled labor in this country, but they help the overall economy, and contrary to the misinformation, they do create jobs, just not rust belt assembly line jobs. We should be beyond the smokestack economy anyway, or if not, should be supporting an education system that helps us get beyond it. He’s going to ban all Muslims from entering the country. Good luck with that one. As someone who has done visa and immigration work, I can tell you that making changes of that nature to our immigration system is complicated, and the backlash from the Muslim world will be swift, and possibly violent. Oh, and in the meantime, we’ll look even more like hypocrites than we do now. None of these things benefit Rust Belt workers.

What has he done since the election to benefit his supporters?  Well, he started.a spat with China when he had a phone call with the president of Taiwan and turned our longstanding China policy on its ear. Then, he doubled down with a Twitter rant that ticked the Taiwanese off when he referred to them as a bargaining chip in our trade negotiations with China. Smart move, considering the economic ties between the US and China. Sure, we have a deficit, but we have a deficit with almost everyone, and it’s never been a big deal except during elections. We still sell a lot of junk to Chinese consumers. Start a trade war, and that junk doesn’t get sold.

He’s been cozy with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, despite the belief that Putin directed the hacking of our election. Now, he’s even started a war of words with our intelligence community, supporting the Russians over our own people. What has Russia done for the Rust Belt lately? Right, nothing.

His cabinet and advisor choices so far have been a lot of military guys and some of the richest guys in the country; the same guys who’ve moved jobs abroad, used foreign labor over US workers (Trump himself has done this, hasn’t he, and his daughter sources goods from overseas?), been involved in destroying the environment, and basically enriched themselves at the expense of those avid Trump supporters.

But, they still support ‘their’ man. What’s going on here? Social scientist Arlie Russell Hochschild addressed this issue in her book, Strangers in Their Own Land, a study of the emotional appeal of the Tea Party among residents of Louisiana, despite clear evidence that the Tea Party politicians and corporations they support have abused them and despoiled their environment. She attributes this irrational behavior to the fact that political beliefs are often grounded in emotion rather than fact. Despite evidence to the contrary, they cling to their beliefs and continue to vote for the same politicians and support the same corporations that are giving them the shaft.

I’m seeing that same thing happening with hard core Trump supporters. Despite evidence pointing in one direction, they continue to look in the direction his little orange finger points. He talks about grabbing women’s privates, and they laugh and say ‘it’s just locker room talk;’ he flaunts his wealth, and they look on in awe. It’s like the Stockholm syndrome of politics, or a real bad dream. Only, we’re not waking up from this one. 

Two foreign policy problems for the new administration

The following post is from Niume on December 16, 2016 (https://niume.com/post/197173)

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As an artist, I'm (somewhat) apolitical. But, sometimes, the only way I can express my political feelings is through my art. I did this repeatedly during the political campaign season. There were just too many crazy things happening, and it would have taken too many words to express them. During the final days leading up to the election, for instance, I listened to Donald Trump promise to 'make American great again.' How was he going to do it? Well, there was the wall between us and Mexico, a ban on Muslims entering the US, repeal of the Affordable Care Act, downsizing our efforts in NATO, killing the Trans-Pacific Partnership as well as taking another look at all of our trade treaties, and kicking all undocumented aliens out of the country--and, that's not even a complete list.

Needless to say, not one of these can be accomplished quickly--if at all. But, there are two issues that Trump will have to deal with right away; our relations with China and our policy vis a vis Russia; and these thanks to his own actions (one might even say misdeeds).

So, over the past few days, I've been thinking about these two issues, and just how one might highlight them, and, of course, I reached for my pen and ink.

Trump had a phone call with Taiwan's president which, unsurprisingly, provoked a negative reaction from China. He then went on a Twitter rant, questioning the One-China policy and indicating that the way we relate to Taiwan could be used as a bargaining chip to get concessions from the Chinese. Guess what? That not only upset the Chinese even more, but ticked the Taiwanese off. They don't like to be thought of as bargaining chips. Considering the complexities of our relationship with both China and Taiwan, Trump will have some fence mending to do early in his administration.

Several times during the campaign, Trump praised Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin; praise which the Russian tepidly reciprocated. Some of Trump's confidantes and nominees have uncomfortably close ties to the Russian. Now, US intelligence is saying that Russia, probably under Putin's direction, hacked the US election which helped Trump win, an assertion that Trump continues to deny (one of his minions even suggested that this was a 'false flag' operation by US intelligence to undercut his election. Needless to say, even his GOP apologists in Congress will be hard pressed to keep supporting him unless he shows that he will put American interests first in dealing with Russia.

Oh, and lest I forget, his attacks on the intelligence community, and his aversion to intelligence briefings (because he's so 'smart') don't bode well for harmony in the coming four years.

The generals, the gentry, and the goon: what a Trump administration might look like

You can tell a lot about people by the company they keep, and while it’s often a useless and vain exercise to try and make political predictions, you can tell a lot about a president’s plans for his (and I use the masculine pronoun here, because I’m convinced that Americans, for all their protestations to the contrary, are not yet ready for a woman head of state) administration from his cabinet nominations, and his choices for advisors and senior staff.

So, a month away from the inauguration of America’s 45th president and commander-in-chief, I’m going out on a limb and making some prognostications about the administration of Donald J. Trump, and I’m going to do it based upon his announced nominations and advisor choices.

I’d like to clarify one thing before getting into the rogue’s gallery; this list of names is as accurate as I can make it, given the Trump transition’s team bandying about of names like a ping pong tournament (remember the ongoing saga of who would be nominated secretary of state?). But, even considering an individual sends a message, so take it for what it’s worth.

Some general comments: the cabinet and staff of a Trump administration is going to be heavy with brass. A number of retired generals have already been named for top positions, including secretary of defense and national security advisor. This is also likely to be the richest cabinet in history, even adjusting for inflation. The number of mega-rich people being nominated or considered is mind-boggling. And, finally, there are the people whose views of the world are far, far from the mainstream (I fervently hope), either in terms of their knowledge of science (or, pretty much anything), their views on sex, race, and humanity, or their propensity (preference?) for violence over diplomacy. Scary? If you don’t think so, you scare me.

The Generals

Retired General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis for secretary of defense. Congressional action would be required to confirm him because he hasn’t been retired long enough to legally fill this position. His nickname, ‘Mad Dog,’ says a bit about the type person he is.

Retired General John H. Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security. Long military record, and experience in counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism, but can he supervise a diverse civilian organization with confusing chains of command and sometimes overlapping jurisdictions? What does he know, and how does he feel about immigration?

Retired General Michael T. Flynn for national security advisor. This one doesn’t require senate confirmation, and is in many ways the scariest. Flynn subscribes to a number of social media sites that expound racism and conspiracy theories, and along with his son, has spread a number of fake news stories, including the story of a child slavery ring in a DC pizza parlor that caused a North Carolina man to go there ‘loaded for bear.’

These are just the ones whose names have appeared publicly. Who knows how many more are lurking in the wings, being groomed for jobs not requiring senate confirmation. I would imagine that this worries even Republican lawmakers.

The Gentry

Many of Trump’s other nominations are uber-rich or have worrying reputations.

Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil for secretary of state. His company is under investigation for possible fraud, and is reported to have funded efforts to debunk climate change for decades (despite its own engineers finding that burning fossil fuels impacts the climate). Tillerson has close ties to Russia, and was awarded a Russian medal.

Betsy DeVos, a billionaire who is a strong supporter of charter schools and not very supportive of public schools, to be secretary of education.

Former Texas governor, Rick Perry, who vowed in the 2011 election campaign to shut down the department of energy, but couldn’t remember its name when questioned by a reporter, to be, you guessed it, secretary of energy.

Ben Carson for secretary of housing and urban development. He’s a surgeon of some renown who came up from poverty and once lived in public housing, which he compares to Communism. Would he not have been a better pick for health and human services?

Steve Mnuchin, a Wall Street trader known as the foreclosure king for the number of people he has made homeless, for secretary of the treasury.

Jeff Sessions, congressman from Arkansas, who has publicly made statements so racist that even a GOP congress is wary of him, for attorney general.

Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, and a strong opponent of raising the minimum wage, for secretary of labor.

Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general, who has been an opponent of clean water and clean air legislation, to head the environmental protection agency.

The Goon

Steve Bannon, former head of Breitbart News, a home for conspiracy, supremacist, and racist news, who has himself been accused of making some rather inflammatory statements, is Trump’s strategic advisor. Bannon is a supporter of the white supremacist alt-right.

The Trumpkins

Other than the fact that Trump is leaving his business empire in the hands of his children (or, so he says), and that they played key roles in his campaign, we’re left to guess what role the Trump kids will play in his administration. Of course, we can guess. Even before the inauguration, they’ve been running around the globe meeting with senior officials on a number of foreign policy issues. All I can say on this is, stay tuned.

What does it all mean?

I wish the hell I knew what all of this means. I know, at the outset I said we would know him by the company he keeps. But the signals are decidedly mixed. There will be strong military influence in the administration, which could mean even more reliance on force over diplomacy going forward. The civilian positions definitely favor the 1%, so that leaves the middle class, working class Trump supporters out in the cold. I can’t see any policies coming out of this crowd that favors the working stiff. The environment’s in for a hard time. Here you have a cabal of deniers and despoilers who make the 19th century robber barons look like saints (almost).

Already there have been ominous signs. The transition team asked the energy department for a list of the names of employees who worked on climate policy during the Obama administration. Now, why in hell would they need that? Thankfully, DOE refused to divulge names, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of it.

We are where we are because millions of American voters wanted change. Well, all I can say is, you have to be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Caveat Emptor.

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The Truth About Donald Trump’s 5 Kids YouTube - International News

Help Us Run This Ad on Fox News to Expose Trump’s Corruption

Trump on the back of the Tiger

Donald Trump might think his stardom entitles him to grab any pussy, but this time he's
latched onto one that can bite back. An old Chinese proverb says, 'it's easy to get on
the back of a tiger, but hard to get off. It'll be interesting to see how he disengages.

Merry Christmas 2016 - Benedictine College

After a big lunch

Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace

You only make progress by moving forward

“Where you come from matters less than where you’re going” is the title I gave to the book of my essays that was published in Zimbabwe in 2011. That’s a long title, and there are those in the writing world who think book titles should be short and snappy. I don’t disagree with that generally, but I also believe they should convey a message about the contents, and my lengthy title was intended to do just that.

It also generated a lot of comment, some negative; one critic panned it, saying that I was attempting to rewrite or erase history. That person missed my point entirely. I did not say, nor was it my intent to say, that where you come from doesn’t matter – anyone who reads the title carefully, as well as the essays contained in the book, will see that. I said that your origins matter ‘less’ than your eventual destination. Thomas Wolfe wrote a novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again.” The essential meaning of that phrase is that time is an ever-moving stream, proceeding inexorably into the future. The past is just that, the past, it can be recalled, but never recaptured or relived. We will all get to some point in the future, but the quality of that journey will depend on whether we’ve set our sights in the right direction.

An obsessive preoccupation with the past; using the past as an excuse for present failure; will diminish the quality of the future when it arrives. Where we come from provides the foundation from which the building of our future springs, but we can improve upon that foundation if we deal effectively with the present as we prepare for the future. Whether the past was good or bad, while it can affect us, is not all that relevant. You can’t undo the past, but by letting it anchor you too much, it can undo your future.

We are all the captains of our own ship; the masters in the end of our own fate. Perhaps another way of putting it is “Where’re you’re going is more important than where you’ve been.”

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Trump voters tell CNN that California 'allows' illegal voting

Trump voters tell CNN that California 'allows' illegal voting

The latest Al Pennyback mystery - Murder on the Menu

Competition in the restaurant industry is cutthroat, but it’s not supposed to be literally fatal. When Al and Sandra accompany Buster Mayweather to upstate New York to attend the opening of a new restaurant by Buster’s old college friend, things take a turn for deadly when the restaurant’s head chef is found frozen to death in the freezer.
Was it an unfortunate accident, or was the chef the victim of one of the town’s many long-standing feuds? Buster, a DC cop, is outside his jurisdiction, but when a friend’s in need, jurisdiction be damned. Al just hates to see injustice, and is a sucker for a difficult problem, and what’s more difficult than a murder with no motive, but a town full of suspects?

Can Trump put the racist, misogynistic genie back into the bottle?

In his successful run for the presidency Donald Trump activated several demographics that don’t normally play a significant role in national politics. He tapped into their anger and frustration, and ultimately won just enough Electoral College votes to be declared the winner.

I’m not happy with the election’s outcome, but I’m willing to honor it because that’s the way our system works. The candidate who wins the Electoral College gets the job.

The problem, though, is that among those Trump spoke to, there are those for whom his signature phrase, ‘Make American Great Again,’ means make it Anglo-Saxon again; those who aren’t satisfied that women in the workplace still make less than 90 cents for every dollar a man makes, but would, I fear, rather see them back in the situation where a woman needed her husband’s signature to get a loan or buy a car—or, even worse, when a woman was considered a minor and a ward of her father or husband.

The problem with having activated this group, if Trump is to truly be the President for all Americans, he will have to find a way to curb their baser instincts, and prevent the violence and instability they can bring to society. This will be easier said than done I’m afraid. Already, there are signs that the cage has been opened and these feral beasts are roaming free. At the University of Pennsylvania, black students were enrolled, without their consent, in a frankly racist, and scary, Web site. There was an unverified incident where a young black woman was accosted at a gas station by four white men; called vile names, and threatened with a weapon. This might not be true, but the fact that such a story would arise is troubling enough.

I wish I could say that these are isolated incidents, outliers that won’t be repeated. Unfortunately, this type of behavior has a stimulus effect. Just hearing about it, even if the incident was fabricated, is likely to inspire copycats.

Trump has let this genie out of its bottle. Now, we’ll have to wait and see if he is able—or willing—to do what’s necessary to put it back in.

The world didn't end, but it might never be the same

I went to bed last night before the results were in, but it wasn’t looking good. When I woke up this morning, my worst fears had been realized. The American electorate took leave of its senses and elected a failed businessman, con man, reality TV personality, misogynist, bully as president.

Now, while I am not at all pleased at the outcome of this election, unlike the designated winner, I’m willing to accept the expressed will of the voters even if the candidate I supported didn’t win. That’s what American democracy is supposed to be about. Rather than bemoan the results or whine about a ‘rigged’ election, I’ll just say I hope Mr. Trump is as savvy a businessman as he claims to be and will figure out that the bombast that got him the job is totally inappropriate once he’s actually in the job.

You see, now the real job begins. There’s the matter of staffing the administration. One can only wonder what caliber and quality of individual will step forward to serve in senior leadership positions in a Trump administration. Bullies tend to attract bullies, and I can think of a few that I worked with when I was an appointee in the George W. Bush administration who will be at the front of the line—and, heaven help the country under their stewardship. The wrong people in one or two key positions can create a lot of havoc over a four year period.

Next is the question of how Trump will address the issues he stressed during a down and dirty campaign that appealed to the anger and frustration of a demographic of people who, angry at the ‘establishment’ for letting them down, decided to express that anger and frustration by electing him. They’ll be expecting him to address their frustrations. But, globalization and the inexorable march of technology is at the root of a lot of their problems, along with the apathy of citizens (themselves included) who sit and wait for someone else to solve their problems. I can’t think of a thing any president can really do in the short term to address these problems, and we know that Americans are not long-term thinkers. I predict that many of the core Trump supporters will be pissed at him before the first year of his administration is out.

That’s the big issue, but there are also the specific issues he hammered home again and again, issues that he’ll have to address in one way or another or his credibility will go down the drain in a big swirl of toilet water.

-         The Wall. A logistical and political nightmare, if not an outright impossibility, the wall between the US and Mexico (which he’ll make the Mexicans pay for) is going to come back to bite him in the ass if he doesn’t figure out a way to put it to sleep.

-         A ban on Muslims entering the country. A policy that raises constitutional and legal questions in addition to the foreign policy imbroglio trying to implement such a ridiculous policy would unleash.

-         Bombing the shit out of ISIS. A little shorthand there. He also said he’d support bombing members of their families and using any methods (read torture) to extract information. The military and intelligence community has already taken a beating on these issues, and I don’t think they want to go back into that barn.

-         Make NATO countries pay more. Again, a little shorthand. As usual, he took a valid issue and wrapped it in bullying bombast. The bottom line is, we need our NATO allies as much as they need us, so using harsh, ‘my way or the highway’ language with them is just plain stupid.

-         His relationship with Russia and Putin. A lot of questions here that need answers. One can only hope the mainstream media pulls its head out of rectal defilade and digs into it.

-         Putting Hillary Clinton in jail. Sounding like a third world dictator, Trump averred that if he was elected, he would prosecute Clinton for unspecified crimes. This is a no-win issue that he might be better off keeping his mouth shut about.

-         Working with Congress. His party still controls both houses of Congress, but during the campaign, he slammed them as much as he did the Democrats. Now, he has to figure out a way to work with them across a broad range of issues. I predict it’ll be like watching a pack of hyenas fighting over a wildebeest’s carcass.

-         His own legal and credibility issues. The ‘grab them by the p***y tape,’ allegations of rape and sexual assault, the Trump University legal suit, and the many times he’s been proven to have lied. If he or any in his camp think these issues will go away now that the election is over, they are in for a hu-u-u-uge surprise.

Watching Washington over the next four years promises to be interesting. Presidents are a target for comedians, caricaturists, and op-ed writers, and their every fault will be chronicled across the globe. A president has to have a thick skin and be able to roll with the punches. The American voter has just elected a man with a very thin skin who doesn’t take at all well to being attacked. In a perverse way, this will be fun to watch.

Representing America abroad - a tough row to hoe

Even a blind squirrel gets the occasional nut, and sometimes,
it seems, out diplomatic success abroad is such a nut.

 In the 1950s and 60s, with many former colonies gaining independence (many of them in sub-Saharan Africa) and the U.S. and the USSR struggling for dominance in these newly independent countries, American diplomats faced an uphill struggle. How could the overwhelmingly white US diplomatic corps convince the governments and citizens of nonwhite nations that it had their interests at heart when at home we segregated, exploited, and lynched our own citizens of color?

American diplomats were, nonetheless, sent abroad like sheep in wolves clothing to convince the world to support us because we knew what was best. And, regrettably, they still are.

I spent 30 years as an American diplomat, from 1982 to 2012, and even though U.S. civil rights legislation has eliminated legal Jim Crow and there are no longer ‘legal’ barriers to advancement by people of color in America, I faced my own challenges representing my country abroad. Pushing other countries on their performance in the area of human rights is difficult when you have the level of gun violence, gender violence, and violent acts based on gender orientation that exist in the U.S.; when we have a larger percentage of our citizens in prison than any other country. When, after over 200 years of elections, we have the ‘hanging chad’ election of 2000, it is a bit embarrassing to criticize a developing country for not performing well on its third ever election.

Despite those challenges, though, I am just glad I don’t have to represent this country abroad in 2016. The election campaign of 2016 has, in the eyes of many foreigners, undercut almost every positive image of America. We’ve seen on live TV, scenes that one would expect to see in a tin pot, third world dictatorship; or a movie parody of such a government. We’ve seen a candidate threatening to jail his opponent if he wins, or not accepting the outcome of the election if he loses. We’ve seen that candidate encourage his followers to ‘beat the sh-t out of a demonstrator at one of his rallies. And, if that’s not enough, we’re now seeing attempts at voter intimidation that would make any foreign despot proud – out of state supporters of one candidate pushing to be allowed to ‘observe’ voting in certain neighborhoods where large numbers of people who don’t support their candidate live. In a voting precinct in one state, armed police will be stationed at polling places, and in the state of Arkansas, the early election ballots misspelled one candidate’s name, inserting an insult in it, and then claimed that this was just an ‘error.’

I’d hate to be a diplomat abroad right now trying to explain that to an audience of inquisitive and concerned foreigners. Worse, I’d hate to have to explain why so many people are happy to support a man who believes that because he’s a star he can get away with anything, who had a long track record of fraud, duplicity, and lying; much of it proven by his own words, because they don’t ‘like’ his opponent—mainly because of the rumors about her, many of which have not been proven, and most of which have been overblown. How can you explain voters like my friend who has decided not to vote because he doesn’t ‘like’ either candidate, or the friend of a friend who will vote for a bombastic bully because he didn’t like the people around the bully’s opponent when she was secretary of state? He feels that the bureaucracy will be able to control the bully. Are you hearing that? The bureaucracy, according to this individual, couldn’t control the bully’s opponent but they’ll ‘control’ him. How, as a diplomat, do you explain such stupidity and complacency to people, some of whom have risked their lives to vote?

As my grandmother would say, ‘It’s a hard row to hoe.’ I’m just glad I’ve left the farm.

How to be a great boss

During his tenure as Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage often met with newly appointed American ambassadors just prior to their departure to their countries of assignment.  In one such meeting in 2002, he gave the following admonition to an ambassador, “You can negotiate treaties, write great political dispatches, and make the officials of the host country like you.  But, if at the end of your tour of duty, the staff of your embassy can’t say they were better off for your having been there, you’re a (expletive deleted) failure.”

Never one to mince words or dance around an issue, Armitage outlined in these few words the key to being a great boss – focus on your people.

The U.S. military has a motto, “Mission first, People always.”  What this means, and how it relates to the Armitage directive is simply this; if you as a leader take care of your subordinates, they will take care of you, and get the job done.

As a boss, you are responsible for the job getting done, not doing the job yourself.  That’s what the other people in the organization are there for.  Your task is to create conditions that enable your team to, in the words of Larry the Cable Guy, “Get ‘er done.”

Easier said than done, you might say.  When you’re the person in charge, you’re expected to get results, and you have no time to experiment with leadership fads.  The flat organization with empowered people sounds good on paper, but how do you make it a reality?  First, let us acknowledge that leadership is not easy.  But, the philosophy of empowering people is no fad.  From infantry platoons to factory floors, history has shown that leaders who care for and motivate their people are more successful in the long term.

So, how do you go about becoming a ‘great boss?’  Here are a few hints on how to become the boss you’d like to have, and the kind of boss you need to be if you want to be successful.

-          Let your people know that you value them as individuals.  Every individual, given the right training and resources, can make a positive contribution to the organization.  It’s your responsibility as the boss to ensure they have what they need to succeed.  Their success is your success, and if they know that you value their success, they will work to achieve yours.

-         Encourage work-life balance.  People who are encouraged to develop themselves as well-rounded individuals bring more value to the workplace.  Family and friends provide a support structure that enables the individual to be more effective at work.

-         Use positive reinforcement.  People do what they are rewarded for.  Singling out good performance and publicly acknowledging it, fosters further good performance, not just in the individual honored, but all others who observe it.

-         Learn to listen.  No one has all the answers.  Learn to listen to your subordinates and use their knowledge to build your own.

-         Lead from the front.  The U.S. Army infantry motto is “follow me.”  If you are out front and demonstrating the direction in which the organization should go, others will follow.

-         Take the blame, give the credit.  As the boss, you will be credited by your superiors for the good things your organization does.  Never forget, though, without followers committed to your goals, you achieve nothing.  Give them the credit for the organization’s achievements.  In the same vein, if the organization fails, you are the person responsible.  Never blame your subordinates for failure; instead, look at what you could have done to make it possible for them to succeed.

-         Make the hard decisions, and then move on.  Your job as the boss is to make the decisions, good or bad.  This sometimes means you will have to do things that will make someone feel bad.  As long as you communicate clearly the reason for the decision, and then don’t dwell on it, the people in the organization will understand and respect you for it.

-         Walk the talk.  Set the standards of achievement and behavior for your organization, and then model those standards in everything you do or say.  Whether you like it or not, your subordinates will look not at what you say, but what you do, and their actions will be shaped by that.  The key to effective leadership is to gain the trust and respect of your followers.  

My election prediction as of November 2, 2016

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

2016 Presidential Election Interactive Map

2016 Presidential Election Interactive Map: Interactive map for the upcoming 2016 presidential election. Use it to predict which candidate will reach the necessary 270 electoral votes.

James Comey's ethical dilemma: a no-win situation

 When FBI Director James Comey chucked protocol out the window and took it upon himself to hold a press conference to announce that no charges would be recommended against Hillary Clinton in the private email server case, rather than passing his recommendation to the Justice Department as is usually done, he put himself, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the American electoral process in a difficult situation.

Apparently unaware of the old dictum, ‘when you’re in a hole, stop digging,’ Comey on Friday, Oct. 28, publicly announced that in the investigation of former congressman Anthony Weiner for possible criminal violations, there might (my emphasis) be emails on a computer shared by him and his wife, Hama Abedin (a Clinton aide) related to the investigation of Clinton’s use of a private server when she served as secretary of state. According to news reports, this announcement was made over the objections of the Justice Department and some senior FBI officials, because, coming as it did just days before the election, it could be seen as impacting the outcome of the election (intended or not).

Now, while many have excoriated Comey for his actions, others have sprung to his defense. The Republicans who damned him for not recommending Clinton be prosecuted, are now hailing him as a hero. Even some of his critics are saying that he is an honorable man who has done the wrong thing for the right reasons.

I’m not going to get into the argument of Comey’s honor or lack thereof, but there are some things about this situation that bother me, and I do believe they should be considered.

One: during the first press conference in which he said he would not recommend prosecution, he went on to make some snarky comments about Clinton’s judgment, which had no bearing on whether or not a crime was committed. During the second, however, he said these new emails might be related to the email server case (which means that they also might not), but he gave no details, nor did he make any editorial comments. The fact that the FBI didn’t even get a warrant to search the computer in question until Sunday, two days after the announcement, leads me to believe he hadn’t even seen them, so was, therefore, only speculating on their relationship to the previous investigation, which then causes me to wonder why he couldn’t have waited until carrying out the search and knowing whether or not they bear on the case.

Oh sure, there was the fact that his fellow Republicans had savaged him before, and if he didn’t come forward now, and the emails later turned out to be the smoking gun they’ve been looking for, he’d be accused of withholding evidence. That, of course, nicely ignores the fact that coming out with incomplete information before the election, which fed the GOP rumor mill for an entire weekend, could affect the outcome of the election, and if it turns out that there is no there there in this situation, what a shame that would be. This is one of those ethical dilemmas people in government sometimes face, and in this case, I believe Mr. Comey failed the test. In worrying more about his reputation than the integrity of the electoral system, he has set a bad precedent, and has put himself and his agency in a no-win situation. Will the FBI now ignore Justice Department rules and make public announcements in sensitive cases based on the personal feelings of the director? Will partisan pressure be what determines what is made public and what is not?

Maybe James Comey felt pressured and took the actions he did to relieve some of that pressure. Maybe it was not his intent to influence the outcome of the upcoming election (a blatant violation of the Hatch Act if he did). Whatever his intent, his actions have set a dangerous precedent in an era when hyperpartisanship is the rule rather than the exception, and will have a long term effect on the conduct of elections in this country.

Maybe he should have given a bit more thought to that before opening his mouth.

The 7 Keys to Effective Leadership

Today, more than any time in our history, we need effective leadership.  Whether it’s in the White House or in a state house, we need leaders who are capable of finding solutions to the astonishing array of problems we face, and the vision to anticipate and mitigate the unknown future problems that await us.

The list of problems facing us in the 21^st century is daunting.  From climate change to transnational threats such as pandemics and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to the dislocations and disruptions caused by globalization, humanity’s survival will depend on leadership that can chart a course through an uncertain and turbulent sea of constant change.

We no longer have the luxury to wait for the emergence of a great leader to take the helm.  Each of us must take responsibility for effective leadership in our own little corner of the world.  The aggregate effect of all these little effective corners of transformational leadership can move spaceship earth into a safe trajectory and off the path to chaos and destruction.

The good news in all this is that, with a little effort, we can all be effective leaders.  Remember, a house is built brick by brick or board by board.  By applying the following techniques of effective leadership, we can build a strong and enduring structure.

The 7 keys to effective leadership

-          Put people first.  People are the most important asset of any organization.  The U.S. military’s motto is “Mission first, People always.”  This is an explicit recognition that without people, nothing is accomplished.

-         Encourage risk taking and innovation.  Organizations that stick to the ‘tried and true’ often stagnate.  Progress comes only through moving into uncharted territory and trying new things.  Identify and reward the risk takers and innovators in your organization.

-         Embrace change.  Change is a constant in life; in fact, the only constant.  To be an effective leader, you should not only embrace change, you should promote it.

-         Emphasize honesty and integrity.  The most technically competent people who lack honesty and integrity are little more than charlatans.  If an organization is to prosper and endure, it must exude trust, and the integrity of an organization is a function of the honesty and integrity of every member of that organization.

-         Establish open communications.  Knowledge is the key to power and success.  As a leader, it is essential that you have access to the knowledge of those around you.  An atmosphere of open, candid communication provides you the knowledge to make effective decisions.

-         Foster a learning environment.  Each decade, science and technology increases exponentially.  Learning should be a life-long pursuit.  In addition to continually learning yourself, as a leader, you should encourage your subordinates to constantly upgrade their own skills and knowledge.

-         Be a team builder.  No man is an island.  Except for certain works of art, nothing is created without the effort of a number of individuals working together.  Leverage the diversity and different talents within your organization through the creation of teams.

When building a house, there are a number of ways to put on the finishing touches to make the house unique.  But, whether it’s a skyscraper or a summer cottage, it is essential that it have a strong foundation.  These seven principles form the basic foundation upon which a solid leadership structure can be constructed.

References:

Abrashoff, Captain D. Michael, It’s Your Ship:  Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, New York, Business Plus (Hachette Book Group), 2002

Bennis, Warren, Managing People is Like Herding Cats, Provo, Utah, Executive Excellence Publishing, 1999

Blaber, Pete, The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a former Delta Force Commander, New York, Berkley Caliber, 2008

 Johnson, Spencer, Who Moved My Cheese?, New York, G. P. Putnam, 1998

Oakley, Ed, and Doug Krug, Leadership made Simple:  Practical Solutions to Your Greatest Management Challenges, Centennial, CO, Executive Leadership Solutions, 2006

Ray, Charles, Things I Learned from My Grandmother About Leadership and Life, Baltimore, MD, PublishAmerica, 2008

_______, Taking Charge:  Effective Leadership for the Twenty-first Century, Baltimore, MD, PublishAmerica, 2009

Smith, Perry, Rules & Tools for Leaders:  A Down-to-Earth Guide to Effective Managing, New York, Penguin Books, 1998

The simplicity of Amish life

In today's high-tech age, we can sometimes forget that it's really the simple things in life that matter. A recent visit to an Amish community in Lancaster County, PA reminded me of how, even without a lot of modern amenities, life in the 1950s (if you overlook segregation) wasn't really all that bad. Back then, we learned to rely on ourselves and each other, and not some gadget.

A simple, unadorned room in an Amish house

The Amish aren't in to conspicuous consumption. They don't have electricity, but contrary to myth, they don't eschew ALL modern conveniences. They use battery- and gas-powered machinery and equipment, including refrigerators, they shop at the same stores regular people do, and they make use of modern medicine when they're sick.

Gas-powered range and refrigerator.