There’s been a lot of soul-searching among polling professionals since the 2016 election — why was President Trump’s win such a surprise? Since then, political pundits have been looking for better polling methods. They may have found one — social circle polling. Basically, instead of asking how someone plans to vote, people are asked how
President Trump has a point — there’s a lot of fake stuff out there. Of course, manipulative tools have been available for some time. I assume you’ve heard of the computer program Adobe Photoshop? The publishing business where I worked for 15 years displayed a photo of an older couple with the man’s head replaced
When I saw the musical Annie, I remember Daddy Warbucks inviting President Roosevelt to dinner, then ordering his staff to “Find out what Democrats eat.” Cute line, but apparently there’s some truth to it. In an article “Do You Eat Like a Republican or a Democrat?”, Chris Wilson reports that members of the two main
You’ve heard of the saying “Don’t judge anyone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes”? I grew up in a mostly rural area with no minorities. When I was in high school, the black sections of communities in our area were like a parallel universe. As an adult, I’ve always tried to be empathetic,
Today I’ve been reading about the NFL players and owners meeting discussing proper procedures for the national anthem. I don’t want to get into that specific subject, but as a military veteran, I do have definite thoughts about patriotism. Realizing that this nation has its problems, I believe patriotism includes calling attention to those problems
I’m going to introduce this topic with a teaching story. Several years ago I had a one-day high school job as an intervention specialist. Normally I would help other teachers, but this day I had a dedicated classroom where students could come for help as a kind of supervised study hall. When it was lunch
I grew up during the height of the Cold War, when every home-improvement show we attended had a model bomb shelter. Thankfully, we won that one. But today we may face a threat that is even more insidiously dangerous. I’m sure you’ve heard the accusations that Russia was behind the email hacks during the 2016
Talk about change, President Trump certainly has stirred up a debate about the press’s role in our society. As one might predict, members of the Fourth Estate are very much engaged. In the recent past, I’ve seen the following — The Christian Science Monitor’s March 13, 2017 cover story, “Trump vs. The Media: The War
For longer than I care to remember, we’ve been hearing some very partisan claims on social media about rating presidents. Who was the worst? Most historians have a very strong candidate — James Buchanan, our 15th chief executive (1857-1961), the president just before Abraham Lincoln. In fact, there is a new biography out entitled Worst.
A thought for this inauguration day — Have you ever studied Abraham Lincoln’s pose at the Lincoln Memorial? Specifically, notice his hands. His left hand is a tightly clinched fist, while the right hand is resting relaxed on the chair arm. This suggests there are two equal components of American leadership — strength and compassion.