IF YOU’VE NOTICED THE FREQUENCY OF THE ENTERPRISE HAS DROPPED OFF…
TWO REASONS:
1) I’ve been working hard to get my book done and in your hands: Rocketships & Parachutes — 365 Lessons to launch and land your career is coming soon, and I hope you will share multiple copies of it, so it helps the most people possible.
2) So much of what is being thrown about as news, IS NOT. It is thinly veiled opinions, bolstered by questionable factoids, and circulated by irresponsible and biased “journalists.” I put that phrase in quotation marks because far too many, in fact most of the so called journalists who create (I chose that word carefully) what you read and hear and see now are not journalists at all.
In days gone by they might have been called “propagandists.” Or quite simply, “biased liars” who write opinions in place of news. Genuine news reporting is hard to do, and incredibly valuable. There are some good journalists still out there plying their trade, buried under piles of “fake" news, or “made up" news or biased opinions masquerading as news. I tried writing for a “news site” for a while. It was very hard. My opinions kept creeping into whatever I wrote. That’s why so many “opinion” (or OpEd) columns are flying around pretending to be “news.”
ON THE OTHER HAND, TH4E DEATH OF JOURNALISTS IS TRAGIC
World Press Freedom day a week ago, came on the heels of the death of nine journalists (among 25 people killed and 45+ wounded) by suicide bombers in Kabul, Afghanistan. These journalists were mostly the old fashioned kind who travelled at great personal risk to report on news (not fake new) from the dangerous places where it was happening. Other than Daniel Pearl’s highly publicized beheading, most such deaths receive very little publicity. That’s a shame. When we hope and wish for a “free press” we also hope that the news gatherers don’t have to pay with their lives to bring us that news. In most cases, their reports are the most credible ones (later it may be distorted to fit the ideology of editors and managers). Since 1992, 1,300 journalists have died seeking the truth about the news. We often reflect on our soldiers who give their lives for our freedoms, but forget that the freedom of the press, and accurate on-location reporting, is not free either. It costs lives. Remember that.
ON ROBERT MUELLER’S ENDLESS INVESTIGATION
There was a good cartoon but calling attention to a bad investigation—a fiasco:
HERE ARE TWO EDITORIALS THAT ILLUSTRATE HOW BAD THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION HAS GONE “OFF THE RAILS”
JOE FRIDAY OF OLD TV DRAMA “DRAGNET” HAD IT RIGHT. HE WANTED “THE FACTS, AND NOTHING BUT THE FACTS.”
Face it. Even the police are biased. How can I confidently say that? Because they are human. It is almost impossible to erase our deeply held beliefs and feelings from what we say, do and write. Everyone is a product of their upbringing, their environment, their employment and their experience and what they learned (or didn’t learn from it.) The best remaining “journalists” try very hard to give the facts objectively. Chris Wallace of Fox News is one of the best at exploring both sides of an issue in the news or in an interview. Several of the female news anchors on Fox also do a decent job, notably Dana Perino, and Shannon Bream. Occasionally Anderson Cooper of CNN surprises me by being balanced in his pursuit of news and in interviews. Wolf Blitzer tries but his deep biases get in his way, showing even in his facial and body language (like someone who bit down on a piece of rotten fruit) when he has to report anything unfavorable to the Demo-demagogues.
I never watch MSNBC—Doctor’s orders to manage my blood pressure, (Disclosure: I used to watch Joe Scarborough, before he defected to the left wing camp, probably helped by his wife’s input.) because MSNBC is actually the propaganda arm of the left wing Democratic party—unashamed at creating and spreading manufactured “fake news” by editing out any facts that do no suit its purpose—to promote the Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, & Chuck Schumer Democratic Demagogues. Here’s another example of hypocrisy: the past from Democratic platforms had called for recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Last time the Senate voted 90-0 with the support of Schumer. Feinstein, Sanders, et/ al.Now that Trump moved the embassy there, not a single Congressional Democrat—not one—travelled to Israel to attend the historic move. Rep. Pelosi basted the decision, So did Sen. Feinstein, Sanders and others. Two-faced? You bet. Schumer even blasted Trumps effort to bring back the 3 Americans from N. Korea (unlike Obama, it didn’t take trading vast sums of money and terrorists imprisoned in America. Whose side are these people on? Not the American people’s, that’s for sure.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE HOW BAD THINGS ARE, CONSIDER THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER RECENTLY
You know I like Peggy Noonan and think she tells things like they are—in her opinion of course. I can’t do any better than her take on this revolting (once charitable) event and its speakers.
OK. NOW I GOT THAT ALL OUT OF MY SYSTEM. WHAT AND WHO CAN YOU BELIEVE? HOW ABOUT YOUR DIET?
For years I avoided eggs and dairy and most fats, and a lot of complex carbohydrates. I wondered why I was always hungry, and gaining weight. It turns out that while simple carbs (white bread, etc.) are metabolized almost immediately into sugar in our bodies, too much of even the good ones, complex carbs will cause you to gain weight. Fats help satiate our hunger and after decades of warnings that fats will elevate your cholesterol and kill you (not true, unless it is transfats—which are really bad for you), they are not deadly, and actually have a role in healthy diet.. The big culprit now, we find, is sugar, and most things sweet. The frequently used, cost effective sweetener, high fructose corn syrup is especially bad for you. Avoid it. Artificial sweeteners are not exactly OK, or terribly bad, because they keep us hooked on eating those sweet things.
EAT PLANT BASED FOOD, AND NON-PROCESSED (No added preservatives, etc.) FOODS
Now the word is “plant based diets" are best. However, try to get the protein your body’s muscles need from them—its hard—which is why they drink protein shakes and use protein powder. Me, I’d prefer a good steak, or pork chop or piece of chicken breast, or fish to get my protein—and (egad!) eggs almost every day for protein. Even drinking milk, which we learned was good for us growing up—is not so good. One old rule still holds: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Any by the way, exercise won’t make you lose weight per se, but it builds muscle which consumes more calories and has big cardiovascular benefits.
EXERCISE IS GOOD FOR US, SO IS VITAMIN D & B12, AND FIBER
Exercise slows aging (a small British study says), reduces the risk of cancer, dementia, infection and auto-immune diseases. So get off your butts, and move around. You do not have to run miles and miles (which tears up your knees and hips). Walk a lot, outdoors if possible to soak up vitamin D from sunlight. Even then, you won’t get enough vitamin D in northern parts of the USA (you’ll need a vitamin D supplement—1000-2000 IU, and maybe more). Park further from the door when you go shopping. Climb steps (if your knees will let you) up and down (different muscles are used).
The average American ingests around 12 grams of fiber daily, while dietary guidelines call for most to ingest 2 to 3 times as much fiber daily (25 - 38 grams). Eating cruciferous vegetables and legumes (beans) helps. A fiber supplement like Metamucil is good for most folks: dump a teaspoon of it into a glass of water once of twice a day and drink it right down. Or use one of the newer fibers, Sun Fiber, available on amazon.com.
STICKERS THAT MISLEAD YOU ON WARRANTIES
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that many warning stickers that say people will void their warranty (Warranty void if seal damaged) are not only wrong but also illegal. Warranties are pretty durable. Other illegal warnings tell you that warranties will not apply if the product is used with parts from another company, or with products not sold, or licensed with, their company. (Source Washington Post article, April 2018
CATEGORY: WHAT TO DO ABOUT
Gun control & mass killings: What to do? How to do it? Will it help with so many guns already out there? (Some, but not enough.) Age restrictions? (Yes, for sure) Severe screening for mental health issues? (Absolutely, and right now, nationwide.) Restrictions the put gun sellers in the crosshairs for criminal prosecution as accomplices? (Maybe, but I’m not a lawyer, so who knows if this can be done.)
Opioid deaths now exceeding car deaths & still growing. What to do & how to limit use to restricted medical places and uses. Recent tests have found an alternative: Advil (ibuprofen) and Tylenol (acetaminophen) in combination work about as well as an opioid, without the addiction. (Used according to a Doctor’s advice and observing labeled maximum daily dose warnings. Find a way to limit illegal fentanyl impact. Of course, restrict prescriptions to small quantities, and make people come back for more frequently, but better yet, don’t prescribe them at all. Tighten restrictions on the sale and use of opioids.
Immigration and DACA and the “Wall”. Stop using them as political footballs. Secure the borders...more than just a wall in combinations of technology, border security personnel, segments of fencing and walls, and tightening up immigration vetting, ID usage, and in some cases, bans of quotas. Using profiling constructively will enhance border security. (Israel’s model shows that). Tracking visa overstays hard will help too. Limiting the terms and relationships of "chain migrations” to proven immediate family will also help. AND—limit the benefits offered & paid by the US government for illegals, and there privileges granted—including driving licenses of any kind. Universal IDs, hard to counterfeit, and requiring frequent renewals, are a critical step.
NCAA Basketball changes: eliminate one & done, step up penalties for abuses…and hopefully get NBA to cooperate on 3 year college rule like the NFL uses. Create a no-contact rule for proven abusers, and a ban for coaches and corporate sponsors when proven involved. Blame the adult abusers not the youthful offenders, but punish them too if egregious violations discovered.
Unions and Right to Work Laws
SCOTUS decision on whether public employee unions can charge dues to workers who do not wish to belong, will have a huge influence on the power of these unions. In fact, public employee unions should not exist at all. The power of these unions, funded by union dues, was shown in the uprising against OH SB 5 a few years ago, I’m a Right To Work advocate and these public unions fly in the face of my beliefs. Unions were formed to protect workers against unfair or overly powerful employers bad behavior, and to give groups of employees, collective power to further their agenda (regardless of whether that agenda is doing good or bad things for its members) and in the case of public employees, for the general population. One of the most egregious outcomes of public employee unions is the negotiation of outsized and unaffordable pension plans sinking the economies of several states, notably CA and IL saddling those citizens with crushing obligations that simply cannot be funded and sustained.
Immigration and DACA and the “Wall”. Stop using them as political footballs. Secure the borders...more than just a wall in combinations of technology, border security personnel, segments of fencing and walls, and tightening up immigration vetting, ID usage, and in some cases, bans of quotas. Using profiling constructively will enhance border security. (Israel’s model shows that). Tracking visa overstays hard will help too. Limiting the terms and relationships of "chain migrations” to proven immediate family will also help. AND—limit the benefits offered & paid by the US government for illegals, and there privileges granted—including driving licenses of any kind. Universal IDs, hard to counterfeit, and requiring frequent renewals, are a critical step.
NCAA Basketball changes: eliminate one & done, step up penalties for abuses…and hopefully get NBA to cooperate on 3 year college rule like the NFL uses. Create a no-contact rule for proven abusers, and a ban for coaches and corporate sponsors when proven involved. Blame the adult abusers not the youthful offenders, but punish them too if egregious violations discovered.
Unions and Right to Work Laws
SCOTUS decision on whether public employee unions can charge dues to workers who do not wish to belong, will have a huge influence on the power of these unions. In fact, public employee unions should not exist at all. The power of these unions, funded by union dues, was shown in the uprising against OH SB 5 a few years ago, I’m a Right To Work advocate and these public unions fly in the face of my beliefs. Unions were formed to protect workers against unfair or overly powerful employers bad behavior, and to give groups of employees, collective power to further their agenda (regardless of whether that agenda is doing good or bad things for its members) and in the case of public employees, for the general population. One of the most egregious outcomes of public employee unions is the negotiation of outsized and unaffordable pension plans sinking the economies of several states, notably CA and IL saddling those citizens with crushing obligations that simply cannot be funded and sustained.
CHINA CONTROLLING MORE AND MORE “Big Brother is watching—everywhere—but most of all in China!
China’s Orwellian society is growing thanks to networks and all sorts of recognition, facial, information, and human, which now allows the central government to accumulate ratings of people—who are for or against government preferred policies and actions. Who they know and associate with can blackball people and punish offenders who barely realized they did anything wrong. China’s ban on the number of children a couple can have is backfiring. In a decade or sooner, China’s economic growth will slow because of too few working age people. Growth and population are inextricable connected. Unless a country has a birth rate of about 2.1 children per couple, it’s population will decline and become older—requiring more government support by fewer working people. The US is there now, as are Japan and most developed European countries.
This is a very informative piece on China’s trade policies and cheating:
It’s Trump’s Iran Deal Now
This was a lousy agreement, mismanaged by John Kerry and backed by Obama so he could claim he “did something” and he did…something foolish and bad for the USA. Kerry brokered a lousy agreement and spent millions in cash at the same time.
THE END OF TWO ERAS AND THE FALL OF TWO COMPANIES AND LOTS OF CEOS
Eight of 20 Best-Paid CEOs of 2017 Are No Longer on the Job
General Electric: Companies usually don’t outlive people. Human longevity is typically 6-7 decades or more. Companies seldom last that long. GE has been the exception, and now it is in trouble/ Jack Welch (the legendary CEO) started the trouble by diversifying this legendary manufacturer into financial service and much more. His successor Jeff Immelt showed how unprepared he was to run and grow the company Welch handed off to him. During his decade long tenure, GE went nowhere but into deeper trouble. GE will probably continue to exist in some drastically modified version of what it was or is. It will never be the same again.
Toys R Us: I knew Charles Lazarus who passed recently at age 94. He was a brilliant and driven man, like most company founders. His Toys R Us grew, prospered and dominated its market space, until it didn’t anymore. Just like the Product Life Cycle curve, it went past maturity into decline. It’s industry shifted and it couldn’t keep up with the shift. I wrote about this problem in my award-winning 1997 book Shape Shifters—Continuous Change for Competitive Advantage. ) This kind of shift nearly crippled McDonald’s but thus far it is trying different ways to shift and maintain its market position—"breakfast all day" has saved it for now. Then we’ll see what's next?)
Tesla: This brilliant entrepreneur Elon Musk has proven the ability to do spectacular things. Build high end electric cars that are faster than the fastest sports cars; Launch and return rockets to/from space; and much more. However a few rockets "blew up" in the learning process. What about Tesla volume production?
Now he is grappling with two challenges:
1) Learning to make autos in volume, reliably and fast—that is a tough thing to do.
2) Learning to tolerate the inane but probing questions from media wanting to know if investors billions of dollars were wisely used.
Brilliantly conceive ideas are one things. Assembling the talent and gaining the experience to successfully commercialize those ideas is quite another.
FYI: I will cover these and many more topics in my newest book, 60 years in the research, 6 years in the writing, nearly ready to be released. Rocketships & Parachutes: 365 Lessons to Launch and Land your career
WATCH FOR MORE ON THIS TOPIC IN FUTURE EDITIONS OF THE ENTERPRISE
BEST, JOHN
Sent from my iPad-
-(excuse autocorrect's strange word changes)
Sent from my iPad-
-(excuse autocorrect's strange word changes)
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