I HAVE TONS OF THINGS TO SHARE WITH YOU—GOOD AND BAD—AND I APPRECIATE YOUR REPLIES AND FEEDBACK
A GOOD WEEK FOR TRUMP AND A BAD ONE FOR DEMOCRATS
1) Trump is acquitted in Impeachment trial. Yes, it was partisan except for the idealist gesture of Mitt Romney (still mad because he blew his shot at the presidency by his own mistakes—a gutless 2nd & 3rd debates after he dominated Obama in the first debate, and his stupid handling of the Hurricane Sandy event because he believed the unreliable polls that put him ahead—and then the “immoral” Trump won by showing his toughness under fire).
2) Nancy Pelosi becomes a caricature of a petulant leader—she topped off a bad week by her tasteless pantomime sitting behind Trump during his SOTY speech, and like an angry, misbehaving child, tore up the speech. She may think that energized her base, but likely sent voters to Trump. She didn’t want to impeach Trump, knew it was a loser; then caved to the party’s radical left, ran terrible impeachment hearings (thanks to the terrible twins, Schiff and Nadler). Then rushed the hearing leaving no time to get her witnesses, then stalled for a month, followed by whining about not getting her witnesses in the Senate Trial (Hey, Nancy, the witnesses testify first and then comes the trial.)
3) A new group of Democrat clowns mishandle the Iowa Caucuses (First primary) so badly, no one had confidence in the results. Winners: The immature and under-qualified Pete, and the overly mature and still angry, ranting Bernie. Casualties: Sleepy Joe Biden and the liberal "Pocahontas” Elizabeth Warren.
4) The Appellate Court dismisses the Trump emolument case as invalid. Another win for Trump, loss for the Dems.
5) The sole Democrat winner: Amy Klobuchar of MN— who stood out among the Democrat Debate participants as a reasonable, non-billionaire candidate.
WHAT TO WORRY ABOUT:...
Nobody in the Democrat Party was too worried about Trump being a serious candidate or potential winner— and he won.
Nobody in the GOP is worried enough about “Crazy Socialist Bernie” but he has a powerful message— he’s mad as hell and he wants to give away FREE almost everything. Memo to Sanders, Warren et. al.— IF you could tax ALL the wealth of the RiCH— it still wouldn’t come close to paying for your radical schemes. What could? The European Solution—a Value Added Tax (VAT). The downside of the VAT? It taxes EVERYBODY— a lot.
WHAT IF BERNIE’S THE NOMINEE AND WINS? DISASTER!
FIRST AND FOREMOST QUESTION FOR THE STILL (WHINING) DEMOCRATS
Question: Why didn’t the Democrats conduct a FAIR set of impeachment hearings, call the necessary witnesses, allow open hearings with equal number and quality of witnesses for both sides. Answer: IF the House had done its job properly — thoroughly and fairly, they couldn’t be whining about not calling witnesses during the Senate trial!
A THOUGHT TO CONSIDER
Maybe Trump isn’t courting minorities just because he wants their votes. What if he really wants to help them and bring them back into his new centrist GOP?
WOMEN—SUBURBAN WOMEN IN PARTICULAR, ARE A PROBLEM FOR TRUMP
His entire attitude rubs them the wrong way. Watch to see if Kobuchar keeps rising. Women are not happy overall with the USA culture. They have now climbed into the C-suites of many companies but are dead-ended in staff jobs (IT, HR, Admin.,etc.) and not getting into the CEO spots (167 out of 3000 top companies). For some reason (I don’t know what it is.) women are having trouble getting to (and staying in) the very top Corporate job.
WANT A HIGH TURNOVER JOB? GET TO THE TOP
Regardless of gender, CEO’s turnover fast, usually leaving a mess in their wake. A new CEO usually means a lot of people in spots one or two levels down will also change. On any team, of any sort, when one or more team members change, the team dynamic changes and not for the better. The style of the leader—collaborative, dictatorial, passive or aggressive—each leads to different organizational chaos. When contrasting styles follow in sequence, that really tears up an organization. Imagine sharply contrasting styles. Dictatorial leaders tell an organization what to do, when, and often how— and don’t want to hear dissenting views. Collaborative leaders solicit input and build consensus-based action plans. Which ever follows the other, imagine how the people in the organization are impacted. (Last year 1640 US CEO’s left their jobs, that’s up 13% from 2018 and the highest since 2002. Were many of them competent? Sure. Were some of them failures. Of course. But the point is, most of them were interviewed, vetted and hired with high hopes—and many were gone in the first year or two. Turmoil, and disruption follow soon after. Occasionally, a close knit team at the next level will hold things together—if allowed to.)
A TREND THAT, SADLY, CONTINUES—THE VANISHING EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT (NEE: SECRETARY)
The longer I type on this, the more I appreciate the days when I could dictate long memos and reports, and they would be typed neatly and my content, context and other errors would magically be fixed. At the peak of their career heights Exec. Asst’s were 95% female, totally indispensable, starting to be paid closer to their worth—and they were the “glue" that held corporate organizations together. Even though we saddled them with ridiculous ancillary duties (fetch coffee, find birthday presents for spouses or others, make countless copies of inane documents and organize office events in their “spare” time) they were invaluable as true “assistants.” I remember every one I ever worked with, clearly, and the best ones were truly great. The not so good ones, were still helpful and important and the few bad ones—well, they were my fault for choosing and hiring them in the first place.
IS THE MIDDLE EAST WORTH ALL THE PROBLEMS?
When it controlled the largest oil deposits, many folks would say yes. Does control of the Straits of Hormuz make it that critical? Or is it the fact that its society’s beliefs are rooted in tribal practices from 7 centuries ago? Or is it their tradition of kill or be killed arising from Bedouin roots fighting for survival in the desert? Except now a couple of them have nukes? And anyone who hopes Israel and Palestine will ever settle their deep seated differences peacefully is dreaming. Ditto the Shiites and the Sunnis. The US best bet is to look out for its own interests and quit pouring our money and lives into someone else's war — that will never end.
A HEARTFELT SET OF CONCLUSIONS
Did you know that many heart surgeries may be unnecessary. A landmark report from an NYU study of interventions intended to prevent heart attacks and deaths of patients with stable heart disease revealed this startling fact—based on results in 5179 patients from 37 countries with moderate to severe artery blockages. Over 3-1/2 years, a group of people who were treated only with drugs—statins and other cholesterol lowing medications—were compared to a second group of people receiving those drugs, plus surgical treatments such as stents or bypass surgery. The number of people who survived vs. died were essentially the same! The surgical treatment reduced chest pain better than pills, but also confirmed that it’s very difficult to pinpoint heart problems well enough to place stents or do bypasses that work with certainty. The tentative conclusions—for non-emergency heart issues—try the pills first. You may be able to avoid the risks of surgery.
SMART GLASSES ARE COMING WITH AUGMENTED REALITY INCLUDED
All the biggies: amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. are racing the develop these smart glasses that can are a mix of reality with better vision, “augmented reality” and in some cases “virtual reality,” which create vignettes that let the wearer see things they once could only imagine.
IS YOUR STOCK BROKER A ROBOT?
Robots are coming to the financial management field. With a huge part of investments made in Index funds which simply follow “indexes” of identified groups of stocks or bonds, robots can do that quite well. Considering the actively managed mutual funds are outperformed by index fund about 75% of the time, most investors will see the low fees and say, “why not.” Will you?
WANT TO SEE VENICE? VISIT SOON BEFORE IT IS SUBMERGED.
The long awaited MOSE project with huge moving floodgates that can be raised to protect this legendary city, are stuck, rusting, and mired in corruption, bureaucracy and foolishness. The most recent flood reached more the SIX FEET above flood levels, inundating historical buildings, homes, churches and landmarks. Will the inept Italian government get its act together before the Adriatic sea destroys one of Europe’s great historical cities? The prognosis based on the past several decades is NOT GOOD!
IF YOU WANT TO SEE ROME, FLORENCE, PARIS, GO SOON; ARE ALL BECOMING TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN CITIES OVERRUN BY REFUGEES AND UNRULY IMMIGRANTS.
Cars are now banned from the central, most famous parts of Rome and Florence, replaced by buses carrying tourists. Paris has not yet fallen prey to this, but has, perhaps the biggest refugee, immigrant problem—violence, crime, and disruption. So far the great iconic sites are still there and accessible to see, but the trends are troubling.
IN THE US, BIRTHS ARE DOWN, DEATHS ARE UP AND DEMOGRAPHICS ARE WORRISOME
There are already shortages of labor, especially skilled labor (e.g., nurses) in most American states and cities—due to low unemployment. The birth rate has plummeted to 1.73 children per woman, because todays younger folks, marry later (if at all) and are concerned about children “slowing down their career and lifestyles.” Further, the huge number of early life deaths from Opioids and avoided births due to abortions have dramatically slowed (or stopped) the American population growth rate. Our country’s economic well being and growth depends on having "enough workers" and "good productivity” to continue growing. (FYI—The Chinese birth rate is also too low to support its targeted 6%+ growth rate.) The trend toward Robots and AI may well be needed as much to sustain economies and to keep them vital and growing.
ARE YOU DROWNING IN ROBOCALLS? YES! IS HELP ON THE WAY? NOT SO MUCH
Technology has outstripped the controls in this area. The robot calling computers can make such calls faster than we can block them, screen them or even answer them. The Do Not Call Registry is not working. NoMoRobo helps a little, but not nearly enough. The miscreants are like absentee landlords who flee at the first whiff of detection. Penalties are too small, too slow, and too hard to levy. (I have no answers—I have to go answer the phone—it’s ringing again with a number not in my caller ID)
WHY SHOULD ABLE BODIED AMERICANS STAY HOME, AND COLLECT FOOD STAMPS PAID FOR BY WORKING PEOPLE?
Answer: They shouldn’t. BUT, the “bleeding heart liberals” say they shouldn’t have to do anything at all, expect to be supported by the minority who work and add value to the America economy. This is insanity. If capable people want to be supported by those who work, they need to “DO SOMETHING” to earn it. “Workfare was the right idea. No work (or training to work) deserve no welfare. Period.
NSAIDS CAN HELP DEPRESSION (and are cheap and non-addictive) & BAD SLEEP HABITS CAN HARM YOUR HEART.
So, I am going to take a couple of aspirin and stop writing on this and go to bed!😉
HAVE A GREAT FEB.
JOHN
Have you read ROCKETSHIPS & PARACHUTES ?
It can change your life, and the lives of everyone you share it with. https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P
It can change your life, and the lives of everyone you share it with. https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P
Sent from my iPad--(excuse autocorrect's changes).
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