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Dems’ isolation gets worse

We Americans, it seems, continue to live in two separate countries. Consider two items in the news this week and the inconsistent responses they evoked. One was the conviction in Florida of Ryan Routh, the second man who attempted to assassinate then-candidate Donald Trump in mid-September 2024. The news appeared on page A24 of the print edition of The New York Times. Very different treatment was accorded to the return of Jimmy Kimmel, the third-highest-rated of the three broadcast network late-night show hosts, from the suspension imposed on him last week. That action was prompted ...

Investing in new leaders reflects well on a company

I spend time with organizations that are investing in people. At each session, I ask, “How many have been in a supervisory role (manager, leader) for less than four years?” The percentage of hands that go up ranges from 30 to 60 percent.  Next, I ask the group to reflect on their personal journey to a supervisory role. Did they get a degree in how to lead people before they were put in a leadership role? Did the company send them to a preparation program? The overwhelming response is no.  I then ask people what role they had prior to their manager role. Let’s say someone ...

Caring and making choices

Too often, I have been described as someone who does not care about students, as if my only concern is dollars and cents. I understand why people might think this way. My short tenure as superintendent in Randolph County has been defined almost entirely by a financial crisis that I did not create but that I must confront. When the story of a district becomes one of spreadsheets and deficits, it is easy to assume the leader is cold and unfeeling. But I would challenge anyone to consider what genuine caring looks like. Caring is not telling people what they want to hear. Caring does not ...

Forest Festival history of chivalry

The tradition of chivalry was very much alive in the West Virginia hills when future Governor Kump and his brother were young. The knightly code of honorable conduct got its name from the French word cheval meaning horse, and horses were rural transportation and entertainment in the late 1800s when the Kumps participated in tournaments at Capon Springs Resort. In her book “Capon Notes” Debbie Boyce quoted a newspaper article printed November 2, 1893: “The lads and lassies of the valley, after toiling industriously with the wheat and corn … conducted a little recreation. They ...

Lost at sea

Foreign policy requires a delicacy that ideology cannot provide. With the United Nations meeting in New York, American clumsiness, indeed childishness, is on full display. And it is not just the administration that is to blame. Congress, in its zeal to carry water for Ukraine and partially for Israel, limits the United States in the methods that can be employed to preserve its influence, not only because of its power, but also as the premier moral leader in the world. Confusion reigns with Trump and the Congress resembling the St. Vitus’ dance. In the Middle East, Trump backs ...

Political pettinesss

If Donald Trump is not careful, he will be politically drowned in a sea of pettiness. Given that he has suffered taunts and has been twice impeached by Democrats, his brusqueness can be understood. But he should be careful of the admonition that “whom the gods would destroy, they would first make angry.” In the last weeks, he has enticed the gods and the furies. First, he expressed his views on Jimmy Kimmel. His chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, announced the policy concerning what he perceived as anti-conservative bias by the networks. ABC allegedly ...