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Peacemaker in progress

Donald Trump has billed himself as a “peacemaker,” boasting that he has stopped a number of potential disputes. He has a solid achievement in the Middle East, but it is still a work in progress. The toughest of his initiatives regards the war between Ukraine and Russia. It has been a rocky road, made even more difficult by the machinations of the “deep state.” Those who helped to design policy during both the Biden and the first Trump administration are bound and determined to thwart a new course on Ukraine. Trump clearly wants to end the war, and in his view, the best way ...

Holiday Home

As Davis & Elkins College’s fall semester winds down and Christmas nears, our campus feels more than ever like home. For many of our students, D&E is not simply where they study—it is where they live, grow, worship, celebrate, and find belonging. They have made this campus their home, and during the holiday season that truth becomes especially vivid. We have literally “decked the halls” to reflect the warmth of the season. Christmas trees glow softly in the gathering spaces of our buildings, twinkling lights brighten the evenings, and fresh pine is in the air. These simple ...

Judging a book by its cover

I enjoy reading. I guess I wouldn’t be in this profession if I didn’t. When I was 5 years old, I told my dad he no longer had to read to me. From that point on, I slept with numerous books under my bed for convenience. I slept with a touch lamp on and didn’t sleep in the dark until I was nearly out of high school, not because I was afraid of the dark but because I’d often fall asleep reading. Growing up, I mostly read nonfiction, such as books about history. I recall borrowing the Time Life series on the American Civil War from then-Pleasants County Sheriff David Kelly (now ...

Just what is going on with the economy?

The fate of the Trump administration — and perhaps Republicans in Congress — is tethered to how Americans feel about the economy. And right now, it’s hard to find anyone who can say with confidence what the hell is going on. Thursday offered a fresh reminder of the chaos. As The Wall Street Journal noted, “Stocks surrendered gains and closed sharply lower after a whirlwind day of trading that began after Nvidia posted strong results. The Nasdaq composite led indexes lower after being up on the day more than 2%. It closed 2.2% lower. Nvidia gave up an even bigger gain and ...

Cheney was not intimidated

The word that best describes how former Vice President Dick Cheney, who wielded the responsibilities he undertook in public affairs over a long career, began improbably early in life and extended into years of repudiation by his fellow partisans, is “unintimidated.” He was unintimidated by his rise to become White House chief of staff at age 34 in 1975, after flunking out of Yale University and not finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin (while his wife, Lynne Cheney, earned hers). Cheney, who died last month and was eulogized in a ceremony to which the current ...

The best leaders are those who learn from others

When asked what characteristics the most successful people have, I often mention curiosity. This is what it takes to learn from others. In most organizations, there are usually some leaders who are achieving better results than others. This is a good thing. These days, very few travel dollars are needed to get help. What it takes is the willingness to ask the person achieving good results how they are doing it.  One difference between a frontline worker and a manager is that the frontline worker most often works side by side with others who do a similar job. A manager does not work ...