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Democrats: Leadership discredited, party off kilter

How does a political party with overwhelming advantages, including increasing support from the growing bloc of highly educated and affluent voters, almost monopoly support from the press and broadcast media, and with burgeoning financial and high-tech sectors of the economy, manage to lose just about everything across the board? The Biden administration has been repudiated by voters over the inflation that resulted from its heedless spending and open border policy on immigration, and it has been discredited by recent disclosures of former President Joe Biden’s incapacity and by ...

Springsteen slams Trump as treasonous

When Donald Trump is president, it’s considered dangerously authoritarian if he accuses someone of treason — and it’s considered heroic “truth-telling” when you accuse Trump of being a treasonous authoritarian. The latest exhibit is leftist rock star/first-rate tax evader Bruce Springsteen. On a concert stage in Manchester, England, Bruce went full Dixie Chicks by attacking the president on a European stage. “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, ...

Democrats need to change party rules

No doubt, Republicans have had a rough two months with the Trump administration, losing court cases regarding immigration. Also, some snafus regarding Cabinet members such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and tariff policy. But Democrats have difficulties of their own, mostly those lingering from 2024. Former President Joe Biden’s decline continues to plague the party. As CNN’s Jake Tapper has chronicled, White House staffers and some party officials covered up Biden’s decline and continued to push his re-election ...

To create a culture of always, help people know what’s in it for them

Getting to a culture of always is an elusive outcome for organizations. Achieving excellence with every process, behavior, and customer interaction—is hard. It separates great organizations from good ones. Even the best organizations don’t achieve perfection in all things. The conversation around always led me to study and create materials on the topic. Achieving always involves a combination of people, processes, and tools/technology. It also includes making sure each person understands what is being asked and is provided the opportunity to build skills and gain experience. ...

Education Town Hall in Elkins

“Together for Public Schools” a focus group from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy held a Town Hall meeting May 19 at Phil Gainer Center. Sarah Duncan, who spoke at Kump Center in March, returned to Elkins with a PowerPoint presentation full of information about the harms of using tax dollars for the Hope Scholarship giveaway plan. There is no accountability for this so-called “School Choice” program. As it stands now, there are no good choices for the majority of West Virginia students. Rich kids in a few cities may get more money to attend private high schools ...

Avoiding pitfalls of the past

Josh Hawley, Republican Senator from Missouri and a major spokesman for the MAGA movement, has advanced several modest proposals that promise to change the GOP. In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Hawley warns his party to avoid pitfalls that have hurt Republicans in the past. Specifically, the Missouri Senator addresses Medicaid, which allows 9 million Americans to obtain decent medical care. Hawley urges his colleagues to support Medicaid, rejecting the denizens of Project 2025 who want to gut the program. Partially, it is because his home state has quite a number of Medicaid ...