Monday, March 18, 2024
In the Searchlight
Boeing is in the media searchlight and every peccadillo of the company is getting national headlines. It is a wretched place to be in but there is nothing the company can do about it. Boeing's executives need to buckle down and concentrate on safety. Every failing there will only pitch the company into a deeper hole.
# posted by Jim Horton : 6:47 AM
Friday, March 15, 2024
Boasting Rights
It's a race between Tesla and Porsche as to who gets the boasting rights for the fastest EV. It's going to absurd lengths.
# posted by Jim Horton : 6:59 AM
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Succession
Do dictators worry about who comes after them? It is doubtful. They are much more concerned about maintaining their grip on the power they have. Hence, Putin. He is in good health and potentially has another decade or more to govern, but he has a succession problem. There is no obvious choice for someone to follow him and it is likely to remain that way. His is the dominant voice of Russian government and sole arbiter of major and minor decisions. In every sense, he is the opposite of democracy and that makes him dangerous yet vulnerable.
# posted by Jim Horton : 6:48 AM
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Veiled Threat
Putin has said Russia is prepared to use nuclear weapons if the Russian state is threatened. The unanswered question is who determines a threat is sufficient for atomic bombs? It would seem to be the dictator himself and his own sense of paranoia. It is incomplete communication without sufficient detail. For example, if Ukraine should start advancing against Russian forces, is that enough of a threat? Putin is a calculated individual on the lookout for his own power, so his words are a warning to the West, as he intends them to be, and deliberately obfuscated. Now it is up to Europe and the US to determine what he is saying.
# posted by Jim Horton : 10:42 AM
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Difficult
Former President Trump's attorneys are right in saying they don't want to try the classified documents case in the media, but this CNN interview is damning. Trump might be itching to respond, but apparently his lawyers have been successful in muzzling him.
# posted by Jim Horton : 6:50 AM
Monday, March 11, 2024
Fake?
Now the British royals are being victimized by fake photography -- or it would seem so. AP withdrew a picture of the Princess of Wales and her children over concerns that the image was photoshopped. This raised a huge stink and worldwide news. No one is safe anymore from manipulated imagery. It is one more hazard of communications and PR.
# posted by Jim Horton : 6:55 AM
Friday, March 08, 2024
Fiery
I couldn't sleep last night after Biden's State of the Union speech. It was a fiery presentation that laid to rest fears of a doddering old man running for a second term. Democrats in the chamber were ecstatic. Republicans were in stony silence. Only a few times in the hour and a half did Biden's lifelong battle with stuttering appear. The speech proved once again that he is an able communicator, a talent he will need in a tough reelection battle.
# posted by Jim Horton : 6:50 AM