The first hour of the final evening of the 2020 Republican Convention had two clear, albeit somewhat contradictory, messages.

On the one hand, a parade of nonwhite speakers vouched for President Donald Trump both as a non-racist individual and as a policymaker who delivered criminal justice reform. On the other hand, Black Lives Matter protests are responsible for rioting and rising crime all across America and only Trump can save the suburbs from inner-city chaos. His election rival Joe Biden, by the same token, was both an avatar of the tough on crime excesses of the 1990s and somehow the leader of a movement to defund the police.

It was clearly a pitch to more moderate voters who might have misgivings about how things are going under Trump. Earlier nights in the convention served up plenty of red meat to the base from anti-abortion tirades to overt attempts to own the libs but Thursday night was clearly the persuasion game.

The big message was that America as a whole is tumbling into chaos and lawlessness, and the only person who can rescue us is ... the guy in charge.

The speech itself was a bit of a letdown. Trump, a master of drawing attention to himself, has never been very skilled at reading prepared text from a teleprompter. And this night was no exception, as he delivered a somewhat stilted speech largely free of the zany riffing that makes his rallies compelling. Nonetheless, given a huge (and illegal) stage, he was very much the center of attention, giving a looooong speech and making clear that he sees himself as the indispensable man for a country in crisis.

That the president of the United States chose to stage his convention speech at the White House as a flagrant violation of the Hatch Act is on some level not important.

But maybe its the most important thing of all.

In the earliest days of his political career it was often said Trump wouldnt really run for president, because if he did he would have to release his tax returns and engage in other forms of financial disclosure. As a candidate, even Trump himself claimed to believe he would have to divest himself from control over his operating companies. And in the early days of his administration, he would frequently be told that on the small number of policy issues he did care about, there were various legal or constitutional reasons he couldnt do what he wanted to do.

But as his first term enters its final months, its now clear to everyone that none of that is true. If I earnestly wrote that it is bad that the president of the United States is in a position to collect cash bribes in unlimited quantities through his hotels and opaque network of shell companies, Id be laughed out of the room as hopelessly nave and a tedious bore to boot. The smart set of DC journalists who set the political agenda declared days ago that the Hatch Act is something real people dont care about, so the same television networks that devoted more time to Hillary Clintons emails than all policy issues combined in 2016 feel free to ignore it.

Fundamentally, the American system of government depends on the supposition that a presidents co-partisans in Congress will be bothered by lawbreaking especially lawbreaking that has no ideological purpose. What congressional Republicans learned about themselves in this years impeachment process is that they arent actually bothered. And now Trump knows that they know this. And they know that Trump knows that they know it. So in essence, the gloves are off, the rule of law is dead, and were simply left with the question of whether or not Trumps illegal orders are followed.

Sure, Trumps finishing speech was long, tedious, and poorly delivered. But he also used the convention to broadcast a series of blatant lies about his administrations competency, largely uninterrupted, for 10-plus hours over the course of four nights.

And while the theme Trump pushed all week, on the side of police and law and order, could have come across flat much like his immigrants are coming to kill you argument did in 2018 events in Kenosha, Wisconsin, made the message suddenly relevant, and some Democrats are newly worried at the prospect of a Trump reelection.

For a political neophyte often caricatured by both his foes and his allies as somewhat dimwitted, its genuinely an impressive achievement, and itll be his no matter what the outcome in November.

Matthew Yglesias

While the Democrats reacted to the unusual circumstances of a political convention held amid a pandemic with an innovative, integrated multimedia show, the GOP perhaps lacking the Democrats Hollywood connections struggled more with format.

The big set pieces for Trump, first lady Melania, Vice President Mike Pence, and other featured speakers came off well. And the evening featured many well-crafted videos. But the bulk of the programming was a series of traditional standup podium speeches delivered in the empty Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC. With no audience, speeches delivered there mostly came off flat. Other higher-energy speeches, like the one delivered by Rudy Giuliani, felt unhinged. At times, the microphones picked up audible echo from the vast empty chamber.

The eeriness was bad on its own terms. But it also served as a reminder that Republicans seem to believe the Covid-19 pandemic is somehow gone, irrelevant, or over, even as it visibly, viscerally impacts almost every aspect of American life on a daily basis.

Caseloads are now heading downward after their July spike, but more Americans died of Covid-19 during the four days of the GOP convention than died on 9/11, schools are closed in vast swaths of the country, and nobody knows if cooler weather and more indoor activity will bring a new spike in infections.

MY

African Americans are hardly part of the Republican base. In 2016, just 8 percent of Black voters supported President Trump, according to CNN exit polls. And yet, if you didnt know that and looked at the faces of the speakers at the Republican National Convention, youd think Black Trump supporters are both welcome at the table of the Republican Party and numerous.

Trump once said there were very fine people on both sides of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. But the RNCs planners recruited a sizable roster of African Americans, from among the small minority of Black voters who support Trump, to speak at this weeks convention.

At the 2016 RNC, only 18 African American delegates were expected to be present, out of the 2,000-plus delegates invited. This year, by contrast, about a dozen Black people were given featured speaking slots.

Night one of the convention closed with a speech from Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only Black Republican in the Senate, who powerfully relayed his personal success story Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime. Other RNC speakers included 1980s NFL stars Herschel Walker and Burgess Owens, former NFL football player Jack Brewer, long-shot congressional candidate Kim Klacik, and civil rights activist Clarence Henderson, all of whom are Black.

Black Trump supporters filled the speaking list on night four. Trump aide JaRon Smith claimed that every issue important to Black communities has been a priority for Trump. Stacia Brightmon, a Black veteran, touted a federal job training program. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson praised Trump for bringing the office of historically Black colleges and universities into the White House.

Many of these speakers attacked the notoriously loose-tongued Democratic nominee, claiming that one of Bidens more inarticulate moments suggests he takes Black voters for granted. Over and over this week, speakers brought up a Biden gaffe when the former vice president, in an apparent effort to tout his broad support among African Americans, said that if you have a problem figuring out whether youre for me or Trump, then you aint Black. (Biden later said he shouldnt have been such a wise guy when he made this remark.)

Perhaps Trump who polled well, for a Republican, among Black men before the pandemic struck believes he can narrow Bidens margins among African Americans. Or perhaps, as the Nations Elie Mystal writes, the GOP is simply engaged in tokenism to give white people permission to vote for a president who often pushes a white nationalist agenda.

Whatever the reason, its clear that Republicans want viewers of their convention to believe that Trump has Black friends.

Ian Millhiser

It was still surreal to see people, without masks, sitting quite close together on the White House lawn. On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence mingled with the audience after the speech he gave the day before Trump.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages around the world, and particularly in the United States, the mere sight of so many human beings congregated together is a shock all its own.

At last count, there have been almost 5.9 million cases in the United States and about 180,000 deaths. The US ranked near the bottom of the new Foreign Policy global response index, behind much of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and a number of African and Asian countries. My colleague German Lopez reports persuasively that Trump, by repeatedly doing nothing, shifting responsibility and blame to others, let Covid-19 win.

It was also reported during the RNC that the CDC had been pressured by the Trump administration to encourage less testing through its official guidance. The administrations testing czar denies it.

So Trump has been, at best, a hindrance to the US response, and at worst, he may be actively sabotaging it. He has certainly helped politicize the debate over how the US should contain the virus in his attitude toward social distancing. He refused to wear a mask for months and suggested other people were wearing masks to spite him. He tweeted that governors should LIBERATE their states from pandemic-related restrictions, even when cases were still high and the countrys capacity to test, trace, and isolate was inadequate.

What followed was a summer wave in cases and then deaths.

People follow signals from their leaders. We are fortunate that most Americans say they are taking precautions like wearing masks. But there is already some disparity between Democrats and Republicans. RNC viewers have heard a clear message from their leaders this week: Social distancing doesnt need to be taken that seriously.

Dylan Scott

One of the most emotional moments of the night came from Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired police officer killed when he tried to stop looters in St. Louis after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Dorn linked the chaos that killed her husband, David, to one of the themes of the Republican convention. Namely, that in Democratic-run cities, a movement largely supported by Democrats is spiraling into uncontrolled violence, and that Democratic leaders have failed to stop this violence, but Trump is ready to do something.

Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest. They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them, she said. President Trump understands this and has offered federal help to restore order in our communities. In a time when police departments are short on resources and manpower, we need that help. We should accept that help. We must heal before we can effect change, but we cannot heal amid devastation and chaos. President Trump knows we need more Davids in our communities, not fewer.

Republicans hit this message again and again, condemning the property damage and violence by some protesters. They repeatedly claimed that Joe Biden and Democrats want to defund police departments that are supposed to protect communities from this violence. (Bidens plan actually calls for an increase in funding for police.)

One can disagree with this message. Maybe you think protests that become violent or turn to looting are the voice of the unheard, showing a genuine grievance that should be taken seriously, or that its unfair to link such violence to Democrats in particular, given that many of them including Biden have condemned it.

But Dorn was an effective messenger though her husbands daughters claim he was not, in fact, a Trump supporter.

Its too soon to know how the protests in Kenosha will affect public opinion in Wisconsin. A recent study from Omar Wasow, published in the American Political Science Review, concluded that nonviolent protests in the 1960s successfully built support for Democrats who backed civil rights causes. But the backlash to the riots of the era was so fierce that it helped Republicans contributing to the election of Republican Richard Nixon in 1968.

Its unclear if this study applies to the current political environment, given how much has changed. And Trump, after all, is the incumbent, whereas Nixon was running in an open contest. But it suggests riots could lead to a backlash against Black Lives Matter and other causes linked to Democrats and Trump is clearly hoping it will.

German Lopez

Oh, Bill.

Not only was New York Mayor Bill de Blasio not invited to the Democratic National Convention last week, he didnt even know it was happening. (Or so he claims, because who among us hasnt pretended not to care about that party we werent invited to.) But at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, the short-lived 2020 presidential candidate and reluctant Upper East Side resident was front and center.

Republicans ran what basically amounted to an attack ad against the mayor on the final night of the convention. The produced video spot showed New York residents and housing leaders criticizing de Blasio. I would really hate to get started on this mayor, said Carmen Quiones, president of the Douglass Houses, a public housing complex on New Yorks Upper West Side.

The spot seemed to be an attempt to pit Black Americans against immigrants when it comes to housing in the city. How is it that we have people waiting on the waiting list for New York City public housing for 10 years or more, but yes, we have illegal immigrants living here? posited Judy Smith, a resident of New York public housing.

Its true that housing is a perennial issue in New York, and that de Blasio, like many mayors before him, has failed to fix it. It is also true that the Trump campaign has been making some pretty overt appeals to Black voters throughout the convention, and making immigrants out to be a scapegoat plays very much into that narrative.

Beyond the ins and outs of the policy debate, the situation does say something about de Blasio, who has had a problematic tenure as mayor. He hasnt exactly been knocking it out of the park amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The pandemic is an unprecedented situation, but de Blasios response has been rather inconsistent and indecisive when it comes to issues such as schools, and his ongoing feud with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hasnt helped the situation.

In early August, the citys health commissioner resigned over disagreements with the mayor. Heck, Im somewhat sympathetic to de Blasio, and even Ive thought, Please stop going to Prospect Park, on multiple occasions in all of this.

On the one hand, de Blasio is an easy character for Republicans to train their fire on: He is not particularly popular in national politics or in New York (though in the city, its worth clarifying his polling problems are more with white residents than with Black residents). Plus, the GOP is trying to run this narrative of Democratic-led cities on fire, and the unpopular New York mayor seems as good an example as any. On the other hand, de Blasio getting all this attention during the RNC is a bit of a win for him. Beyond Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who else has gotten this kind of attention?

So, I guess, go Bill?

Emily Stewart

Sports have always been political and this week thats been incredibly evident, as players in numerous leagues have decided to strike in protest of racism and police brutality. Teams in the NBA, WNBA, MLB, and MLS are among those participating in demonstrations following the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake earlier this week. Despite the overwhelming pleas for change, there have been no actions, so our focus cannot be on basketball, Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown said when the team boycotted a playoff game on Wednesday.

Amid these protests, the Republican National Convention included a video montage on Thursday dedicated to the American athlete. Clips showed Trump praising athletes willingness to strive for greatness, and spotlighted a nostalgic Lou Gehrig moment. Yet, despite its purported praise of American athletes, it was a segment that, likely intentionally, made no mention of the ongoing protests so many athletes are currently involved in.

It was clearly meant to tap into the cancel culture theme of the week and make overtures to more moderate Republicans who may miss the days when sports were less rife with political strife.

The videos tone-deaf, and insulting, omission of these demonstrations revealed how Republicans are using sports for their own ideological aims as well. By focusing solely on celebratory meetings in the White House (something many athletes have actually refused to attend during the Trump administration) and lauding teams for overcoming adversity, the RNC montage seemed to ask people to hark back to a time when sports was solely about winning, not sending a message.

In other words, by implying that politics and activism shouldnt be present in sports, Republicans were making sports political, too.

Li Zhou

New goal: 25,000

In the spring, we launched a program asking readers for financial contributions to help keep Vox free for everyone, and last week, we set a goal of reaching 20,000 contributors. Well, you helped us blow past that. Today, we are extending that goal to 25,000. Millions turn to Vox each month to understand an increasingly chaotic world from what is happening with the USPS to the coronavirus crisis to what is, quite possibly, the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes. Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers, your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work and helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world. Contribute today from as little as $3.

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RNC 2020 final night winners and losers: Trump, Black Republicans, the NBA, and riots - Vox.com

Whatever It is that we have to get done, there is a secret to making sure that we actually get it done. It's called accountability, or rather personal accountability.

If you are a regular reader of this Winning Words column, and even though I am placing the focus this week on people in the profession of selling, what I share below is applicable to all of us who are striving to stay as productive as possible in all walks of life. So, I encourage you to keep reading.

Over the past several months we have all participated in our own version and reality of the Next Normal. Some of us chose to participate fully and look for new and innovative ways to work, live, and play. Others fell into the flow and tried to keep pace with what was happening around them. And then there were some who wanted to wait and watch what would be happening next. Possibly waiting too long and losing energy and momentum along the way.

Our daily routines were shifted and, in many cases, completely turned upside down. In the world of professional selling, some folks decided that they would fully participate and amplified their work ethic and behaviors, holding themselves personally accountable for getting It done, whatever It was. It, in professional selling, could include continuous learning and honing of sales skills. It could be committing to prospecting or making a daily commitment to check in on prospects, channel partners, and customers. It could be learning how to better understand technology and how to connect and engage remotely. Whatever It is, this group was going to get it done with or without management's direction.

For the teams and individuals who went along for the ride initially, we see that they eventually found their rhythm and understood the effort and behaviors necessary to succeed in getting things done. They realized that the competition was getting close, and sooner or later could take away their business. Salespeople who initially followed old selling habits, even if they were good habits, realized that in the new business landscape they needed to change, and not only change, but hold themselves personally accountable to make the transition and stay relevant, adding value and getting It done for themselves and their customers.

Some of the watchful waiters eventually took notice what was happening around them and made the decision to get back in the game of selling. They realized that if they didn't do It, no one else would. And if they watched and waited too long, they would probably be invited to find success elsewhere. And in that moment, they also stumbled across the secret to getting It done, personal accountability. No excuses.

I have been so blessed to work with and learn from amazing partners, clients, sales leaders, and salespeople today and throughout my career. And I have seen so many incredible programs, attended hundreds of seminars, and read countless books on selling. I share that with you because when I am having conversations about sales success or analyzing the difference between underperforming, average, and top performing sales people, there is one thing that salespeople at the very top consistently do better than their peers. They hold themselves personally accountable for doing the behaviors and getting It done.

If you are not in the world of professional selling, and have read along this far, you know that the secret to getting anything done, getting It done in our personal or professional life, comes down to holding accountability, personal accountability. No excuses.

So how about you? Did you decide to fully participate early on and amplify your game? Did you fall into the flow and eventually pick up the pace? Or have you been a watchful waiter and now trying to regain your momentum? I would love to hear how you are getting It done today at mnorton@tramazing.com. And when we realize the secret to accomplishing anything is personal accountability, it really will be a better than good week.

Michael Norton is the grateful CEO of Tramazing.com, a personal and professional coach, and a consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator to businesses of all sizes.

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Here's the secret to getting 'It' done - Highlands Ranch Herald

They felt helpless when they watched video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by a Kenosha, Wis., police officer. Players questioned whether they should be here, playing basketball, enjoying the sun, fishing and gaming, while others in the Black community are still suffering police brutality and racism.

The anger from the players meeting, after the Bucks decided to sit out their playoff game with the Magic on Wednesday, was evident. Players were frustrated, feeling hopeless and uncertain about their purpose.

The overnight time to reflect allowed the players to understand that great work can still be done in this bubble. While their anger has been geared toward the establishment, the government that has fostered an atrocious relationship between Black people and law enforcement, their disdain was not against the league that has encouraged them to express themselves on social issues.

In the end, the players decided to continue the playoffs, but it was apparent they needed at least a couple of days off to catch their breath. The Celtics will likely open their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Raptors on Sunday.

The games will return, but NBA players want to ensure they are getting the proper support from team owners, who are wealthy and powerful enough to help foster change, or at least spark conversations.

It was understood that changes are going to take time, and its going to start with grassroots action, including encouraging people to register to vote and challenging politicians and law enforcement to review policies and tactics in dealing with the Black community and other people of color.

The players felt they needed to make a statement after last weekends events, which included a 17-year-old white male being allowed to walk past police during the Kenosha protests carrying an AR-15-style rifle, and then allegedly killing two people.

Players see this and ask: Why should we continue to provide entertainment for a country that doesnt consider our lives worthy? How is me playing ball going to prevent the next Jacob Blake from being shot?

Those answers cannot be found in a few days. But what can be done is the suggestions made in the past several weeks by players can turn into demands. There can be meetings arranged by players from every NBA team and the governor of their respective states, such as the Celtics with Governor Charlie Baker, to discuss issues that plague the inner cities.

If these athletes want a seat at the table, then they should have one. And now they have a chance to work with the owners, if so desired, to create a strong agenda for change. One of the questions that dominated the players meeting Wednesday night was, What are we going to do now?

Some players were angry because the Bucks had no comprehensive plan to back up their boycott. Now is the time for these players to meet with civil rights and community leaders, and even powerful former players such as Magic Johnson, Grant Hill, and Craig Hodges, to determine a plan that will have a lasting impact and make them feel more fulfilled in changing their communities for the better.

Right now, they dont feel fulfilled. Theyve been in the bubble for nearly two months, and while the basketball has been enthralling and played at a high level, Black men and women are still being shot in the streets, COVID-19 is still running rampant, and American society doesnt appear to have made any improvements since the killing of George Floyd.

There is a lot of work to be done, and the players realize they will face major resistance from the powers that be that would rather have them just dribble a ball, shut up, and sign another sneaker deal.

The impact is lessened if the players dont reach out to their communities and try to uplift those who may not have the influence they have. Those who arent concerned with uplifting these communities are fine with these players making millions of dollars as long as they keep their mouths shut and only relish in their personal success. With this boycott, these players have made sure their voices wont be muted again.

Gary Washburn can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GwashburnGlobe.

Originally posted here:
After reflection, NBA players believe they can turn ideas to end social injustice into demands if they play on - The Boston Globe

Morley Stanwood grad Carey Yukich shares her journey

Joe Judd, joe.judd@pioneergroup.com

Push Through: Former Mohawk standout penning motivational book

BIG RAPIDS In both sports and in life, everyone gets thrown obstacles, but the key is figuring out how to manage them and persevere nonetheless.

While that is easier said than done, former Morley Stanwood Mohawk Carey Yukich has done exactly that, and is in the process of penning her own story, with the hope that others can succeed and use her journey as ongoing motivation to do so.

Yukich, along with co-author Hawley Woods Gray, are putting the finishing touches on their book: Push Through: Your Ultimate Success Playbook, which is currently available for pre-order and is expected to be released digitally in early to mid-October.

She said she hopes the publishing of the book will help inspire others to overcome adversity and various roadblocks that occur and are frequent in sports and life in general.

The concept is: Push through those types of overwhelming feelings and steps and do them anyway, Yukich said. Theres a lot more to it, but that was really the motivation for me to even begin writing this book.

Having moved a dozen times in her youth, Yukich and her family came to the Big Rapids area halfway through the 1985 academic year, where she soon settled in as a three-sport Mohawk athlete, playing volleyball, basketball and softball.

Just talking through athletics and what Ive learned and experienced through athletics and the traits that helped me make that jump have helped me be successful throughout the rest of my life, Yukich said.

While the trifecta of sports kept her occupied, volleyball was always her go-to activity, so much so that she was also a member of a club volleyball team within the Big Rapids Area Volleyball Organization (BRAVO), where she excelled under the coaching of Beth Launiere.

At the time, Launiere was an assistant coach for Ferris States volleyball team.

Launiere will be writing a testimonial for Push Through, and has since gone on to coach the University of Utahs volleyball squad, where she is about to embark on her 31st season, and has amassed nearly 600 collegiate victories.

I very much benefited from the coaching and that opportunity, Yukich said. We traveled across the state of Michigan and also to Chicago every year for a national tournament that attracted teams from all over the country most importantly for me, it attracted college coaches. That was a pretty big deal for a little-town Morley-Stanwood girl.

Upon receiving acclaim and notoriety for her build and skill set, especially during the many tournaments played in the Windy City, Yukich was subsequently awarded a full athletic scholarship to play collegiate volleyball at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Transitioning from a relatively small and nationally unknown pocket of Michigan to competing in a Division I sport in the Big Ten Conference was initially a lot to take in for Yukich, even after putting in months of preparation before arriving on campus in the fall of 89.

It was incredibly overwhelming and very scary, not just because of the athletics, but because of the academics, Yukich said.

Yukich said coming to Northwestern was similar to her arrival at Morley Stanwood just a few years prior, and was met with a few challenges during her first days with the volleyball team, but still managed to stay the course.

Despite the increase in pace and skill level, along with shifting positions from middle hitter to setter, Yukich stuck around and competed in one of, if not the toughest conferences for college volleyball.

Along with the book, Yukich and Woods Gray are also coming out with a companion Daily Push Journal, that will also be made available for purchase at the same time as the book.

Yukich said the idea is for the readers to follow along and chart their own personal path, whether it mirrors her own life or not.

At the end of reading this book, individuals if they fully participate should have a customized playbook for how theyre going to go forward and reach higher levels of success for themselves, Yukich said. At the end of every chapter, theres an exercise that culminates with an assessment and an outline of their particular gameplan.

For more information on Yukich or Woods Gray, or to pre-order a copy of the book, visit: pushthroughbook.com

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Push Through: Former Mohawk standout penning motivational book - The Pioneer

August 28, 2020 00:40 ET | Source: J. Alexander Martin

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Building An Empire is published by Sfirm Publishing, in association with LC3 Publishing, an imprint of Leeds Press Corp. PR by Qamar Zaman / KISSPR.com

Atlanta, GA,, Aug. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- J. Alexander Martin is a successful entrepreneur, author, fashion designer, trend setter, and one of the co-founders of the urban fashion brand, FUBU The Collection. J, who is a published author, releases his 2ndbook titledBuilding An Empireas an E book. The E book is available on Amazon and other online retailers. J titled his book,Building An Empire, because in it, he tells the story of what it took to grow FUBU, so he could help entrepreneurs navigate the process of growing their own business.

J shares many of the success secrets he used to help grow FUBU from a street corner business to an international corporation, grossing over 6 billion in sales to date.Building An Empireis required reading for the entrepreneur, college student, or just anyone who wants to learn what it takes to be successful in business. Through this book, J becomes the readers personal business consultant, guiding them through the ups and downs expected in any business.

Building An Empireis published by Sfirm Publishing, in association with LC3 Publishing, an imprint of Leeds Press Corp. Melinda Santiago, CEO of Sfirm Publishing says, J is an amazing person whose reputation speaks for itself. Not only is he a co-founder of FUBU, but he is a genuinely authentic individual who is always willing to share his experience and expertise to help entrepreneurs. I am happy to have him a part of the Sfirm Publishing family.

Order onAmazon

Building An Empire

byJ. Alexander Martin(Author)

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J. Alexander Martin a Fashion Mogul Behind One of the Most Successful Urban Brands Releases New Book Building An Empire - GlobeNewswire

The 1986 Plymouth-Carver state championship boys soccer team had nine players move on to be a captain on their college soccer team.

What started with heartbreak ended with absolute elation. That was the journey this weeks 50-for-50 profile, the 1986 Plymouth-Carver boys soccer team, took while on its way to the Division 1 state championship.

We had a great team in 1985, said John Tocci, a tri-captain on 86 title team alongside Archie Harlow and Doug Coggins. We beat a really good Needham team in the South finals and then went up against Lexington in the next round and were absolutely crushed, 7-1.

We got our butts kicked that game, but it also lit a fire inside all of us that fueled what we did the next year. It was a defining moment for all of us and as soon as we got off the bus after the Lexington loss we all had the same attitude that this was not to happen to us again in 86. That loss locked us in. We had 80-90 guys working out in the summer before we won the state title that were determined to bring that team to the next level.

The passion was there at the start of the new season, but the results were not. P-C started out slow with a record of 1-2-1 before winning 19 of their next 20 games on their road to the programs one and only state championship.

It was an ominous start to the season, Head Coach Emerson Coleman admitted. We were all disappointed in the way we got out of the gate because we knew we were a better soccer team than what we had shown. (The players and coaches) all had to look inside themselves and find what we needed to be the kind of soccer team that we all thought we could be.

That kind of introspection seemed to flip a switch in the Blue Eagles and they were determined not to be stopped until the Div. 1 championship trophy was in their hands. They soared to a league title in the incredibly competitive Old Colony League and began the playoffs with a win over Brookline before getting the better of familiar foes Needham, Marshfield and then Bridgewater-Raynham to win the South sectional championship.

Wakefield would fall in the Eastern Mass. finals, putting Plymouth-Carver exactly where they wanted to be all along in the state title game opposite Wachusett Regional. Not surprisingly, the victory 3-2 didnt come easily for P-C. The issue wasnt decided until Jeff Schultz scored in the opening minute of the second overtime period giving the victory to the Blue Eagles.

What I remember about that season is what a great group of players and people we had on the team, said Schultz, who went on to be a captain at Boston University. We had a really talented group of players and there were leaders up and down the roster. Everyone knew what their role was and everyone played those roles very, very well.

Archie Harlow got the scoring started for P-C in the state title game when he converted a penalty kick. Wachusett answered back twice and held a 2-1 lead for a good portion of the game until midfielder Doug Coutts scored with five minutes left in regulation to tie things up before Schultz ended the long journey to a state championship with his OT winner.

Peter Kasarjian was on the bench alongside Coleman for the title run along with freshman coach Larry Sheely and junior varsity coach Russ Govoni.

The quality of people and soccer players that were part of the team that year was off the charts, Kasarjian said. There may have been three captains on the team but there were leaders all over the roster and there were also some terrific soccer players on that team.

On their way to the state title the Blue Eagles scored lots of goals (123) and let up precious few of them (19). According to Coleman the eight seniors on the 86 team finished with an impressive varsity record of 68-10-7.

Jim Prouty, Harlow, Jason Malone, Andy Moreland and David Whitaker were up on the attack with Schultz, Coutts and Tocci holding down the midfield. P-C was very fast and athletic on the back line as Mike Barton, Coggins, David McStowe and Chris Nardone tried to keep things safe and sound in front of goalkeeper Doug Maccaferri.

According to Coleman this group always took it as a personal attack if their team was not in possession of the soccer ball.

I used to tell them we are nothing until we have the ball and they really took that to heart, said Coleman, who would go on to coach the Duxbury High girls soccer program to a state title in 2008. If we lost possession of the soccer ball all 11 players on the field were committed to getting it right back. We had a very strong defense that season and a big reason we did so well was there was a total commitment given by everyone to the team.

Tocci, the current head coach of the Plymouth North boys soccer team, said the 86 team was a group of misfit toys that worked perfectly together.

We had talent on the field and off the bench and the key part that made this all happen was everyone in the program was on the same page. Everyone was willing to play their role to help us succeed as a team, Tocci said.

Youd be hard pressed to find a team with more quality soccer players and quality people, said Coleman, pointing out that nine players from the 1986 team would move on to be a captain on their college soccer team. You cant just be a pretty good team to win a state title. You have to have that something special. The 86 team had that something special. They werent playing for themselves, they were playing for each other.

Tocci said the familiarity the teammates developed with each stemmed from their days playing Plymouth Youth Soccer together. It was an important building block to the success theyd have at the high school. Toccis father, Richie, is one of the original founding fathers of Plymouth Youth Soccer and was president of the league for many years.

Plymouth Youth Soccer was huge when I was growing up. No matter what sport you played, it seemed like everyone was part of the league back then and we all grew up playing with and against each other in the town league, Tocci explained. By the time we got to high school we already knew each other pretty well and what everyones strengths were.

Regular season games against talented Old Colony League foes like B-R, Marshfield, Silver Lake and Weymouth got P-C more than prepared for what theyd see in the playoffs each year, Coleman said. I think the OCL was up there with the toughest leagues in the state. Every game was a battle and I knew that after playing our league schedule that wed be ready for anything wed see in the tournament.

The talent in the OCL was incredible. It was really an honor to make the OCL All-Star team, Tocci said, who did so twice. Everywhere you looked there was a great player and all of the teams were good. Wed go so hard against one another for 80 minutes but there was also so much respect between all of the teams at the end of those games.

Success was spreading all over the Plymouth sports programs in the 1980s. Football (two) and boys cross-country also won state titles and the girls soccer and basketball teams were all putting together some incredible seasons. The excitement from one sports season bled right into the next as each team tried to top the success of the one before them.

The fan support in school and at the games was incredible. You really had to be there to experience it, Tocci said. We used to play a lot of boys/girls doubleheaders under the lights at the old Romano Stadium and the atmosphere was awesome when wed walk down the hill to get to the field.

Wed all be bummed out when we saw wed have a day home game on the schedule because the night games were always packed with our fans and the atmosphere was electric.

Each week during 2020, the 50-for-50 project will profile a Plymouth person or state championship team that positively impacted the town in the last 50 years. To nominate someone, email Sports Editor David Wolcott Jr. at dwolcott@wickedlocal.com with information on the nominee.

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PLYMOUTH 50-for-50: All the stars aligned for Plymouth-Carver boys soccer on its run to state title in 1986 - Milford Daily News

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August 28, 2020

Jakie Rodriguez

A bachelor of arts in history can provide a valuable background for many careers, including government service, law, education, library science, business, journalism, and the arts. Pepperdine Universitys Seaver College offers a major and a minor in the study of history, teaching students how to think constructively about the present by making connections with the past. History students develop a deep understanding of the complex factors that have produced and shaped past and present societies. The degree program helps students to refine skills in research, analysis, and reasoning, and how to effectively communicate information. Aside from becoming a historian, high school history teacher, or history professor, history graduates have gone on to find work as politicians, journalists, attorneys, librarians, writers, editors, and museum curators, or directors. Careers in advertising and marketing are also common. Keep reading to discover a variety of lucrative jobs for history majors.

The most obvious choice for history graduates is to become a historian. Historians study resources of the past such as personal letters, diaries, newspapers, and photographs. They collect, analyze, and interpret information before writing articles or books on their findings and theories. Historians are usually employed by governments, businesses, historical associations, and nonprofit organizations. However, some historians may work in colleges or universities. The median salary for this field is $60,000, but will also depend on the individuals employer, experience in the field, and level of education. Many historian jobs require a master's degree or doctorate.

A history professor is a lucrative position for a history graduate with few jobs available in the field. History professors are expected to have at least a masters degree, if not a doctorate and typically work in universities giving lectures, conducting research, and teaching classes. The average salary for a history professor is $74,000, but the salary will fluctuate depending on level of education and experience.

While a political science degree is often considered essential to running for public office, a background in history is an asset to a political career as politicians must have a thorough understanding of past governments in order to make informed decisions about the future. History programs teach students about the role of governments and their evolving nature as well as how to effectively communicate their theories in written or oral form. Many famous politicians such as Dianne Feinstein, John F. Kennedy, and Joe Biden studied history. The median salary for a politician is $116,000.

Being able to research and analyze information and communicate findings effectively are key skills in being a successful journalist. Thus, a history program prepares students for a possible career in journalism. History graduates can find jobs with newspapers, online, or television stations, working to gather and evaluate information before disseminating it to the general public in a manner that is compelling and informative. The average salary for a journalist is $45,800, but earnings depend greatly on employer, experience, and qualifications.

It is common for history majors to continue their education and become lawyers. An attorney must have strong analytical and critical reasoning skills, skills that a history degree helps to develop. In the same way that historians analyze historical data, attorneys analyze legal precedent to persuasively argue a case. Accordingly, a major in history complements the abilities needed to successfully work as a lawyer. The average salary for an attorney is $116,000, but salaries vary widely depending on the success and size of the firm.

Many history majors go on to become paralegals, who support attorneys, law offices, and government agencies by completing delegated and investigative work on cases and preparing legal documents. Paralegals are vital to any organization involved in legal work; their day-to-day activities include fact checking, doing legal research, analyzing documents, and managing case management. Paralegals require the communication and critical thinking skills that are honed during the completion of a BA in history. The average salary for a paralegal is $49,000.

The research and analytical skills history majors develop prove excellent for jobs in human resources. Human resource specialists, managers, and directors are essential contributors to almost all organizations, as they are responsible for administrative tasks such as paying employees, administering benefits, and talent management. The average salary of a human resources manager is $104,000.

A degree in history teaches the necessary skills for working as a librarian. Librarians are responsible for organizing and filing information including cataloging and classifying materials. They are expected to be proficient researchers and excellent communicators with strong critical thinking and analytical skills. Librarians work in academic, law, business, and in private and public school libraries and make a median salary of $59,000.

A bachelor's in history can prepare students to become archivists: specially trained professionals who collect, assess, organize, and preserve records and archives. Archivists also help people access the information they preserve. They work at a variety of organizations, including universities, large corporations, government institutions, hospitals, nonprofits, libraries, and museums. Archivists earn a median salary of $47,000, but can make up to $74,000 in cities where the demand for such skills is prized, such as Washington, DC.

History degree programs require a large amount of writing and editing to communicate research findings. This makes history graduates excellent candidates for careers that are focused on the written word. Jobs in copywriting, editing, and creating marketing content are popular choices in a great many businesses. Salaries vary between positions, experience, and personal background. Writers make a median salary of $60,000, and editors slightly less at $58,000.

A history degree can effectively prepare students for a career as a museum curator or director, as a knowledge of the past and good communication skills are crucial to these roles. Museum work attracts those with an interest in history as museums preserve historical artifacts and knowledge for future generations. The average salary for someone in an administrative role at a museum is $47,000. Compensation will fluctuate between museums, responsibilities, experience, and educational background.

History graduates learn how to communicate information in a persuasive manner, a skill that is critical to careers in advertising and marketing. Work in these positions is not limited to advertising agencies; many corporations, law firms, universities, and nonprofit organizations hire their own marketing staff for roles as sales agents, copywriters, marketing coordinators or managers. The salary for these jobs will vary depending on the organization and the position, as well as on the candidates experience and qualifications.

Earn your history degree at Pepperdine Universitys beautiful Malibu campus. Seaver College , located on the coast of Southern California, offers students the opportunity to study and grow in a close-knit, supportive environment. Our history degree program sets our students up for success in many lucrative career paths through the refinement of essential skills required in the corporate world. History majors or minors will achieve a series of learning outcomes throughout the duration of their study. With strong ties to alumni, Pepperdine has a career center offering a range of support for students including internship and job search services, resume assistance, and networking opportunities. In addition to providing an excellent academic education, Seaver College gives students a chance to immerse themselves in extracurricular activities such as athletics, outdoor excursions, and spiritually based endeavors. Learn more about our history major and minor, and start your application today.

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What Kinds of Jobs Can You Get with a History Degree? - Seaver Blog | Pepperdine Seaver College - Pepperdine University Newsroom

No figure from the 18th-century age of revolution had as extraordinary a life as Toussaint Louverture. He was born a slave in the 1740s, in one of the cruellest and deadliest environments humans have ever created: the French Caribbean colony then called Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), where rapacious white planters worked hundreds of thousands of captive people to death to feed Europes growing taste for sugar and coffee. In the early 1790s, Toussaint helped start the largest and most successful slave rebellion in history and then moulded the rebels into a remarkably effective army.

In 1794 he agreed to join forces with Frances radical first republic, which had proclaimed the abolition of slavery in its overseas empire. As a French army general and the colonys lieutenant governor he defeated a series of enemies, including British invaders, and saved Saint-Domingue for France. By the end of the decade he had outmanoeuvred a series of French officials, overcome black rivals, emerged as the colonys uncontested strongman, and brought it to the brink of independence. In response, Frances new leader Napoleon Bonaparte sent a massive military expedition to reassert full French control. It ultimately failed, leading to Haitian independence at the start of 1804, but it did manage to defeat Toussaint and take him prisoner. He died in the cold, lonely Fort de Joux in the Jura mountains of France in 1803.

The story is astonishing but also astonishingly difficult to write about. Sources for Toussaints life before the rebellion are scant and scattered. Historians only discovered in the 1970s that he had gained his freedom in the 1770s and had himself briefly owned at least one slave. Much more documentary information about him survives, but it is dispersed among dozens of archives in several countries. Haitian historians have never had the resources to compile, let alone edit and publish it in the way that American historians have done for their founding fathers. Only in the past quarter-century, thanks to the academys turns towards global and subaltern histories, has the Haitian revolution attracted sustained scholarly attention in North America and Europe.

Toussaints previous biographers have drawn on the surviving shards of information to produce wildly different portraits. For the great Trinidadian intellectual CLR James, Toussaint was an anti-imperialist freedom fighter avant la lettre. The conservative French diplomat Pierre Pluchon cast him, much less convincingly, as an acquisitive aspiring landowner interested in exploiting the plantation system for his own benefit. Most recently, the French-American historian Philippe Girard has emphasised Toussaints ruthlessness and tendencies towards dictatorship.

Sudhir Hazareesingh would not seem the most obvious candidate to write Toussaints definitive biography. He has not previously worked on Caribbean history. He is best known for books on contemporary French political history and for a sprightly, provocative volume entitled How the French Think. But his Black Spartacus is a tour de force: by far the most complete, authoritative and persuasive biography of Toussaint that we are likely to have for a long time. It is not without its own very strong point of view, presenting Toussaint above all as a fierce and effective opponent of slavery. But it is at times an extraordinarily gripping read.

The book is grounded in a remarkable job of research. Hazareesingh has scoured archives in France, Britain, the US and Spain (not Haiti itself, where, regrettably, relatively little material has survived). He has not been able to resolve some of the greatest open questions about Toussaint, such as whether the black leader plotted the slave rebellion at the behest of French royalists, who hoped it would undercut moves towards independence by white landowners. Rumours to this effect have circulated since the events themselves. Hazareesingh does not believe them, but has little new evidence. However thanks above all to new soundings in the French colonial archives, including both the correspondence of French officials and records of the colonial administration, he has provided a far richer portrait of Toussaints years in power than was previously available. Ten of 12 chapters deal with these later years.

He characterises Toussaint as a canny revolutionary political operator, who knew how to mobilise the black masses behind him, helping him force out the successive French officials who tried to rein in his authority. This support depended on more than just Toussaints own personal charisma. He forged what Hazareesingh calls a creole republicanism that drew on French, African and indigenous sources, was centred on a fierce, absolute opposition to slavery, and inspired genuine confidence and public spiritedness among the former enslaved.

In a careful study of a representative hamlet, Mle Saint-Nicolas, Hazareesingh speaks repeatedly of Toussaints success in shaping a new sort of political community. And he quotes a report to Frances ruling Directory: The commander-in-chief has the confidence, respect, and love of nine-tenths of the population. Hazareesingh also makes clear that Toussaint possessed extraordinary personal qualities, including exemplary personal courage (he was wounded in battle some 17 times), strategic brilliance, powerful eloquence and an almost superhuman stamina and work ethic.

This book does recognise that especially towards the end of his rule, Toussaint turned increasingly secretive and ruthless. At one point, needing to win British goodwill, he cynically betrayed a Jewish agent he had helped send to Jamaica to start a slave uprising there (the man was hanged). Furthermore, in Toussaints desperation to restore the pre-revolutionary plantation economy, he became increasingly trapped in an authoritarian spiral. But Napoleons invasion brought him back to his republican self as he again inspired his followers to bond together to fight for their liberation. He died a martyr of freedom, and ever since his memory has been venerated, especially but not only among people of African descent. Hazareesingh goes so far as to call Toussaint the first black superhero of the modern age.

His admiration does lead him to skate lightly over the most troubling aspects of Toussaints career. The authoritarian spiral to which he refers involved forcing former slaves to return to their plantations in what amounted to a form of serfdom. Toussaint also treated white landowners with undue magnanimity, protecting their property and allowing them to fill most of the political offices in places like Mle Saint-Nicolas. He certainly believed that without the wealth generated by largely white-run sugar and coffee plantations, Saint-Domingue would be left defenceless against its many enemies. But he took some of the richest plantations for his own property, and provoked considerable discontent among the former slaves.

As the historian Johnhenry Gonzalez has recently argued in Maroon Nation, these men and women themselves fiercely hated the quasi-industrial plantation system, and focused much of their revolutionary fury on smashing plantation machinery (Gonzalez calls them more successful versions of Britains machine-breaking Luddites). After independence, they defied the attempts of successive Haitian rulers to corral them back on to the plantations, and instead voted with their feet, moving into unsettled areas and taking up subsistence farming. The plantation economy, which Toussaint had brought back to roughly a third of its pre-revolutionary dimensions, collapsed for good.

His increasing authoritarianism arguably prefigured the dictatorships that have plagued Haiti throughout so much of its history. Still, it would be a large mistake to hold Toussaint responsible for the ills that have plagued his country since independence. If that responsibility lies anywhere, it is with the western powers that long treated Haiti as a pariah state. In return for diplomatic recognition, France in 1825 forced Haiti to pay crushing reparations for lost colonial property (including human property). The US subjected it to 19 years of military occupation in the early 20th century, and later supported the horrific dictatorship of the Duvalier family. Under these conditions, made worse by the difficult aftermath of revolution, and by repeated natural disasters, any chance of establishing a stable democratic state was vanishingly thin. Even so, throughout modern history, as Black Spartacus reminds us, Toussaint and his creole republicanism have remained powerful sources of hope, both in Haiti and beyond.

David A Bells Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution is out from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Black Spartacus is published by Allen lane (25). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Black Spartacus by Sudhir Hazareesingh review the epic life of Toussaint Louverture - The Guardian

The spring semester, in which schools across the country closed their doors and teachers pivoted to remote instruction on a dime, was challenging for everyone involved. But a new survey shows that teachers' sense of success dramatically declineda troubling sign, since many schools have started the new school year remotely, too.

But there is some good news: Teachers who had supportive school leadership were the least likely to experience a dip in their sense of success.

Researchersanalyzed data from working condition surveys that were taken by teachers in both the fall and spring semesters of last school year. The spring survey, which was taken between April 27 and June 23, focused on teaching during the coronavirus pandemic and yielded a sample of 7,841 teachers across 206 schools and nine states, including Illinois, Texas, and New York.

Researchers found that 53 percent of teachers reported a decline in their sense of success. Of those reporting a decline, a quarter reported a significant decrease.

"I think we need to really value teachers' own perceptions of their self-efficacy, because ultimately if a teacher doesn't feel successful, it's really unlikely they're going to be helping students meet the academic standards and achieve the type of success we're looking for on a day-to-day basis in classrooms," said Matthew Kraft, an associate professor of education and economics at Brown University and an author of the study.

Also, teachers' sense of successthe degree to which they feel lke they're making a difference in students' livescan influence whether theystay in the profession, Kraft said.

"Teachers don't make a whole bunch of money. They have a very physically and emotionally and psychologically challenging job, particularly now," he said. "The kind of joy and value that they derive from helping kids is really a key part of what makes teaching rewarding and meaningful, and if that's absent, it's easy to see why teaching would be an even less attractive profession."

Education Week survey data found that teacher morale declined over the spring semester, as teachers grappled with unfamiliar technologies, retrofitted their lessons, responded to an avalanche of emails, texts, and calls from parents and students, and worked to emotionally support their students during a scary, unfamiliar time. On top of all that, teachers had to juggle the needs of their own children andother loved ones.

Teachers said they were more likely to quit at the end of the last school year than they were before the pandemic began, the EdWeek survey found.

A Difficult Work Environment

The working conditions survey found that 40 percent of respondents said that caretaking responsibilites made it difficult to do their job, and 16 percent said they were unable to balance their work with other responsibilities at home. Mid-career teacherswho are more likely to have school-aged childrenwere more likely to have these work-life balance challenges.

See also: Tips for Balancing Work and Life While Teaching Remotely

Meanwhile, 8 percent of teachers were uncomfortable with the technology needed to teach remotely. This was especially the case for veteran teachers: 22 percent of teachers with three decades of experience said they weren't comfortable with online teaching tools.

Teachers also reported that their students were less engaged during the spring semester, and about a quarter of teachers said their students lacked the technology needed for remote learning. Teachers in high-poverty schools reported less student engagement than their peers in affluent schools.

But for all of those teachers, supportive school leadership made a difference. Researchers found that teachers who could depend on strong communication, fair expectations, and a recognition of effort from their administrators, along with targeted professional development and the ability to meaningfully collaborate with colleagues, were much less likely to experience declines in their sense of success.

That support "helped to buffer them against the challenges" of switching to remote learning, Kraft said.

See also: How Principals and District Leaders Are Trying to Boost Lagging Teacher Morale During COVID-19

Researchers wrote that school leaders could work with teachers to set professional expectations and determine the training they need, as well as design structures for both formal and informal collaboration. Effective school leaders also made sure teachers feel appreciatedin the spring, many administrators helped troubleshoot problems teachers were having, encouraged their staff to set boundaries, and offered scheduling flexibility.

Teachers with supportive school leadership felt less isolated, which bolstered their sense of success, researchers wrote.

A New School Year

Although the spring semester was chaotic and many teachers considered it to be emergency learning, Kraft said he worries that the fall semester could present some of the same problems.About half of the 800 districts in Education Week'sdatabase on school reopenings, which is not nationally representative, have opted to resume in-person instruction at least some days of the week, including four of the 25 largest districts.

"I think for those schools starting remotely, the challenges will be even greater because they won't have the personal relationships established to draw upon when starting class online," Kraft said. "Teaching is a relational job. It is about knowing your students, knowing their individual strengths and areas for improvement, knowing what motivates them, connecting with themthat is so hard to do in a remote context."

To help tackle that problem, some schools are hosting socially distanced meet-and-greets, where teachers can meet their students in person from a safe distance. For example, elementary students at Copeland Manor School in Libertyville, Ill., got to meet their teacher for 30 minutes on the school's front lawn before classes started.Andincoming kindergartners at Popp's Ferry Elementary School in Biloxi, Miss., waved to their new teachers from their cars in a drive-through line.

School leaders will also have to help meet teachers' needs as professionals and help create conditions that will allow them to be successful, Kraft said.

"It takes dedicated school leadership, clear communication, [and] coherent school practices that allows teachers to focus on their core jobs," he said. "This is challenging for everyone, but the stakes couldn't be higher."

Image: Lily Hart, a foreign language teacher at Bellows Falls Union High School, works with her students online from her Keene, N.H., home on March 31. Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP

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Teachers Felt Less Successful During the Spring School Closures, Survey Finds - Education Week

Trump will caricature the Democrats moderate convention as a wild, far-left celebration of

This past week, the former vice-president laid out a forceful case for the importance of empathy and character in high office, his ability to reverse the manifold failures of Donald Trumps regime, and the threat that a second Trump term would pose to American democracy. Did he and his fellow Democrats at the convention who echoed his points do so successfully? In todays tribal and polarized America, theres no easy way to answer that question.

Both Bidens speech and the convention as a whole clearly were pitched toward moderate Democrats and even some Republicans, particularly in swing states. From the perspective of those viewers, Biden and his party performed brilliantly.

Compared to past conventions, Bidens address accepting the presidential nomination was comparatively short, at around 25 minutes. The absence of cheering crowds, on account of the pandemic, meant that some of his best lines didnt have quite the emotional resonance they otherwise would have. But Bidens delivery was fluid and heartfelt. His speech occasionally soared, particularly with its evocation of his personal tragedies and invocation of poet Seamus Heaneys call to make hope and history rhyme.

The rest of the convention went off without hitches or glitches. Other leading Democrats also spoke effectively, with the addresses of both Obamas seemingly destined to enter the annals of great rhetoric. Overall, the convention broadcast a strong message that Democrats are firmly grounded in American traditions and values yet also prepared to responsibly undertake ambitious change. They can be trusted to end the coronaviruss ongoing scourge, revive prosperity and distribute its benefits more widely, repair the frayed social welfare safety net, bring about both greater racial justice and greater social unity, and restore Americas respected place in the world.

If Trump wins, the 2020 Democratic convention may eventually be seen as the last gasp of a politics rooted in this countrys founding beliefs in rationality, persuasion, and democratic norms

The Biden endorsements that came from left-leaning figures like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were strong and unambiguous. Warren implored Democrats to end this dark chapter in our nations history and Sanders urged his supporters to elect Biden for the sake of democracy, the economy and the planet. The urgency of defeating Trump has united the Democrats, both in the upper reaches of the party as well at the grassroots, more than anything else in decades.

But what difference will this convention really make? It may give Biden a temporary bump in the polls, but viewership for Bidens speech at the virtual convention was down 21% from Hillary Clintons in 2016, so the bump presumably will be correspondingly modest. And few Democrats, after the 2016 debacle, take comfort in polls that show Biden with a substantial but not insurmountable lead.

Orienting the convention toward moderation was a huge gamble, the success of which cant be assessed until we know the elections outcome.

If Biden loses, expect brutal hindsight recriminations from progressives. They will argue that the convention should have gone low, not high. Theyll say the Democrats should have waged culture- and class-warfare against Trump, just as Trump surely will be unrestrained in stoking rage and hatred against Democrats at the upcoming Republican national convention. Theyre complaining that progressive young firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, often hailed as the future of the party, got only 60 seconds of speaking time at the convention far less than the time allotted to old white men (and sometime Republicans) like Michael Bloomberg and John Kasich. Theres no way to know how many progressive bitter-enders wont vote for Biden, but some of them clearly may use the convention as their excuse.

The implicit theory that there are Trump-leaning voters in the swing states whose minds can be changed by a moderate-friendly Democratic convention may also be faulty. Political scientists, always striving to have their discipline displace economics as the truly dismal science, have concluded that our voting behaviors increasingly have become determined by our affinities and preferences. A persons race, religion, gender, neighborhood, and even choice of grocery store and entertainment all of these multiple identities now reinforce a persons partisan identity. And when we are in the grip of our political identities, we discount factual evidence contradicting our beliefs. Learning more about our political opponents doesnt make us more sympathetic toward them; instead we dislike them with even greater intensity.

It might appear that Bidens cogent convention speech laid waste to the Republican claim, on which they have invested millions of dollars in campaign advertising, that hes a dotard in the final stages of senility. But Republican partisans will go on believing that about him despite any evidence to the contrary. Trump will caricature the Democrats moderate convention as a wild, far-left celebration of Antifa, the Green New Deal, and urban rioting and his followers will believe that too.

If Trump wins, the 2020 Democratic convention may eventually be seen as the last gasp of a politics rooted in this countrys founding beliefs in rationality, persuasion, and democratic norms. But the successor of this politics may be taking shape in the form of the QAnon movement.

The convoluted and quasi-religious QAnon conspiracy theory, for which no evidence has been shown to exist, claims that President Trump is fighting to save the world from control by an elite Democratic cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles. Two years ago, this movement was found mainly in the darker reaches of the internet. Now the Texas Republican party has adopted the motto We Are the Storm, apparently referring to the QAnon belief that Trump will soon stage a military countercoup against the deep state that will lead to the arrest and execution of his political opponents. Trump has recently embraced the QAnon movement, and it is supported at least in part by more than 70 Republicans running for Congress this year.

American democracy has had a good run. Many of its best qualities were on display at the recent Democratic convention and in Joe Bidens speech. Heres hoping well have more conventions like that in the future.

Originally posted here:
The Democratic convention went off without hitches. But was it a success? - The Guardian