Weekly Update 24-29 Aug 20
Updated: Aug 31, 2020
Clips on media/communication, national security, politics sports, and pop culture worth knowing about in the days ahead.
At Provision Advisors, we prepare your team for the challenges, and 'what-ifs' you never thought you'd encounter--specializing in strategic communication planning, crisis communication, and media coaching for senior-level leaders and communicators. We look forward to hearing from you.
--Bashon Mann, Chris Servello, John Schofield
For more information on how we can help your team email us or click here.
Provision Participation
3Cs Coaching Minute--Your Communication Toolbox
In this 3Cs Coaching segment Bashon Mann discusses the idea of a communication toolbox...acquiring the right tools for the job...and keeping those tools sharp.
For more coaching tips or communication advice visit Provisionadvisors.net
Sing Second Sports--Season 1: Pod 18--Time to Get Serious
On this episode we are joined by Bill Wagner of the Annapolis Capital to go over position depth at the slotback and linebacker positions.We are also joined by special guests—-Navy Football greats David Lillefloren and Michael Davis from the Class of '92 as well as. Brian Bolter of Dry 85 and Red Red Wine Bar in Annapolis.
Defense & Aerospace Podcast [Washington Roundtable Aug 28, 2020]
On this Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guests are Dov Zakheim, PhD, former DoD comptroller, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Gordon Adams, PhD, Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute, Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute and Michael Herson, President and CEO, American Defense International and Chris Servello, a founder of Provision Advisors (and Defense and Aerospace team member).
Top Clips
U.S. consumer confidence at six-year low; underscores concerns about economic recovery
By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters
U.S. consumer confidence dropped to a more than six-year low in August as households worried about the labor market and incomes, casting doubts on the sustainability of the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 recession.
How companies are preparing employees for long-term work-from-home
By Jennifer Liu, CNBC
In March, millions of U.S. office workers hurriedly packed their desks to set up shop and work from home, thinking they would be back within a few weeks. As the coronavirus pandemic leapt from a handful of outbreak zones to the rest of the country, weeks stretched into months of unprecedented health, economic and mental devastation.
How our brains numb us to Covid-19’s risks — and what we can do about it - Back in
By Elizabeth Svoboda, Washington Post
In March, going just about anywhere felt like entering a combat zone. As covid-19 case counts rose across the country, I quaked at the prospect of going to the grocery store. I donned my mask and tried not to inhale as I threaded through the aisles, dousing myself with sanitizer as soon as I got out.
The cost of closed schools
By Erica Pandey, Felix Salmon, Axios
When schools close down, the whole economy suffers.Beyond the stress of overwhelmed parents or the cabin fever of restless kids, closing schools for COVID-19 could cost about $700 billion in lost revenue and productivity, according to a Barron's analysis — a whopping 3.5% of GDP.
College football’s pandemic playbook: Fewer fans, no tailgating, no bands
By Alan Blinder, NYT
About two dozen states plan to host college football games this season. With thousands of fans expected for many of them, organizers are trying to balance public health with tradition.
College Football Is Not Essential
By The Editorial Board, NYT
Why are some schools pressuring student-athletes to play a game that could expose them to the coronavirus?
Hail to the king
By The Economist
Trump at the convention. When Donald Trump appeared at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the party’s establishment was still shell-shocked by his nomination. Yet its politico, donor and lobbyist members consoled themselves with the thought that, given his probable loss to Hillary Clinton, they would soon have a chance to reunify their party in furious opposition, and reclaim it.
Trump and the Politics of ‘Mean World’
By David Brooks, NYT
These days mean world culture is everywhere. It’s a siege mentality. Menace is everywhere. We’re on the brink of the cataclysm. This week’s Republican convention was a four-day cavalcade of the mean world alarmism.
This Is How Biden Loses
By George Packer, The Atlantic
Nothing will harm a campaign like the wishful thinking, fearful hesitation, or sheer complacency that fails to address what voters can plainly see.
Pelosi Wants No Debates
By The Editorial Board, WSJ
The Speaker walks point to protect Biden from going against Trump.
SUBTWEETS ARE PARTISAN TOO: WHY RETIRED GENERALS CAN’T AVOID THE PARTIES
By Luke J. Schumacher, for War on the Rocks
Retired generals who choose to speak out should drop the pretense that their rhetorical interventions into the national dialogue transcend the partisan coloration that saturates present-day American politics. In America’s polarized times, even when retired generals sincerely try to remain above the fray, their forays into the public square will likely be construed by the media, and perceived by the public, as expressions of partisan commitment.
The science of stoking fear
By Courtenay Brown, Axios
Corporations and advocacy groups have used fear to sell products and messages for decades.Academics codified it as the "fear drive" method in the 1950s, referring to the idea that engaging with fear can be the motivation for people to buy into anything that would make the feeling of fear go away.
What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?
By Kevin Roose, NYT
Right-wing influencers are dominating the political discussion on Facebook, raising questions about whether it will translate into electoral success in November.
The Never-Ending War Between the White House and the Press
By Jack Shafer, NYT
The next time President Trump chafes your free-speech sensibilities by yanking the White House credentials of a reporter who questioned him hard, insulting journalists at a news conference, tweeting about “fake news” being the enemy of the people or threatening to retaliate against one of the media outlets whose reporting has offended him, calm yourself by opening Harold Holzer’s “The Presidents vs. the Press” to almost any page. For all of Trump’s transgressions against the press — and they are many — Holzer’s book offers evidence that he’s not the greatest enemy of the First Amendment to have occupied the White House. He might not even rank in the top five.
When It’s Time to Pivot, What’s Your Story?
By Rory McDonald and Robert Bremner, for The Harvard Business Review
In recent years we’ve interviewed hundreds of founders, corporate innovation chiefs, market analysts, and financial journalists, and reviewed dozens of press releases, analyst reports, and media stories of both high- and low-performing companies, many in new technology sectors. From this research we’ve identified a sequence of stratagems that are critical to establishing and maintaining stakeholder support during major reboots.
Big Tech Embraces New Cold War Nationalism
By JS Tan, for Foreign Policy
China’s rise has pushed Silicon Valley away from the values it once claimed to hold.
SOLDIER-SCHOLAR (PICK ONE): ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN THE AMERICAN MILITARY
By James Joyner, for War on the Rocks
On the surface, anti-intellectualism is an odd critique to apply to the American military. Outside academia, it is hard to think of a profession that values schooling more. With rare exception, a four-year university degree is a baseline requirement for commissioning. Indeed, the nation has funded service academies for that purpose going back to 1802 and established a bevy of land grant colleges across the country starting in 1862 partly with an eye to training future military officers.
Which Past Is Prologue?
Heeding the Right Warnings From History
U.S. President Donald Trump largely ignores the past or tends to get it wrong. “What’s this all about?” he is reported to have asked on a visit to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, in Hawaii, in 2017. When he has paid attention to history, it has been to call on it as a friendly judge, ready to give him top marks and vindicate him: his administration, he has claimed repeatedly, has been the best in U.S. history. The evidence—something that historians, at least, take seriously—suggests a different picture.
MLB's first foray into social justice activism was a disorganized mess -- and that made it perfect
By Jeff Passan, ESPN
Randy Wilkins was frustrated, and at 10:09 a.m. on June 3, he purged his feelings. For 36 minutes, over the course of 16 tweets, Wilkins dissected with great clarity how Major League Baseball had botched its response to George Floyd's murder and how it was indicative of deeper problems of racism within the sport. Wilkins is a baseball fan and a Black man, and to see the game he loves hurt him again and again became too much to contain.
Clippers' Paul George says he dealt with anxiety, depression inside NBA bubble
By Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN
After busting out of the worst playoff shooting slump of his career with 35 points against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 on Tuesday, Paul George plopped down into the interview chair and exhaled.
What’s on the menu? Naval Academy King Hall adjusts to coronavirus pandemic with to-go meals, tents and Instagram
By Heather Mongilio, Capital Gazette
Warrant Officer Aleithia Castro stood in the anchor of King Hall. The anchor, a raised platform in the middle of the dining room, offers the best view of the entire operation feeding midshipmen at the Naval Academy, Castro said. Not every mid is back in Annapolis. The return of the Brigade of Midshipmen is being staggered through mid-September. Castro estimates the food services at the academy are currently feeding about 3,800 midshipmen.
The Profound Heroism of Chadwick Boseman
By David Sims, The Atlantic
The actor played revolutionary characters who made both Hollywood and American history—all while quietly undergoing treatment for the cancer that took his life at age 43.
Why Are Young Guys Suddenly Getting Colon Cancer?
By Kristen Mascia, Men’s Health
What to know about the puzzling trend you don’t want to be part of.
And Finally...
