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Leading  in a crisis

Leading is easy when everything is humming smoothly along. It's when a wrench is tossed into the works that you see what the folks in charge are made of.          Are they calm and rational during unexpected times of stress? Do they inspire others to be calm and rational? Can they pull the trigger on critical decisions even if the data is incomplete? How about making a tough call for the greater good when they know it is bound to be unpopular with vocal segments of the community, that it may cost them votes down the line?           The State of Hawaii and County of ...

Still time to get booster

The best bet to keep the winter holiday season from turning into a disappointment is for more Americans to roll up their sleeves and get jabbed with the updated COVID-19 booster. With Thanksgiving now behind us and the winter holidays approaching, Americans are hoping to keep the joyous momentum going with ugly Christmas sweater get-togethers, office parties and large family gatherings. But as we learned last year — rushing to COVID-19 testing centers before trekking to see relatives — a positive result can put a damper on a merry mood and bring celebrations to a screeching ...

Only GOP can end Trump era

Wisconsin has suffered Donald Trump’s chaos and narcissism for far too long. Get over him, Republicans. Your party is, or at least was, so much better without him. Trump announced his third bid for the White House. Only the GOP, through its primary process, now has the power to pick someone else for the Republican nomination. Even if Trump stands little chance of winning the general election for president in 2024, given his poor record and soiled reputation, America can’t take that chance. Trump declared himself a candidate just one week after most of his hand-picked hopefuls for ...

Post-FTX cryptocurrency

The supposedly responsible face of cryptocurrency turns out to have been anything but punctilious in his dealings — which should be a wake-up call to sleepy regulators and legislators alike. Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire died young last week, when his cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy. The details remain scarce, but the bottom line is this: FTX was supposed to act as a custodian of the funds customers traded via the service. Instead, it took billions of dollars of that money and lent it out, including to the trading firm Alameda Research also owned by Mr. Bankman-Fried. ...

COP27 brings few victories

The COP process often seems to encapsulate the broader global reaction to climate breakdown. Leaders make grand but vague pledges of action; fossil fuel lobbyists (600 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this year) schmooze and press governments into maintaining the status quo; and scientists, civil society groups and those most affected by the climate emergency have to scream to be heard at all. The results are predictable: indecision, evasion, obstruction and buck-passing followed by desperately needed—but desperately inadequate—last-minute action. Given the utter disarray evident as late ...

Pushing for accountability

On his plane back to Rome from a Middle East trip recently, Pope Francis acknowledged that the Vatican faces pushback in its efforts to overhaul the Catholic Church’s habits of denial, secrecy and coverup surrounding clerical sexual abuse. “There are people within the church who still do not see clearly,” he said, adding that “not everyone has courage.” The pontiff’s delicate phrasing, and his timing, underscored the compounding damage the scandal has inflicted on the church’s moral authority and prestige. Days after Pope Francis shared those thoughts with journalists, ...