Mediaboss Marketing

A second term for President Trump would produce reassuring continuity for markets, at least in the short term. We have seen the impact his pronouncements on social media can have, and this is likely to be a feature of a second term in office for President Trump.

A change in administration would likely introduce some short-term volatility, but the longer-term impact of individual candidates is harder to judge. We will be carefully tracking the primaries from February onwards when the Democratic nominee will become clearer as we consider what market impact, if any, the challenger may have.

At an institutional level, a Democratic president who facing a Republican senateSenate might be less disruptive for markets than one with party backing. Gridlock would prevent any potential rollback of Trumps tax cuts or contentious policies around healthcare, technology and energybig policy shifts that could create market volatility. But stagnation and malaise would likely benefit no one and, while Democratic control of the Presidency and both houses could be negative for some sectors, it could also lead to opportunities opening up elsewhere as the policy focus shifts.

Go here to read the rest:
US Election 2020: Beyond the media thunderdome - Coutts

Suddenly needing a replacement for the young, popular, bilingual manager they hired in November and dumped in dishonor last week, the Mets picked the young, popular, bilingual manager prospect they already had.

Luis Rojas will succeed Carlos Beltran who lost his job because ofhis involvement in the Astros sign-stealing scandal as the Mets manager, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said Wednesday at Citi Field.

Heading into his 14th season with the organization, Rojas checks a lot of boxes: He is analytically adept, having helped players digest data in his role as quality-control coach last year; he knows the roster, having coached or managed many of the Mets during his dozen years working in the minors; and he comes from a famous baseball family, the son of former Expos/Giants manager Felipe Alou and the brother of former All-Star outfielder Moises Alou.

Not a bad option for a team that found itself in the highly unusual position of looking for a manager in January.

The short version is hes very, very well qualified, said Van Wagenen, who interviewed Rojas multiple times in October but opted for Beltran instead. We anticipate him to be a great addition to our team. We think he has the ability to be consistent, to be calm under pressure and to understand the opportunity that this team has as we head into the 2020 season.

Hes respected by the players, hes trusted by the players and hes someone that we have great confidence in his ability to lead our team and his ability to put us in the best position to succeed.

Rojas promotion isnt official yet. Van Wagenen said the Mets are working to finalize a multi-year deal with Rojas, 38, who will be formally introduced in a news conference at Citi Field when the contract is done.

Receive stories, photos and videos about your favorite New York teams plus national sports news and events.

By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

Aside from filling Rojas previous role, the Mets dont expect any changes to the coaching staff. The Red Soxreportedly areinterested in bench coach Hensley Meulens for their manager opening, but they have not requested permission to interview him, Van Wagenen said.

Selecting Rojas mostly ends the Mets portion of the 2017 Astros cheating saga. Beltran was a player on that team and was named in Major League Baseballs report on the issue, and he and the team parted ways that is the official term last week.

That left Van Wagenen & Co. conducting their second manager search of the offseason. Becausethey went through this process in October, this time around it was largely a matter of referring to their notes and deciding whether they needed to re-open their group of candidates, Van Wagenen said.

Have circumstances changed now that would change what we were looking for in a manager? Van Wagenen said. We came to the conclusion that going to the existing candidate pool that we had already gone through this extensive process with was [the best choice]. Even though circumstances have changed, the people that we narrowed our focus to before were the right people for us to focus on.

Van Wagenen said Rojas was someone we focused on very early and very quickly. He called Rojas a serious candidate back in October.

When it came to this unfortunate circumstance, we didnt want to change the values that we outlined for ourselves in the initial process, Van Wagenen said. We wanted to continue the momentum that we have with the work thats been done in preparation for spring training, and we felt like Luis was in a position to be a leader of that group.

Rojas was popular among Mets last year, his first on the major-league staff, and shortly after the news broke Wednesday, Pete Alonso, Marcus Stroman and Dominic Smith all chimed in approvingly on social media.

This will be Rojas first managing job in the majors, but dont call him inexperienced. In addition to managing in the Dominic Winter League and leading the Dominican Republic team in an Olympic qualifying tournament a job Rojas was honored to be picked for he also managed Mets minor league teams for eight seasons. Along the way, he had Jacob deGrom on the 2012 Savannah Sand Gnats and Alonso and Jeff McNeil on the 2018 Binghamton Rumble Ponies, among many others.

And now they are all in the majors, with Rojas in charge.

[Rojas]has a good finger on the pulse of this particular team, Van Wagenen said. He was part of it last year, he was part of the momentum ride we had in the second half of the year and the success we had. From our evaluation standpoint, that was another separator for him versus some of the other candidates. He knows these guys. He knows how to communicate to them. Every returning player on the roster has a relationship with him. Thats valuable to us at this time.

Age: 38

Former role with the Mets: Quality-control coach in 2019, acting as a conduit between the front office and coaching staff. Rojas helped incorporate analytics into game strategy and preparation. He was also the team's outfield coach last season.

Playing career: A leftfielder, first baseman and third baseman, Rojas played with the Orioles (2000), Marlins (2001-02) and Expos/Nationals (2003-05) in their minor league systems.

Managing career: Gulf Coast Mets (2011), Savannah Sand Gnats (2012-14), St. Lucie Mets (2015-16), Binghamton Rumble Ponies (2017-18)

Family tree: Son of 17-year major league player and former Expos and Giants manager Felipe Alou and brother of six-time All-Star outfielder Moises Alou, who played the last two seasons of his career with the Mets in 2007-08. He is the nephew of former MLB outfielders Matty and Jesus Alou. According to MLB.com, Rojas uses his paternal grandfathers last name, Rojas, while his father and brother use his paternal grandmothers last name, Alou.

Read more from the original source:
Mets finalizing deal to make Rojas their next manager - Newsday

A. Trevor Sutton, Concordia Seminary

Silicon Valleys newest fad is dopamine fasting, or temporarily abstaining from addictive activities such as social media, music, internet gaming even food. Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey is known for his intermittent fasting diet. In this file photo, he gestures while interacting with students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi.

Silicon Valleys newest fad is dopamine fasting, or temporarily abstaining from addictive activities such as social media, music, internet gaming even food. Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey is

Photo: Prakash Singh / AFP / Getty Images 2018

Silicon Valleys newest fad is dopamine fasting, or temporarily abstaining from addictive activities such as social media, music, internet gaming even food. Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey is known for his intermittent fasting diet. In this file photo, he gestures while interacting with students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi.

Silicon Valleys newest fad is dopamine fasting, or temporarily abstaining from addictive activities such as social media, music, internet gaming even food. Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey is

Silicon Valley's latest fad is dopamine fasting and that may not be as crazy as it sounds

Eds: This story was supplied by The Conversation for AP customers. The Associated Press does not guarantee the content.

A. Trevor Sutton, Concordia Seminary

(THE CONVERSATION) Silicon Valleys newest fad is dopamine fasting, or temporarily abstaining from addictive activities such as social media, music, internet gaming even food.

Twitters CEO, Jack Dorsey, for example, is known for his intermittent fasting diet. Other celebrities such as Kourtney Kardashian and Chris Pratt have also lauded the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Dubbed dopamine fasting by San Francisco psychologist Cameron Sepah, the trend is getting increasing international attention as a potential cure for technology addiction.

Dopamine is a brain neurotransmitter that helps control basic functions such as motor control, memory and excitement. It is also involved in anticipating the reward of a stimulating activity. Denying the brain the dopamine-derived pleasure of many modern day temptations, the theory goes, may help people regain control, improving focus and productivity.

This idea did not entirely originate in Silicon Valley. As a scholar who studies digital technology and religion, Id argue that the motivations and benefits of dopamine fasting resemble what many religions have been teaching since ancient times.

Fasting can take multiple forms in different religious traditions.

Muslims observe nearly a month-long fast during Ramadan when they abstain from food or drinks. They are allowed to break the fast only after the Sun goes down.

The Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, includes a period of fasting. And many Christian traditions observe fasting periods throughout the year, particularly during the Lenten season leading up to Easter. Vipassana meditation, a practice with Buddhist roots, involves abstaining from speaking for multiple days.

The reasons these ancient religions encourage fasting, in my assessment, are quite similar to the motivations of modern dopamine fasters.

Some religious traditions encourage fasting to develop personal holiness and discipline. For example, Orthodox Christians avoid animal products on Wednesdays and Fridays as a way to develop discipline and self-control. Others, including Christianity and Islam, use fasting as a way to develop appreciation and gratitude.

The early fourth-century Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo recognized that the practice of fasting could maximize pleasure for things that one gives up. For example, abstaining from meat during Lent heightens appreciation for it after the fast is over.

Scholars have drawn parallels between dopamine fasting and religious fasting. For example, David Nutt, professor of brain science at Imperial College London, said in an November 2019 interview with the British newspaper Guardian:

Retreating from life probably makes life more interesting when you come back to itMonks have been doing it for thousands of years. Whether that has anything to do with dopamine is unclear.

Many individuals engage in dopamine fasting for much the same reasons as religious fasters. Some, for example, use it as a way to develop greater discipline. In a November 2019 interview, psychologist at Stanford University Russell Poldrack noted that the practice at self-control in doing one of these fasts can be useful. It can give one a feeling of mastery over their own behaviors, he said.

Others such as Nellie Bowles, a journalist who covers the Silicon Valley, finds that dopamine fasting makes everyday tasks more exciting and fun.

Research shows that fasting, whether religious or not, can have several health benefits.

For example, a study published in the Journal of Research in Medical Science had 14 individuals undergo a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat. The participants reported significant improvements in physical and psychological well-being after the fast.

According to a research review by nutrition scientists John Trepanowski and Richard Bloomer, religious and nonreligious fasting can have similar health benefits.

Dopamine fasting is supposed to make ordinary tasks such as eating and listening to music more pleasurable. After temporarily abstaining from an activity, fasters have found it more rewarding to reengage in the activity.

There are those who disagree. Neuroscientists have argued that dopamine is essential to healthy brain functioning and have raised questions about the trends apparent goal of reducing dopamine.

While it is true that certain behaviors lead to the increase of dopamine, experts caution on the claims regarding dopamine fasting. Joshua Berke, a neuroscientist, said that dopamine is not a pleasure juice with a certain level that gets depleted. Rather, the dynamic of dopamine changes from moment to moment.

Nonetheless, advocates of dopamine fasting believe that it can curb addictive behaviors and make daily life more pleasurable, something that religious traditions have for millennia encouraged people to develop patterns of fasting and feasting.

[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversations newsletter.]

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.

Read more from the original source:
Silicon Valley's latest fad is dopamine fasting and that may not be as crazy as it sounds - Shelton Herald

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to ourTerms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sentvia e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Excerpt from:
Letter to the editor: Abortion as population control? - TribLIVE

ALASKA SCHOOLS ARE PRODUCING A FAILED SOCIAL ORDER

By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO

Our public education system no longer promotes the goal of teaching our children how to think independently, and how to live free, fulfilling, and meaningful lives.

Instead, we now see the products of carefully crafted and controlled manipulation of education to graduate young Socialists who are entitled, unskilled, and politically far-left leaning.

This whole process is controlled by the Democratic Party, the mainstream media, and their willing confederates in the public employees unions.

Republicans and conservatives alike share the blame. We have been absent from the education dialogue. We have, at best, issued lukewarm and flaccid rebuttals in protest, and of course, have been ignored.The public employees unions have driven the narrative, tilting the political arena more to the left than ever before. They have almost unlimited financial resources, and the political process has quietly been manipulated to help, through independent expenditure groups, mail-in ballots, and (possibly soon) rank choice voting.

There is no excuse for Republican/Conservatives to remain passive. After all, this really is about not only our more and more endangered constitutional rights, but also the future of our children and their children.

The majority of cities in the United States see their school boards and administrations controlled by far-left Democrats and their allies, and have for over half a century. The end result is that every major city is now completely controlled by the Democrat party, particularly unions.

States like California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Virginia (the state whose constitution was written by George Mason and James Madison among others) and more are now totally controlled by Democrats who control the major population centers and therefore the entire states.

Alaska has become no different. Anchorage has become a state within a state. As evidenced by its mayor and assembly as well as many of its State Legislative representatives (regardless ofD or Rdesignations), our once bountiful natural resources, with their development potential, are being converted and driven into a swamp of red tape, bureaucracy and entitlements. Our education system is promoting every leftist policy as good to our children, and every conservative policy as evil, racist, and selfish.

Everything that is wrong with inner city schools that policy can fix, Democrats are responsible for. Democrats and their allies run the public school system for the benefit of adults at the expense of children. Put in the language of political war:Democrats have their boot heels on the necks of poor, black, and Hispanic children. But Republicans are too polite to mention it. David Horowitz. How to Beat the Democrats and Other Subversive Ideas

Whose fault is this? We need to look at ourselves and see the results of our lack of attention and action. These policies are allowed to take over because of poor Republican/conservative voter turnout and poorer Republican/conservative public involvement.

Our lack of involvement has allowed the growth and takeover by the public employees unions, creatingan unfair legal standard for the Democrat hatchet machine to proliferate. With seemingly unlimited funds from union dues (we have yet to see the measurable effects of Janus v AFMCME in Alaska), these unions are virtually a political party with no legal political restraints, unlike the current political parties subject to the FEC and state public offices regulators.

Sadly, Democrat-controlled schools are teaching students very little. Students who are a product of this system are moving into their future not with productive and saleable life skills, but with a quiver full ofidentity politicarrows. Our education system should promote a meaningful and independent lifestyle, but instead, it leads to narcissism, sloth, and entitlement with few exceptions.

Alaska is producing a failing social order and it will cost our progeny dearly.

Where is the outrage on the part of Republicans/conservatives?Our urbanity and our go along, get alongattitude are our demise and consequently our failure, not just to ourselves but to Alaskas future.

What is more incredible to this edifice of failure is the fact that Republicans/conservatives actually do have an education plan in place. It is not based on the failed social principles we have witnessed year in and year out. No, the Republican/conservative plan is simple and immediately outcome oriented.

Alaskas school reform is economic choice. By putting the education dollar directly into the hands of parents, schools would be forced to serve their communities and constituents. Giving parents control of their childrens education would force schools and unions to stop exploiting our tax dollars to serve their own interests (instead of the students). Our tax dollars must be redirected to the parents and follow the children, rather than the special interests of the Democrat/media/public union syndicate.

The goal is to serve our children with a profoundly reformed education and provide them with the education that will give them the best chance for a successful, fulfilling and responsible life. The Left will not listen to these ideas because they will lose the power and the control they crave and must have to stay in power.

This idea was developed in 2013 through the efforts of Senator now Governor Michael Dunleavy.

During the 28thAlaska State Legislature, our state saw for the first time an opportunity to vote up or down on the question of state aid for education reaching the true beneficiaries of education, our children.

SJR 9 proposed amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to state aid for education which provided the wording as captioned below, if passed by the State Legislature, would have given the voters the opportunity to amend the state constitution.

It was falsely entitled a voucher program attempt and maligned extensively in the public and the halls of our state capital.This was a typical lefistsky is fallingcanard, calling it a voucher program, instead of what it really was freedom: Freedom for parents and children to choose. Freedom to use their tax money in a way that would be meaningful to them, not the few, who created a hornets nest response to their potential loss of control over public policy and public money.

It was introduced on Feb. 13, 2013 by then-Sen. Dunleavy, and Senators Fred Dyson, Pete Kelly, John Coghill, Cathy Giessel, Lesil McGuire, Charlie Huggins, and Anna Fairclough.

SJR9 had 11 of the 14 votes required, but the education industry is the most powerful lobbying force in Alaska politics. Ironically, Senators Bert Stedman, Gary Stevens and Click Bishop, all Republicans, were the 3 senators who kept SJR9 from coming out of the Rules committee and being voted upon on the floor, in spite of this being part of the Alaska Republican Party platform.

Isnt time to bring this back to the education discussion? Before you say yes, let me finish with a suggestion and a solution.

Suggestion:Redirect all education funding to follow the child. This can be done by our political will through amending the Alaska Constitution. Give the people of Alaska the opportunity to guide the direction of education policy directly and personally.

Solution:Reintroduce and pass the language of SJR9. Amend Article VII, Sec 1 as follows:

Article VII, sec. 1, Constitution of the State of Alaska, to read:Section 1. Public Education.The legislature shall by general law establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the State, and may provide for other public educational institutions. Schools and institutions so established shall be free from sectarian control.

With this deletion [NO MONEY SHALL BE PAID FROM PUBLIC FUNDS FOR THE DIRECT BENEFIT OF ANY RELIGIOUS OR OTHER PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.]

Amend Article IX, Sec 6 as follows:

Article IX, sec. 6, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended to read:Section 6. Public Purpose.No tax shall be levied, or appropriation of public money made, or public property transferred, nor shall the public credit be used, except or a public purpose (add as follows); however, nothing in this section shall prevent payment from public funds for the direct educational benefit of students as provided by law.

Michael Tavoliero is a realtor at Core Real Estate Group in Eagle River, is active in the Alaska Republican Party and chairs Eaglexit.

Like Loading...

Read the original post:
Education solution: Give parents freedom of choice - Must Read Alaska