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Children in the US should not be directed to educational content developed by tech companies using writers in Kenya and Philippines who lack the education to do this. A data labeler that hires people in Philippines and Kenya at $8 an hour, hundreds of thousands of low cost contractors, to create content. Some of the content is of such low quality that it had to be redone by Scale employees, says this story in WSJ. It started out providing this to self driving technologies companies needing data labeling, and now does this for AI.  Samples of questions for content are - explain a moon landing to a 6 year old, says the WSJ. Serious questions about quality of content going to AI and the willingness of Tech companies including Google and Apple to not make this a priority.  Education requires a different approach for quality of content and the tech monopolies are not the ones who should be in this role to build the educational content that a team of scientists and faculty envisioned in cultural literacy for the US under ED Hirsch since the 1970's. More than at other times in US history this is important to preserve the Nation the founders envisoned. ...

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Jaffe and Eilperin provide this exceptional account describing the huge struggle of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to come to grips with the opioid crisis in rural America. Vilsack is from rural Iowa, where he was a small town Mayor. The opioid epidemic has personal overtones for Vilsack because of his parents addiction and growing up seeing the lack of helping hands. Vilsack. a two term governor of Iowa has witnesses these struggles in Iowa, as the state rural areas faced high poverty rates, more likelihood of being obese, less likely to go to college, and more likely to be pregnant in the teen years, than the rest of America. Vilsack is frustrated not just with the Obama administration but also with Congress, the media, the private sector with high pharmaceutical prices, for not giving enough attention to rural America. He sees rural America as providing the food grown and a disproportionate share of the military. The opioid epidemic comes at a bad time for rural America. This report provides a story that is typical where a dose of painkillers for a Navy employee leads to addiction and use of opioids. The whole experience has made Vilsack sound cranky to people in the White House. ...

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Obama vists Acrra, Ghana, July 11, 2009. It is an emotional moment for Obama, and for Ghana and the African continent as a whole. It seems the whole nation was out on the streets,on crowded rooftops, packing balconies, leaning out of windows, to get a glimpse of Obama. Particularly emotional is the moment when he stood at the Door of No Return at Cape Coast Castle, a notorious slave port perched on the ocean. He spoke about the existence of "evil" that he had seen at Buchenwald, and here again. He spoke up against the poverty of Africa that is compounded by the greed, corruption and the lack of responsibility of the elites in African countries. Obama said "Africa doesn't need strong men, it needs strong institutions." He talked about his personal experience: "I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family's story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story. Some of you know my grandfather was a cook for the British in Kenya, and though he was a respected elder in his village, his employers called him boy for much of his life." See the related story on Nigeria, which was avoided by the President on his visit. And where because of the corruption and lack of responsible government, influential Nigerian voices themselves feel this was the right thing to do. This is one area in which Obama picks up from a strong effort by President Bush. Bush tried to frame policy by rewarding good government and building institutions through programs like the Millenium CHallenge Corporation, an antipoverty effort that gave Ghana $547 million in 2006. Both Bush and Clinton visited here....

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The Italian comedy movie "Quo Vado," became a hit in Italy in 2016, premiering on Jan. 1. It tells the story of a government clerk played by Checco Zalone, whose only aspiration in life is a 9 to 5 government job for life. It lets Italians laugh at the past in a Italy that is changing. Today, the Turin newspaper La Stampa points out from its survey, two of three Italians would take some risk if it means career advancement. Yet public sector job protections remain firmly in place even as the private sector is changing rapidly not just in Italy but in Spain and other parts of the European Union.

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A look at the role that David Cameron played in the Brexit vote. Cameron did this by promising to hold a referendum to assuage hard line Tories within his Conservative Party in Britain who feared that the right wing Independence Party of Nigel Farage would cut into the Tory vote and hand the 2015 election over to the Labour Party. Cameron made the pledge in 2013. The Brexit vote referendum happened in June 2016 with a slight margin for the "Leave" vote as voters shifted to an anti-establishment vote, and a wave of immigration from Africa and Arab countries in conflicts into Europe created fears of uncontrolled immigration. Both were factors that had little to do with Britain's place in Europe over decades in post war Europe, and not permanent shifts in sentiment. Cameron agreed because he thought the would lead to a result favoring the Remain Vote to stay in the European Union. Cameron badly miscalculated leading to the mess Britain is in today with no clear path forward and negative effects on the economy of Britain. The Labour Party now favors a second referendum as voter sentiment again shifts following the failure of the Theresa May Conservative government to lead in the way forward, and splits in the Conservative Party. Immigration from Arab countries and Africa is now restricted and down to a small trickle. The problems generated by Brexit for the economy, Northern Ireland, business uncertainty, and second thoughts among pro-Brexit supporters, are leading to a rethink of the course set by the referendum based on a temporary shift in sentiment. ...

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Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia's leader for less than 2 years, is a courageous choice for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, says the Guardian. He has accomplished much in a short time with the peace arrangements with Eritrea, ending a 20 year old war, and opening up dialogue and discussion in the country by lifting bans on opposition groups. Half of the cabinet is female, and the head of the election commission an exiled dissident.  Yet the Guardian is cautiously optimistic because the change is sudden and dramatic, it needs to be consolidated for the long term. The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front appointed him as leader to make these changes. What the Nobel Prize COmmittee has done is to recognize the hope that this brings to Africa, torn as it has been by recurring wars and ethnic conflicts for  way too long after the scars of colonialism. Can the positive changes in Asia provide new inspiration to Africa that this can be overcome and modernization, improvement in the lives of people happen as everyone each on his own account takes personal responsibility.   ...

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Caryn James provides an exceptional account of Robert Altman, iconoclastic director of M*A*S*H*, which came out in 1970, of Nashville, and a British period movie Gosford Park in 2001. His long career involved moments such as the one described in the currrent exhibit and documentary on Altman at the MOMA- he was fired by studio chief Jack Warner because "that fool has actors talking all the time." With M*A*S*H* the Altman style was estalished as anti-authoritarian, boisterous language, and the overlapping dialogue that so offended Jack Warner, irreverent attitude to established ways, and screenplays that invited improvisation. As Caryn James points out much of Altman's style has filtered through to a new wave of cinema directors, and into movies and television, to the point where it seems invisible. Ron Magliozzi, curator of the MOMA series, says of Altman that he comes across as such a maverick that people lose sight of his work in movies such as Gosford Park, a period piece where a story is told about a murder mystery on a English counry estate, a forerunner for Downton Abbey....

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A humorous story on how Lady Hale delivered the unanimous decision of the UK Supreme Court against the prorogation of parliament by prime minister Boris Johnson, with a pun on the word pro-rogue-ation. And some ideas on how this was received by all sides. The decision was not popular in Britain and was seen by the royals and people around Queen Elizabeth as bad advice given to the Queen by the prime minister. Much of the behaviour of Boris Johnson and adviser Dominic Cummings is based on polls showing them winning over Labour seats in northern England that voted for Brexit in a general election to give the Conservatives a majority. Labour leader McDonnell has said that they have miscalculated. Labour party continues to emphasize that the real issue before the country is failing infrastructure, inequalities, lack of opportunity, jobs and the economy, not leaving the European Union. Labour's strategy is to wait out the general election for a couple of months so that voters can judge from the actions the competence of the Boris Johnson government to run the country for 5 years. ...

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Tony Hayward, a geologist who has headed BP for 3 years has made statemets to the media that erode public confidence in BP. One of these was that the oil spill is not going to cause big problems because the gulf "is a very big ocean." Another referring to lives lost when the oil rig exploded was "I'd like to have my life back."

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Prof Richard Thaler of the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, sees an acute underestimation of risk as a common element in recurring crises- both the crises of a financial type and the crises like the one in the BP Gulf Oil Spill. Tony Hayward, CEO of BP said that BP had perceived the risk of such a spill as one in a million.

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The story of Lara Gass, a law student in Virgina, whose brakes, power steering and power failed causing a fiery crash, because of a faulty ignition switch in a 2006 Saturn Ion. The failure of GM to take the cars with that defective switch off the road till they are repaired is cause for anguish for 21 grieving families that lost a family member.

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Rodney O'Neal takes Delphi through a difficult transition from being a part of General Motors, through bankruptcy and regeneration as an independent company in a very competitive global environment. He tells his story to Patricia Olsen- from school in Dayton, Ohio, to production engineer at GM on the plant floor, running the operations in Portugal, to MIT Sloan for a masters degree and management responsibility.

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Osipova and Castle provide details about the personal life of Theresa May, the new British prime minister. May was only 25 when her father died in a car crash and her mother died soon after from multiple sclerosis. This has made her come closer to her husband Philip whom she met at Oxford, where they bonded over a love of cricket and debates at the university. She was interested in Tory politics from a young age, but has her own style of hard work and dislikes the chumocracy in British Conservative Party politics that prevailed under David Cameron. Unlike Cameron who was brash and confident to the point of making bold moves such as the decision to call a referendum as election year politics and did not consider carefully the impact of the austerity programs on Britain's working class; May is thoughtful and has been critical of the long period of deficit cutting austerity under Cameron and Osborne. She loves cooking and has a library of over 100 cookbooks, loves clothes and is carefully dressed for each event. Her matter of fact way to get on with it also has to do with her response to diabetes, with 4 injections a day her thought is "to just deal with it." She and her husband worked in investment banking, before her election as MP from Maidenhead, a constituency near London, on the third attempt. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph she has described the woman she is often compared to, Angela Merkel of Germany, as someone who doesn't get enough appreciaton. For May Merkel has actually achieved something significant by "steering Germany through a difficult time," and with her negotiation abilities during the eurozone crisis proved her resourcefulness, "hats off to her," says May. ...

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In his speech at the Labour party conference Keir Starmer wll put mental health as Labour's key pitch to voters. Starmer will say that a Labour government will take note of the mental health crisis after Covid and make mental health treatment available to anyone who needs it within a month, and create drop-in mental health hubs for children and young people. This is Starmer's first in person address to Labour's party conference.

Labour believes the mounting fuel crisis with most petrol stations out of gasoline is creating concerns about Boris Johnson's ability to tackle Britain's problems after Covid pandemic. Referring to Boris Johnson's plea for motorists not to fill cars unless necessary, Starmer will try to contrast the challenges facing Britain after the pandemic with the chaotic approach of Boris Johnson. 

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AutoZone, O'Reilly Automotive and other U.S. auto parts stores for repairing cars are doing well as car buyers postpone purchases and try to fix their cars. The cold weather means cars wear out and break down faster.

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After a lot of corporate advertising image of HP like Dell has become old and stodgy. How to revive the brand. Try taking a lesson from Apple. Try appealing at apersonal level, and try appealing to younger people to shake off the old image and put in a more invigorating one. About 180,000 visitors were attracted to an HP website named FingerSkilz.tv which shows closeup videos of a man's hand on a desk performing soccer tricks with a padded paper ball just bfore the 2006 World Cup. This was part of a new HP global campaign to give HP the cool image of an Apple. Content Links 1. We wanted to step away from selling computersas a commodity to telling a story in an autographical way- quote from Steve Simpson. Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which is creating new ads for HP. 2. Uses personalities like Jay-Z a rap artist and Shaun White a snowboarder, and is creating European and Asian personalities for advertising in other continents. 3. the print work features prominently images of hands see as a powerful symbol of communication around the world. 4. Sponsoring a new tv show Meet or Delete on MTV in which young people compare suitors basedon the content of their hard disks. ...

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Trump's doctor's letter was written by Dr. Bornstein. His father was Trump's doctor for many years. The letter Dr Bornstein says was written with language that is normally used by Trump, and not the kind of letter he is used to writing. Dr. Bornstein says he was rushed. The Trump limousine was waiting outside and he had 5 minutes to write the letter certifying to Trump's good health to be president of the U.S. Experts say the most noticeable thing about the letter is the hyperbole. They, including Sanjay Gupta, raise questions about the letter's hyperbole, that does not show the serious minded attitude and language that this kind of letter requires such as the words "astonishingly excellent." 

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Marketing innovation at Ford. Marketing campaign called "Bold Moves," to help Ford reconnect with younger buyers, bring the younger demographics into Ford's customer base again. Could cost upto $100 million. It would have a documentary style internet program starring Mark Fields, head of North and South American operations, and features a new Kelly Clarkson song. Ford plans to produce this show itself, to tell its own story in its own words.

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Eric Bellman's intervew with Rajiv Lall, chief executive officer of Infrastructure Development Finance, India's largest infrastructure financing company. Lall says the conditions are right for power development to be the next telecom of India's growth story, with some of the same impact that telecom has had bringing mobile phones to hundreds of millions of people in India. IDFC expects 20% growth in net profit in 2010 and 30% in 2011.

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Tony Blair on how far CHina has come and the culture revolution of abetter kind under way.

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As she speaks at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Harris speaks on innovation as the Spirit of America as it revives the Spirit of America to rebuild the Nation.

“There’s an old saying that the best way to predict the future is to invent it,”

“That is the story of the steel city – the city that helped build the middle class, birth America’s labor movement, empower the rise of American manufacturing; and the city where Allen Newell and Herbert Simon launched the first AI research hub at Carnegie Mellon.”

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China's role for World War II defeat of Imperialist Japan given prominence in 2025. China made huge sacrifices in fighting the Japanese just as Russia made huge sacrifices fighting the Nazis in Germany, yet US help was crucial in helping China stay in the war to the end in 1945. Roosevelt sent one of America's best soldiers personally selected by Gen. George Marshall, Joe Stilwell to China. The best documented writing about this period of the war and the role of Stilwell is in Barbara Tuchman's book- Stilwell and the American Experience in China. Stilwell starts his knowledge of China in the period of the First World War when he decides to take the position as military attache to the American consulate in China. Tuchman is the only writer who was welcomed by China's revolutionary leader Mao to write about China during the renewal of US relations. She gives the best account there is of how Stilwell in his different trips to China learned the language and lived with the ordinary people, embracing the conditions of China's backwardness and war torn countryside as Japan invaded. No American or European in history could be said to have done what Stilwell had done in restoring the morale and giving self respect to China at an extremely difficult time of poverty, backwardness and war. To read it is to realize how America and Americans fought all the colonial ideas of the British and the French and Dutch and embraced the dignity and culture of the Asian people. Gen. Joe Stilwell was the best of America- of whom it could be said in all races, especially in China, he defended justice and protected the weak. ...

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As the August 1 deadline approached first the Japanese and then the Europeans who held out till the end sometimes treating the US with disdain and ridicule, realized that the US was dead serious about tariffs. Even the US business community tended to treat DJT tariffs with disdain not realizing that the tariff battles were first fought against Japan by Deputy USTR Robert Lighthizer under Reagan in the 1980's always to get a fair deal for the US. The recalcitrance of the Europeans and the Japanese can be understood by the non tariff barriers Japan placed on US products and the 10% tariff on US autos the European Union had in place for decades when the US only had a 2.5% tariff on German car imports.  The media in the US and Europe has utterly failed to tell the US side of the story. Here at Lyrarc we remain committed to bring out all the facts so that readers can better understand both sides. Initially the EU adopted an adversarial approach as shown in this report in WSJ by Kim Mackrael and Brian Schwartz. How is it that the Europeans and the Japanese took such a position when since 1980 there was no level playing field for the US on world trade clear for all to see? Not till late May as negotiations dragged on did Japan and the EU take stock of their own positions, DJT having to say US would impose a 50% tariff to get the EU to understand, saying "our discussions with them are going nowhere." In the end in Scotland Leyen and Sefovic for the EU accepted 15% tariff on EU imports to US. Akazawa of Japan had accepted this the week before. ...

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Audi faced similiar problems of unintended acceleration incidents that Toyota faces today. A "60 Minutes" segment by Ed Bradley in November 1986 showed Audi owners of the Audi 5000 sedan who said the cars suddenly accelerated. That show even showed an Audi 5000 moving on its own which later was shown to be due to an altered transmission for that shot. Even when it was shown in a 1989 government study that blamed driver errors especially because of the close placement of gas and brake pedals. This led to the report's recommendations to move the pedals apart, and install ashift lock mechanism which required a foot on the brake to shift the car into drive. Audi ran newspaper ads showing these findings but consumer fear had set in. It took Audi many years to recover, From 1985 to 1991 Audi U.S. sales dropped 84%, hitting a low of 12,000 annually and not reaching levels from before the crisis till 2000. Audi, a division of Volkswagen, is now expanding in the U.S. but the story has lessons for Toyota. This may explain why Toyota was quick to refute a story in ABC News on the acceleration issue. ...

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Harris pragmatic approach and willingness to try new solutions applies to Michigan- to find ways to protect union jobs and make the transition to clean cars in a way that increases wages and jobs and creates a bright future for the auto industry. Letting other countries manufacture EV's would hand over the manufacturing technologies to say China and lead to a future collapse of the auto industry in Michigan. This is why there is a transition period which is flexible to 2030 or even 2034, and the curve is for more gains in EV sales in the latter years as prices come down and technology improves. At every step of the way business presents unique challenges, and FDR/Harris "persistent bold experimentation" is part of the answer as China's BYD has come up with a better cheaper in house battery that means it can export EV's at lower prices- the US can't as yet. Electric vehicles sales are plateauing in 2024 growing from 7.4% to 7.8%. The former president describes an EV mandate. No EV mandate for all cars to be electric exists. The action taken by president Biden is for all cars to meet greenhouse gas emission targets that would require 50 percent of cars to be electric vehicles by 2030. Michigan as the home of the auto industry is heavily influenced by the auto industry. Biden walked the picket line here last year to support a UAW strike for higher wages after decades of concessions by workers that reduced wages to near the poverty level for families.  Harris pragmatic approach and willingness to try new solutions applies to Michigan- to find ways to protect union jobs and make the transition to clean cars in a way that increases wages and jobs and creates a bright future for the auto industry. Letting other countries manufacture EV's would hand over the manufacturing technologies to say China and lead to a future collapse of the auto industry in Michigan. This is why there is a transition period which is flexible to 2030 or even 2034 an the curve is for more gains in EV sales in the latter years as prices come down and technology improves. At every step of the way business presents unique challenges and innovation is part of the answer as China's BYD has come up with a better in house battery that means it can export EV's- the US can't as yet. ...