Here's something you probably don't know about Mr. Media. The second of my nine books was actually about football — Why Men Watch Football, in fact. So when the opportunity to interview Bob Horowitz came about, how could I resist?
Order 'The Super Bowl of Advertising: How the Commercials Won the Game' by Bernice Kanner, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!
BOB ANDELMAN/Mr. MEDIA: I'm fascinated by your show. As a football fan and someone who's done a little writing about why men watch football, I actually find it kind of hard to believe anyone still scoffs at the notion that half the fun of Super Bowl is the commercials, but I'm guessing there must be a few.
BOB HOROWITZ: The people that scoff at it, I think that's a major reason for the mega numbers that are associated with the event. It's funny because, in television, you often hear the season finale of XYZ TV show is going to be brought to you without commercial interruption courtesy of General Motors, Ford, whomever, alright? And that's done as a media stunt, and they believe that that will help the ratings. Commercials in primetime are limited in terms of breaks, say, versus the sports day part, because they feel that that will help ratings, right? Less commercial interruptions. You have this whole thing about TiVo and fast-forwarding through commercials, and what do you do about that? All of it is 180 degrees different with respect to the Super Bowl. If you took the commercials out of the Super Bowl, ratings would go down. Super Bowl is the only thing that people will TiVo and fast-forward to watch the commercials.
ANDELMAN: And of course, there have been many, many years where the commercials have been vastly more interesting than the game itself.
HOROWITZ: Right, right. But I think that very much like watching, and this is my personal opinion, like watching a "Saturday Night Live." Some "Saturday Night Live" skits are funnier than other weeks' "Saturday Night Live" skits, and that's really what Super Bowl commercials are. They're these clever thirty-sixty second skits that are entertaining and the viewers like to watch. So that when we on "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials" string them all together as a one-hour show, that's why it does so well because people love to be entertained watching them.
ANDELMAN: I was just thinking of another analogy with "Saturday Night Live," actually. When that show begins, just like the Super Bowl, everybody is on their edge of the seat. What's it gonna be this week? How's it gonna go? And usually, just after "Weekend Update" or in the case of the Super Bowl at halftime, interest starts to peter out so you need something to keep it going. And in the Super Bowl case, you've got the commercials.
ANDELMAN: Did you ever imagine you'd be doing this for what I guess is eight years now?
HOROWITZ: Yes. No, no, no, although every year, it's funny. We sit there before the show, Steve Mayer, myself, the other executive producer, and we go, "What should we do differently?" And we both have this — call it a governor — where we're just careful that if we go too far, one pitches the other one and says, "Just remember, people just want to watch the old commercials. We don't have to be so creative." The creativity was already done when the commercials were made.
ANDELMAN: Tell me about the show. It's a countdown format, right?
HOROWITZ: It's a countdown format in the show where we have selected, over the years of doing the Super Bowl commercials show, we mulled through all the various commercials. We've had fans vote on them. The producers of the show come up with the Top 10 commercials. They've been parked on cbs.com, so over the course of January, viewers and online users have been able to go to cbs.com to view those commercials. They've voted on their favorite. And in the show, we start with number 10 and count them down. Jim Nantz and Daisy Fuentes go from 10 to 9 to 8 to 7 to 6 to 5 to 4, and when we get to 4, and we stop, and we announce the final three, the top three commercials as voted on over the past month on cbs.com. And then we open it live to viewers across America on CBS to vote on one of those three spots as their favorite commercial of all time. And what was at stake was a Super Bowl game where we had New England going for the first perfect, perfect, perfect 19-0 season, and we had Mean Joe Greene going for a perfect 7-0. So we'll see whether he gets unseated this year.
ANDELMAN: So are you saying that Mean Joe, that Coke commercial, is in the top three?
HOROWITZ: I would say there's a good chance of that.
ANDELMAN: What have been some of your own favorites over the years?
HOROWITZ: "We have fired our ad agency, and we're out two million dollars." How much did that cost? Ten dollars to make, right? And yet, it made the point of what FedEx is all about. It's not always about the gazillion dollars and the special effects even though some of those are very, very clever. Anyway, those are some of my favorites.
ANDELMAN: Bob, how important is, and maybe we can kind of balance these, humor in these commercials versus talking animals versus celebrities? Is there a hierarchy of what works and what doesn't?
HOROWITZ: No, I really don't think so. The P-Diddy stuff was great. The Cindy Crawford/Pepsi stuff has been great. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, all those celebrity spots, the nothing-but-net, all great.
HOROWITZ: Celebrity at the right moment, celebrity meets clever — great. I love that. I think the animals tug at your emotions. I think those are the other group of great spots. Either the emotion or the celebrity clever.
ANDELMAN: Bob, am I wrong in thinking that the humorous commercials are usually the most successful?
HOROWITZ: No, I think you're probably right. I would say the most successful, as in the water cooler conversation. Most successful now, now you have the USA Today ad meters like the ratings in the morning. They come afterwards, and it's not necessarily all about the funny, the humorous. I think, though, if you're talking about water cooler voting, you've gotta be funny. You've gotta be funny.
HOROWITZ: And have her wardrobe malfunction, yeah.
ANDELMAN: I can't say we thought it at the time, but in retrospect, that spot did as much for turning around his public image as Britney Spears publicly crashing and burning since then did for him.
HOROWITZ: Exactly, exactly. And again, I find that Kevin Federline and his management team was quite clever to do that spot of him flipping burgers because it was self-deprecating. He made fun of himself, and I think that got people to maybe think just a little bit nicer of Kevin Federline. We actually have him in the show. I can't give away what we're doing, but we will show that spot again, and then we did a very much "Saturday Night" take-off skit with Kevin in this year's show that he cooperated and leads us through some commercials.
ANDELMAN: I would have never guessed that a year later, I would actually think more of him than of her. It's interesting.
ANDELMAN: Long term, do you have any thoughts on which brands have benefited the most from their Super Bowl spots?
HOROWITZ: That's a good question. Probably Budweiser. I would say Budweiser and Pepsi. Coke has had great ads, but I think the Pepsi ads have been very funny and have done a lot for Pepsi and the same, obviously, for Budweiser. But there, you're talking about two either brand leaders or number one, twos that don't necessarily need the Super Bowl. Budweiser has eight spots in the game. They're going to be number one no matter what, but as old man Wrigley said in advertising to some reporter that was asking him, "Why do you advertise when you have 100 percent market share with Wrigley's gum?" And they were flying in a propeller plane, and he said to the reporter, "Look outside. Just because we're flying along fine doesn't mean you cut the engines." So I think if you're Budweiser, you do it because you're the market leader and people expect you to do it. And I do believe deep down inside why it gets the big rating is people are looking for Budweiser to do that. They're the creative. So Budweiser and Pepsi would be my answer.
ANDELMAN: And what is the mark of an unsuccessful commercial that debuts on Super Bowl Sunday?
HOROWITZ: I'm not going to say any by name. Part of the unsuccessful is that I don't remember who they are. But I think a lot of the dotcoms were unsuccessful where they got to be too cute. They tried to play like FedEx, and it fell flat. Look at the godaddy spots, godaddy.com. That's pretty unbelievable. The ads might be a little disgusting, but they definitely are clever. There's one that maybe does something to push the needle and be a little affecting, and they're successful for a different reason.
ANDELMAN: I'm thinking back to last year, and I remember that at the end of the game, we looked at it and were talking about the commercials, and it just seemed like there were a lot of people that had spent a ton of money on commercials that they thought would dazzle us, and they weren't funny. They didn't really get the point of their product across, and they weren't memorable. And I can't even think of those brands now, but I remember at the time thinking man, what a waste.
HOROWITZ: Right, right. Think about it. That's a godaddy.com. Where do you see godaddy spots? Really nowhere other than the Super Bowl. And so they're ones that you'd say I guess they're successful because look at every year, eleven months, three weeks later, we're still talking about them versus those that you say I can't remember, but I know there were some there that weren't good. And therein lies the point of they just weren't good cause you don't remember them.
ANDELMAN: And, Bob, have you ever done commercials? Have you ever worked in that medium?
HOROWITZ: No, no. As an avocation, yes. I'm involved in the marketing of our TV shows, and I'd like to think that my fascination with Super Bowl spots is I like to be creative with promo spots or if I were to be dabbling as a producer, but I have not done it as a profession, no.
ANDELMAN: Have you already seen 2008's Super Bowl spots? Are you privy to those?
HOROWITZ: We've seen some of them, the GoDaddy spots. We've seen one of the Budweiser spots where the Clydesdale and the Dalmatian, the dog, are training together. Some of them we have seen. You'll have to watch the show to see cause it's embargoed until tomorrow night, but the Budweiser one is very good.
ANDELMAN: Do celebs have any edge over talking animals?
HOROWITZ: No, I don't think so. We talked about the Kevin Federline spot. I think that was great, right? Then you remember the Budweiser spot with the chimp that was talking, right? That's great. I really don't think that it really, really matters. It's just all about that which is clever. Again, go back to your "Saturday Night Live" analogy: they always have the guest star on "Saturday Night Live." The skit is funny, or it's not, really having nothing to do with whether the star that night is in that skit. Sometimes when they're the main character, and they nail it, it's really, really funny. And that would be the equivalent of a Super Bowl spot that has marquee talent doing the commercial, Kevin Federline, right? And the Kevin Federline Super Bowl spot could be "Saturday Night Live." But then again, you could see the "Saturday Night Live" skit in a "Saturday Night Live" show that just happened to not have the star as the main character there, and it was every bit as funny if not more funny. It's just entertaining. It really depends.
ANDELMAN: Wasn't your co-host, Daisy Fuentes, in a Super Bowl commercial some time back?
HOROWITZ: Oh my God. You're asking a question there that I don't think is the case, but I don't know that answer. I don't think so, but maybe.
ANDELMAN: Let's get our crack research team working on that. Maybe somebody can get back to us.
HOROWITZ: What's your favorite spot? What's your favorite commercial?
ANDELMAN: I've always liked Spuds McKenzie.
ANDELMAN: I've always liked the animals. I like the horse kicking a field goal. I don't know why.
HOROWITZ: You mean the one with "I think they should've gone for two"?
ANDELMAN: I know what I didn't like. It was actually a FedEx spot, which I just thought was dumb, was the cavemen.
ANDELMAN: Where he steps outside and gets squashed by the dinosaur.
HOROWITZ: He kicks the dog and then gets stepped on, right.
HOROWITZ: That scores pretty well in our show.
ANDELMAN: That one just didn't work so much for me.
HOROWITZ: I have to say I have to agree with you that it has scored well over the years, but I don't necessarily like it. Do you remember the Chevy Chase one, the one for potato chips, where they stopped him in the middle of the commercial and he got cancelled?
ANDELMAN: I'm thinking about that now that you mention it, yeah.
HOROWITZ: That was a great one, too.
ANDELMAN: Do you feel at all guilty creating a show in which all the programming is commercials and the content is then surrounded by more commercials?
HOROWITZ: No, because if you didn't have the commercials in the Super Bowl game, the rating would go down. I'd argue that to my grave. That, I believe, is a truth so why then is that the case? Because they're entertaining. So to build a show around entertaining content that just happens to be old commercials surrounded by natural commercial breaks, it is what it is. I can't say anything more about it than that, and I think that is the case. You have to think of them as little vignettes a la "Saturday Night Live" that they go on the air to sell, right, to entertain and sell, and then they walk off to become content in a primetime CBS Super Bowl commercial show. That's their life after first air.
ANDELMAN: Do the brands whose commercials you run from past years, do they benefit? And I'm sure the answer to this is no, but do they ever pay anything for this new exposure?
HOROWITZ: No, and in fact, it's to the contrary. When I first came up with doing the show and we sold it to CBS, people said, "Whoa, you guys must be making a lot of money because this is all free." Well, what people don't necessarily understand is that when the company gives you the right to run a commercial, there are all the clearance costs, which is the music, the talent, the director, all the actors, everybody that's involved. And the clearances to clear the spots on our one-hour CBS primetime show is upwards of $200 grand. We're sitting there saying "Do we put in the Budweiser spot?" "You know the Budweiser spot's gonna cost $15,000 to run," because there is a budget. But the companies, they gladly like to see you run something. We had on for numbers of years the Terry Tate Reebok spot, and then the Reebok and Terry Tate relationship kind of went sideways. You haven't seen that on the air in our show, and yet, I think that's a great spot.
ANDELMAN: Have any of the brands, any of the companies, ever declined to participate or release their ads?
HOROWITZ: Not really, no. No, no.
ANDELMAN: None that you really felt you had to have.
HOROWITZ: No. Exactly. Any of the ones that were important we've gotten.
ANDELMAN: Let's get a nice word in for your hosts. Daisy Fuentes and Jim Nantz, have they done this special before?
HOROWITZ: Yes, yes, for a couple years. They did it last year. They did it this year. It's a great complement because Jim hosts the show, will host the show from the stadium where the Super Bowl is played, and so he is the staple to give you the countdown. And then this year, we have Daisy at our own Super Bowl party where she'll be with fans and some guests, etc., and they'll go back and forth. It adds a little entertainment value besides just seeing two people standing next to each other.
ANDELMAN: I want to change gears since we have you here. You have another little program that's been a bit of a hit, "The Singing Bee." Can you tell us a little bit about how that came to be and where the future for that show is?
HOROWITZ: Very similar to "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials," which was an observation of human behavior, this one was observation walking down the street, again, in New York City, of a marquee that was for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the musical. Spelling Bee, the musical? Well, why can't there be "Singing Bee," the show? Spelling Bee, they have to spell the words. Sing the words. Okay, lyrics. And like most ideas and what you have do is you have to stop for a while because usually after 24 hours in that incubation period, 99 percent of the ideas you had 24 hours before are terrible.
HOROWITZ: Because it's just oh, what was I thinking? But this one, 24 hours later, was, "Hey, that's a pretty good idea," so we threw it in the whole development mix, and I spoke to Lewis Fenton, who is our head of development. We got Phil Gurin, a buddy of mine, a longtime friend, to partner and develop with us, and we came up with this variety game show with a great host in Joey Fatone. We've done 19 episodes on NBC. It's now being seen in 35 countries around the world all in, except for Australia, all in native tongue. They do it with their own local songs, and it's a hit around the world. And here, we plan to have it back on NBC this summer. We've done 19 episodes so far. I tend to believe, as does Phil, that we're more of a summer show than we are of a fall show because I just think it's summer fun entertainment. And it has proven to be a winner, and we got lucky.
ANDELMAN: That's amazing that it's in that many countries. A wild hair becomes a franchise, I guess.
HOROWITZ: Right. Well, everybody sings lyrics that they think they know that they really don't know. Again, it's just playing off of human behavior, people singing in the car, those who sing in the shower. It's just been a big, big hit.
ANDELMAN: Do you have a return date yet?
HOROWITZ: No. That's what we're discussing right now with NBC.
HOROWITZ: Our focus and emphasis right now is on our global shows and our producers that are in Chile and Israel and all around the world, Turkey, Russia. We're doing 80 episodes in Russia. We were the number one show in Scandinavia. It's a pretty amazing story.
ANDELMAN: In the NBC edition, will Joey Fatone and the Honey Bees, will they return?
HOROWITZ: Yes, Joey for sure. And I think while the Honey Bees are not the hosts, they are a fun, entertaining side, but all that being said, I think to keep a success going, you always have to zero base and figure out what's a new, improved thing. You tie it back to what we've been discussing, Super Bowl. New England goes on to beat the Giants and are 19 – 0. They'll have 46 players that will suit up for the game. All 46 players won't be back the next year because they'll just do something new and different to try to win again. Phil and I will go back, and we'll figure out how best to use the Honey Bees, and I can't see that show without Joey being our host forever. He is so tied to that show and has been such a big part of the success.
ANDELMAN: That guy's had an interesting career. He's obviously a boy-band guy, and then he does a dance show. Who would've figured? And then now he's doing this.
HOROWITZ: Right. Pretty unbelievable. Pretty unbelievable. What a ride for him.
ANDELMAN: Were you guys at all competitive in any way with the Fox show, "Don't Forget the Lyrics"? Did anybody steal from anybody, or was it just one of those strange TV-land coincidences?
HOROWITZ: Well, we sold first. We announced first. We got on the air first.
ANDELMAN: So basically, Bob, you're saying you were first.
HOROWITZ: We were not second.
HOROWITZ: I don't see how people that are first can steal.


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For well over a decade now we've talked about the advances in technology and how it promotes the advantages and capabilities of working remotely, whether that be from your car, onsite, or even from a home office. Even the condominium and homeowner ( HOA ) management industry has evolved during this technological transition. There are some benefits of working remotely, but also some hazards to be wary of while transitioning to this work/life balance.
1. The style and location of your office is yours to decide. While I recommend placing your office in a part of your home that you do not use for your leisure activities, your office can be anywhere. The use of a spare bedroom may be ideal, but even utilizing a small dinette table in an apartment can also be useful to getting your remote office started. Think about where to place your home office as you would be considering your bedroom location; a quiet place without distractions.
The style of your office is also yours to choose. Whatever motivates you, makes you happy, or provides a sense of peace is all yours to exercise at your own discretion. There are no rules to what you can put in your home office. Sports memorabilia, motivational quotes, cat and/or political posters are all fair game.
In the end, a location and style that is absent of distractions is ideal.
2. Think about the savings. Many of the expenditures exhausted in working in an office are immediately reduced, such as fuel, vehicle, and any transportation expenses associated with commuting. You can also discuss with your car insurance agent about the discounts you may receive with your the severely reduced annual mileage, this is also easily translated to the monthly payments you make for your vehicle if it is leased.
Additionally, there are the reduced costs of lunches, dry cleaning, and maintaining a full and separate wardrobe just for the daily work routine. But don't let the latter get out of hand as fashions change and you will need to maintain a respectful work attire when necessary.
3. Snow day, show day. I used to enjoy watching my neighbors trudging through 6" of snow, all bundled up in their winter gear clearing their cars and heading out on the slick and icy roads to commute to their offices while I was already starting my day all warm and cozy. Regardless of the weather, accidents, rush hour and traffic jams, etc. you can avoid these without interruption to your production.
4. Flex schedule. Keep in mind that there are two sides to this shiny new coin. Depending on the industry you are in, you may be in a position to create your own schedule, or at the very least, modify your schedule to better suit your own habits to become more efficient. Whether you are a night owl or early riser, you are less bound by the hours kept with your place of employment. Also, you are now in a better position to handle those weekly errands on a more appropriate schedule to avoid the rush. Have to pick up the dry cleaning or get some needed groceries? Go do it and get it done when the crowds are absent. Just be sure to make up that time as to not jeopardize your productivity.
5. Office distractions are now decreased. Time wasting office meetings, the loud chewer 3 cubicles away, the messy breakroom, office politics and gossip, etc. are now a thing of the past.
Yes, you'll still have meetings to attend, very few that will require actual attendance, but moreover they will be held remotely. No more cramming into a conference room, idling chatting waiting for everyone to sit and prepare for the meeting and engaging in conversations that divert from the meaning of the meeting in the first place. Remotely held meetings tend to be more concise, direct and more efficient as there are limited speakers, less opportunities to divert the meeting off-topic, and certainly less idle chitchatting.
You may still have a messy breakroom and a loud chewer when working remotely, but those are now in your control to address.
1. Distractions, distractions, distractions. You have to be disciplined and maintain a proper work schedule and environment. The TV, refrigerator, kids, etc. are just a few things that can be a distraction from your work production.
2. Flex schedule (the other side of our shiny new coin). The tendency to consent to distractions is much higher than in the office. "Since I have more time, I can get to that later." is very counterproductive to the telecommuter's independence. Don't let this get out of hand.
The likelihood that we will have total autonomy or self-governance is quite unlikely and maintaining a schedule relative to your clients, co-workers, supervisors, and office hours will continue to be of importance. I recommend maintaining a similar routine that you held prior to telecommuting. Get up at the same time, get your coffee and news fix, hit the shower, dress, then commute to the office; the commute is just a lot shorter now. Whatever your routine was, try and stick to it. Start your day, take your breaks, and end your day as you would otherwise.
3. Always at home, always at work. This is a tough one. We all know that feeling of leaving the office with unread emails, unfinished projects, etc. In many cases when we leave the office, that's it, we're done for the day and it will have to wait until tomorrow. In a home office environment it can seem to never go away and can keep you from truly enjoying your personal and leisure time. The stress can feel like it is always there, and you can fix it by just getting back to work even though it's late in the evening. But that's not solving anything for you in the long run.
It's easier said than done of course, but you will need to separate yourself from work when you are done for the day. Properly locating your home office and establishing a disciplined work schedule will help greatly.
4. Lack of exercise. Sitting is the new smoking right? It may seem silly and you may not have considered this previously, but since you are no longer commuting to and walking in the office, just the act of walking can be greatly reduced by telecommuting. Use your breaks to take a walk, join a health club, use anything that will get you up and walking. Using a pedometer (there are plenty of free apps for your phone) is a great way to self-check yourself to make sure you are getting enough paces in each day.
5.Lack of human interaction. The loud chewer, the office gossiper, and pen-clicker are now gone and most of your human interaction is reduced to emails, texts, phone calls, along with the occasional video conference. This may seem like a wonderful thing, but the PTSD Journal lists many negative effects of social isolation.
Telecommuting can be and is a wonderful transition from the traditional office environment and hours. Reaping the benefits, but realizing the hazards is the true stability in sustaining a proper work/life balance in telecommuting.
Going green means to pursue knowledge and practices that can lead to more environmentally friendly and ecologically responsible decisions and lifestyles, which can help protect the environment and sustain its natural resources for current and future generations.
Putting this into condominium or homeowner (HOA) association terminology, we can equate this to our proper approach of reserve contributions in a pay-as-you-go structure that sustains the financial fortitude of the community for decades or generations to come. Going green creates a similar sustainability, just in a different model.
Helping create a sustainable earth is important to each and every one of us, whether we admit it or not. There are many reasons why going green is important, from lowering utility bills to stopping the effects of global warming, but what is the most important reason?
Ironically, they found that stopping global warming was the least important option, but with 53% of the votes, making the planet livable for future generations was most important to the participants for going green. What option would you have chosen?
Recycling. It's no longer the exception but is now the norm. Most of us are already doing this at home in some form or fashion, but what about your workplace?
Alternative Energy. Also known as renewable energy, utilizes a diversified mix of wind, geothermal, hydro, and solar resources. Most utility companies provide this as an option for residential and commercial consumers. Check with your local utility provider if this option is available in your market.
Paperless or Paperleast. I use the term Paperleast as the probability of companies or households to go completely paperless is quite rare. Nevertheless, reducing our use of paper is a vital component in going green. We may also want to consider using recycled paper products for the limited paper we do make us of.
Go to Sleep. Not ourselves of course, but our computer systems. This is especially significant in the workplace. Setting our computers to go into sleep mode shortly after we stop using them will save a considerable amount of energy use.
Lighting. Consider changing your home or workplace lighting to LED or CFL light options. They are more expensive up front but will last much longer and use less energy making them a more financially viable choice. You can determine how much you will save by using the Energy Star calculator.
Energy Audit. Energy.gov recommends an energy audit as the first step in assessing how much energy you consume and to evaluate measures you can take to be more energy efficient. Many local utility companies will provide a free energy audit or at least may provide you with recommendations for such audit service providers.
Green Transportation. While this may not be a viable option for many of us, commuting by means of a train, light rail, bus, bicycle, scooter or even walking contributes to our green efforts. Even carpooling with co-workers or neighbors that work near your workplace can make a considerable impact as well.
Choosing to adopt some, a few, of even all of the above will make a difference you can feel good about and contribute to the sustainability of our planet for future generations to come.
Question: What is a community disaster?
Answer: The International Federation of the Red Cross [ www.IFRC.org ] says a disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community's or society's ability to cope using its own resources.
Every homeowner association has some exposure to a disaster. However, disaster planning has the potential and probability of saving lives, reducing suffering, and minimizing damage. The three key elements of a disaster plan include planning, preparation and recovery.
While it is true that some communities will be more affected by natural disasters than others, no association is exempt from the threat of some type of disaster. Some things your Condominium or Homeowner [HOA] Association may provide prior, during and after a disaster include emergency supplies, an evacuation plan that summarizes procedures for community evacuation with maps and location of public shelters, and a communication plan that describes the various forms that may be used to contact the membership.
But how do we, as individual members of our condominium or homeowner [ HOA ] association, plan for such an event? The best plans call for each member in the community to prepare themselves for a disaster and simultaneously not becoming a burden to those that have properly prepared. Ready.com conducted a survey and found that people who believe themselves "prepared" for disasters often aren't as prepared as they think. Forty percent of survey respondents did not have household plans, 80 percent had not conducted home evacuation drills, and nearly 60 percent did not know their community's evacuation routes or public shelters.
Becoming more prepared in case of an emergency is easier than you might think. Whether it's your home, your neighborhood, or your place of business, you can take a few simple steps to prepare yourself and your community.
Get in touch with your local fire department, police department, paramedics, or emergency management agency to discuss ways to prepare your community and improve its capacity to respond to and recover from disaster. Our emergency managers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMT/paramedics, and other emergency responders do an incredible job of keeping us safe, but they can't do it alone. We must all embrace our individual responsibility to be prepared.
Have adequate insurance in place for your property and personal belongings. If a disaster strikes, having insurance for your home or business property is the best way to ensure you will have the necessary financial resources to help you repair, rebuild, or replace whatever is damaged. Document and inventory your property to better understand your options for coverage. Your inventory will help you prove the value of what you owned, which may speed your claim processing. An up-to-date inventory can also help you to determine the correct amount of insurance to purchase. You can take photos or videos to help you record your belongings, but be sure to also write down descriptions, including year, make, and model numbers, where appropriate. Contact your professional insurance agent for any questions and to ensure that you have the appropriate coverage for you.
Staying in communication will be vital. So be sure to document important phone numbers. A longtime friend could recall almost any phone number he needed to access; it was quite impressive. Yet nowadays that talent has lost its necessity due to our availability to store contacts in our phones. During a disaster, accessing them may not be an option. So be sure to write them down, laminated if possible, as your phone may not be operable and you will need use someone else's phone or a landline.
These contacts have varying degrees of importance and timeliness. Many are for keeping you updated with certain municipal services, others are in the event that you need assistance and/or need to relocate, and others are important to have once the disaster and emergency situation has passed.
Should all lines of communication fail, it may become important to know your local amateur or ham radio operator. The American Radio Relay League [ www.arrl.org ] is an association of radio amateurs organized for the promotion of amateur radio communications and can be of valuable assistance in providing critical and essential communications during emergencies and disasters when normal lines of communication are disrupted. They may also be a useful resource in finding local members or becoming one yourself.
In the event of a disaster, it will be essential to have some emergency supplies or an Emergency Supplies Kit prepared and ready for use. After an emergency, you may need to persevere on your own for several days. Being prepared means having your own food, water and other supplies to last for at least 72 hours. A disaster supplies kit is a collection of basic items your household may need in the event of an emergency. Consider specific needs in your household. As you prepare your supplies be sure to incorporate your specific daily living needs, such as your dietary needs, medical and prescription needs, as well as the needs of other family members and school-aged children and pets.
Recovering from a disaster may be a long and slow-moving process. Being safe and cautious of perils after a disaster is just as important as during a disaster. These perils just come in new and different forms. Some of these include washed out roads, downed trees, contaminated buildings and water, gas leaks, damaged electrical wiring, as well as building and landscaping debris, including broken glass.
While recovering be wary of over-exhaustion and don't try to do too much. Consider the recovery process exactly that, a process, one that will take time and planning. Be sure to set priorities of things that need to happen right away and those that are of secondary importance.
If you have had to vacate your home and are returning to it, walk carefully around the outside and check for loose power lines, gas leaks, and structural damage. If you have any doubts about safety, do not enter your home and contact the appropriate authorities.
Since you have properly prepared, you can now call upon those saved contacts for additional support. Contact your friends and relatives to let them know you are okay or that you need assistance. Now is also the time to contact your insurance agent to let her/him know of an impending claim.
If we all do our part in planning, preparing and recovering from a disaster we protect our property and personal well-being, we are less likely to burden our community's safety and support systems, and we are better positioned to contribute to its recovery processes as well.
In a previous article we talked about the duties and responsibilities of the Recording Secretary, so now let's discuss what the Board as a whole should expect and how to address some common occurrences while serving their Homeowner and/or Condominium Association.
First and foremost, you are serving and making decisions for a business; your community. While you are making these decisions on one of the biggest investments you and your fellow homeowners have ever made, your homes, which is very personal, you want to remain in a business mindset to ensure that the inclusion of personal or political biases are not present.
One of the factors that may disrupt that business mindset include the fact that you have friends and acquaintances in your community. And on the opposing point, you may also know some neighbors that you simply don't like or don't see eye-to-eye with. Both of these ends of the spectrum may interfere with your ability to remain unbiased in making a decision that is clearly in the best interest of the community. Hence, treat and make decisions for Glenda-The-Good-Neighbor as you would if the same matter to be decided upon was for Vinnie-The-Violator. Using your inner voice to role play the issue, inserting Glenda for Vinnie and/or vice versa prior to voting, is a good technique to check your alliances and biases for a clear decision.
Another disruption may be the unprofessionalism of community members or worse yet your fellow Board Members. While we have no control over the demeanor of others, we can control how we react to them and their behavior as well as how we conduct ourselves in this business setting. When listening to Randy-The-Ranter discussing his issue with the Board, make a concerted effort to hear his message and not the manner in which he is delivering it. Many people are not comfortable or accustomed to speaking in a front of a group and may become "unglued" in such a situation, which ultimately adversely effects their approach to the Board. On the other hand, some people are just adverse. Conversely, we also need to remain professional in the presence of our community members. A good technique to self-evaluate your own conduct and presence during a meeting is to consider that your current or former boss, employer, or supervisor is sitting in the back of the room; how would s/he rate your performance?
Sounds simple enough, but many of us are just waiting for our turn to talk while the other person is talking. It's a difficult habit to break, I still make a concerted and conscious effort to curb this, but to best understand someone's point of view is to truly hear what they are saying.
If we all agreed, all the time, on every topic, we would learn nothing from each other and never grow past our own opinions.
Appreciate the opportunities to discuss opposing viewpoints. There may be something you have missed, a viewpoint that you had not previously considered, and/or things have changed since the last time you broached this topic.
Opposing viewpoints provide us with an excellent platform to learn and grow and should be cherished for the opportunities they provide us to better serve our communities.
The Board of Directors should be regarded as a united decision-making body to the community membership. Many of us recognize that some Homeowner and Condominium Associations may become quite political at times. Yet, while serving on the Board it is best to put all politics aside. I know, it's not as simple as it sounds. Talking with neighbors and other community members about how the Board voted [who yea'd and who nay'd] on a particular topic provides no benefit to the Board or the community. Such comments like, "I can't believe Peter-The-President voted that way on the monthly dues.", only creates division with not only the Board, but the community as well. Keeping the discussion focused on how the Board, as a whole, decided on a particular topic is always best and builds trust within the community for the Board.
Properly maintaining the buildings, roads, sidewalks, etc.
Addressing the community's landscaping in a manner that keeps it not only attractive but controlled throughout the years.
Appropriately insuring the Association's assets from a natural or other disaster.
Accurately foreseeing the future replacement needs of the community's infrastructure and funding reserves accordingly.
Establish the means to successfully administer the above with the appropriate management and supervisory levels.
Saving any macro-economics, properly supporting these fields will ensure that your Homeowner and/or Condominium Association's market values will remain strong for many years to come.
Although we have touched on a few key areas of what it takes to successfully serve on your community's Board of Directors, there is much, much more … much more! We will continue to touch on similar topics in future articles.
Since your newsletter is your most frequent and routine communication with your community members, it's important to keep a few things foremost in mind as you create your next edition.
We all know that the headline of each article should briefly describe what the content of the article entails, but it should also entice the reader to continue further. It's the first thing the reader will see and should provide them with enough, but limited, information if this is the article for them. But we want to get them and keep them interested. Think of yourself at the check out line at your local grocery store, waiting in line, what do most of us end up doing? Reading a cover page on a magazine about the goings-on with JLo or the Kardashians of course! Something we couldn't even care about, but we're trapped and the cover is eye-catching. While the writers and editors for these magazines are experienced professionals, there's no reason we can't put a little zing or fun into our newsletters as well; your readers will appreciate the humor and effort.
The Who, What, When, Where and How of your articles. Give all as much of the details as you can. Take for instance a Tree planting project. Who will be doing the work, What will be planted, When will this occur, Where will they be planted, and How [give the process and procedures for the planting project] will it be comducted. This should provide a sufficient amount of information about the planting project and should keep the community well informed and eliminate any surprises and/or incoming questions and concerns.
Make it suitable for the Article Scanner. For most, unless they are truly intrigued about a particular topic or have to know and understand the material for future questioning, they pretty much just scan the articles. If intrigued by the topic using the scanning process, most will then delve into the details of it. Otherwise, the scanning process begins again with the next article. The Article Scanner will typically read the first sentence or two of each paragraph, especially the first, to see if there's any interest in going further. So be sure to make the onset of each article clear in the message that follows, such as, "The Board of Directors has recently approved a Planting Project that will affect several units with the community.". Is my unit one that may be effected? I should read further!
To recap these last two points, capturing the reader's interest is paramount, which should then be followed up with the details of Who, What, When, Where and How.
Being the sole editor of your newsletter may be detrimental to your efforts and final production. Having at least one other person review the final production is vital to ensuring that no typos or other grammatical errors exist. Such minor errors may limit the credibility the reader has to the content and message you are delivering.
On occasion, mix up the format of your newsletter. Readers may become complacent if the structure of your newsletters remains static and may dismiss an entire issue as it's deemed to "say the same old thing again". For example, perhaps moving the President's Report to the second page and replacing it with the member profile, with picture, of Helen-the-Homeowner. "Helen volunteers her time in various organizations, has been married for 42 years to the love of her life, has 3 children, 8 grandchildren and simply loves living in the community …" Having a picture, telling a good story, and relating to other members in the community is always a winner. While mixing it up can be beneficial, be sure to keep the content and design consistent throughout by using the same font for the headlines and bodies of each article; headlines should be of a slightly larger font size. Mixing up the fonts may give a sloppy look to the end product of your newsletter.
Speak to the 98%. When trying to address an issue in the community that needs to be curbed, such as parking, picking up after our pets, etc., try to refrain from berating the entire community in your message as most community members are abiding and are in compliance with the Association's Rules and Regulation; they know the rules and don't need to hear it again. Instead, try to rally their support. I once wrote a newsletter article titled "The Bad Apple", explaining how just one bad apple can ruin the entire bunch and asked for the 98% to assist me and the Board in curbing a community issue created by a few bad apples. We had numerous reports from the residents about who was causing the issue and we were able to quickly address it.
Solicit local vendors and/or businesses for advertising spots in your newsletter. Restaurants, dry cleaners, plumbers, handyman services, etc are good businesses to contact for advertising. You may even want to ask yourself "What vendors have I seen here in the community?" or "What vendors do we, as the Association, utilize?". Vendors that are already serving your community are more apt to advertise with you. While the revenue from such advertisements is not monumental, it can aide in offsetting your production and delivery costs. It also extends the sense of community beyond the boundaries of your community association. As a caveat, be sure to include language that separates the liability of these vendors from the Association. It's not a complicated disclosure, but I recommend seeking the advice from your legal counsel to ensure you have the proper protection in place.
Be wary of diluting the message. The frequency of newsletter issues may play an important role in whether your members will read it. Monthly newsletters are great for keeping the members informed with all the goings-on in the community. However, the content and message tends to get diluted with such a high frequency. On the other hand, a bi-annual or annual newsletter is too long of a time frame to provide relevant material to be beneficial. The best approach is a quarterly, or better yet, seasonal newsletter. A season newsletter keeps the members informed of the recent happenings in the community as well as immunizing them to what's to come. Such items, say in the Fall [3rd quarter] edition, could speak to the finalization of the road replacement project as well as reminding them of the holiday decorations policy for the upcoming season, or that the roof replacement project will be commencing soon and that more information will follow. Putting such reminders in the 4th quarter newsletter will be too late for it to be effective.
Creating and maintaining a great newsletter can be a daunting endeavor, but the sharing of information, the sense of community it creates, and the gratitude from your members makes it all worth it.
The Board of Directors for most Condominium and Homeowner Associations are primarily comprised of Officers and Directors. The Officer positions include the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. While the responsibilities of the entire Board include the protection and enhancement of the value of the property, maintaining the physical components, managing the financial operations, evaluating and addressing risk management, establishing and enforcing community policies, and the preservation and promotion of community harmony.
However, the purpose of this article is to focus on the importance and value of the Secretary and how s/he's role is vital to the operations and continuity of the life span of the Association's records and decisions made over time. While most think the duty of minute taking as a primary focus of the Secretary, and this is mostly true, some of the other duties entrusted to the Secretary include the maintaining and updating of the Associations governing documents, policies and resolutions, correspondence, contracts, financial statements, committee reports, tax returns, insurance policies and claims, legal files, member contact and mailing lists, equipment warranties, and so on. That's quite an obligation even under the best of circumstances.
Then there's also the recording and maintaining of the Board Meeting minutes. The life cycle of Board Meeting minutes begins with recording the decisions at the meeting and ends with the appropriate purging of recorded minutes from past meetings.
When taking the minutes at the meeting it is important to have a plan or formal format. I recommend simply using the agenda to note what motions were made and by whom as well as decisions finalized by the Board as well as the vote tally, not including names. This is a quick and easy way to record the meeting and provides the opportunity to still be engaged in the meeting. Items to record in the minutes include the approval of the prior meeting's minutes and any agenda items that are expected to be voted upon; be sure to record if an agenda item is tabled as well. Should we record the Board's discussion on a particular agenda item as well? While I recommend against this as it holds no bearing on the Board's final decision on the topic and may highlight a division within the Board which may garner support from those that oppose the final outcome; in the best interest of the community, the Board should be regarded as a united decision-making body. However, there is no rule or bylaw that speaks to oppose this and it is ultimately up to your Board's preference to include the discussions in the minutes.
Let's keep in mind that while the Secretary is responsible for the Board Meeting minutes, s/he does not have to perform this duty during the meeting. Other options include having a community volunteer step up and assist the Board or you may even consider hiring someone to do this task; most management companies can arrange for someone from their office to do this in their spare time or may even provide this service on an al-a-carte basis. I highly recommend that you do not request or require your Community Manager to perform this function. Your Community Manager has put a lot of time and energy into the meeting and needs to remain completely focused on it, not recording it.
Now that we have noted the decisions of the meeting, it's time to create a formal draft [ yes that's an oxymoron ] for the Board's review to ensure that everyone agrees it is a true reflection of the meeting and that nothing was omitted. This will not constitute an approval of the minutes but will aide in expediting the approval of the minutes at the next regularly schedule Board Meeting. With this informal process in place and barring any anomalies, we anticipate that the minutes will be approved.
• Copy and mail them to the Membership. While this will ensure that each member receives a copy, this can be a very costly venture.
• Email them to the Membership. This is extremely cost efficient but may not reach all of the members.
• Post them on your Community's website. Again, this is very cost efficient and they can be obtained by a vast majority of the Membership as it is an easy, private access for members.
• Post them on an online group such as Google or Yahoo, if you utilize such a service, which is similar to posting on your website.
• Simply make them available upon request.
From my experience, I have found the latter to be the best option as the cost is extremely minimized, most members won't read the minutes even if you mailed them to the entire community and still provides for those that are interested in receiving a copy of each meeting's minutes. Of course, there are Association's where this simply wont work and will require an alternative approach so that all members may obtain a copy. In such cases I recommend a combination of the prior options; email to those that you have quantified email addresses for, post on your website or online group, and copy and mail to the remainder. This alternative provides the minutes to all members and minimizes the mailing expenses to only those that need it.
Regarding the proper purging of your minutes, your local, state or governing document's regulations on the life span of Board Meeting minutes may vary or not even speak to the subject. I suggest consulting your Association's legal counsel and/or CPA to affirm the timing of such removal from the Association's records.
As we can see, the role and duty of the Association's Secretary is vital to the continuity and sustainability of the records and actions of the community, which is a priority interest for many organizations. So, the next opportunity you have, take the time to thank your Association's Secretary for the hard work s/he does for your community.
Community Association Managers come with varying degrees of expertise and experience. Some Managers may have a strong background or understanding of financials and budgeting, while others may come from a facilities maintenance background, and some may just simply have great people skills.
Regardless of which strength, most Managers are Horizontally Integrated. Meaning, they know a little bit about a lot of different aspects of properly managing condominium and homeowner associations but are experts in very few. This is certainly not a negative aspect of their ability to get the job done, and get it done right. Recognizing this concept and alleged limitation, Managers know who to go to and can appropriately advise the Board when an expert is needed, or more aptly named, someone that is Vertically Integrated.
Someone that is Vertically Integrated is someone that knows a lot about one particular topic. One that is easily identified is an Attorney. Most would agree that there are certain scenarios that require the advice of legal counsel. Some of these would include the addressing of severe delinquencies or the handling and advising of a pending or served lawsuit.
But let's take this a bit further as there are other scenarios that would require an expert or someone that is Vertically Integrated. Some of these include a roofing project, major asphalt/concrete replacement, and even landscaping maintenance and projects. As a Manager with over 2 decades of homeowner and condominium experience, I could be on the roof as they were replacing it and I couldn't tell you if it's being done correctly. This is a situation where we need a roofing engineer to ensure that the project is being done right. Consider a road replacement project where we need core samples to determine the what the aggregate is under the asphalt and how replacement should be addressed. I could look at the core samples and couldn't tell you what they are telling us, hence an infrastructure and pavement management expert/engineer will be required. And finally, to make this point landscaping maintenance and design is a mix of art and science and if we don't fully understand what we are doing, we will have wasted not only the association's time but money as well. Whether it's routine maintenance and upkeep or a large landscaping project, it's prudent to consult with someone that is Vertically Integrated in this field to guide and advise the Board. Also consider that a project needs to start in the right direction from the onset. The onset of most projects is in the details of the of the proposal process and is extremely critical in partnering with a Vertically Integrated expert.
Some Managers will learn quickly when they don't heed certain warning signs that they are taking on too much and jeopardizing an association's project; I know I did! And a good Manager will know when the discussion needs to pivot to bringing in an expert. If you have the latter, you are in great hands and should trust that Manager's judgement in this area for the betterment of your association.
In most states, HOAs are registered non-profits and are required to file Federal and State taxes. Additionally, some Associations governing documents stipulate an annual financial review or audit be completed.
Financial reviews and audits do differ; however, they achieve the same goal. That is to have an independent, licensed CPA review the Association's financials and the accounting practices of its management company.
As part of the Sharper Management family, our staff works hard behind the scenes to provide any engaged CPA firm with the required materials. Bank statements, reports, invoices, etc. all must be provided.
Be ready for your manager to ask for the Treasurer's signature on tax docs. And lastly, know that it is very common for the CPA to file tax extensions, as reviews/audits are an involved process and can take time.
What Is In a Resale Package?
When buying or selling in a homeowner association, the resale package is a very important set of documents.
The HOA resale package will provide all the documentation the buyer will need in order to have full disclosure of the HOA's rules and regulations as well as the HOA's financial standing/budget etc.
If you're in the process of selling your townhome or condo, you may find resale disclosure documents via the Sharper Management Arizona website.
Living in an HOA is different from owning a single-family home. If you live in an HOA (homeowners association), but have not served on the Board of Directors, you may have questions about how a management company like Sharper Management, your Board of Directors, and owners all work together for a smooth-running Association. The following information is a compilation of some of the most common questions we receive.
HOAs and CICs are governed by an elected Board of Directors. This Board is made of owners living in the community who have volunteered to serve. They typically hold meetings once a month, however meeting schedules may vary depending on the needs of the Association.
The many tasks of a Board can pile up quite fast. For this reason, many HOAs engage an external professional property management company like Sharper Management. While the ultimate responsibilities always remain with your Board of Directors, the property management company acts as an advisory group to the Board, an administrative arm to carry out the decisions made by the Board, and it performs the day-to-day financial transactions of the Association.
Sharper Management's goal is to be Your Arizona Neighbor in HOA and common interest community management. Ultimately, our job is to work with your Board to help maintain property value and enhance your experience of living in a common interest community.


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1MATCH URL: https://assets.rappler.com/3E53E8F749814FEB9061E555C65B9737/img/E5EBCC1BD2A4448A9CA795F44F5745CC/cavs-finals-may-30-2018.jpg
Cavs not motivated by underdog status, says coach
Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue thinks a battle-hardened Cavs will show up against the defending champion Warriors in the NBA Finals series
Published 11:49 AM, May 30, 2018
Updated 11:49 AM, May 30, 2018
AGGRESSIVE START. The Cavs can't use Game 1 as a feel-out game against the Warriors. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images/AFP
OAKLAND, United States – The Cleveland Cavaliers will not be motivated by their underdog status when they take on the Golden State Warriors in the 4th installment of their NBA Finals rivalry, coach Tyronn Lue said Tuesday, May 29.
The Warriors have been installed by Las Vegas bookmakers as heavy favorites to retain their NBA crown as they face the Cavaliers for a 4th straight year starting in Game 1 on Thursday, May 31 (Friday, June 1 in Manila).
The Warriors have won two of the 3 previous meetings, with the Cavaliers taking the 2016 crown after a miraculous fightback from 3-1 down.
Lue, however, says the fact the Warriors are most observers' pick for the title will not motivate his team.
"Our focus is winning championships, playing our best basketball," Lue said.
"Our main focus is to win a championship. We can't worry about what outside guys are saying.
"I don't think we need motivation. Any time you get to the finals you're playing for a championship and that's motivation in itself.
"We don't have to thrive on that. Being in this position is enough."
The Cavaliers reached the finals after a wild Eastern Conference series with the Boston Celtics, sealing victory in Game 7 on Sunday with an 87-79 win on the road.
The victory made Cleveland the first team to beat the Celtics at home during the postseason.
Lue said he believed the cornerstone of his team's success was defense.
"I think we've grown," he said. "We talk all season about getting better and better so that when we get to the playoffs we're playing our best basketball.
"I think defensively we've really turned the corner. We're been playing really physical, getting stops."
Lue believes also that his team may benefit from playing a gruelling 7-game series against Boston, stating that the team would be battle-hardened heading into Game 1.
"I think our whole team has to be aggressive. We can't use Game 1 as a feel-out game. It's the first time we've come off a 7-game series in the finals and had only two or 3 days in between," Lue said. "Playing a Game 7 on Sunday in Boston will help us in Game 1." – Rappler.com
Filed under:Cleveland Cavaliers•Golden State Warriors•NBA Finals 2018•National Basketball Association

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Publius, The Snitch
The New York Times did something that almost never happens: it published an anonymous op-ed.
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
The op-ed goes on to do make two primary points, the first being that Trump is singularly unqualified to be president, by knowledge, experience, temperament and, perhaps, capacity. The second is that there are people within the White House who are interfering with the president's performance of his office because they have decided they know better.
The root of the problem is the president's amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.
This isn't new, at least not here. The difference for the sake of the Times is that it comes from someone inside the White House. There is no doubt that they made absolutely certain that the anon author was who he claimed to be before publishing this op-ed. And the substance of the op-ed, while not exactly the party line, is certainly something that grabbed James Dao, the op-ed editor, by the heart, if not other parts of his anatomy.
But to what end? If his cabinet believes Trump to be incapable of carrying out the office of president, then they have a duty to invoke the 25th Amendment. According to the author of this op-ed, who apparently sees himself as the hero of this story, it was considered.
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it's over.
The process isn't all that complex, but more importantly, what difference does it make how complex it is if the person occupying the Oval Office is incapable of doing the job?
But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president's leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.
This isn't "leadership style." This is incompetence.
Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.
The problem has nothing to do with whether you're conservative, libertarian, liberal or progressive. No sentient person was unaware that he was a vulgar ignormus when it came to law, Constitution or governance. If you shared his ignorance, then this might have eluded you, as he said and did things that you, in your simplistic, clueless way, would say as well. But then, you aren't qualified to be president either, despite your certainty that every complex problem has a simple solution.
But even a guy whose sole potential competency is building garish structures, a skillset that doesn't translate to governing a nation, can manage to do a half-decent job with the right people around him and a grudging acknowledgment that even though he managed to get elected, he realizes he's way out of his league. The big league.
No, there is nothing to suggest that Trump has any recognition of his limitations. Everything suggests the contrary. Which brings us to his impetuousness, his "half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions." This isn't a matter of politics. It's irrelevant that Trump feigns being conservative because that's where his bread is buttered.
An incompetent is one who tries his best to be well-informed, and even with the information in hand, can't make a sound decision for lack of intellectual capacity. This is different than one who either doesn't care about being informed, or is incapable of controlling his impetuousness.
Didn't we know this before the election, and still Trump was elected over Clinton? So what's the point? Whether you view it as the spectacular failure of the Democrats to field a candidate, to have a platform, that didn't prevail 80-20 over the most unqualified candidate in modern history, or whether you view Trump as the punishment we earned by governmental paralysis and absurd divisiveness, we elected Darth Cheeto to be the president.
You know what we didn't do? We didn't elect this person who hides behind anonymity but wants us to trust his bona fides that he knows better. He may well know better. He may not. But if he's as smart as he thinks he is, he might have anticipated that his anon op-ed wasn't going to soothe a nation, fearful of this amoral ignoramus. And it surely wasn't going to persuade Trump to seek out people more knowledgeable than him so that he ceased his impetuous, half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decision-making.
The Trump haters rejoice. The Trump lovers scream. The nation is worse off for this op-ed because Trump remains president today, and to the extent he might look to anyone competent for advice, he'll be even less inclined than before, if that's possible. As for the op-ed author, his decision to write, to have the New York Times publish, his op-ed shows that his judgment isn't nearly as good as he wants America to believe. But then, we didn't elect him, so it's not as if he has any legitimacy to claim otherwise.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on September 6, 2018 by SHG.
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31 thoughts on "Publius, The Snitch"
Dan September 6, 2018 at 7:47 am
"But if he's as smart as he thinks he is, he might have anticipated that his anon op-ed wasn't going to soothe a nation, fearful of this amoral ignoramus."
…and it added a great deal of weight to what might otherwise be considered the paranoid delusions of the "deep state".
SHG Post author September 6, 2018 at 7:54 am
But he addressed that:
This isn't the work of the so-called deep state. It's the work of the steady state.
That fixed it, right?
Oh, of course. How silly of me.
Lee September 6, 2018 at 4:51 pm
Steady State or Deep State, the NYT piece confirms the existence of a group of people who have taken it upon themselves to thwart the agenda of a duly elected president.
The Nomenklatura strike again.
SHG Post author September 6, 2018 at 5:05 pm
The alternative to an incapable president isn't a shadow presidency.
Guitardave September 6, 2018 at 8:25 am
Hunting Guy September 6, 2018 at 8:33 am
For better or worse, Trump still has the nuclear launch codes.
Adults will deal with that, not play kiddy tattle-tale.
Mike Paar September 6, 2018 at 9:19 am
Some pundits have opined that the author was Pence while others believe it was intentionally written to implicate Pence as the author in order to create animosity between Trump and the VP as many think Pence would be even worse than Trump.
Yesterday Pence distanced himself from the president by praising Attorney General Jeff Sessions. This would be the first and only time Pence has publicly strayed from Trump's position on any issue.
With Mueller closing in and the mid-terms within eyesight, now would be the perfect time for the VP to make a move showing he's got what it takes to lead the nation.
Mike, loosen the tin foil. It's preventing blood flow.
Jay September 6, 2018 at 9:21 am
You're expecting a lot from someone presumably hand picked by Trump.
"Presumably" carries too much weight here, no matter what your heart tells you.
David September 6, 2018 at 9:55 am
"But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis."
Since when does following a process specifically laid out in the Constitution precipitate a constitutional crisis? It would seem to be exactly the opposite. Isn't the crisis more that we are being led by secretive, back-stabbing, unelected and unaccountable op-ed writers?
SHG Post author September 6, 2018 at 10:15 am
As excuses for failing to perform a constitutional duty go, this was a particularly ironic one.
Fubar September 6, 2018 at 10:17 am
The Trump haters rejoice. The Trump lovers scream. … As for the op-ed author, his decision to write, to have the New York Times publish, his op-ed shows that his judgment isn't nearly as good as he wants America to believe. But then, we didn't elect him, so it's not as if he has any legitimacy to claim otherwise.
I scream and you scream, we all scream
For ice cream; get dished up a Trump scheme.
Elections have served
Us what we deserved,
De Maistre's words¹ weren't just a bad dream!
FN 1: Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite.
Charles September 6, 2018 at 11:08 am
"Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president."
"Complex" is in the NYT style guide under "Synonyms for exhuasted."
B. McLeod September 6, 2018 at 11:58 am
Exactly what you observe as to the consequences of this "editorial" causes me to doubt the NYT claim as to its source. Anyone positioned as they claim the anonymous resistor is would know that this publication can only make it more difficult for advisors to moderate poorly-reasoned decision-making. It is inconceivable to me that such a person would purposely call down that kind of fire on his or her own position. It is more conceivable that the NYT synthesized this anonymous resistor as a virtual avatar for staffers who had given them this kind of information as deep background, not-for-attribution, so that the NYT could publicize it under the modern media theory that the information is essentially legitimate, even if the source is fictionalized. The obvious goal of the NYT is to pressure Trump to Queeg out, rejecting all moderating influences out of distrust that they could be coming from the anonymous resistor. Obviously very harmful to the nation, but mere eggs in the omelet of "progressivism."
SHG Post author September 6, 2018 at 12:06 pm
I'm skeptical, but not cynical. You way out-cynicaled me.
B. McLeod September 6, 2018 at 12:14 pm
If it works, and results in a reckless and arbitrary downward spiral leading to Trump's ouster, both organized political parties and the NYT's media colleagues can be counted on to give them a "pass" on the tactic.
Jake September 6, 2018 at 1:46 pm
Let's assume for a second the source is fabricated. Apply Occam's Razor. The one person who benefits most from the false narrative that deep state actors have taken over the White House is Trump. He's also the only person in the White House with a documented history of such antics with the media who also happens to be arguably insane and desperate.
Can we also assume for a second that space aliens have taken over Trump and he's really a pod person left here to destroy mankind?
Pod person? What…Like Keurig coffee pods? I'm a Nespresso man myself.
Patrick Maupin September 7, 2018 at 4:17 am
That would explain a few things. But not necessarily why I'm in Japan en route to Taiwan. Still haven't completely figured that one out.
B. McLeod September 6, 2018 at 4:20 pm
"Occam's Razor" doesn't turn on who benefits the most. It is a selection method based on evaluation of what is the least complex theory fitting objectively observed facts. For that very reason, its application in political matters is questionable. Beyond that, it seems to me that here, the selection would go to a conclusion of falsified source. The only visible information is the "editorial," and the NYT's publication of the 'editorial." No source is visible, though the NYT claims a secret source. Based on what is visible and verifiable, the simplest conclusion is that the NYT created the "editorial" itself.
OtherJay September 6, 2018 at 6:39 pm
Should we also suspend disbelief and assume you know what you are talking about in this hypothetical?
As a general rule, I wouldn't make any assumptions about what strangers on the internet know.
When did John Barron get a senior position at the White House, anyway?
Keith September 6, 2018 at 2:32 pm
Publius had a legitimate reason to remain anonymous and history seems to have judged that endeavor favorably. This guy? Well, I guess we'll see how this works out.
The anonymity thing is a tough call. If this person isn't a regular household name, I find it hard to understand why the NY Times would offer such real estate to someone, when the same person writing such a comment in a departure memo wouldn't get much notice.
That's weird. I can see exactly why the NYT would give up its real estate.
Yeah. You could get Manhattan Island away from the NYT for a few anti-Trump pieces.
KP September 7, 2018 at 1:21 am
"But even a guy whose sole potential competency is building garish structures"
…is better than most politicians, who seem quite incapable of building anything worthwhile!
It now looks like the administration needs a new twiter account… #Not me too.


UPDATE: Although the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 was not enacted, it was reintroduced in Congress in 2015. Read our post about its newest version, or, for other developments, see a list of all our posts on bills in Congress.
The Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 gives judges discretion to not abide by a mandatory minimum if they believe the mandatory minimum is unjustly high.
In the current system, the prosecutor has broad discretion over what to charge a defendant with. They often have the option of charging a defendant for a crime with a high mandatory minimum or prosecuting for a lesser offense. This subverts the justice system as it was intended to function because originally the judge (not the prosecution) was supposed to decide what the most just sentence was. Now, the prosecution can decide what to charge a defendant with, and the judge is forced to follow the mandatory minimum of the charges the prosecution chose.
The bill, if passed, would also apply to any charge with a mandatory minimum, not just drug crimes. It is broad, simple, and short (in its present form).
How might this bill disappoint us?
As we know, just because a Court can give a lower sentence does not mean that it will. We hope that this bill will result in more just sentences, but the bill, if passed, will not make any given Judge do anything differently.
How can one follow the progress of the bill?
This bill is S. 619 in the Senate and H.R. 1695 in the House. Currently, the texts in both chambers are identical (but most bills are amended at some point, so that will likely change). In both chambers, the bill is ready for consideration by the appropriate committee, which is the first stage of the process of a bill becoming law.


As Chief Business Officer, Holli Costedio is first among equals for the budgeting process, return on investment modeling, financial management, financial planning and reporting, auxiliary services, and institutional risk management.
Before coming to Unity College, Ms. Costedio was Finance Manager at Husson University. Before that she was Accounting and Business Manager and Accountant at New England School of Communications.
Holli arrived at Unity College in September of 2014 as the Senior Accountant and was promoted to Business Manager and Interim Chief Business Officer in October of 2016.


The twins just celebrated their second birthday and we are sharing all the details of their puppy dog themed party with readers. Part 1 included some pre-party baking of cookies and Part 2 featured some personalized party apparel for the big day including shirts and hats.
In this post, I'd like to tell you about the puppy dog themed party games and activities we enjoyed. As a Mommy of 5, I've planned a lot of parties over the years and I can't stress enough how important it is to have a bunch of group and individual activities ready and waiting to keep the celebrant(s) and guests busy. Twin toddlers turning 2 as the guests of honor were my biggest challenge yet, but I couldn't be more thrilled with how it all went.
Storage Bag for Bag Toss Game that we used in another game too.
Puppy Dog Themed Bean Bag Toss: Etsy merchant and new blog sponsor Kid-N Around Creations provided adorable Puppy Dog Themed Bean Bag Toss Games for the boys. Each game came in a cute sack and included 2 felt embroidered bean bags and 3 embroidered felt targets. The targets were simply arranged on the floor for a game playable by all ages. Everyone loved it and it will be a wonderful playable memento of their 2nd birthday party for many years to come. We went on to utilize some of this game's parts in two additional ways as well.
Puppy Buckets: I made this game myself. It's a puppy dog themed version of Bozo buckets. To make it party pretty, I purchased 3 new white paint buckets at home depot and decoupaged them with some puppy graphics torn from the pages of a battered book. Play was simple and enjoyable for everyone. We lined up the 3 buckets in a row had participants stand behind a line outside drawn in sidewalk chalk and they took turns trying to toss the bean bags.
Find the Bone: This is another game we made. 30 Bones were traced on white poster board, cut out, numbered, and hidden around the party location prior to guests arriving. Much like an Easter Egg Hunt, the twins and guests set out to find to find all the bones. A sack made bone collecting easier to manage for the little ones.
Tic Tac Toe with Bones and Paws: A lawn, floor, or picnic table version of the classic tic tac toe provided a great way to entertain the slightly older kids attending. No X's and O's would do for this puppy dog crazy party, we were provided with a Bones and Paws version by etsy merchant Stell & Livi. Composed simply of canvas, ribbon, and felt, this was an adorable addition. Check out their "pin the tail" games for older kids too.
For a fun award idea, cut out ribbon badges with titles like "best in show" and "top dog".
Planning your own party soon or need a cute gift? Mention this post on "andtwinsmake5.com" for a 10% discount on your order with either of the etsy merchants featured above. In my next post, I'll show you some puppy dog themed party favor that allowed for individual play during the party itself. Also watch for posts on the food and decor!


text:
Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using high-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide (BU-CY) for the preparative regimen
F. Sahebi, E. Copelan, P. Crilley, B. Bolwell, B. Avalos, J. Klein, M. Territo, J. Gajewski
This study reviews results of a radiation-free preparative regimen consisting of busulfan and cyclophosphamide in 65 unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipients. Thirty-eight patients had chronic myelogenous leukemia (17 patients chronic phase, 13 patients accelerated phase, eight patients blast phase), 19 patients had acute leukemia (second complete remission or relapse) and eight patients had myelodysplasia. The patients were transplanted at four different medical centers from July 1988 to November 1992. Ages ranged 4-48 years (median 32). Fifty-seven patients received busulfan 16 mg/kg and cyclophosphamide 120 mg/kg, and eight received busulfan at doses between 15 and 17 mg/kg and cyclophosphamide at doses 100-200 mg/kg as preparative regimens. All received cyclosporine for graft-versus-host prophylaxis; in addition 46 patients received corticosteroid, 38 methotrexate, six anti-CD5 ricin A-immunotoxin, and four T cell-depleted bone marrow. Median follow-up of survivors was 53 months (range 15-68 months). Four year actuarial survival was 24 ± 12%. Four-year survival based on disease was 29 ± 27% for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in chronic phase, 20 ± 9% for chronic myelogenous leukemia in accelerated phase, 0% for chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast phase, 32 ± 40% for acute leukemia, and 38 ± 34% for myelodysplasia. Actuarial survival was 66 ± 40% in patients age <20 years, vs 23 ± 13% for patients ages 20 to 40, and 10 ± 14% for patients age > 40 years. Fifty patients (88%) engrafted. Graft failure occurred in eight patients. Acute graft-versus-host disease grade II-IV occurred in 36 (72%). Two patients relapsed after engraftment with the donor cells and died of leukemia within a month of relapse. The most common causes of death were graft-versus-host disease (37%), and transplant-related toxicity (59%); relapse (4%) was a rare cause of death. Busulfan/cyclophosphamide is an effective preparative regimen in unrelated bone marrow transplantation permitting adequate engraftment and a low relapse rate. Best results are observed in patients less than 20 years old.
Leukemia, Myeloid, Chronic Phase
Blast Crisis
Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive
Unrelated bone marrow transplantation
Sahebi, F., Copelan, E., Crilley, P., Bolwell, B., Avalos, B., Klein, J., ... Gajewski, J. (1996). Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using high-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide (BU-CY) for the preparative regimen. Bone Marrow Transplantation, 17(5), 685-689.
Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using high-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide (BU-CY) for the preparative regimen. / Sahebi, F.; Copelan, E.; Crilley, P.; Bolwell, B.; Avalos, B.; Klein, J.; Territo, M.; Gajewski, J.
In: Bone Marrow Transplantation, Vol. 17, No. 5, 05.1996, p. 685-689.
Sahebi, F, Copelan, E, Crilley, P, Bolwell, B, Avalos, B, Klein, J, Territo, M & Gajewski, J 1996, 'Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using high-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide (BU-CY) for the preparative regimen', Bone Marrow Transplantation, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 685-689.
Sahebi F, Copelan E, Crilley P, Bolwell B, Avalos B, Klein J et al. Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using high-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide (BU-CY) for the preparative regimen. Bone Marrow Transplantation. 1996 May;17(5):685-689.
Sahebi, F. ; Copelan, E. ; Crilley, P. ; Bolwell, B. ; Avalos, B. ; Klein, J. ; Territo, M. ; Gajewski, J. / Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using high-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide (BU-CY) for the preparative regimen. In: Bone Marrow Transplantation. 1996 ; Vol. 17, No. 5. pp. 685-689.
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title = "Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using high-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide (BU-CY) for the preparative regimen",
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AU - Gajewski, J.
N2 - This study reviews results of a radiation-free preparative regimen consisting of busulfan and cyclophosphamide in 65 unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipients. Thirty-eight patients had chronic myelogenous leukemia (17 patients chronic phase, 13 patients accelerated phase, eight patients blast phase), 19 patients had acute leukemia (second complete remission or relapse) and eight patients had myelodysplasia. The patients were transplanted at four different medical centers from July 1988 to November 1992. Ages ranged 4-48 years (median 32). Fifty-seven patients received busulfan 16 mg/kg and cyclophosphamide 120 mg/kg, and eight received busulfan at doses between 15 and 17 mg/kg and cyclophosphamide at doses 100-200 mg/kg as preparative regimens. All received cyclosporine for graft-versus-host prophylaxis; in addition 46 patients received corticosteroid, 38 methotrexate, six anti-CD5 ricin A-immunotoxin, and four T cell-depleted bone marrow. Median follow-up of survivors was 53 months (range 15-68 months). Four year actuarial survival was 24 ± 12%. Four-year survival based on disease was 29 ± 27% for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in chronic phase, 20 ± 9% for chronic myelogenous leukemia in accelerated phase, 0% for chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast phase, 32 ± 40% for acute leukemia, and 38 ± 34% for myelodysplasia. Actuarial survival was 66 ± 40% in patients age <20 years, vs 23 ± 13% for patients ages 20 to 40, and 10 ± 14% for patients age > 40 years. Fifty patients (88%) engrafted. Graft failure occurred in eight patients. Acute graft-versus-host disease grade II-IV occurred in 36 (72%). Two patients relapsed after engraftment with the donor cells and died of leukemia within a month of relapse. The most common causes of death were graft-versus-host disease (37%), and transplant-related toxicity (59%); relapse (4%) was a rare cause of death. Busulfan/cyclophosphamide is an effective preparative regimen in unrelated bone marrow transplantation permitting adequate engraftment and a low relapse rate. Best results are observed in patients less than 20 years old.
AB - This study reviews results of a radiation-free preparative regimen consisting of busulfan and cyclophosphamide in 65 unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipients. Thirty-eight patients had chronic myelogenous leukemia (17 patients chronic phase, 13 patients accelerated phase, eight patients blast phase), 19 patients had acute leukemia (second complete remission or relapse) and eight patients had myelodysplasia. The patients were transplanted at four different medical centers from July 1988 to November 1992. Ages ranged 4-48 years (median 32). Fifty-seven patients received busulfan 16 mg/kg and cyclophosphamide 120 mg/kg, and eight received busulfan at doses between 15 and 17 mg/kg and cyclophosphamide at doses 100-200 mg/kg as preparative regimens. All received cyclosporine for graft-versus-host prophylaxis; in addition 46 patients received corticosteroid, 38 methotrexate, six anti-CD5 ricin A-immunotoxin, and four T cell-depleted bone marrow. Median follow-up of survivors was 53 months (range 15-68 months). Four year actuarial survival was 24 ± 12%. Four-year survival based on disease was 29 ± 27% for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in chronic phase, 20 ± 9% for chronic myelogenous leukemia in accelerated phase, 0% for chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast phase, 32 ± 40% for acute leukemia, and 38 ± 34% for myelodysplasia. Actuarial survival was 66 ± 40% in patients age <20 years, vs 23 ± 13% for patients ages 20 to 40, and 10 ± 14% for patients age > 40 years. Fifty patients (88%) engrafted. Graft failure occurred in eight patients. Acute graft-versus-host disease grade II-IV occurred in 36 (72%). Two patients relapsed after engraftment with the donor cells and died of leukemia within a month of relapse. The most common causes of death were graft-versus-host disease (37%), and transplant-related toxicity (59%); relapse (4%) was a rare cause of death. Busulfan/cyclophosphamide is an effective preparative regimen in unrelated bone marrow transplantation permitting adequate engraftment and a low relapse rate. Best results are observed in patients less than 20 years old.
KW - Busulfan
KW - Cyclophosphamide
KW - Unrelated bone marrow transplantation
JO - Bone Marrow Transplantation
JF - Bone Marrow Transplantation


text:
'You need help', Presidency attacks Tanko Yakasai over Tinubu
The Presidency, on Wednesday, urged Nigerians not take elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, "seriously" for questioning President Muhammadu Buhari's support for the presidential candidate of…
Malam Garba Shehu
By Muideen Olaniyi
Wed, 25 Jan 2023 21:06:29 WAT
The Presidency, on Wednesday, urged Nigerians not take elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, "seriously" for questioning President Muhammadu Buhari's support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the forthcoming election.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, made the call in a statement titled "On Alhaji Tanko Yakasai's Questioning of the President's Support of APC at the Forthcoming Election".
He said the old man needed "a bit of help" as his remarks contradicted the actions of Mr President during the ongoing campaigns, adding that President Buhari will further appear at campaign events in the coming weeks.
He said: "Alhaji Tanko Yakasai is unknown to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Everyone is entitled to their view, but what we do know is that his insight in a recent interview does not come from within the party or the President's team. His support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is welcome although it is difficult to see what value it will add.
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"He is right to highlight his experience as a senior citizen, a leader in government and ability to reach out across divides are strong foundations for the highest office.
"But Yakasai's questioning of the loyalties of President Muhammadu Buhari stands in sharp contrast to the actions of the President. Only on Monday, he was out at a rally in Bauchi supporting the flag bearer of the party. Presidential duties permitting, he is scheduled to make further appearances at campaign events in the coming weeks.
"His support for the party's candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is unquestioned.
"If this wasn't on TV, Yakasai's unwise comment on the issue would have been dismissed as a misquotation. But he was live on TV.
"On this one against President Buhari, no one should take him seriously. Perhaps times are hard and the old man needs a bit of help."
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