In another example of the giant tech companies being private companies but basically leaching off the government, I give you the state and local subsidies they've received in the last five years,

Well, perhaps if you leach off the taxpayers, you should have to abide by the First Amendment, ehh?

​The following is a guest post from Zoe Talent Solutions. See there guest post on management techniques here.

What the Hell is going on with downtowns in liberal cities? From Business Insider,

I've heard the same thing with regards to Portland from several friends. New York and other cities seem to have the same issue. Honestly, what the Hell?

The following is a guest post from Zoe Talent Solutions.

Qualifying management and achieving better results are goals that are closer when the entrepreneur implements tried and tested methods. We are talking about business management techniques . Do you know which ones apply to your business?
 
Whatever the moment your company is, there is a specific management technique to qualify the performance and contribute to the achievement of your strategic planning. The manager must choose the one that most matches the defined objective. Learn the details of seven good options for your business. At Zoe talent solutions you will find best online management courses.
 
1. SWOT Analysis
When there is a need to define a competitive differential for the company or to propose actions that at the same time correct vulnerabilities and highlight potentialities , a very precise tool is SWOT Analysis , which in Portuguese is called FOFA, an acronym for Forces, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats.
 
Its application allows the manager to identify current positive and negative points and also to project a vision of the future, understanding what is a tendency. Basically, the conclusions of the analysis are obtained from four questions:
 
- Forces : What are the real strengths of the business?
- Weaknesses : What are the real weaknesses of the business?
- Opportunities : What are the opportunities for the business?
- Threats : What are the risks to the business?
 
2. Matrix BCG
Created by the American consultancy Boston Consulting Group, the BCG Matrix proposes to analyze the sales cycle of products and services, allowing to identify which generate better results with less effort.
 
When considering the growth rate and the participation of the product or service in the market, the method reaches four groups:
 
- Dairy cows : generate profit with time and money saving
- Stars : generate profit, but require large investments
- Question marks : do not generate great revenue, even with good investment
- Pineapples : they do not generate revenue, they only waste time and money.
 
By finding the appropriate rating for what it sells, the manager can monitor what happens to the product after the interrogation phase, which marks its launch. If you see a "pineapple", it probably deserves to be discontinued. If you become a "star", the goal is to reach a "dairy cow". As this movement is constant, the evaluation should be repeated periodically.
 
3. Balanced Scorecard
This management technique measures the company's performance , identifying the current alignment with its previously established strategic objectives. Its application can take place from the definition of indicators, which will analyze the results from four perspectives that are related:
 
- Learning and Growth: Team Skills Enhance Improvements and Innovations
- Internal Processes: When Qualified Are Reflected on Customer Satisfaction
- Customers: Satisfied customers contribute to better financial results
- Financial: a stable financial situation makes it possible to grow and invest.
 
The entrepreneur should compare the actions with the results obtained, identifying what was accomplished from what was planned. From there, you can draw a kind of strategic map for each area of ​​the company, determining where to employ reinforcement of physical, financial and human resources to improve performance.
 
4. The 5 Porter Forces
Method proposed by the American thinker Michael Porter, is used to understand the competition and to outline a strategy to overcome it. It is based on five competitive forces:
 
- The rivalry with competitors : who are they and what are their competitive advantages
- The entry of new competitors : with what actions your company can discourage this movement
- The entry of new products : what goods or services can innovate as much or more than what it offers
- The bargaining power of suppliers : how to keep good partners without being dependent on them
- The power of customer negotiation : how to ensure that they do not migrate to the competition.
 
This analysis enables the manager to identify where the main threats to his business are and also where the best chances for adjustments that provide good results lie. It will provide subsidies for more aggressive actions, both in pricing policy and negotiation with suppliers and in creating presentation of new ideas.
 
5. Benchmarking
Observe the competition, learn from it and propose a strategy to overcome it. This is the central idea of benchmarking , another of the techniques of business administration aimed at improving results and increasing competitiveness .
 
It is not about going to the market and finding the best practices to copy them, as this would not entail any differential for your business. The goal is to effectively compare what you have done in terms of products, services, methodologies and business tactics of what is done by rivals, absorbing good ideas and adapting them to your reality.
 
Benchmarking can be:
 
- Internal : looks inside the company itself, seeing what is done in an area that can be adapted to the other
- Competitive : the classic benchmarking comparison with the competition
- Functional : compares the work process, including with companies from other segments
- Cooperative : consists in the sharing of information between partner companies.
 
6. Business Model Canvas
Usually employed in the embryonic phase of a company, the Business Model Canvas (BMC) methodology can also be applied to evaluate and modify the business model .
 
It consists of a frame formed by nine blocks, which must be filled with stickers to bring ideas and allowing them to be moved. Because it is quite visual, it is expected to make it easier for the manager to plan the next steps.
 
The nine BMC blocks are:
 
- Value proposition : the competitive edge of your company
- Customer Segment : What your target audience and your needs
- Channels : by what means your customer will be served
- Relationship with customers : how this link will be built
- Revenue Sources : How Your Business Will Make Money
- Key Features : Creating Value for the Customer
- Main activities : what actions does the value proposition require for the business to function
- Key partners : which alliances should be established
- Cost structure : what costs and expenses are inherent to your business model.
 
7. Maslow's Pyramid
By closing our relationship with business management techniques, this tool helps you understand the timing of your employee and what he needs to work more motivated and focused on business goals.
 
The model, also called The Human Needs Theory , was developed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow. It starts from the idea that people have different needs, some more basic and priority than others. When you complete one, the motivation goes to the next.
 
From top to bottom (where the most pressing demands are), Maslow's Pyramid is divided into five phases :
 
- Personal Achievement
- Esteem
- Relationship
- Safety
- Physiology
 
In order to apply the concept, the manager must carry out an in-depth analysis about his collaborator , aiming to position him in one of the areas of the pyramid. If he is not satisfied with his work day, this is a necessity that overcomes the desire for stability in employment, for example. It is important to remember that motivation is fundamental for an employee to be more productive.
 
Transform your business
This article has brought you seven management techniques that can be applied in your company. Obviously, many others exist, possibly also suited to your type of business. The tip we leave is to seek to learn more about these methodologies, to study their concepts and adequacy to their reality , because the results obtained can be really transformative.

It would seem that the mainstream press is trying to convince us all that we should never take a single thing they say seriously. In what feels like a giant troll, Fox News has dragged out Judith Miller to do some more warmongering. 

Yes, the Judith Miller who regurgitated Ahmad Chalabi's blatant lies about WMD in Iraq on the front pages of The New York Times day in and day out back in 2002 and 2003. I guess Walter Duranty is dead, so he can't be brought back either...

Now she's got articles stoking tensions with both Venezuela and Iran. At least with the latter, she notes she is "included" among "those who oppose unilateral American military action." 

I guess we'll need another "coalition of the willing" or something like that...

Recently, I pointed out that Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang is the only one talking about the danger (and opportunity, of course) that technology and automation will pose to the labor market. The Luddites only need to be right once for it to be a catastrophe. Of course, it could be an incredibly liberating process, but only if we approach it correctly (which we're not doing right now).

The popular Youtuber CGP Grey has a very good video on this topic that elucidates the problem and I highly recommend checking out:

Say what you will about Trump's impulsiveness, rudeness, lack of experience, shallowness of thought and all those things that the Left is hyperbolically referring to as obstruction (like ordering Mueller to be fired, assuming that even happened). Trump has always been a very flawed man (and is becoming more so as he sucks up to the neocons.) Russiagate was always about collusion (which is sort of a made up crime, but whatever). 

Despite the hyperventilating over "muh impeachment," the Mueller probe was absolutely damning to the core claim of Russiagate and its most important document: The Steele Dossier. As The Washington Times notes,

As for the list:

1) Conspiracy between Trump and Kremlin: False
2) Trump set up and funded hacking operations: False
3) Hacking operation funded by Russian Embassy in Washington: False
4) Manafort and Page coordinated with Russian government on interference: False
5) Trump campaign received anti-Democratic intelligence from Russia: False
6) Trump had been exchanging information with Russia for eight years: False
7) Trump knew about WikiLeaks alliance with Russia: False
8) Russia had incriminating evidence on Trump but promised not to use it: False
9) Cohen met Russian officials in Prague [Just like Muhammed Atta "met" Iraqi officials in Prague in 2001): False
10) Carter Page met with Putin associates and took bribe to lift sanctions: False
11) The piss-tape: False
12) Russian businessman Aleksej Gubarev hacked the DNC under pressure from Russian intelligence: False

And four more new ones not in the Steele Dossier:

13) There was a dedicated server between Trump Tower and Alfa Bank in Russia: False
14) Trump ordered Cohen to lie to Congress about the failed Moscow hotel deal: False
15) The RNC weakened language in its platform about giving aid to Ukraine because of a quid-pro-quo with Russia: False
16) Manafort met with Julian Assange three times in 2016: False

Well done media. You should definitely be giving yourself a pat on the back over this one...

Yes, yes, Trump is accused of obstructing justice into his non-crime of not colluding with the Russians. And while I don't think firing Mueller would have been OK, I don't think it would be obstruction given the President's odd power to fire the Special Counsel. (Assuming he made such an order in the first place, of course.) 

And even more obviously, any attempt to oust Trump for things he's actually doing wrong, like supporting Saudi Arabi's war of terror against the Yemenese, is all but ignored.

Speaking of which, it's quite odd that since neocons generally hate Trump and are wrong about everything, that he would start to become one. He is, after all, giving them most of what they want. (Taking the US out of the Iran deal, capitulating and leaving troops in both Syria and Afghanistan, trying to overthrow the government of Venezuela, etc.) 

Remember, the neocons such as Max Boot, Bill Kristol and Jennifer Rubin hate, hate, hate Donald Trump. And regarding the two biggest journalistic frauds of the last 20-years, they pushed both of them. 

Please remind me again why anyone takes these people seriously.

I must admit, I have the odd pass time of keeping a tab on the most bizarre, messed up and disgusting stories out there that filter up through local news and social media to some major news outlets. This last week brought out two that I feel are worth sharing (at least for others with such odd fascinations as myself).

Is is "fake news" or a parody perhaps? Nope, it's real.

Yep, it's real too.

The Internet has created a whole cottage industry of bizarre and faith-in-humanity destroying clickbait articles and listicles. But it can be quite entertaining to look at a trainwreck. And perhaps, before the Internet, we just weren't fully aware of how bizarre and demented our world actually is.