Sigh...

Last evening, without warning, someone decided to attempt to eliminate the threat that one of the candidates for President is peceived of posing for the democracy of the United States. Donald Trunp was not seriously wounded - a bullet grazed his outer ear - but the optics of him diving for cover and then rising and raising his fist in a show of defiance while blood trickled down his face will remain etched in the minds of all. Was his gesture of power appropriate? I do not think so and I'm certain the Secret Service people tring to protect him wish he had just quietly let himself be led offstage. But Trump is going to Trump. Now everyone from Biden to Melania are calling for a cool down in the rhetoric but I suspect it will not change anything in Trump's behavior. Biden on the other hand has already pulled his series of ads that forcefully oppose Trumpism. All this amid the whole "Dump Biden" movement that was the fallout from his one-off performance at the debate 2 weeks ago. I am of the mind to stick with what has worked for us the past 3+ years. I have for years had concerns about the change for change's sake mindset - I experienced it so often in my final years in academia. And it has bled over into politics and business and all parts of life. How often do w log on to Facebook and find everything has changed? And these changes are being driven by the younger segment of the population. CNN recently announced a restructuring and will present more of their content in viceo format. Why? I suspect it is partly driven by the fact that is is less expensive and more expedient to string together some viceo bites that to have an editor analyze a story and then write a thoughtful and coherent piece. And it's certainly less expensive (and often no expense involved) to utilize video from citizen journalists than to dispatch a camera crew. Forget adding context that the average viewer will not consider when viewing the story. (Mainstream media ditched their research departments 15+ years ago, letting reporters do their own research online. I know because I have a friend from college who was sidelined in that movement.) Where we go from here is anyone's guess. I do not know.