LEADERSHIP Author Doris Kearns Goodwin has just published “Leadership In Turbulent Times.” The title is said to echo a Latin saying that anyone can navigate when the sea is calm.  Only able sea captains — and good leaders — perform well in tough times. She focuses on Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Lyndon Johnson.

VOTING RIGHTS. The Washington Post reports that approximately 1.7 million felons are not allowed to vote in Florida – representing about a fifth of possible black voters.

NEVER HILLARY?  Ken Starr, surely an insider – has written a memoir of the Clinton/Lewinsky investigation.  He has harsh words for Hillary Clinton:  “No matter the subject, Hillary was… smug and dismissive.  Her brilliant personality was evident in all her interactions… There were two Hillarys.    Super smart, articulate policy-wonk Hillary, private, mean streak, vulgar Hillary.”

CAPITALISM AND INEQUALITY?   Katherine S. Newman is a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts.   She has authored a new book on whether capitalism can survive.    One of her main points: The US now is experiencing rising rates of inequality, with the favored top 1 % gaining from engineered policy changes, sharply tilted tax benefits, a froze minimum wage, and constraints on union organizing.

STAND TALL   From a “how to do it book” on presenting a strong personality:

• Smile – but do it slowly, which lends credibility
• Maintain eye contact
• Never take your eyes off their face; if you must look away, do it slowly
• Make a new acquaintance feel they are truly important
• Imagine the individual as a long lost pal

A HISTORICAL NOTE   Author Thomas Cahill’s interesting “Heretics and Heroes” lists an interesting claim about reformer Martin Luther.   Supposedly, his version of the Bible in German cites St. Paul as authority for the concept that Christians are saved solely by the redemption of Christ – “by faith alone.”  Cahill comments that nowhere in earlier translations does the word “alone” appear.

LAWYER’S CORNER

THIS REALLY HAPPENED IN ALASKA A FEW YEARS BACK.  A young airman was disrespectful towards his sergeant.  When the Article 125 specification came to the JAG shop for legal review, we could not have improved on – or better visualized – what had happened:

… X, at Eielson Air Force Base Alaska, was disrespectful in deportment toward M Sgt Y, who was then in the execution of his office, by raising his middle finger heavenward in a gesture of contempt.