Coaching for character

  I’ve spent lots of time with some of the world’s most successful coaches. I discovered that many of them think about character a lot, especially traits that are important to winning – like self-discipline, perseverance, resiliency, and courage. They pay less attention to virtues like honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, respect, and fairness — aspects of character that make a good person, citizen, spouse, or parent.

10 things to know about the real St. Patrick

  Today people around the world are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day by parading in green hats, sporting images of shamrocks and leprechauns – tiny, grinning, fairy men – pinned to their lapels. Patrick’s picture will adorn greeting cards: an aged, bearded bishop in flowing robes, grasping a bishop’s staff and glaring at a coil of snakes.

  The icon refers to one of Patrick’s legendary miracles in which he is said to have prayed to banish all snakes from Ireland. However, as a historian of medieval Ireland, I can assure you that the real St. Patrick, who lived and worked in the fifth century, never saw a snake or wore a shamrock.

The danger of mixing law and religion, in two Alabama bills

  We reap bitter fruit when lawmakers cross-pollinate religion and law.

  It’s not just a question of elevating one belief over others. The law at its best gives fair treatment to competing interests and keeps them on the same path through the world. When one version of what lies beyond this reality gets into the law, the people clinging to that vision enjoy a privilege over any other need or desire in the broader community.

  Two bills pending before the Alabama Legislature put particular beliefs on a pedestal. And in the process, they could subject public education and the health of our children to the schemes of zealots.

DOGE threat: How government data would give an AI company extraordinary power

  The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has secured unprecedented access to at least seven sensitive federal databases, including those of the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration. This access has sparked fears about cybersecurity vulnerabilities and privacy violations. Another concern has received far less attention: the potential use of the data to train a private company’s artificial intelligence systems.

  The White House press secretary said government data that DOGE has collected isn’t being used to train Musk’s AI models despite Elon Musk’s control over DOGE. However, evidence has emerged that DOGE personnel simultaneously hold positions with at least one of Musk’s companies.

How Trump’s second term might affect the market and your finances

  Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, stock market expectations have been volatile – driven in part by a healthy dose of motivated reasoning.

  At first, markets surged on hopes of lower taxes and deregulation. But this enthusiasm soon faded as announcements about tariffs and stricter immigration policies dampened sentiment. Underscoring that point, on March 3, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 points after Trump said that tariffs he had been threatening for weeks would indeed be imposed on Canada and Mexico the following day.

Cutting Medicaid and federal programs are among 4 key Trump administration policy changes that could make life harder for disabled people

  While policy debates on immigration, abortion, and other issues took center stage in the 2024 presidential election, the first months of the Trump administration have also signaled major changes in federal disability policy.

  An estimated 20% to 25% of Americans have a disability of some kind, including physical, sensory, psychological, and intellectual disabilities.

America’s park and forest rangers are being fired, and oil and gas bosses are now in charge

  Billionaires Elon Musk and President Donald Trump are purging park rangers, scientists, and other public land experts while putting oil and gas industry executives and their close allies in charge of America’s public lands. As a result, visitors and communities are already feeling the impacts on their parks, and land protections are being gutted to clear a path for pollution and corporate exploitation.

Motive, tact, tone, and timing

  Trustworthiness is essential to good relationships, and honesty is essential to trustworthiness. Being honest isn’t simply telling the truth, though. It’s also being sincere and forthright. Thus, it’s just as dishonest to deceive someone by half-truths or silence as it is to lie.

  But what if honesty requires us to volunteer information that could be damaging or hurtful?

The Trump administration has made 36 million workers newly vulnerable to discrimination and harassment

  Recent actions by the Trump administration have put working Americans at greater risk of unchecked discrimination and harassment by degrading long-standing programs such as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Already, these actions have harmed workers. While discrimination is illegal for all employers, the federal government maintains greater oversight of the employers that win its contracts, whether to provide goods or services, to staff projects, or to administer crucial functions of everyday life. Even beyond these workers being harmed, because taxpayer dollars are being spent—and because discrimination is an expensive misuse of funds—enforcement is a crucial part of contracting.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - 60th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march

  This Sunday, leaders from throughout Alabama and the entire country will commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March and the infamous Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was a momentous occasion and needs memorializing.