Al Sikes

5 days ago | talbotspy.org | Al Sikes

America still has the single most valuable 21st-century ally in the world—Ukraine. Ukraine has had to be both stalwart and entrepreneurial in combating Russian aggression. If, in the aftermath of the attack by Ukraine on Russian military assets, the Trump Administration does not revitalize American support for Ukraine, it will be an irreducible stain. Ukraine has demonstrated the importance of courage and adaptive learning.

2 weeks ago | talbotspy.org | Al Sikes

Who knew that the 21st Century would offer ambitious politicians a dull and inattentive version of the governed? Yes, you and me. Or, perhaps we are simply a more forgiving generation—not confused or inattentive, just generous. Or forgetful. Or maybe simply comfortable with outsourcing what the law says is our responsibility. The political party of Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) and Bill Clinton allowed a small coterie of politicians to maintain a fiction: Joe Biden was equal to a second term.

3 weeks ago | talbotspy.org | Al Sikes

It is hard to know where to start, so let me do so with a warning. My thoughts include a promotion. A promotion to look beyond the obvious. My part-time work in high school included a gig helping a Disc Jockey at the local radio station—specifically KSIM at 1400 on the AM dial in Sikeston, Missouri. My last two jobs were navigating the analog/digital divide in government and business. My high school job was to retrieve records during a call-in record show.

1 month ago | talbotspy.org | Al Sikes

Mea Culpa. I was at least partially wrong when I titled my book, circa 2019, Culture Leads Leaders Follow. A central point in the book: people who run for important elective office organize their brains and rhetoric around what is culturally acceptable. Or to put it another way, marketers of one sort or another and performing artists, not elected officials are primary influencers. Successful candidates for the big elective offices begin by raising enormous sums of money.

1 month ago | benton.org | Tom Wheeler |Al Sikes

As former chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—one appointed by a Democrat, the other by a Republican—we have seen firsthand how the agency operates when it is guided by its mission to uphold the public interest. But in just over two months, President Donald Trump and his handpicked FCC Chair Brendan Carr have upended 90 years of precedent and congressional mandates to transform the agency into a blatantly partisan tool.