#101 - Failure at The Red Hen

Look, I understand why the co-owner of the Red Hen politely asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave her restaurant. But if I could speak with her directly, I would tell her, she was just shooting her cause in the foot.  For a brief moment yes, it allowed her to feel good, but really, what good did it do?  Nothing was accomplished. 

Stephanie Wilkinson, the co-owner of the restaurant, said she asked Sanders and her family to leave because of previous comments she had made defending the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military members.

Wilkinson explained that the restaurant employs several LGBT employees, some of whom voiced concerns over having to serve Huckabee Sanders and said she took her actions in order to uphold her morals.

That sounds fair, on the surface perhaps, but it doesn’t excuse what would normally be described before the Age of Trump anyway, as rude behavior on her part.  

Asking Huckabee Sanders to leave a public restaurant when she was clearly “off the click” that night did nothing to uphold any moral values.  It just provided more fodder for the haters as Huckabee Sanders legitimately became the victim.

With her actions, Ms.Wilkinson, despite her fair and reasonable moral conviction, played right into the open and waiting arms of Donald Trump, the President of Hate and Vitriol (POHAV).  And in doing so, the divide in our country just got a little bit deeper.

No matter how much we disagree with others on the other end of the political spectrum, our goal must be to continue to employ the art of political discourse with the belief that at a absolute minimum, we can reach a point of compromise or possibly, just possibly, convince others that our thoughts, our policies, our ideas… are not as bad, as they might think.

This doesn’t mean we give up our right of free speech or our right to gather and protest peacefully, but we should not intrude in our opponents’ distinctly private pieces of their lives.

We must always treat those with differing opinions with respect, despite the fact that these same words knowingly fall on Donald Trump's deaf ears.

Yes, I know, I can feel your blood boiling. How can I hold Ms. Wilkinson to a higher standard while  Donald Trump has been routinely spewing hateful messages since the day he came down the escalator?

We must accept this unfairness and move forward, for one reason and one reason only. We are better than him.Trump motivates his supporters by branding enemies for them to hate: illegal immigrants, the Deep State, the Liberal Press, the FBI, the Justice Department, any politician with a “D” beside their name, and all the Republican Senators from the great State of Arizona, just to name a few.

For hate is the easiest of motivators. It’s his MO, and there is no one on the planet better at it then him. And he embraces it as a winning strategy, that if he takes us all down to the land of the bottom feeders, this lose - lose proposition is a win for him.  He seems to think this is how to Make America Great Again.

But we have a choice, we all have a choice.  Both his supporters and those who would oppose him. We don’t have to follow him to the bottom. We don’t. 

We win the the battle and the war by not losing our souls. 

#100 - Bizarro World in the Age of Trump

Donald Trump has exhibited an exquisite talent for upsetting the apple cart and casting aside norms that have existed in our society and in our politics for generations.  He has shown a willingness to break things large and small, new and old, giving new meaning to the old expression “a bull in a china shop” along the way.  With a strong propensity for “repeal” and little or no interest for “replace”, all of this comes naturally to him, as if he was born with his middle finger protruding upright as he exited his mother’s womb.  Perhaps it was this early start, that now enables him to execute his unique talent, so flawlessly. 

So, if on any given day, you feel that you that you were the innocent victim in a car crash, and you walked away with a severe case of whiplash that just won’t go away, know this.  You are not alone. 

So, if everything you have come to know and believe seems to be part of a past, long ago forgotten, and the world seems to have been turned on its’ head, know that there is a rational explanation for this.  You see we have now crossed into a new dimension of time and space and entered a new world where up is down and down is up.  We are now living In Bizarro World,

DC Comics described such a world back in 1961  (From Wikipedia). In the Bizarro world of "Htrae" (that’s Earth, spelled backwards), society is ruled by the Bizarro Code which states "Us do opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!”  

And Bizarro No. 1, a.k.a. Bizarro Superman, the imperfect duplicate of Superman, was portrayed throughout the story's episodes as a character of equal parts humor and confusion.  

Does this sound like anyone we know?

Barack Obama was criticized for failing to execute a consistent foreign policy strategy. His was often distilled into that singular line “Don’t do stupid things”.   In our new Bizarro World, it seems as if Donald Trump lives by the strategy that is best described as, “Do stupid things as much as possible”.

The last few weeks of on-again, off-again, trade tariffs has revealed, to the bewilderment of Democrats and Republicans alike, that our President is perversely obsessed with punishing our allies, while giving the benefit of the doubt to our adversaries.

Born and raised life-time Republicans are shaking their heads, wondering:

(i) How the hell did we get in to this mess?

(ii) What on earth is he going to go next ?

(iii) Which decisions am I supposed to be for and which decisions am I supposed to be against ? I forget.

And please, don’t even think to ask Republicans about Trump's decision to let the Chinese telecom company ZTE, who has been accused of severe security violations, off the hook with a mere, peasant like $1billion fine, for they might start twitching uncontrollably and implode.  Democrats just seem to be walking around in a perpetual fog, affected with a severe case of head trauma caused by Trump’s eradicate actions and spoken words, wondering aloud if all of this would have happened if Anthony Wiener just hadn’t been so obsessed with teen age girls.

In the past week, the activities within Bizarro World were on full display. It started as Trump was about to board his chopper to head to the G-7 summit, when, unbeknownst to all of his own aides (this is how you do things in Bizarro World), he started pitching for the G-7 club to let his personal buddy, Vladimir Putin, back in.  This is the guy who invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea, imprisoned his political opponents, poisoned  British citizens and sought to influence and disrupt the US Presidential elections.  

In the normal world, the mere suggestion of this would have automatically led normal folks to conclude that the Steele dossier was 100% accurate, except for one important thing.  It left out all the really good parts. 

In Bizarro World, well, this was just downright normal.

But Trump’s affinity for his buddy Vlad is only one half of this truly bizarre story, the other half involved attacking our oldest and longest international ally, our neighbor to the north, for which no border walls are needed, Canada.  

If seems that Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada issued a statement after the G7 meetings regarding the tariff issue that Canada was not going to be pushed around.  Trump threw a hissy fit and promptly removed the United States from a joint communique the G7 was going to issue and blasted Trudeau for dairy tariffs. Mind you, the US is currently running a trade surplus here, but please let's  not let facts get in the way of the larger point, that the President had kicked his lap dogs into high gear, having them take to the airwaves to attack Trudeau.

Larry Kudlow, the former Fox News business personality, and now the President’s Economic Advisor, claimed that Trudeau had “stabbed them in the back”, proving once again that you can take the fox out of Fox News,  but you can never take Fox News out of the fox. 

Peter Navarro, who may be the only person on the planet who agrees with Trump’s policy on trade said of Trudeau “that there was a special place in hell” for him.  Whoa! Navarro later apologized and walked his statement back, but it was too late for the horse was out of the barn, and the President's real thoughts were there for all to see.

All of this was just a backdrop to Turmp’s historic summit with North Koren despotic leader Kim Jung Un who he basically described as the cuddly, affectionate leader of group of koala bears.  

Barack Obama was metaphorically castrated by conservative Republicans when he merely suggested he would meet with Kim Jung Un. When Trump does it, it’s strategic. 

A few Republican leaders have attempted to push back on what was viewed as an over reach of power by Trump who invoked the national security exception permitting him to usurp Congress’s responsibility to manage tariffs, essentially naming Canada a national security threat.  Let that sink in.  Canada is a national security threat. 

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) pressed for a vote that would allow Congress to block Trump’s tariffs.   He’s won support from free-trade Republicans and some Democrats. But GOP leaders would not permit the vote.  It seems that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned last week that HIS Senate won’t pass anything that ties Trump’s hands on trade.

The Republican leadership had concluded that the politics of supporting their own Bizarro Superman were more important than supporting free trade, one of the decades long, core principles of their very own party.  And when McConnell’s office was asked to comment about the administration’s feud with Canada.  There was no response. 

It seems that some things never do change. Even in Bizarro World.

#99 - My 39th Wedding Aniversary

Today is Saturday, June 16, the 167th day of 2018. There are 198 days left in the year.

Today is also my 39th Wedding Anniversary which I share with my wonderful wife Mary.   Early this morning she texted me a picture from our wedding where we were smiling, toasting each other.  I remember the day went by fast, going by in a blurr for both us.  And as we look back now, the last 39 years feel the same, and we wonder how did all go by... so fast.

Now, many of you may not appreciate this, simply because you are not as old and wise as I am now, but he 39th wedding anniversary is an extremely important one.  You see the clock has started ticking and you only have one year left to think up something really special for your 40th.  Failure is not an option here, guys, for the alternative, well, let's just say it's not pretty.  So please put the word out on my behalf.  I'm accepting suggestions now.

After we exchanged anniversary cards (we had already given ourselves our anniversary gift) I did a few of the simple things that make her happy.  I made her coffee, fed the dog and then took the dog for a good walk.  This allowed her to relax, have her morning coffee, read and eventually take her time getting ready for an early lunch we had scheduled at a new spot nearby.

Upon my return with the dog, I went out into our courtyard with a second cup of coffee,  For the record, it was a beautiful morning in the Boston area, sunny, comfortable, with a slight breeze.  I was flipping through the Boston Globe on my IPhone, when the very last article caught my eye, the one you have all seen before, "This Day in History".  Honestly, I never go here, but today, being our anniversary, I dove in with great curiosity to discover all of the tidbits of the day'. 

I discovered that today is Phil Mickelson's birthday.  He is 48.  Now I am not a golfer, but Phil has always been a class act who has carried himself well, so I always end up routing for him on those summer days when I turn golf on in the afternoon, purely as a background for taking a well deserved nap.

On this day in 2008, Tiger Woods, playing on a throbbing injured knee, won an epic US Open after a 19-hole playoff at Torrey Pines with Rocco Mediate.   I can't be certain, but I suspect I actually nodded off on this one as well.

I learned that the Ford Motor Company was incorporated on this day in 1903.  I suspect that this may represent the official birth of the American Automobile industry, so that seemed pretty cool.  That industry is 115 years old, but I also reminded myself that it almost crash and burned in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but the Obama administration stepped in to support it, and soon it came roaring back.  Imagine that, a so called liberal administration helping corporate America for the good of all.  How is that for a story?

On that same day that Tiger won that playoff, a California Supreme Court ruling that overturned the state’s bans on same-sex marriage became final.   I have written about gay rights several times before, for as I have explained, I have a horse in this horse race.  I have a gay son, of whom I am extremely proud, and I simply want him to have all the rights and all the respect that all Americans deserve.  So this was a good one, I will remember this one on all my anniversaries to come.

Perhaps the best one though, goes back 160 years.  In 1858, while accepting the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the US Senate, Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring one of his most well known lines, that ‘‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’’  We could use an Abraham Lincoln today, the gentle man who fiercely held the moral compass for an entire country, and despite the intensity of a devastating civil war, never let go, understanding the importance of keeping the fabric of the country together.  Honest Abe was so good for us, he deserves to be remembered everyday, not just on my anniversary.

But then I came to the very last item on the list, the most recent one, the one that read:

In 2015, real estate mogul Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign with a speech at Trump Tower in Manhattan.

I remember it well, the picture of the Donald descending from the heaven's above, on an elevator no less, with Melania dutifully leading the way, with Neil Young's 'Rocking in the Free World' blaring in the background.  Besides the fact that Neil likely didn't authorize his music for this purpose, it was disturbing scene then, and its just become more terrifying since.   You recall right?  Yes this was the Donald's controversial speech where he stated:

"When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. ...They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

The Captain of hate and vitriol was just getting started.  That was three years ago today and its been downhill ever since.  

I admit, until this morning I had no idea that this event had occurred on our anniversary. That's probably because at the time, I ascribed so little probability to his success as a presidential candidate.  That's because I was certain that our country would never in a thousand years elect such a hateful, dishonest, morally bankrupt shell of a man.

But it turns out I was wrong, it turns out there are many others in the country that don't share my sentiment, and I was clueless.  My disappointment in our country is profound, and I am unable to shake it, burdened by the belief that the harm this man has caused our country will linger, long after he is gone.  

For the time being I will do my best to focus on the thing that is best in my life, the love of my wife of 39 years who accepts me for who I am.   I love my wife, and I look forward to all of our anniversaries to come,.  And for her benefit as well as my own, I promise  I will focus all my attention on all the other good things that happened on this special day, on This Day In History.    These are the ones that will carry me forward.