#93 - The Failure of Fox News

Ralph Peters, a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel, has been a Fox News contributor for over 10 years.  He has been a tough critic of Barack Obama, once describing him as having been “date raped” by Vladimir Putin and was briefly suspended in 2015 for calling President Obama a "total pussy" while on the Fox Business Network.

I lead with this background for its important to appreciate that Peters is no Liberal Snowflake hiding out in a fox skin fur.  Earlier this month, Peters chose not to renew his contract with Fox News stating "Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association.  Now I am ashamed”.   Ashamed….

“Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers”, Peters said in resignation letter to his colleagues, adding , “In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts--who have never served our country in any capacity--dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller--all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of "deep-state" machinations-- I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.”

Peters makes several extremely important points that speak to the selfish behavior of Fox News, which is causing long term damage to our imperfect democracy.

First, he reflects upon the fact that Fox once had a mission to offer a legitimate and much needed outlet for conservatives.  On the surface, this was a well-intended goal, but the face of American press has morphed dramatically over the last few decades.   Walter Cronkite was once considered to be the most trusted man in America, so much so that when his perspective turned on the Viet Nam war, President Johnson was quoted as saying “If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the country."  Since those days, the press has clearly leaned left in its outlook, which set the stage for the arrival of Fox News. It was a void waiting to be filled.

If Fox News had only stayed true to its original mandate, things might have turned out better for them and better for all of us.   While the network was being established back in 1996, co-founder Roger Ailes actually used the slogan ……."Fair and Balanced".   Honestly, I am not making this up.  Check out Wikipedia if you don’t believe me. 

Peter’s resignation refers back to those days, when real value could have been added by the arrival of the network, but sadly, somewhere along their path, they lost their way.

Second, Peters references the Fox’s more prominent role in the press today as “a propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration”.   Think about this for a moment.  A Fox News contributor is accurately depicting the network’s action as the defacto spokesperson for the Trump administration, where the only speech that emanates out is so far from the truth, it’s officially …“propaganda”.

Third, Peters hits the nail on the head when he states that “Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.”   The profit motive was not far from the minds of the Fox executives who released a reply to Peter’s resignation statement which read “We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing,”

Their reference to their top-rated primetime hosts is accurate.  Of course they are top-rated, Fox News effectively has a monopoly owning the only major conservative voice in the main stream media, while all the other networks fight over the left leaning and moderate voices in our country, so how can they lose?  Fox’s profits is their raison d'être.   They achieve those profits by catering to a large minority of America, and they are not going to let anyone poach their territory.  So as many conservatives and republicans morphed into the current base of Trump supporters starting back in 2015, they moved with their market.  They moved to protect their brand with no concern for the loss of the any remaining credibility they might have once owned.

There is a reason President Trump is not rushing to fill the Director of Communications role, formerly held by Hope Hicks, who officially left the White House on Friday.  It’s not because he is his own Director as many political commenters have postulated.  No, it’s because he already has Fox News acting in this role.  Under the guise of being “independent”, they offer additional validation to his base.  This has led to a circular, reinforcing dynamic, where the President is happy, Fox News is happy, and Trump supporters are happy.   They are all tucked in and cozy, in their hermetically-sealed bubble, undisturbed by all the fake news around them. 

And for the rest of us, who choose to live outside of any bubble, it’s now confirmed.  Walter Cronkite is no longer with us and we are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.

#92 - Patriot's Owner Takes A Stand

Corporations are stoic beasts, often fixated on the bottom line, who are loath to take a political stance which could alienate some part of their customer base and preclude future access to their wallets. But every now and then, some radical thinking CEO decides to pull a “PopEye” and declare that they have had all that they can stand, they can’t stand no more.

New England Patriots owner and CEO Robert Kraft explained his “Popeye” yesterday and why it was a “no-brainer” to lend the team jet to the families of the 17 victims and other injured students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who were participating on Saturday in the “March for Our Lives” rally against gun violence in Washington DC.

Kraft acted on a request to lend the team’s Boeing 767 from former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, herself a victim of gun violence, and her husband, Mark Kelly. Kraft’s mini dissertation on the topic and and his clear frustration follows below:

“I have a big problem with what’s going on in Washington and the divisiveness, and no one’s listening to one another, and forgetting where you stand on this issue. So when they called and asked, would you send a plane to help take the wounded kids and their families, kids who couldn’t go on a normal plane, we didn’t hesitate a minute.

“Think, all of you who have kids. Think about losing one of your kids. You wake up in the morning, they go to school, and they don’t come home at night. I just thought this is a way for our organization to reach out to these people who were hurting bad. I can’t think of a worse unnatural thing than losing a child. Think of little kids going to school and seeing bullets, in America, going over their head. Something’s not right, and we’ve got to fix it. Congratulations to these kids for trying to get the attention of this country focused on it.

“I hope our friends in Washington are smart enough to figure out a way to listen to one another and do something that can be positive.”

We applaud your strong words Mr. Kraft, but unfortunately our friends in Washington, specifically our Republican friends, continue to hide out on this issue, so that makes your suggestion to listen to one another a little hard to pull off. With Congress on recess at the end of last week, Republicans had a built-in excuse to literally and figuratively head for the hills on this one, so none of them stuck around to hear what the kids had to say.

Once onboard the Patriots jet, the students and their families were greeted by a letter of support from Kraft which read:

"On behalf of the New England Patriots organization, I want to express our support as you travel to Washington for this weekend's March for Our Lives. In the wake of incredible tragedy, we have hurt for you, mourned with you and been inspired by you. It is an honor for us to now partner with you as you push for progress.

Your community is stirring our country towards a better future. That is the true mark of a patriot. Thank you for your leadership and inspiration. Best wishes as you prepare for takeoff on your journey."

So now, let’s compare Mr. Kraft’s words and deeds to those of the tone deaf dunderhead and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum who suggested on CNN that the students would be better off taking a CPR course rather than trying to motivate a Republican Congress to do something positive for once in their sorry lives.

President Trump at least avoided putting his foot in his mouth on this one, but he did so by high tailing it out of town over the weekend and headed to his personal golf course, again, where his motorcade took the long way home to avoid even driving by protesters. For a brief moment in time, when the President met with survivors of the shooting, we all thought he might actually lead the country forward on this one. But a meeting with the NRA the very next day caused him to crawl back to the safety and comfort of his Twitter feed, and a briefly hoped for bang, ended with a whimper.

Mr. Kraft’s assistance on this worthy effort will certainly lead to some blow back from some of the good ‘ol boys who buy seasons tickets every year, who will view this as a big nod to those on the left who, they will say, harbor a long term goal to repeal the second amendment. But he appears willing to accept it, and we should note that this is not the first time the corporate owner of the New England Patriots has taken a personally difficult stand. He previously stood up for his players’ right to protest during the national anthem at the start of each game. The most interesting part of all this is that it comes from a man who was a big supporter of Mr. Trump and who reportedly donated $1 million to his campaign.

Proving that there are people on both sides of the aisle that can come together and agree on common sense steps to make our country a better place to live.

And for those of you Patriots haters out there, you might ask yourselves, what has your team done to take a stand ? What has your team done to take a risk?

[Footnote - coincidentally, tonight I will be attending the Boston Speaker Series with Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly. I am looking forward to hearing their perspective on this important issue first hand.]

#91 - Steve Mnuchin's Lies and Stupidity On Display, Again.

Chris Wallace on Fox News Today was interviewing Steve Mnuchin, President Trump's Secretary of the Treasury this morning.  For those of you who feel that Fox News is one sided in their outlook and  a cheerleader for DJT,  I would remind you that there are exceptions to every rule, and in Chris Wallace, I offer you at least one exception.

1) On the topic of the Republican tax cut passed at the end of last year.  Wallace reminded Mnuchin
that he and the President both promised Americans that most of the benefits of the corporate tax reductions would go to the workers.   Then he showcased a recent study which clearly showed the bulk of the benefits from S&P 500 Companies have gone to shareholders, as summarized below:

• $5.2 Billion to employees on higher wages and bonuses
• $157 Billion for stock buybacks

Mnuchin said it was still early and stock buybacks were not an equivalent comparison and were a good thing because they get recycled into the economy.  He's right of course, they get recycled in to the economy, right into the pocketbooks of those lucky enough to own stock portfolios, i.e. the rich get richer,  workers get screwed over, and Steve Mnuchin, the President's spokesman on the tax cut, lies....again.

2) On the topic of the President's recent signing of the budget bill, which left many of the President's own base extremely unhappy, Mnuchin complained that the President wanted a line item veto on the budget.  Wallace politely pointed out to Mnuchin that the Supreme Court ruled that the line item veto was unconstitutional, to which Mnuchin replied that Congress could pass a rule that allows them to do it. 

This is where it got ugly.

Wallace then attempted to educate the Secretary on the meaning of the word 'unconstitutional', informing the Secretary that he would need a Constitutional amendment to pass a line item veto

And Mnuchin replied, "I don't want to get into a debate Chris, there are different ways to do to this."

No, Sir, there aren't.  You need a constitutional amendment. Period. 

Lies and stupidity, on display by Secretary Munchin, again, courtesy of the best and brightest of Fox News.   

Thank you Mr. Wallace.  Your father's legacy on 60 Minutes, always in search of the truth, was in full view this morning on another network.  I am sure he was watching and was proud of his son, again.

#90- Perspective Lost: McMaster Out, Bolton In

On February 21, 2017, the day after President Trump announced the selection of Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as his National Security Advisor, and less than one month into the Age of Trump, I said it was a win for all of us. 

I made that statement based on two early data points which had come out in the news. First, McMaster was well respected by individuals on both sides of the aisle, and second, because he had written a book for taking the military to task for aspects of its public posture during the Vietnam War, which, for those of us who grew up in the sixties, offered an honest perspective of history and with it, the hope they we might learn from our mistakes.

McMaster's work concluded that the Joint Chiefs had been so focused on their own self interests of their different services, that they never properly pressed their opposition to the gradual escalation strategy favored by President Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.

Retired general David Petraeus would later bring the book to General Hugh H. Shelton when he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 1997. Shelton said “It is a valuable resource for leaders of any organization,’’ and made it required reading for all of his staff.
There are two take-a-ways here, the first that McMaster was thoughtful enough to study history and come to a different conclusion than the prevailing wisdom at the time.  The second was that others in our military understand the grave importance of learning from the mistakes of the past, so those mistakes are never repeated.

“Focused on their own self interests”.  Does that remind you of anyone?

Neither of these concepts appear to be part of the repertoire of John Bolton, Trump’s new replacement for National Security Adviser, fresh off another stint as a Fox News Commentator.

We don’t have to go back too far in time to recall that Bolton was a key part of the worst piece of calculus ever formulated in the history of our imperfect democracy.  No one was a louder proponent in the promotion of the invasion of Iraq under the biggest fake news story of the century, the search for the mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction.  Along with Cheney, and Rumsfeld, he concocted the story line that the Iraqis would welcome us with open arms and that US military involvement would be quick and easy.   Right, that worked out well, didn’t it?

It’s mind boggling to me that Bolton and men like him who effortlessly create false narratives to convince the masses and are then proven wrong, aren’t immediately relegated to the trash heap of time, but somehow, the imperfections in our democracy allow them to keep creeping back in.

No, the horrific choice of the Iraq invasion has not seemed to slow down Bolton in the least. Less than a month ago, Bolton made a case in the Wall Street Journal, for a pre-emptive attack on North Korea when he said that “it is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current ‘necessity’ posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.”  Even more noteworthy is that Bolton told Fox News earlier this month that (Trump’s) talks with North Korea would be worthless, and he has called South Korean leaders “putty in North Korea’s hands.”

The real problem is that a case for pre-emptive strike cannot be completely eliminated as a viable option, but when it’s the singular perspective of the boy who cried wolf one too many times and that boy is the National Security Advisor, we are left in a quandary.  We can never feel comfortable listening to this man. 

When Trump selected H.R McMaster to be his National Security Advisor a year ago, I said it was imperative that he listen to McMaster’s advice and I concluded with a warning, that It won't do anyone, any good, on any side of the aisle, if McMaster leaves the administration early and ends up going on to write a sequel to his first book, which was appropriately titled "Dereliction of Duty".

Now sadly, with McMaster’s early departure and the selection of Bolton as National Security Advisor, the odds for war and very possibly, nuclear war, have increased dramatically overnight.  Layer in Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior and his singular self-interest to be perceived as a “winner”, using any means necessary, and at any cost, and I now worry that my greatest fear will come to pass. 

The complete loss of perspective of our own President will lead to catastrophic losses for us all, not just in the United States, but around the world, and the, yet to be published, “Dereliction of Duty of Donald J. Trump” by HR McMaster will become the best read book of the new millennium, for those of us who are still around to read it. 

#89 - Will Hillary Clinton PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEEASE Go Away and Never Come Back?

If I lost a head-to-head election to Donald J. Trump, I would feel such shame, such embarrassment and such abject failure, that I would want to crawl into a hole and never come out.   I mean, let’s face it, it’s only a slight exaggeration to say that a highly trained seal should have beaten Donald Trump.

Apparently, that’s not the belief held by the former Democratic Candidate for President and now (thankfully) irrelevant, Hillary Clinton.      

I could forgive her loss to the Republican candidate.  I could forgive the fact that she wasted one of the best looking resumes ever held by any presidential candidate.  I could forgive the fact that she was handed the nomination on a silver platter, with the support of a popular sitting Democratic President and with the Democratic National Committee secretly sitting in her back pocket. I could forgive the fact that she had the advantage of being the first female President of the United States. I could even forgive the fact that she lost to one of the most horrible individuals on the planet. …. if only for once in her life, she would shut up and stop making excuses.  If only, she would take some responsibility.

This past week proved once and for all, that this will never happen, that she will never accept responsibility for letting our country down and leaving us with Donald Trump.   She will never own her loss. 

Speaking at a conference in Mumbai, India this week Clinton continued her “Make Excuses for Failing America, Again” Tour when she (I) inferred that folks in Red States were pessimistic and backward and (ii) women who voted for Trump were incapable of standing up to their Man

Aggggghhhhhh!  Stop it ! Stop it! Stop it ! You are kiling me ! Has this woman learned nothing in her 18 months of political exile ?  

So you don’t think I am making this stuff up (trust me, I’m not that creative), let me read you her comments.    

Statement 1:
“If you look at the map of the United States, there is all that red in the middle, places where Trump won. What that map doesn’t show you is that I won the places that own two thirds of America’s Gross Domestic product. I won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward. And his whole campaign, Make America Great Again, was looking backwards.”

*** So let me get this straight, if I just happen to live in a state you FAILED to carry in 2016, this means I am pessimistic, conforming, boring and backward thinking? My God, I never realized I was so horrible. Maybe I should just go home now and blow my brains out.

Statement #2:

“We do not do well with white men and we don’t do well with married, white women, and part of that is an identification with the Republican Party, and a sort of ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should.”

***Excuse me, I was wrong. All along I thought you were the first women running for President. I completely missed the fact that you were the first Neanderthal.   Tammy Wynette is looking down at you and smiling, while married, white women everywhere want to know if you need to have your meds checked.

Let me sum it up.   If you have to insult and denigrate large parts of America to compensate for your own personal failure, you are no better than, than, than.,...Donald J Trump. 

Oh no, not the ‘D’ Name.  Anything but that!  Swear at her all you want, call her every god-awful curse word in the book, but never use the ‘D’ name!

Too late friends, I already did.

Sadly, Hillary Clinton is incapable of admitting that she just turned out to be poor candidate who turned in a very poor performance.   She won’t admit that she failed to connect with anyone outside her base.  She won’t acknowledge the critical fact that she foolishly neglected the good people in the Midwest who once represented a strong piece of the Democratic base, that her failure to set foot in Michigan and Wisconsin and barely give the time of day to Pennsylvania would cause her to lose a paltry 100,000 votes and the Presidency. She refuses to admit that it was her campaign failure which gave rise to the surprising success of Donald Trump and left our country in such miserable shape. 

While I am sure she would have made a very good president, she was a very poor candidate, and without the later, you don’t get a shot at the former.  It may be unfair, and it may mean that we don’t always get the best people as president, but that’s how they game is played.

Looking ahead, it’s not clear to anyone who the Democrats will put up to oppose Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential election.  That is the big question facing the Democrats today. Who will they look to for leadership?  At the moment, it’s anyone’s game. Twenty-plus names have been bantered around with absolutely no one being considered the front runner. 

But after the Hillary Clinton debacle of 2016, maybe that’s the best news the Democrats have had in a long time.

#88 - The Pennsylvania 18th Congressional District Speaks

I had never heard of Rick Saccone, the Republican Candidate, for the 18th Pennsylvania Congressional District, before, until I saw clips of him campaigning with Donald Trump Jr. This image alone was enough to make anyone feel nauseous, but then I heard Saccone speak, and that was enough to make the average person throw up.

Mr. Saccone was wrapping up his campaigning the day before the special election and was speaking with a small group of his supporters. In a sick attempt to galvanize support, he told the attendees there, that - he had seen his opponent’s supporters and…. they hated our country. Worse than that, and his wife had seen this too, they hated God.

Whoa!!

That’s right, apparently because they were supporting Mr. Saccone’s Democratic opponent, they hated our country and they hated God.

On the surface, this seemed to be a bit of a stretch for me, so I thought I would investigate more, and so I posed a few questions to Mr. Saccone.
____________________________

Let me get this right, sir. You both saw this? You and your wife? Really, sir, how do you know this? Oh, I see, you just know.

Do you have videos of them burning the flag? No?

Have they been stomping on your rosary beads? No?

Are you and your wife both telepathic and have you both seen in to the evil dark recesses of their sick and twisted minds? Nooo?

You weren’t abducted by aliens as a child, were you sir? Anal probing would explain a lot, sir. We could be very sympathetic here. Still No ?

Or Mr. Saccone, are you simply taking a page out of Donald J. Trump’s playbook on “How to Hate Your Way to Victory”?

I see a little smile in the corner of your mouth, sir. We nailed it, didn’t we sir ? Yes, yes, we did.
____________________________

Well, sadly for Mr. Saccone, the man proved to be a mere novice attending the Charter School of Haters. He hasn’t spent a lifetime perfecting his message of hate and vitriol like our dear, sweet President has. Generally speaking, it takes a rare person to espouse hate effortlessly, flawlessly, naturally and so happily, but that’s just what makes our President oh so….special.

It’s one thing to be hateful, but it’s another thing to hone the skills necessary to use hate as a galvanizing force. Those skills, take a life time to perfect.

As of this morning, the race was still too close to call with Saccone’s Democratic opponent, Connor Lamb, holding a microscopic lead as absentee ballots were still being counted. And either way, the race will go on to a recount, but the good people of Pennsylvania had spoken.

The 18th Congressional District which had been won by Donald J. Trump by 20 points less than 18 months ago had firmly voted to repudiate the hate espoused by DJT and his DJT wannabe, Rick Saccone.

It may be days or weeks before this race certified, for either Mr Saccone or Mr. Lamb. But no matter how the final votes are counted, make no mistake, this is a win for the good guys.

March 14, 2018

#87 - "Hopefully, You Will Give Me Credit"

Trump walked out of his Thursday meeting with the South Korean National Security Advisor which covered his prospective face-to-face meeting with Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, and while the first inclination of the previous 44 US Presidents would have been to talk it all over with their Secretaries of State, their go-to guys on all affairs foreign, Trump’s instincts took him instead to the pool of reporters down the hall, to announce that there would be a major statement on North Korea. 

VP Mike Pence, dutifully in tow, (because being VP for this great man has unequivocally been the greatest honor of his life) was stone cold silent, perhaps because he was in a complete state of shock that Trump would actually do this, but more likely because he had no idea what crazy thing Trump would do or say next.  In other words, it was just another day at the White House.

The formal announcement that Trump would meet Kim by May 2018  to “achieve denuclearization”  was actually made on Thursday evening on the steps of the White House, by the South Koreans on behalf of the U.S. Administration, apparently because recent staff turnover was much worse than any of us really knew, and we were now reaching out to the foreign offices of Robert Half to back fill the open slots in the White House Communication team.

Indicative of his obsession with feeding his own ego, an excited President Donald J Trump told Jon Karl of ABC News, "Hopefully, you will give me credit," a reference to his bombshell announcement, and also to the undeniable evidence that he is totally clueless as to all the steps that remain ahead.

“Hopefully, you will give me credit”. 

Uggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Those six words sum up with everything that is completely wrong with this President

In his mind, our President has already won the Super Bowl, taken home the MVP trophy and will soon be the star of the victory parade on Pennsylvania Avenue riding on top of a tank (there will be lots of tanks) to the cheers of the adoring crowd,….and he hasn’t even completed the first day of training camp.  He is still waiting in line to get his jock strap.

In our country of over 330 million Americans, it’s all about him.  It always has been, and always will be

Look I get it, he has been getting hammered by the Liberal (but accurate) Press for everything, Russia, Jared, Stormy, record staff turnover, tariffs, more Russia, his failure to advance discussions on immigration or gun legislation and his overall, but incredibly consistent level of incompetence.   And this was just last week.

His ratings are in the toilet, Republicans are set to take a beating in the mid-terms.  So yes, I get it.  Even I feel for the guy. He wants credit for something.  He wants a win. He wants to feel the love.

But please Mr. President, this is a nuclear North Korea.  It’s not a game show.  It’s not reality TV.  North Korea and Kim Jong-un now represent the biggest threat on the world stage.  They are a throw-back to an antiquated world where an entire country is completely, dominated by a third generation child king who has been described as irrational, selfish and childish.  Yes, sir I know.  Yes, he is your kind of guy.

But you are intending to embark on incredibly complex international negotiations which will ultimately require cooperation from China and Russia, and in North Korea, we will be negotiating with a country on which we have very little, good intelligence.

So, please Mr. President listen to you advisers, get Rex Tillerson out of bed, leave Jared the Boy Wonder at home, bring back the recently retired State Department's designated North Korea envoy, Ambassador Joseph Yun to come back in to work for you.  Tell him this time, you will actually listen to his ideas.  Get some help Mr. President. Don’t try to do this on you own.  Even you fiercest critics (I’m not at that level yet, but I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a personal goal), even your fiercest credits want you to succeed.  I want you to succeed.

This is too big.  This is too critical. Don’t expect to tweet your way to victory.  Take it one game at a time, and for God‘s sake, Sir, put the victory parade completely out of your head for two very important reasons:

1) You might not ever get there, and you know that old expression about “the bigger they are”...

2) It will distort your negotiations terribly. It will cause you to make terrible decisions. It will make you behave in irrational ways…Yes Sir, I know, this all sounds pretty good to you, but, but..

Either way, if the victory parade is your ultimate motivation here, it won’t end well for any of us.  No Sir.   You want to succeed Sir, because it’s good for all Americans, and it’s good for the Rest of the World.   It’s good for America, it’s good for the World. It’s good for America, It’s good for the World.  That’s it Sir, keep repeating it.  You can do it Sir. Keep repeating. It’s good for America.  It’s good for the World.

Keep your eye on the ball Sir.  Stay focused and please know that you are my horse in this horse race and I want you to succeed.

Oh, but don’t think for a second that I will every vote for you Sir, it will be a cold day in hell before that ever happens.  But I do want you to succeed.

#86 - Mad Man Across The River

“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms," he said, "they could very well end the attack very quickly."

"Where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them," he said, while acknowledging the plan was controversial, "they would go for special training and they would be there, and you would no longer have a gun-free zone”

Those are the words of President Trump who attended yesterday’s “listening” session with gun control advocates

God help us all. Where will it end?

When the next mad man shoots up a Starbucks, what are we going to do ? Arm the baristas?

When the next mad man shoots up a city bus, what are we going to do? Arm the bus drivers?

When the next mad man shoots up a hospital, what are we going to do? Arm the nurses?

When the next mad man shoots up a church, what are we going to do, arm the clergy? No of course not, that’s absurd....we will arm the choir directors.

When the next mad man runs for President, what are we going do? Vote for him?

Not me. Never. Over my dead body. I have not lost my sanity …. yet.

And I hope to God you have not either.

#85 - Same Sex Marriage in the Bermuda Triangle

Rolling back the civil rights of its citizens is not something that most governments want to be known for.  It’s not the sort of thing that is showcased on the national resume,

It appears that the little island of Bermuda, a British territory, 650 miles off the coast of North Carolina, doesn’t subscribe to the same school of thought, as they recently become the first jurisdiction in the world to legalize and then repeal same-sex marriage, in what critics have called an unprecedented rollback of civil rights.

 Oh, I get how it happened.  It was another battle of the judiciary branch vs. the legislative branch. Some judge who as a child stumbled across the basic concept that all men and all women are created equal, and grew up believing that the concept was…wait, what’s the right word here? Let me think, OK, got it…, grew up believing, that the concept was….SELF-EVIDENT…, decided one day to do the right thing and declare same-sex marriage legal, on the little island territory. 

For that judge, there probably was not much to fuss about, she was just trying to do what judges do, interpret the laws of their jurisdiction fairly and impartially, and she concluded one day that some gay persons were being unfairly treated, so she corrected it.  Just another day at the office. 

And so on May 5, 2017, Acting Chief Justice Charles-Etta Simmons of the Supreme Court of Bermuda issued her ruling in favor of same-sex marriage stating "on the facts, the applicants were discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation when the Registrar refused to process their notice of intended marriage.”  And the judge declared that same-sex couples are entitled to be married under Bermuda’s Marriage Act 1944. 

And so it was written, and so it shall be.

Ah, not quite.  The legislative branch of this socially conservative territory with a population of 64,000 had other ideas.  It seems that Bermuda is not quite in step in comparison with the larger continents which surround it.

The legislative branch succumbed to local political pressure and did the politically correct thing (it’s what they do) with total disregard for doing the right thing (it’s not in their DNA).  And so same-sex marriage was once again declared illegal and replaced, the legislature will tell you, with an extremely generous Domestic Partnership Act, which provides almost all if the benefits of gay marriage, except for one thing you see, a little thing called… dignity.   Gay folks don’t deserve that you see, because, well, they are gay.  And it’s our job to take it away from them.  This was the message delivered by Bermuda’s House of Assembly and voted into law by the Governor on February 7, 2018.

In a world where the acceptance of same-sex marriage is becoming so routine, it’s downright boring, the little island of Bermuda was in danger of being lost at sea.  A Gallup poll conducted in May 2017, showed support for same-sex marriage in the United States was at 64%, up from 26% just 20 years earlier.  Hell, even 47% of Republicans now support gay marriage. Still, Bermuda was bucking the trend.  You have to wonder why they appear to be going in reverse, when everyone else has the pedal to the floor and is moving forward.

The distinguishing characteristic might be the possible isolation that comes with being an island, one that survives as an off shore financial center and tourist destination.  It is a popular tax avoidance location, where over 15,000 exempted or international companies are currently registered, most of which hold no office space or employees.  Tourism is the second largest industry on the island which sees over half a million visitors a year, mostly from the United States.

In both cases, the island essentially prostitutes itself to keep itself going.  Give us your money and we will take care of it.  Give us your free time and we will take care of you.  Both industries are inward looking, and they only care about operating in a hassle free environment which allows them to continue to print cash.   It doesn’t mean that the people in the industries are against same-sex marriage. It’s more likely that they support it.  They are just against disruption, so if the isolated island inhabitants haven’t yet moved forward in to the new millennium, so what.  It’s of no concern to them.

So, with that attitude, there is only one way to express disapproval for Bermuda’s backward leaning, legal reversal, only one way to introduce a bit of disruption.  You can do that by voting with your pocketbook.  It can influence change.  The most recent case in point was in 2016, when then Indiana governor Mike Pence signed The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allowed business owners to deny services to patrons based on their sexual orientation.  The backlash was swift and Indianapolis soon lost 12 conventions representing roughly $60 million in spending.  The law was eventually watered down and Pence’s career seemed to crater. (No one thought it could go any lower, but well, we were all flat our wrong on this one)

I have been to Bermuda three or four times in my lifetime and I always found it to be a beautiful welcoming retreat, and I always assumed I would be back.  But the truth is, there are many other places in the world, I would like to visit, so all things considered equal, unless things change in Bermuda, I won’t be going back. 

I hope you will consider joining me and causing just a little bit of disruption in the world. It feels good.      

[Written for my good friend, Karen]

#84 - The Russians Are After....ME!

The Russians are after ME, And I have proof!

When I started blogging about a year ago, I was pretty clueless.  I started posting to a free Google owned platform called Blogger,  but soon realized I was at a severe disadvantage here.

First, the platform itself got relatively little traffic.  Second I was fighting for space against Stephen Colbert monologues and anti-Trump cartoons, which frankly appealed more to me than my own stuff… so you can see the problem here.  And third, my little opinion pieces were averaging two pages in length (right, I’m working on that ) and in this day and age of instant everything, asking someone who has no clue who you are, to spend so much time reading your musings, well, that just was asking an awful lot. 

Over time I found some success in simultaneously posting to half a dozen left leaning groups on Face Book (the right leaning ones wouldn’t take me. I know, I tried)  These sites got  a lot more traffic,  that’s where I now can get some amount of name recognition in friendly confines   But I still post everything to Blogger, where everything remains aggregated, for my own record keeping purposes

The thing about Blogger, is the site captures all kinds of cool stats, including the location of the viewer. As you can see by the picture I posted the # 2 country is Russia, albeit it’s a distant #2.  

Still, why would Russia, have ANY interest in me, in my extremely small corner of the world?  Who the hell am I?  No one. 

The only logical explanation is my constant use of the “T” word ( I don’t want to call the moron by name, for they are probably watching me right now) . That must be very appealing to them.  You see the Russians have these automated bots out there scouring Face Book and any and all other Internet sites.   In speaking with some IT folks, it turns out, Russian probing and targeting is pretty routine, everywhere.

Laura Rosenberger, who studies Russian influence operations as director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, says given messages are geared for specific groups where they have more “currency” as they look to push different groups to extremes.  If they pickup on any pro-Trump musings, they then work to reinforce those ideas with whatever crap and fake news they come up with and push it out to those same pro Trump followers

So, I know the bots will keep checking me out.  It’s what they do.   They can’t help themselves. But if they were smart, they’d already know that any pro-Trump propaganda they might send my way, would just be falling on deaf ears.   Their time would be better spent searching out and abusing other poor unsuspecting folks who have real difficulty separating truth from fake news.  Sad to say, there are a lot of people in the country who fall into that category.

#83 - I Am Guilty Of Treason Too

I watched President Trump’s State of the Union speech last week.  I honestly didn’t want to, but I felt compelled to hear what he had to say.  I thought maybe I would learn something meaningful, but only half way through it, I realized I was wrong.  I would never learn anything from Donald Trump.  I was incapable of doing so.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some moments in his controlled speech, that if the words had come from anyone else’s lips, they would have sounded downright presidential.  But coming out of the mouth of Donald Trump, the words were empty and hollow, just meaningless sounds emanating out from a despicable human being.  And as I sat there listening, I realized I was too far gone.  I would never believe anything he would say. For me, too much water had already flowed under this bridge, and there was no way I would ever swim back up stream.

For me, the collective body of work of Donald J Trump from the past year and the rest of his sordid past had left a lasting imprint on me that will never go away.  Most of all, it left the heart-breaking sadness that at a critical time in our country’s history when we needed a leader to bring us together, his actions and his words, both of which were equal parts chaos, incompetence and selfishness, would only pull the country further apart. 

For me, there was simply no way he would ever be credible.  There would never be any trust. The constant repetition of lies and gross exaggerations had taken its toll.  I had become incapable of believing anything he said.

I acknowledge that I must take personal responsibility for this entrenched perspective.  I was not always this way.  I am not proud of it, not at all, and I know there have been times in my life that I have been critical of others for this very same behavior.  But I also know, that I didn’t get here on my own, and I know that there are many others out there like me, numbed by the behavior of this child-like, egotistical moron, who happens to be the most powerful man in the world. 

This child-like behavior was on display again last night in Cincinnati, Ohio when - his political surrogates will say - he jokingly referred to the behavior of Democrats in Congress who stoically refused to clap, stand or smile at any of the empty words emanating out of the President’s mouth, as ….treasonous….Ha, Ha, Ha.

This is the way of Donald Trump.  Take a divide, make it bigger, gin up your base and consider it a victory. 

I understood why the Democrats had refused  to show any sign of emotion that night. They knew that as soon as his pre-written speech had ended, Donald Trump would go back to being Donald Trump, without missing a beat, and we would all be worse off for it.

And I concluded that as I fully share their perspective, their sadness, their anger, and most importantly, guilty shared their behavior, that must mean, that I am guilty of treason too. 

Send out for the hangman.  He is going to be a busy man.  

#82 - The Good Republican

Just like our bodies have good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, our country has good Republican leaders and bad Republican leaders.  It’s easy to forget I know, with opportunistic, selfish dweebs such as Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan at the helm, but the truth is there are good Republicans out there, there really are.  You just have to be open minded and have a real desire to look for them.

I am proud to say, we actually have a record of growing, good, well-intentioned ones right here in the liberal bastion of democratic, true - blue Massachusetts. Surprised?

The fact is the last five out of the six Massachusetts governors have been Republican starting with Bill Weld (before he had his second or third mid-life crisis and became a Libertarian) Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, Mitt Romney (yes, an early architect of Obamacare), followed by Democrat Deval Patrick, and now our current governor, Charlie Baker.

Some of you may flinch at the name of Romney, who we all know ran against Barack Obama in his second term, and while he somehow found it politically expedient to forget his Romneycare roots in Massachusetts to dis the federal counterpart, you cannot deny that he has been successful businessman who truly made it in his own ...with no help from Daddy, and more importantly,  no matter what you think of his politics, he has always, always been viewed as a kind a decent man. Perhaps these latter qualities stem from his strong Mormon upbringing, I don’t know, but if you have any doubts about the man, just ask yourself honestly, how he compares to the current bozo taking up space in the Oval Office.

How do you feel now? Right, I rest my case. 

But I really want to talk about our current governor, Charles Baker who just completed the third year of his first term.  For his first two years in office, I didn’t pay that much attention to Charlie. He had this reputation of being a dull and boring guy, and he didn’t get a lot of headlines,  but he was getting things done. Maybe it’s because I am far down the dull and boring spectrum myself or maybe it’s because dull and boring was the perfect antidote to Donald J. Trump and his surprising Presidential election victory, but whatever the cause,  I started paying more attention to Charlie.

And two days before Trump would be inaugurated; Charlie rewarded my hopeful curiosity when he delivered his State of the State address. Charlie was on fire that night and it was a love fest with the predominantly Democratic Legislature ( I think the Democrats hold somewhere between 105% - 110% of all the seats in the state) who were clapping and hollering, and hollering and clapping.  You would have thought Tom Brady himself was at the podium showing off all of his (there are too many to count) Super Bowl rings.

Charlie went on to deliver the good news of the day.   Massachusetts has the lowest unemployment rate of all time - 3.7%, Our schools were number one in country for the sixth year in row.  We stole General Electric right out from under the nose of the state of Connecticut.  Bloomberg Business rated us the most innovative state in country for the second year.   The MBTA ran on time a couple of times last week.  It when on and on, and each time Charlie would get met with a standing "O".....from the Democrats!   The Democrats!

Holy Ravioli Batman, what planet is this?

And as he spoke, he actually paused to thank everyone for working together and he complimented Democrats by name, by name!   But the real beauty was in his closing where he pointedly addressed the divisiveness in our country. 

“I want to thank you, the (Democratic) legislature, for your goodwill.  This may seem like a small thing.  But it’s not. Too much of what passes for political dialogue these days isn’t dialogue at all.  It’s talking points. Character assassination. And deliberate misrepresentation. Wedge issues may be great for making headlines, but they do not move this Commonwealth forward.  Success is measured by what we accomplish together.  Our obligation to the people we serve is too important to place politics and partisanship before progress and results.”

In the Age of Trump, it was a magical night.

And I just wanted to run out into the street and hug someone.

Fast forward to this past week, where Charlie delivered his final State of the State address ….of his first term anyway,

You knew at the start that this would be as anti- Trump as you could get, without ever mentioning his name, when the invocation was conducted by a local iman who quoted the Koran and the pledge of allegiance was recited in English and Spanish by two Puerto Rican students.  The melting pot of America was on display and being quietly showcased by a sitting Republican governor!

Charlie began his speech reviewing the accomplishments in the Commonwealth over the last year alongside the Democratic legislature, and here is the kicker -  the majority of which dealt with helping those most in need. They included:

o fewer opioid overdose deaths and opioid prescriptions

o a huge reduction in the number of homeless families living in motels at state expense, from 1,500 in January 2015 to 56

o lower caseloads for the state social workers charged with protecting abused and neglected children.

o sweeping changes at the state prison for men with mental illness, replacing almost all the guards with a specially trained security force.

o his defense of the state’s universal health care (Romneycare!) law

o. his opposition to his party’s effort to repeal the federal Affordable Care Act.

o and he highlighted a law he signed in November that mandates free access to contraceptives for many Massachusetts women, an initiative sparked by Trump’s own efforts to roll back coverage.

You can’t believe this guy is a Republican, you say? I know, I know, but wait, it gets better!

His speech then went in to discuss his proposed new initiatives including:

o $83 million in new funding to bolster community-based services for adults with serious mental illness

 o an additional $2 million to help plan for climate change

 o an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit, which helps the working poor and could benefit about 450,000 residents.

o a drive for the creation of 135,000 new affordable homes in Massachusetts by 2025.
 o a desire  to pass his wide-ranging opioid bill that follows the one passed by the Legislature and signed by Baker in 2016

There was little mention of how well businesses were doing in Massachusetts. Perhaps because they are doing fine on their own. Instead the humanity of Republican Charlie Baker, a dull and boring pragmatist was on display and they weren’t just empty words, they were identifiable actions.

Except for the small number of lesser known Democrats who plan to run against Charlie in November (and who will lose), the reviews were once again, all positive.

Acting Senate President Harriette L. Chandler, a Worcester Democrat, said, “There is no partisanship when we get things done.’’  Echoing that sentiment, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat added. “He talked about what we were able to do together, unlike many other states where we see partisanship getting involved,’’

A recent survey by WBUR found 74 percent of voters approved of the job Republican Charlie Baker was doing as governor, as governor in liberal, left leaning, Massachusetts.  No doubt they all agreed with Charlie’s as he closed out his speech and said:

 “We live in a great state filled with creative, community-minded, hard-working, and decent people.  And what they want from us is opportunity, possibility, and hope. Not noise. Not name-calling. And not finger-pointing. They want progress on the things that help them help themselves.’’

All in all, It was a gentle reminder, at least to those in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who took the time from their busy lives to stop and listen, that there still are really good people out there, who actually care about others and who actually know how to govern, know how to compromise, and know how to put people over politics.  And despite what you might think, some of them are actually Republican. 

I already knew what to expect from Charlie this year, so there was no particular surprise for me in his speech on this day.  Still at the end, I was blubbering like a baby, and the honest-to-gosh truth was … he had me at hello.