Month: June 2023

Law of the Land

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas achieved a life goal yesterday.  He joined the six vote majority opinion of “our” Trump Supreme Court. In the Harvard case, they voted to end affirmative action programs in colleges in the United States. Justice Thomas got his wish (a companion to Chief Justice Roberts decimation of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County decision).  The majority of the Court has declared that the Civil Rights Era is officially over.  It’s all “even-Steven” now.

The Court, of course, had to overturn precedent to reach this decision. Specifically in this case, they overturned the Baake ruling of 1978, and the University of Michigan ruling in 2003.  Both those cases affirmed that universities could specifically use race as a factor in the overall admission process.  But the conservative majority has now decided that the Baake and Michigan decisions were either wrongly decided, or that the Nation has “outgrown” the need for affirmative action.

To be clear, the Court implied it’s still possible to consider an applicant’s race in the admission process. If, in an essay, the applicant explained that racial issues were a “problem” for them to overcome, then admissions could consider it.  As Roberts said; if overcoming a chronically ill parent, or a financially destitute upbringing could be considered; then overcoming race-created barriers can be “noted” in essay form.

But the “law of the land” in college admissions from today forward is this:  everyone is equal.  College admissions are now officially “color-blind”.  The fact that equality of education is, in fact, demonstrably not racially equal doesn’t seem to matter to the Justices.  They are willing to ignore history and our current society to achieve the outcome they want. It sounds a lot like another case the Court decided – Plessy v Ferguson. That one said that separate facilities could be equal, even though they weren’t.

Call Them Out

I’m not calling Clarence Thomas out for this one (though there’s a whole lot of other things I would call him out for, including accepting millions of dollars’ worth of gifts).  Thomas has held a steady position his entire career.  He thinks that affirmative action is somehow degrading, making majority students look down on minority students.  And he’s right about one thing, this decision will change that.  There simply won’t be as many minority students to look down on anymore.  See, problem solved.

However, I am calling out Chief Justice Roberts, who simply has a wrong view of history. He believes that somehow, with a wave of his “Chief Justice Pen”, he can make America “color-blind”. Or, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said:

“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat”.

Former Vice President Pence said it “best”, showing that he is a “let them eat cake, oblivious, white man.

“There may have been a time, fifty years ago, when we needed to affirmatively take steps to correct long-term racial bias in institutions of higher education. But I can tell you as the father of three college graduates (author’s note: white college graduates), those days are long over.”

Personally, I’m all in favor of even competition.  But, like fifty years ago, there is one race that has a significant educational advantage.  And I’m not talking about folks with Oriental backgrounds.

What it Is

Nope, I’m calling it for what it is.  White folks still have significant educational advantages, whether they believe it or not.   Look at these of statistics from Ohio.

Here’s the list of the ten lowest performing school districts in Ohio;

• 607 – East Cleveland               98% Black, 1 % White,  1 % Other
• 606 – Youngstown Public      55% Black, 22% Hispanic, 13% White, 10% other
• 605 – Lockland                         47% Black, 29 % White, 12% Hispanic, 12% other
• 604 – Trotwood Madison       87% Black, 6% White, 7% other
• 603 – Garfield Heights             77% Black, 14% White, 9% other
• 602 – Dayton Public                 65% Black, 23% White, 12% Other
• 601 – Jefferson Township       75% Black, 14% White, 11% other
• 600 – Mt Healthy                     69% Black, 12% White, 19% Other
• 598 – Lorain                             44% Hispanic, 26% Black, 21% White, 9% other
• 598 – Canton                    38% White, 37% Black, 17% Multi-Racial, 8% Hispanic

And here’s the ten highest performing school districts in Ohio;

• 1 – Solon                                 54% White, 22% Asian, 16% Black, 10% other
• 2 – Rocky River                        89% White, 4% Hispanic, 11% other
• 3 – Chagrin Falls                      90% White, 4% Black, 6% other
• 3 – Mariemont                        92% White, 8% other
• 5 – Marion (Mercer)*              98% White, 2% other
• 6 –  Minster*                            97% White, 3% other
• 7 – Versailles*                         99% White, 1% other
• 8 – Ft Loramie*                       99% White, 1% other
• 8 – Oakwood                           82% White, 6% Hispanic, 6% Multi-Racial, 6% other
• 10 – West Geauga                   92% White, 4% Hispanic, 4% other
• *Small rural school districts in Western Ohio

Quality of Education

There are lots of reasons, many financial, that determine how a school performs on state standards.  And there are lots of questions about what the state “standards” really measure.  But one thing is apparent:  high performing schools are overwhelmingly white, low performing schools are overwhelmingly minority.  It’s not about the race of the kids, it’s about the quality of the education they are receiving.  To take the graduates of those schools, and then require them to be all “even-Steven” seems more than absurd.  It seems intentionally cruel, and intentionally designed to maintain the status quo for both races.

To put it bluntly, a black kid who graduates from Youngstown with great test scores, ought to get an advantage over a white kid from Oakwood with the same scores. The Youngstown kid had to overcome a lot more educational “adversity” to get there.   And that’s what affirmative action did, recognized that the same test scores might not recognize the same amount of effort, or determination, or ability.

Society’s Problem

Justice Thomas complained that affirmative action was trying to solve “societal problems”, not just “educational problems”.  There are two answers to that complaint.  First, as demonstrated above, affirmative action might well be determining who the “best” student really is, by looking at what they had to overcome.  Sure, essays might do that as well, but 57,000 students apply to Harvard each year, for only 1,942 positions.  There’s always essays to read, but that’s further down the admission process.  How many minority students now won’t even make the first cut?

And second, why shouldn’t our universities try to help solve our societal problems?  The average black family earns $46,400 a year, the average white family makes almost $80,000.  Education and income are directly correlated (that’s why poor urban areas don’t have great schools).  Don’t our universities, and particularly our top schools like Harvard, have an obligation to the nation to try to improve that situation?  The Supreme Court has weighed in with a resounding, NO.

The MAGA mantra is:  no political correctness, no Black Lives Matter, no Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the educational process.  They want “our” culture to go back to Mr. Pence’s fifty years, (I’d say closer to sixty).  They want their kids (white) to keep their educational advantage.  And the Supreme Court affirmed that mantra.  It’s all “even-Steven” now.

The kids that live in Lockland, Ohio (rated 605) live two train tracks from where I went to high school in Wyoming, Ohio (rated 26^th, 76% White, 11% Black, 13% others).  Their educational future is literally determined by being “on the other side of the tracks”.  And now, the Supreme Court has made it even more likely that it will stay that way.

“Even-Steven”?  It’s not even close.  

Joint Chiefs

Deep in the inner rings of the Pentagon is the core of the United States military,  the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Here, the commanders of each of the military services;  Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, the Space Force, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, serve as the balance point.  Each of the “Chiefs” runs their own branch. And each is accountable to civilian leadership, the core of the American experiment.  The Chairman isn’t in the “chain of command” as he doesn’t “run” a branch. But he serves as the chief liaison to the highest civilian leaders, the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States.

It is the job of the Joint Chiefs to execute the orders of the civilian leadership.  They need to be prepared for every contingency.  In order to respond quickly to world crisis and civilian requests, the Office of the Joint Chiefs has its own staff. There are eight directorates, dealing with topics like manpower, intelligence, operations and logistics.  It is up to J-5, the directorate for planning, to be ready for any contingency.  They are the directorate of “what if”:  what if China invades Taiwan, what if North Korea launches nuclear weapons at South Korea, what if Israel bombs the  nuclear factories in Iran.  J5 develops the contingency plans, constantly changing and evolving to meet the current world crises.

Plans

There wasn’t a “Joint Staff” back then, but the pre-World War II Navy and Army “gamed” out a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (Military Aviation).  Unfortunately they didn’t “apply” their results (carrier based bombers got through to the bases in the “game” too).   J-5 “plans” for everything, because anything might happen.  If the President asks for one of the “what if” plans, the Chairman has to be prepared, and the plan needs to be up to date.  

Iran backed forces in Iraq launched rocket attacks on American forces stationed in the region throughout 2019.  President Trump was looking for an appropriate retort to those provocations.  The watchword of American foreign policy is “proportional response”.  The Iranians were “stinging” American forces. What could the US do to “swat” them down, without over-reacting and creating a world crisis?  The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, provided the President and his advisors, gradations of reaction. They ranged from raising US force levels in the area, to Special Forces Operations, to full out war.

Act of War

The President and his staff determined to use a drone strike to “take out” the leader of the Iranian military in charge of planning and support to Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese “extremist” forces.  General Qasem Soleimani led the irregular forces for two decades, and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds, including Americans.  On January 3, 2020, a US drone killed the General on the road from the Baghdad airport.

Killing an Iranian general is an act of war, and the United States needed to be prepared for any Iranian response.  J-5 had contingency plans for all sorts of possibilities, including an all-out war calling for a US invasion of Iran.  General Milley, as the responsible member of the military, presented these options to the National Security Council and the President, Donald Trump.  Obviously, the J-5 plans for the invasion of Iran were as “Top Secret” as they come.  (Here are three essays from “Our America” of that time: No Backing Out, One Man, Two Views of Iran).

Mark Meadows

Mark Meadows with the White House Chief of Staff.  Like many of those who worked for Donald Trump, Meadows struggled to find employment after he left the White House (particularly after the Insurrection of January 6^th).  So he decided to write his auto-biography, with help by a “ghost-writer”.  It wasn’t just to provide “regular” income; Meadows is a pivotal figure in the Department of Justice and the Atlanta District Attorney investigations of election fraud.  He is “in need” of legal counsel on a number of fronts, at $400 an hour.  

So in July of 2021, the writer met with former President Trump and some of his staff at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.  One of the “stories” that came out of the Trump White House, was that the President was pressing to go to war with Iran, and that the National Security Council and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs “talked him down” to the Soleimani attack.  Trump hoped to use Meadow’s book to blame General Milley for proposing an invasion of Iran.  The writer recorded the interview.  That recording was discovered as evidence by Jack Smith’s Justice Department investigation, and CNN found it as well.  CNN played it to the public this week.

Isn’t it Cool

We hear the former President telling the writer that it was Milley who proposed invasion, not him.  And to “prove” this, we hear the President shuffling through papers, finally pulling out one that he identifies as from the military, showing the invasion plans.  Trump then not only recognizes that it’s Top Secret, but acknowledges he doesn’t currently have the power to declassify it.  His final words, “Isn’t it cool?”.

Isn’t it cool?  The former President used Top Secret documents to improve his image in a book.  He shared it with a writer without a security clearance, and acknowledges that. And it’s all on “tape”.  Jack Smith hasn’t brought charges in New Jersey, though the tape demonstrates that Trump had Top Secret documents there.  Smith will use the tape to demonstrate that the former President was well aware that he couldn’t declassify documents after he left office.  That destroys any defense that Trump “…thought he already declassified them when he left the White House”.

It’s another “nail in the coffin” for Donald Trump in the classified document charges.

On the Fly

The headline is: “PANDEMIC CLOSURES IMPACT KID’S TEST SCORES!!!!”.  It’s screamed from the rooftops, the “shocking” result of the Covid era – the “Covid Gap”.  I was a teacher for over thirty-five years. I made the “mistake” of taking a long-term substitute job the week before Covid closed the world.  We switched “on the fly” to online education.  When kids did come back the next year, it was with masks, alternating schedules and days, and limited interactions with classmates and teachers.  So my question is simple:  “What the Hell did you expect?”

The “world” was already complaining about education before the pandemic.  So when schools were shut down, and a whole different form of mass education applied with “online” schooling, did you think it was really going to improve things?   And, shock of shocks (not), urban schools had worse outcomes than suburban schools.  How could that be a surprise to anyone?  

We know that Covid was a dramatically “urban” disease, so of course urban schools took more draconian actions.  And we know that poorer folks had less computer and internet access, and less opportunity for childcare.  So now “enterprising reporters” discovered the “great revelation” that education was impacted more in urban than suburban schools (some that completely ignored Covid protocols):  the “Covid Gap”.

It Just Doesn’t Matter

We can go back and argue again whether Covid protocols were necessary.  “Monday morning Quarterbacking” is an American tradition.   The best science of the time became the political issue of the day.  We really don’t know the cost that states like the “Free Republic of Florida” or Texas paid for pretending Covid wasn’t serious.  How many thousands died that didn’t have to die?  But that question; who was right, who was wrong, who should have been sacrificed, doesn’t really matter anymore.  Either way, we are left with the “Covid Gap” in education.

Look, I bet Ukrainian test scores are down too.  In fact, I bet test scores are down worldwide.  Whenever there’s societal disruption, schools become the “frontline”, and education gets left behind.  So whether Dr. Fauci was right or wrong isn’t the issue anymore.  The best intended or necessary choices of that time all have a current outcome.  Kids aren’t “up to snuff” on their scores.

Now what?

Power of Money

During the Covid pandemic, we saved the American economy with a dramatic expansion in government spending.  Even as the unemployment rate approached 15%, the government was plowing trillions of dollars into businesses through the PPP “loans”.  And we were individually getting money as well, thousands of dollars, checks with the a “thank you note” from the President so we knew who sent it.  And there was money pushed into schools systems.  Covid protections, improved ventilation systems, better online accessibility were included.  But, Covid relief money or not, the online education era was, for the vast majority of students, nowhere near as effective as going to school, being in class, and having a teacher in the room.

What Works

We know what works in education:  smaller student to teacher ratios and more time on task.  We also know what the most expensive factor in education is:  the salaries of the teachers (80% of most school districts’ budgets).  If you want to fix the “Covid Gap”, it’s going to cost you.  Want longer school days, or all-year schooling,  or more teachers in class, all important possible solutions? Don’t expect teachers to do that for free.   

More teachers: today, fewer students are even going into the profession. More time: today, schools are attacked for everything from books on the shelves to the courses in the curriculum. A portion of the public doesn’t even trust the time their kids spend in school now.

Both of those solutions require more money.  It’s fine for the news media to “discover” that students are falling behind, especially after Covid.  But unless Americans are willing to put the same kind of investment into education that we put into the economy to avoid a “Covid Depression”, it’s all just talk.  There is a literal price to pay to fill in the “Covid Gap”.

Summer Vacation

Just an aside about “summer vacation”.  Teachers are expected to put 2000 hours into their jobs over the roughly 180 days that public schools are open.  That’s around 11 hours per day, or 55 hours per week.  The average American working the “average” workday is 8 hours or 40 hours a week, that’s 2000 hours for a whole year.  So when you hear, “Teachers get paid all year for working nine months,” remember that they put a whole year’s worth of work into those nine months.  One solution to the “Covid Gap”, all year schooling, would be to keep schools open for 220 days; that’s 2420 hours. That’s fine, but plan on raising teacher salaries by 22%, plus overtime.

It’s an American phrase, “Put your money where your mouth is”.  Want to fix the “Covid Gap”, America?   Ante up.

Alea Ecta Est

When I was a college freshman, one of my classmates Tony and I would study for exams together. Denison University left the classroom buildings open all night; they were quiet and air conditioned.  It was better than our residence, Crawford Hall. It was constantly vibrating with music, the sheer volume fueled by cheap beer and “Ohio Green” marijuana . And, no air conditioning back then.

So we could go to a classroom, smoke cigars, and focus on the political science or history exam coming up.  The cigar smoke guaranteed we’d have the room to ourselves as we focused on nuclear deterrent theory or Revolution in the 20th century. (Smoking in the building was ‘OK’ back in 1975).   About three in the morning, our brains were packed: ready to spew out volumes of knowledge in the thin blue books for our written exams.  When we were done, we walked home through the darkness to Crawford. 

No more cramming needed.   And as we passed the Chapel, we “performed” our exam ritual. We balanced on the sundial just below the Chapel, overlooking a blacked out Granville, and chanted Caesar’s words as he crossed the Rubicon and invaded Rome itself:  “Alea ecta est – the die is cast”. There was no turning back, no early morning cramming. We were ready, committed, prepared. Then we threw coins into the darkness above Granville, our commitment and our “sacrifice” to the exam “Gods”.   

It worked – we both had excellent grades. And when we our paths diverged, I continued the tradition, at least the “Alea ecta est” part, into graduate school and life.  It marked the time when there was no “turning back”, just a decision made moving on into the future.  I crossed a lot of personal Rubicon’s.

No Response

The “Wagner Group” is an ugly part of Russian foreign policy.  I first heard of them in 2018, when a “Russian” force of thousands of soldiers attacked a small group of American Special Forces protecting a gas plant in Eastern Syria.  There was a four-hour pitched battle. US Air power turned the tide in favor of the Special Forces.  The outcome: hundreds of Russian forces killed and zero American casualties (NYT).   Afterwards, I kept waiting for a Russian response.  After all, with hundreds of Russians killed by force of US arms,  there had to be a reaction, a response, to that loss.

Wagner Group

But there really wasn’t.  It turned out that the Russians were “mercenaries”, part of a private “army” hired and commanded by one of Vladimir Putin’s allies in the Russian oligarchy, Yevgeny Prigozhin.  He was a part of the St. Petersburg “cabal” that brought Putin to power in the first place, and gained billions of rubles through his Kremlin connections.  In return, he built a private army, the Wagner Group, to do the international “dirty work” Putin needed to further his foreign policy.  

They were “mercs” in a “private army”.  But more importantly they could be sacrificed on far away battlefields and few in the motherland would miss them: ex-soldiers and convicts.  It was kind of like the French Foreign Legion, without their training or the control of the French Government.  Prigozhin’s Wagner Group was his own.  And if hundreds died in the Syrian desert, no one cared.

The Wagner Group relies on utter brutality.  Video evidence exists of their disgusting tortures throughout the world.  They show bound men with their hands and feet smashed with sledge hammers, or their genitals cut off with box cutters.  And that’s exactly the reputation Prigozhin wanted for his “army”.  The Wagner Group gives no mercy; they simply charge ahead, die, or kill.  

Ukraine

A year and a half ago, Putin’s ill-fated invasion of Ukraine fell apart quickly. The “first strike”; a seventeen mile column of tanks, was left stalled and vulnerable on the road to Kyiv.   The Russian Army was unprepared for the powerful Ukrainian response.  And as the regular army casualties mounted and the momentum stalled, Putin called on his friend to send in the Wagner Group.  A commitment of that size required Wagner to “scale-up”.  Prigozhin sent recruiters to the Russian prisons with an offer:  if you can survive six months of battle, you can have your  freedom.  What the prisoners probably didn’t know is that survival was a fifty-fifty proposition, at best. 

Most of the recent battles in Ukraine, particularly the months long struggle around the city of Bahkmut, were fought by the Wagner Group.  Prigozhin seemed to struggle with the regular Russian Army, demanding supply and support that wasn’t coming.  He became more and more public in his dissent, surprising in the usually iron-gripped Putin world.  Prigozhin literally called out by name the Russian Commanding General, Gerasimov, and the Defense Minister, General Shoigu.

Die is Cast

According to Prigozhin, Gerasimov and Shoigu launched an air strike in Ukraine, aimed at his own Wagner Group troops.  So, he turned his troops around, leaving Ukraine and marching to the Southern Headquarters of the Russian army in the city of Rostov on the Don River.  Once he “crossed the Don”, he literally “crossed the Rubicon” of old:  he was in open rebellion to the Russian government, and to his “friend”, Vladimir Putin.  And then he headed north, sending troops to threaten Moscow.

“The die is cast”.  Putin called Prigozhin out as a traitor.  But the real surprise was that there was no resistance to the Wagner forces as they roared up the M-4 highway towards the capital.  To all the world, it looked as if the Wagner Group would drive straight into Moscow, and Prigozhin would stride into the Kremlin to demand his former friend act.  Finally, Russian forces were concentrated in Moscow, and a pitched battle seemed only hours away.  But then, surprisingly, the Wagner convoy stopped, within 120 miles of Moscow.  

“A deal” was cut, negotiated by Belarus President Lukashenko.  The Wagner Group forces would return to their bases in Ukraine.  Prigozhin would go into “exile” in Belarus.  Wagner troops were “pardoned” and put under the control of the Russian army.  Perhaps, though we’re not sure, Gerasimov and/or Sochi may be “out”.  

Deal with the Devil

It’s hard to imagine how such a deal will hold.  Putin is a dictator, holding onto power through military strength. Prigozhin demonstrated Putin’s actual weakness, especially with the failure of Russian forces in Ukraine.  Putin’s natural response would be revenge.  How many “enemies” of Russia fall out of windows, or mysteriously die of nuclear poison, or are shot from cars in a “random attack”?  How can Putin allow this most overt rebellion to go without response?

Prigozhin crossed his “Rubicon”. There is no turning back.  He has signed his own death warrant with Putin.  Is it possible that this rebellion was a spur-of-the-moment reaction?  Or did the Wagner Forces expect other regular Army groups to join in the rebellion?  We don’t know the answer to those questions.  What we do know is that Prigozhin demonstrated the weakness of Vladimir Putin to the world, something that Putin cannot tolerate.  And we also know that these actions will make the Russian forces standing against Ukraine even weaker.  

“The die is cast”.  We just don’t know what they say – yet.

This is a Sunday Story – no politics here.  Just a story of Mom and growing up half-English.

War Bride

My mother was born on June 25^th, 1918 in London, England.  Today would be her 105^th birthday, and while she passed away in 2011 at ninety-three years, little things still remind me of her all the time.

Mom came to the United States after World War II.  She and Dad got married in England in the middle of the war, both serving their nations (Dad in the US Army, Mom in the British Special Operations Executive).  They were lucky.  They survived to celebrate victory, and faced a whole new future in Dad’s hometown; Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mom was a “war bride”. She even made the local newspaper (probably helped that my Grandfather was the Sports Editor).  There was a picture of her eating ice cream, something still unavailable in war-rationed England. But, Mom wasn’t the “typical” English bride.  She really didn’t know much about cooking, or setting up a home (but she could deliver secret messages, and probably kill someone in multiple silent ways).  She learned though.  People expected that Mom would make “English” dishes, so she got the recipes and taught herself how to do them, here in the US, in Cincinnati.  Her cooking “Bible” was the Settlement Cookbook (first published in 1905, my edition is 1976). It had the basics on cooking everything from soup to nuts.

Growing Up English

So my sisters and I grew up in Cincinnati, but we grew up in a kind-of English home.  We all failed spelling tests, over and over again.  Theater wasn’t theatre, color wasn’t colour, airplane wasn’t aeroplane, and I can’t even remember what aluminum foil was (I looked – aluminium, ‘Al-You-Min-E-um’  – foil).  

And we had certain English traditions.  While other kids came home to afternoon snacks of milk and cookies, we absolutely had “tea and biscuits”.  Our tea was tea, milk, and sugar (lots of sugar for me) and our “biscuits” were cookies. The tea was in a pot (no bags in a cup), and while Mom eventually used tea bags, they were always (always) Lipton’s Tea.   And on Sunday, our big meal was a brunch, breakfast at lunchtime really; with eggs and bacon and sausage and toast and coffee cakes; and well, you get the idea. 

Mom learned how to make traditional British dishes.  Roast beef was big in our house, as was lamb.  We had lamb chops and lamb shoulders and lamb roasts.  And lamb was served with mint sauce (not mint jelly).  In fact, it wasn’t just Mint Sauce, it was Crosse and Blackwell’s Egyptian Mint Sauce, a vinegary mix of mint leaves and “sauce”.  It was a “thing”, like strawberry preserves rather than jelly, or Shepard’s Pie (more lamb).

The Queen

Mom lived in the United States from 1945 until her death in 2011.  That’s sixty-six years.  But she never lost her English accent.  I always thought that was one of the reasons Mom went “home” every few years was to “renew the lease” on her distinctive speech.  Mom’s accent was, well, like the Queen’s.  I suspect that was developed in the private boarding schools she went to as a child.  I didn’t know my Mom’s parents much, but looking back, I know they weren’t wealthy.  They must have sacrificed a lot to put Mom and her brothers and sisters (two of each) into private schooling.  But in the early 20^th Century, that was the path to success in England, and Mom was in boarding schools from a relatively young age.  

So especially when we were young, we had a slight English accent as well.  And we all were expert mimics of Mom’s accent (at the risk of a bop on the head).  And when my nephew spent a lot time in his first few years with us in Cincinnati, he got the accent too.  I remember well two year-old Chris whining, “I don’t want to take a ‘ba-aa-th’!” in perfect British diction.

The End

I’ve been “bach-ing” it this week, as Jenn and our son head to California. It’s just me and the dogs.  And while Jenn’s away, I decided to have lamb for dinner (not her “cup of tea’).  While lamb chops are crazy expensive these days, lamb shoulder is still relatively cheap. Our local Kroger’s carries small amounts of lamb, even when it’s not Easter. 

So I dropped by to pick up lamb for dinner.  And while I could find the lamb, I couldn’t find Crosse and Blackwell’s Egyptian Mint Sauce.  I couldn’t even find a “fall back” mint jelly.  In fact, I searched the local Kroger’s for half an hour, and there was nothing that I could even consider serving lamb with.  And then, wonder of modern technology, I pulled up a recipe for mint sauce on my phone.  I bought mint leaves, finely diced them, boiled water, added sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.  I grilled the lamb, boiled red potatoes and opened a can of peas.  

It was a typical English dinner.  My concoction was “good enough” to get my through, though not anywhere near as good as Crosse and Blackwell’s. I woke up early this morning, and searched the internet.  My thought was to lay in a supply for the next time.  And then I discovered:  Crosse and Blackwell’s stopped making Egyptian Mint Sauce.

It’s probably been more than a century since they started making “my” sauce.  I’m sure tastes have changed, both here and in the United Kingdom.  But my taste hasn’t changed; and Mom would be dismayed.  I ordered a substitute (from Amazon), another “English Mint Sauce”, but I’m not getting my hopes up.  If it’s not good enough, I’ll go back to my recipe and try to tweak it to my memories. 

Happy Birthday Mom.  You’re never far away. 

The Sunday Story Series

• Riding the Dog  – 1/24/21
• Hiking with Jack – 1/31/21
• A Track Story – 2/7/21
• Ritual – 2/14/21
• Voyageur – 2/19/21
• A Dog Story – 2/25/21
• A Watkins Legend – 3/7/21
• Ghosts at Gettysburg – 3/14/21
• Lessons from the State Meet – 3/28/21
• More Lessons from the State – 4/4/21
• Stories from the Road – 4/11/21
• A Bear Wants You – 5/1/21
• My Teachers – 5/9/21
• Old Friends  – 5/23/21
• The Gift – 6/6/21
• Echoes of Mom – 6/20/21
• Stories of the Fourth – 7/3/21
• Running Memories – 7/25/21
• Lost Dog of Eldora – 8/1/21
• Dogs and Medals – 8/8/21
• The New Guy – 9/5/21
• Stories of 9-11 – 9/12/21
• The Interview – 9/26/21
• Night Moves – 10/3/21
• Funeral for a Friend – 10/11/21
• National Security – 10/24/21
• Boots on the Trail – 10/31/21
• Taking Care of Mom and Dad – 11/14./21
• Dogs Found and Lost – 11/21/21
• Watching Brian 12/12/21
• Stories from Shiloh – 12/19/21
• Team Trips – 12/26/21
• Uphill, Both Ways  – 1/9/22
• Old Trophies – 1/30/22
• The Last Time – 2/7/22
• Olympic Miracles – 2/13/22
• Mind Numbing – 2/20/22
• Track Weather – 4/3/22
• What’s Missing – 4/11/22
• A Scouting Story – 4/17/22
• Waterproof Paper – 5/8/22
• Origin Stories – 5/22/22
• Origin Stories – Part Two 5/29/22
• Back at State – 6/5/22
• Out in the Country – 6/19/22
• Pataskala Downs – 7/4/22
• Car Stories I – 7/24/22
• Car Stories II  – 7/31/22
• Old Man Experience – 8/7/22
• Cross Country Camp – 8/14/22
• New to the Pack – 8/21/22
• Car Stories III – The Bus – 8/28/22
• A Day in the Life – 9/4/22
• Stupid Human Tricks – 9/18/22
• Fair of Foul – 2/26/23
• Immigrant Story – 3/12/23
• Busy Season – 5/15/23
• Of Jeeps and Bucks – 5/28/23
• A Pole Vault Story  -6/11/23
• The End of an Era – 6/25/23

Lying Eyes

I remember watching the NBC Sunday News Show, Meet the Press, the week after the Inauguration in January of 2017.  It was right after the Trump Administration took office, and one of their first “little lies” was from Press Secretary Sean Spicer (later of Dancing with the Stars fame).   The day after the inauguration,  Spicer stood in front of the press and the Nation and said that Trump’s Inaugural crowd was the biggest in American history.  It wasn’t; we saw that with our own eyes.  

We knew what the largest inauguration looked like.  It was only eight years before, the swearing in of the first Black man as President of the United States, Barack Obama.  The Mall, two miles of green space from the Capitol Building to the Lincoln Memorial, was completely filled.  Trump’s crowd hardly made it to the Washington Monument, about halfway.  But Spicer stuck by his lie regardless of the facts.  

Kelly Ann

Trump’s Campaign Manager and Senior Advisor Kelly Ann Conway was the “Queen of Spin”, able to counter any criticism with a “what-about” (we would hear a lot more of that as Trump went on).  Chuck Todd, the moderator of the show, asked why Spicer came out and lied.  Conway did her best to change the topic, to “what-about” other issues, and to attack the press.  But Todd stuck to his question, and in the end, she simply said that Spicer had “alternate facts”.

At the time it was laughable.  What we didn’t know then, was that much of the Trump Administration, and his movement, MAGAism, would accept lies, intentional falsehoods, as facts.  There were so many lies that the news media, notably the New York Times, stopped calling them “lies” because they said the word lost its impact.  And they were lies much more significant than the size of crowds.  The biggest lie of all; that the election of 2020 was corrupt, and that Trump should have won the Presidency.  That lie created the Insurrection of 2021.

Revising History

Actually, Kelly Ann Conway was prescient.  “Alternate Facts”, lies, became common for much of the Republican Party.  It is “standard” Republican rhetoric that Americans shouldn’t be taught “real” American history; just a version “cleansed” of all controversy.  And elections are corrupt.  And that the Covid pandemic precautions were unnecessary.  All are “alternate facts”.  

MAGAism now sees the Insurrectionists as martyrs to the cause. And they are still going back to erase “real history”. That was the goal of the Durham Report, to “erase” the findings of the Mueller investigation of the Trump campaign.  Yesterday demonstrated how far they would go to get that erasure done. 

It began with Durham himself, testifying in front of a “friendly” Congressional Committee chaired by one of the leaders of “revisionism”, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan from Ohio.  (Jordan his personally “revised” his own history, “forgetting” the sexual abuse the wrestlers under his care received from a team doctor). Democrats on the Committee asked Durham basic questions about the Trump Campaign’s interactions with Russia during 2016.  Durham dodged the questions, appearing not to know well accepted facts (real facts, not alternate ones). 

 The lead questioner was Adam Schiff, Congressman from California, and the former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.  Schiff led the Congressional investigation of Trump and the Mueller Report.  He led the first impeachment of Donald Trump for blackmailing Ukraine.  Adam Schiff was the face of Democrats trying to hold the former President accountable for his actions and his lies.

Censure

There are three levels of Congressional punishment.  The first is a “reprimand”, a basic scolding.  The second, a Congressional “censure”, is a scolding that requires the Congressman to stand in front of the entire House while the censure motion is read.  Neither reprimand nor sanction restrict  a Congressman’s authority or impact, but they still are a big deal. The final level of punishment is expulsion, requiring a two-thirds vote of the Congress.

Historically, twelve Congressmen have been reprimanded by the House.  Only twenty-five Congressmen have been censured in the 235 year history of American Government.   Five were expelled.

Yesterday, after Durham was done, the Congressional Republicans got their revenge on Adam Schiff.  It was personal:  they publicly “censured” Schiff for “lying to Congress and the American people about the Trump Campaign”.   But Mr. Schiff’s “lies”, really weren’t lies.  They simply weren’t the “alternate facts” that the Republicans want Americans to believe.  MAGA had to “erase” Schiff, or at least discredit him, so that there “alternate facts” would become “truth”.

Just like the pictures of the 2017 inauguration, Republicans don’t want us to believe our “lying eyes”.  We lived through the election of 2016.  And we read the Mueller Report, and sat through the long hearings in both the House and the Senate about Russian involvement in the 2016 election.  We know what we saw.  No amount of “revisionism” by Durham, or erasure, or censure, will change that.   Facts remain facts, regardless of the “spin”, or the “what-about” or the alternates.  What’s happening in our politics isn’t just about ideology or power.  

It’s about truth. 

Getting Old

Our son celebrated his 32^nd birthday last week.  He’s moving – “gone to California” – and stayed with us for a few days along the way.  We sat down to watch TV for a bit, and I asked him what he’d like to see.  He said that he really doesn’t watch TV.  Sure he catches sports, but he’s selective about his other viewing.  It’s all about streaming (I guess that’s why “we” have Netflix and HBO).  He targets his entertainment, “I’m streaming this show”, and binges for hours.  Jenn and I are more “old fashioned” television viewers.  We have a streaming service, Hulu, that provides us with the local channels and “traditional” networks.  So we often watch just whatever is on at that time.  Our son goes to a show, we go to the “old fashioned” television guide to select one.

Of course, we watch a lot of “cable news” (if you’ve read many of these essays on “Our America”, it shouldn’t surprise you that MSNBC is at the top of that list).  Jenn also sources a lot of information from Twitter.  Our son gets his news from “podcasts” and, as he puts it, research on the internet.  We don’t agree on a lot of issues, but we do try to have careful discussions.  There are things that transcend the day-to-day politics, and we all work at keeping our political conversations “civil”. 

Faux News

Jenn is travelling with him to California, and I’m staying with the dogs.  Last night, I sat down with an eighty pound dog asleep in my lap to watch TV.  All of  “our regular” Tuesday shows (FBI-FBI-FBI) were re-runs, and I can only stand “America’s Got Talent” for spurts.  So I switched over to watch what Sean Hannity at Fox “News” was doing.  

He was in South Carolina, and the highlight of his show was Republican Senator Tim Scott, running for President.  This was my first look at Scott “unplugged”.  He was a dynamic speaker, ignored Hannity and interacted with the audience, almost like a TV evangelical preacher.  But the first fifteen minutes of the show was all-Hannity, and “all about” Hunter Biden. 

Hunter

Hannity went through the litany of “evidence” against the President’s son; from the infamous laptop (remember the almost blind computer repair man with the Tam-O-Shanter?) to crack addiction and tax evasion.  By the time he was done he “proved”:  Vice President Biden threatened to withhold billions of dollars from Ukraine to protect his son (not true), and got millions more as part of the “Biden Crime Family” (also not true).  And all of those so-called crimes were “protected” by the Merrick Garland Justice Department (really not true).

And Hunter himself got a “sweetheart” deal from Justice, probably avoiding jail time while pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax and gun possession offences.  Hannity compared the younger Biden to a “hit list” of Trump men:  Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Allan Weiselberg; all sentenced to jail.  Hannity’s point is that Republicans are victims; of a politicized FBI, a vengeful “Democrat” Justice Department, and of injustice from the very institutions that are supposed to guarantee American justice.

That might make some sense, except for one little issue. 

Republicans 

Let’s start with the Vice President Biden and his Ukraine connections. Sure, Biden talked about withholding money from Ukraine, insisting that they fire a prosecutor who refused to investigate corruption.  A lot of the “evidence” about Biden’s  own “corruption” came from a shaky source, connected to Russian intelligence, and delivered to the US by Rudy Giuliani.  It was all turned over to the Republican US Attorney for Western Pennsylvania at the direction of Trump’s Attorney General, Bill Barr.  After looking at it, Scott Brady determined that there wasn’t any actionable information.  Republican Attorney General – Republican US Attorney:  no charges filed.

And as far as Hunter is concerned, all of the evidence was turned over to another Trump appointed Republican US Attorney, this one for Delaware, David Weiss.  In fact, Democrats Biden and Garland left Republican Weiss in place so that he could continue the Hunter Biden investigation.  Garland treated Weiss like a Special Prosecutor, (like Jack Smith), allowing him the freedom to make his own decision on whether and what to prosecute.  So the “sweetheart” deal for Hunter Biden is a product of an investigation and indictment by a Trump and Barr appointed US Attorney, left in office by the “evil” Democrats.

Tormentors

By the way, two of the original Hannity list, Manafort and Stone; were investigated by an FBI with a Trump appointed Director (Chris Wray, still there), and all put away under a Republican Justice Department, appointed by the Trump Administration.  

So if all of these “victims” were “victimized” by the Justice Department, there’s really only one “common denominator”:  Republican appointees.  That makes it hard to blame Biden (the President) or Garland.  But those “little details” don’t matter to Hannity or Tim Scott, or Jim Jordan and his “weaponization committee”.  They need a “tormentor” to match Republican victimhood. Democrats fit the bill.

It’s too bad that doesn’t fit the facts. 

Kirkersville Bypass

Here in Pataskala, Ohio, we live in what used to be “out in the country”.  Even when I arrived in 1978 though, the country-side was “receding”.  There were already suburban-type developments, and while the school still had a chapter of the “FFA” (Future Farmers of America) it would only last a few more years.  Today, what used to be thousands of acres of farmland are “distribution centers”, Amazon “fulfillment centers”, and other industrial complexes.  In fact, when a combine harvester goes down Broad Street, folks now stop and try to figure out what it is.

One left over of this era of expansion is what our community jokingly calls “the Kirkersville bypass”. Kirkersville is a village on the eastern edge of the local school district, one of hundreds perched on the sides of the National Road – US 40.  The hotels and restaurants in Kirkersville were left high and dry when traffic moved from US 40 about two miles south to Interstate 70.  Even the Kirkersville Ice Cream shop, Kirk Cone, finally closed, though the Post Office still survives.

But, once upon a time in the early sixties, Kirkersville was an “end” of I-70.  It was easy to build interstate highways through the farm fields, but as construction approached urban areas it took a lot more effort, time, and dislocation.  So Kirkersville was the “spot” where I-70 was merged over to the older National Road.  From there it was a “local” highway:  Kirkersville, Etna, Reynoldsburg, Whitehall, Bexley, and finally the City of Columbus.  When I-70 eventually “went through” Columbus, the merge was left high and dry, a four-lane bypass connecting US 40 to little State Route 158, avoiding “downtown Kirkersville”.   Two of the lanes were closed, the rest remains the “Kirkersville Bypass”.  

Urban Renewal

It was in the late sixties and early seventies.  The programs were called “urban renewal” and “improved city access”, and they were implemented in many (mostly) urban areas in the United States.  Here in Columbus, Ohio; they built I-70 right through the southside of downtown, splitting neighborhoods with ten lanes of interstate highway (Hanford Village).  Not surprising, the neighborhoods that were paved over were poor, and mostly minority.  The beautiful “ribbons of concrete” replaced old houses, businesses, churches and schools. They destroyed communities.

It’s wasn’t just in the sixties and seventies.  Whole neighborhoods are still vanishing:  what two decades ago was Mohawk Middle School and Africentric High School is now part of the ever-expanding “Nationwide” Children’s Hospital complex here in Columbus, covering more than a mile on the south wall of downtown I-70.   

To the city leaders it was a “no-brainer”, especially after the urban unrest of the 1960’s.  Tear down the old, build the new.  Move the poorer neighborhoods farther from the city-center, and make downtown “safer”.  And even when the neighborhoods remained, many were “gentrified”.  The old homes were re-built, old warehouses made into “loft” apartments, and the cost of housing went up so much that the original occupants couldn’t afford to stay.  In Columbus it’s now the areas surrounding downtown:  German Village, Italian Village, “Old Town East” and the Children’s Hospital complex.  The city’s near west side is now under “development” as well.

A New Holiday

It all “looks” great.  We can drive on Broad Steet in Old Town and marvel at the turn of the century homes.  There are expensive new apartment complexes in Italian Village, within walking distance of downtown.  Downtown Columbus is “revitalized”, a place where people can live as well as work.  But at what cost?  Where did the folks who lived there “before” go?

Yesterday was Juneteenth, the new national holiday celebrating the end of slavery as an institution in the United States.  But we should remember that Juneteenth itself is a holiday based in deception.  While the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect January of 1863, and the Civil War ended in April of 1865, it wasn’t until June that the Black communities around Galveston, Texas find out that they were now emancipated.  It wasn’t that the governing white folks didn’t know, they just refused to acknowledge or tell their enslaved people.

A Long Way To Go

Juneteenth didn’t end discrimination.  Neither did the Thirteenth, Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, or even the 1964 Civil Rights Act almost one hundred years later.  Today we have many who say that “it’s all even now”, and that America shouldn’t worry about discrimination.  Here’s some statistics to think about.  70 out of 100,000 Black mothers die in childbirth today, compared to 27 White mothers.   Black people make up 35% of imprisoned Americans, though they are only 13% of the population.  Black household income average is $45,300; White households average $68,785.  

And when it comes to building new highways, factories, hospitals; it’s still easier to pave over a poor community than a wealthy one.   America calls that progress, but it’s also the destruction of someone’s home, community, and livelihood.  We’re still doing that today, in the 21^st Century.  There’s no such thing as “all even” now.  We have a long way to go for that.

QAnon

I heard a new phrase last night:  “Kennedy-Republican”.  At first, I thought this was some QAnon inspired reference.  The QAnon theory, that John Kennedy Junior didn’t die in a plane crash off of Long Island, and is coming back to lead (along with Donald Trump) an American Revolution, has been around for a while.  And while we don’t hear much about QAnon anymore, some of its “mythology” still permeates the far right.  So a “Kennedy-Republican”; is that John Junior returning from the grave?

But then I caught on.  There is another Kennedy, the same generation as John Jr., who is actually alive and running for President.  And he’s running for the Democratic nomination, (as any good Kennedy heir should).  Robert Kennedy Jr, Bobby Jr,  the sixty-eight year old third child of Senator Robert Kennedy (brother of the President) filed to run in the Democratic Primaries against Joe Biden for the 2024 nomination.

Bobby Jr

Robert Kennedy Jr is a long-time environmentalist.  He made a career out of environmental law, and was in the fore-front of New York State controls on pollution.  He’s against fossil fuels and nuclear energy,  pushing for use of renewable energy sources.  He believes that the fossil-fuel industry controls the Environmental Protection Agency.  He endorsed Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 run for the Presidency and John Kerry’s 2004 campaign based on their environmental views, and is an advocate of the Green New Deal plan.

But, while Joe Biden hasn’t gone as far as the Green New Deal, he is seen by many environmentalists as progressive on environmental policy.  So why would Kennedy take on an incumbent Democratic President of the United States?

Kennedy Tradition

First, there is a Kennedy tradition, established by Robert’s uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.  Ted took on Jimmy Carter in 1980, despite Carter being the incumbent President. That divisive Democratic fight was the first step leading to Carter’s defeat by Reagan in the 1980 general election, as the “liberal” wing of the Party felt abandoned by the more moderate Carter/Mondale ticket.  (The inevitable “victory” of Ronald Reagan wasn’t at all pre-ordained going into the 1980 campaign.  A fractured Democratic Party and the Iranian hostages both led to the resounding Carter defeat). 

So Robert Jr. can look to family tradition:  a Kennedy running on “principle” against the incumbent.

And he, like his father, is an anti-war Democrat.  That includes the current war in Ukraine, which Kennedy characterizes as a US war of aggression using Ukrainian bodies to fulfill American foreign policy goals.  He believes Ukraine is just a continuation of the “Neo-Con” wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan;  all started, according to him, by Americans for financial gain.

Anti-Vaxxer

But Kennedy’s real strength isn’t in the Democratic Party, it’s in the far-right of the Republican base.  Because for the past decade Kennedy made anti-vaccination and anti-big pharma his main banner headline.  Kennedy believes that big-pharma and the American wealthy used Covid-19 to their advantage, creating billions of dollars of wealth with what he termed dangerous and useless treatments.  Kennedy was against Covid restrictions and firmly against the Covid vaccine.

He wrote a book accusing Anthony Fauci as being a “technocrat” who used both the AIDS epidemic and Covid to make money for the Pharmaceutical industry.  Kennedy believes the modern vaccinations cause many of the childhood issues of today, including autism and violent allergies.    He is anti-vaxx, anti-mask, and a conspiracy theorist.   

In our modern world of disinformation, the “post-fact era” of social media, Robert Kennedy Jr fits right in.  He has great appeal in the generation that believes that the “mainstream” media is all “fake-news” and propaganda. The more the mainstream tries to fact-check Kennedy, the more popular has views become.  And, of course, despite being denied by the most of his famous family,  Robert Kennedy Jr still has the name, the smile, and the legacy to reach a great many people.

Different Myth

Maybe he isn’t really so far from the QAnon myth.  Kennedy personifies all of the mystery;  he is the “heir”, striking out against  the “hidden movers”, that social media thrives on today.  He is really just saying aloud what’s already whispered in the darker recesses of our phones and computers:  that there is some “dark conspiratorial force” changing the world to their benefit. 

Is it QAnon, or Star Wars?  Bobby Kennedy Jr might fit the role of the older Luke Skywalker, called back from exile to save the Republic.  Like Skywalker, he is scarred by time, his voice damaged by spasmodic dystonia.  But he still has the “magic” of his father, the smile, the grace, and those vague memories of another time, when Bobby Kennedy called us to greatness.

Kennedy won’t attract many Democratic votes in the primary.  But don’t be surprised if he carries his campaign on into the general election as a third party.  After all, if the Democrats strike him down, won’t he come back, “…more powerful than we can possibly imagine?”  It’s all about myths and conspiracies, podcasts and old movies.  

And Bobby Junior fits right in.

The Flag Law

While the twice impeached and indicted former President awaits trial, my Congressman here in Ohio is up to something much, much, more important.  He’s out there, backing a law to require American flags used by the Federal government to be – wait for it – MADE IN AMERICA.   And even though Troy Balderson is a right-wing Republican, on the face of it this seems like a remarkably sound idea.  Of course, it’s the symbol of our country. When the US Government  buys and flies it; the flag should be made in the USA.

So that got me to thinking:  why wouldn’t the government buy “made in USA” American flags? That means the United States; not Usa, Japan; or the thirty-seven places in the world called “America”, and not in America.   Maybe, like shoes and computer chips, flags just aren’t made in the US today.  Ask the folks who used to work for US Shoe down in Cincinnati.   Or maybe the cost is prohibitively expensive, so much so that the national debt would balloon from All-American flags.  Or…maybe there’s some nefarious “woke” plot to buy Chinese or Russian or Burundian made American flags!!!!

Strange Bedfellows

 My personal rule is this: when I find myself in agreement with Balderson, and Elise Stefanik, and worst of all, Ted Cruz; I better start questioning what’s going on.  So, I looked into the “flag” situation.  Here’s what I learned.

According to the Flag Manufacturers of America Association (FMofAA), 94% of American flags sold are MADE IN AMERICA (ours).  Moreover, the FMofAA notes that the Department of Defense buy 100% made in America flags.  The rest of the government buy flags that are at least one-half made in America. (Yeah, I don’t quite know how that works, stars from Korea, stripes from Decatur).  But, since 94% of the US flags sold in the US are made in the US, then I figure that while the government could find 50-50 flags; there more likely to buy good, old, Made in America flags, statistically speaking.

In fact, it seems that my good Congressman from Zanesville (he was a car dealer there) is pulling a fast one here. Like the time I had to pay extra for a rearview mirror on my first Jeep (it wasn’t standard equipment, neither was the back seat, and I never did get a radio).  You see, they are implying a problem: “Woke Democrat (sic) Government buys foreign American flags”.  It’s like we need a LAW, on the books, part of the United States Code, to make sure some “Democrat” Postmaster or ATF agent or GSA bureaucrat (Government Services Administration, they have 8,600 buildings, all with flags) isn’t out buying cheap, knock-off, foreign made flags.  But if they were, then the FMofAA would be raising (flag-pole joke) Hell about it, wouldn’t they?

Ain’t Broke

When you get right down to it, the USA FLAG LAW is doing what Republican politicians seem to do best:  fixing a problem that ain’t a problem. It’s like a law proposed here in Ohio to ban trans-gendered girls athletes in high school. There are only six, a whole hand and a finger, playing in Ohio high school sports anyway.  So we need to write a law banning those six?

So why is Cruz and Stefanik and Balderson all “up” about this “horrific problem”, even though the FMofAA statistics come from their own Congressional newsletter?  Because it’s easy.

They can say they support their “Law”, without ever having to explain that it fixes a problem that ain’t broke.  Just like it’s easy for Republican state legislators to “save” high school girls’ sports by telling six kids (out of 400,000 playing in Ohio) that they can’t play.   Those Republican legislators, and the Congressmen and Senators on the “USA Flag Bill” are “playing” the voters.  They’re “standing up” for America, American jobs, and American pride.  And there doing so without paying a price. 

Easy Way Out

Flags are easy.  Computer chips, almost all made in Taiwan, are harder.  President Biden got the Chips Act passed, and in this next decade computer chip plants will open all over the United States.  That will create jobs, and ensure that we control a supply of this foundation product for America’s economy.  Now that’s a real problem, with a real fix, that required a real political price.  And while Joe Biden will remind us in the next election that he got this done, it’s so much more than just a checkmark in the culture wars.  And it doesn’t hurt anyone.

Chips were hard.  Flags are easy.   But what they’re doing to those six girls should be a crime. 

Indictment

What did we expect?  Tuesday, for the first time in the history of the United States, a former President was indicted on Federal criminal charges.  While that was no moment of celebration, it should be one of some satisfaction.  Regardless of the “talking points” of Trump supporters (see Monday’s essay – The Difference), Tuesday’s actions demonstrated that for a least a brief moment, no American is above the law.  

So when I woke up this morning, I guess I thought that somehow the world would be different.  Somehow there would be a “sea change” in American attitudes.  Somehow, we took a step towards a future of less partisanship, and less divide. But I was wrong.  Nothing was different.

Old Friends

I sat with two old friends a couple nights ago, talking about track and field (I was at a track and field camp), the Cincinnati Reds, and life.  But even after the momentous legal events of that day (which we avoided) there was little change in the “crisis” of politics.  We spent a lot of time on the “woke culture wars”, coming from opposite sides, looking for some “middle ground”.  But we found little.  Our conversation was amicable, and both sides reached out to each other.  In the end, we drank our beer (Coors Light not Bud Light) and called it a night.   Safer to talk about the intricacies of track technique.

And I received a message from another old friend, reacting to the events of that day.  His thoughts seemed to have little hope, seeing the indictments as cementing the divide.  I am reminded of Patrick Henry’s speech to the House of Burgesses at the beginning of the American Revolution.  “Gentlemen cry peace, peace, but there is no peace.  The War is actually begun.  The next gale that sweeps from the North shall bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms.”  

Henry knew, as Caesar did crossing the Rubicon in open rebellion to Rome:  “Alea lecta est, The die is cast”.  History has passed a point of no return, there is no going back to other days.  My old friend was sad, with little hope for an American future without divisiveness.  There is no way back, and seemingly no way forward which avoids the hate, polarization, and rhetoric.  For him, the indictments signal a new era of hate.  He may well be right.

Whose History?

The rest of Patrick Henry’s speech charts his path forward into Revolution:

“Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

The only way forward is through it, through the future.  Like our “old coaches” conversation, there is really no middle ground.  As President Biden is fond of saying, there is simply a “binary choice”:  Trump, MAGA, culture war; or Biden, “woke” (whatever that means) and inclusion.  

It’s kind of funny.  Biden was the definition of a man of the middle, a Senator known for reaching out to the other party, a man who would eschew partisanship to get an idea into law.  And yet he becomes the leader of what really is a culture war, a war in our society (so far) without guns, but a war nonetheless.   

And it’s also funny that the language of our history, from Patrick Henry to Abraham Lincoln will be used by both sides to defend their position.  I guess the rebellious Confederates saw themselves walking in the father’s footsteps, fighting a revolution against tyranny in Jeffersonian terms (even as they protected the most tyrannical institution of all, slavery).  Washington, Jefferson, and Lee were literally their “kin”.  And so “… liberty or death” could be the “battle cry” of both sides of our looming “war”, both sides of the “binary choice”.

The Flag

There is nothing more American than both sides of a struggle trying to wrap themselves in the “flag”.  And while the Star Spangled Banner has become symbolic of Trumpism, the history of our Nation is also one of increasing rights and struggles for freedom.  Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ rights movement, the children marching against guns all are just as big a part of the American tradition as those that want to turn the clock (and calendar) back to the oppression of the 1950’s.  

There were indictments on Tuesday.  More will come, in Georgia, in Washington, DC, and now rumored in New Jersey (I guess everything isn’t really legal in ‘Jersey’).  While I see each indictment as a step forward towards justice and against corruption, my old friend is right.  As each indictment is unsealed, it will further “seal” division in our Nation.  And no one can know what the final outcome of that schism will be.

Twenty-Five Years

For the first thirteen years of my life, I didn’t know much about my Mom.  Oh, I knew she was from England, and devoted to her family here in America,  and her family at “home”, especially her father and the Queen.  As my eldest sister Terry says, Mom made England into a “fairyland” for us.  Mom was the youngest in her family by far, “Babs” (for baby) to them and the rest of the world.  Even when some of her siblings were estranged from each other, they all welcomed Babs and her family to their homes.  To us, everyone smiled in England.

I heard some rumors from my sisters and Dad about what Mom did during World War II. But she really told me nothing about it.  That is, until I was thirteen years-old, in the back seat of a 1963 Ford station wagon with Terry driving – Mom didn’t drive.  We were in Kettering, heading south towards I-75 on the South Dixie Highway.  It was one of those events I can detail, like a car wreck (we didn’t) or a tragedy.  Mom turned to me and said, “It’s been twenty-five years since the end of the war. I’m now free to talk about ‘most’ of what I did.”

The Act

Mom was a spy for England’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the War. (There’s lots of essays about that, click here to see some.) She went into Nazi occupied territory over and over again. Mom helped organize resistance activities, delivered important messages, and sabotaged Nazi troop movements.  Dad knew about it, because he knew the Americans she worked with, and I’m sure he got a better inkling from Mom.  But generally, Mom didn’t talk about her work in World War II until 1970, twenty-five years after, when her oath of secrecy under the British Official Secrets Act finally expired.

Mom knew how to keep a secret.  And she knew what her obligations were under the law, British Law, even decades after the War was over.  She kept her secrets even from her family and friends, so much so that there was always a note of skepticism from our British cousins when we mentioned it later.  After all, they, her direct family, didn’t know. (That is, except for her oldest brother, who was engaged in similar work.  They ran into each other at a mission briefing).  My grandparents thought that Mom was going to work at the “Old-Age Pension Office” during the War, though I suppose they too had some inkling.  “Old-Age Pension” officials didn’t consistently go on weeks-long trips, completely out of contact from home.

Keep the Faith

Secrets, Government secrets, were important.  The SOE was merged into British Intelligence (MI-6) after the war.  The methods, tactics and some of the personnel that fought the War against the Nazis went onto fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union.  Things they did during the War came back to help (or haunt) in the 1950’s and 60’s.  So keeping secrets was important, not just to the past, but to the present and future operatives.  Mom understood that only too well; of the ninety-six members of her SOE unit, she was one of only five to survive the War.

So I come from a family well aware of government secrets.  And we learned the cost of those secrets, not just in terms of the government, but to individuals as well.  The SOE sometimes sent agents with mis-information into the field, set up, unknown to them, to be captured.  They would fight to retain their secrets, until the Nazi torture brutally wrung it out of them.  And those hard kept secrets, given finally to the enemy, got the Nazis to believe things that weren’t true.  It was all part of Duty to Country: sacrifice one to save hundreds.

Revelation

So when folks seem cavalier with our Government’s secrets, it makes me concerned.  I understood when Daniel Ellsberg leaked the “Pentagon Papers”, showing that our Government consistently lied in the Vietnam War.  No lives were at risk, it was “just” a history the Pentagon didn’t want Americans to know.  But when folks that I generally agree talk about Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning as “heroes”, I disagree.  How many lives were lost because of the secrets they revealed?  

And when a former President of the United States proves to be careless with our secrets while in office, and even more dismissive of them after he is out of power, I shudder.  When then-President Trump revealed shared secret Israeli information to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov about Syria, it is said that an Israeli informant died in Damascus.  How many lives are at risk with Top Secrets scattered around a dinner club in Palm Beach?

Yesterday it was revealed (by the Trump side) that a Federal Grand Jury has indicted Donald J Trump, the 45^th President of the United States, on seven criminal counts. Some are violations of the Espionage Act, America’s version of the Official Secrets Act.  As President, he accessed all of the United States’ “secrets”.  When his Presidency ended, he chose to keep some of those secrets for himself.  After years of negotiations, obfuscation, falsification and obstruction; the Justice Department was pushed to take him to Court.  

Here we are, a former President learning the “hard way” how important secrets are.  Mom would approve.

Literary Exercise

When I was thirteen, I got my first official introduction to art history.  I read two different novels written by Irving Stone, about two great artists.  One was A Lust for Life about Vincent Van Gogh, a massive (for me) 512 page novel.  And the second was The Agony and the Ecstasy, about Michelangelo and more specifically, the painting of the Sistine Chapel.  It was even longer with over 700 pages.  

Completing books of that  bulk was an adolescent achievement at the time, and opened me to the summer reading tomes of James Michener (The Covenant, The Source, Hawaii, The Drifters) and Leon Uris (Exodus, Trinity, The Haj).  “Big books” were no longer scary; and as a growing teenager, the sheer weight of the novels didn’t intimidate me anymore either.  Reading became a physical workout as well as an intellectual exercise.

All to get to this:  in the Agony and Ecstasy; as Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in excruciating detail, Pope Julius II kept coming in to see if he was done.  “When will you make an end?” the Pontiff would cry from the floor, yelling up into the scaffolding where Michelangelo was doing his work.  “When I am finished!” was always the artist’s infuriating answer.  He spent four years laying on his back on the top scaffold, paint dripping into his eyes and face, crafting the intricate details of God touching Adam and giving him the spark of life.  (That literary moment became a pivotal scene in the Hollywood blockbuster movie, with Charlton Heston as the artist and Rex Harrison as the Pope.)

Anticipation

My news feeds are full of anticipation.  Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows cut a deal with Special Prosecutor Jack Smith.  He testified to the Grand Jury and agreed to plead guilty to lesser crimes.  Did he talk about the Mara Lago documents, about the Insurrection; we don’t know.  What we do know is that if Smith reached Meadows, he’s only “one move” away from the former President himself.

Smith also called his Washington, DC Grand Jury back into session this week, after a several week hiatus.  My “TV” Prosecutors, all former Justice Department officials, prognosticate that the Smith “team” has prepped its final case for the Jurors, and are ready to call for indictments.  We are all holding our breath, is TODAY INDICTMENT DAY?

And we discovered a whole other Grand Jury, meeting in Miami, dealing with the document case.  That makes sense, the documents were in Southern Florida, the search of Mara Lago was in that jurisdiction, and, if there were crimes committed (lying to the FBI, hiding classified documents, obstructing justice) many of those actions were also in South Florida.  But we didn’t know about the Miami end of the probe.  Is THIS where the document indictments will come down?  Is the DC Grand Jury just dealing with the Insurrection?

Boiling

Trump lawyers met with the Department of Justice, with the Smith “team” on Monday.  We “know” they were told Trump was a target of the investigation, the last step before he becomes a defendant in a Federal Court.  Of course, the former President tweeted he wasn’t indicted. But, he is a target, but the Grand Jury arrow hasn’t been released … yet.

Meanwhile, the “pot is boiling” in Atlanta. State charges seem to be pending for Trump and others, dealing with election interference.  Is South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham included? Are the false electors who signed onto the fake Georgia petition to Congress?  Prosecutor Fani Willis warned local law enforcement to be ready for a July or August announcement, will that be the next “shoe to drop” on the twice-impeached, once defeated former President?

Smith

And finally, we actually saw video, real live images, of Jack Smith himself, walking to work.  The haggard man in the drooping suit looks like the long-worn Michelangelo, beard and all.  And where is the security for a man who might bring down the pivotal figure of our time, Donald Trump?  Just that one guy beside him with a vest?  Don’t they realize how crazy this whole thing could, will, get?

And Jack Smith’s answer to shouted media questions:  silence.  He has nothing to say to the public, to the American “Popes” waiting on the floor of our judicial chapel.  We will see his work, his own “Creation”, on his terms. We must wait for him to complete it, to finish.   Then we’ll know. It’s either a masterpiece, or it needs painting over.

Blueprint for Life

I was a Boy Scout; in fact, Scouting played a huge part in my development.  Scouting gave me a blueprint for living.  The “Law” demanded that I was:  Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.  I strived, “On My Honor”, to “Do my Best to do my Duty to God and My Country”.  I was to “Obey the Scout Law” (the twelve above); “…Help other people at all times”, and to “Keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

Clear cut and simple rules for living at eleven years old.  

Mentally Awake

As I grew older the “Black Letter Law” of Boy Scouts gained nuance.  Isn’t that the definition of “Mentally awake”?  My first crisis:  did my loss of faith in my organized religion mean I was no longer doing my “…duty to God”?  Could I be “reverent” without attending Sunday services?  I had to look hard at my own view of religion. I determined that my Scout foundations allowed me to “Do My Best” to serve humanity as a religious experience.  Besides, Scouting put me hiking through an Ohio pine forest in the cool fall breeze, camping on the shore of a remote Canadian lake at sunset, and sleeping under the stars at 9,000 feet in New Mexico. How could I not feel reverence.

I was a child of the Vietnam Era. I learned that my “Duty to Country”, Loyalty and Obedience did not require me to blindly follow the dictates of Government.  In fact, my “Duty” might require me to protest against those dictates, and strive to make my Government do right instead of wrong.  I could be Loyal to the United States, without being blind to our faults. 

Morally “straight” (in an era before the defined “straight and gay”) seemed clear cut.  Do what was right, both legally and morally.  But in that time, right after the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement, I found that you could be morally “straight” while still violating the law.  Scouting’s code didn’t tell me which was more important, but making our Nation morally “straight” seemed the higher calling. 

My Duty

The Scout Law and Oath might have required interpretation, but it was still a great place to begin.  In my life, I continue to try to “help other people at all times”.  “Other” didn’t just mean people that agreed with me, or those that shared my “moral compass”.  Other is just that, others.  And in helping, I try to defend their right to determine who they are, and how they live.  Defend is an important term:  the Scout Foundations empowered me with direction and purpose.  

It was “My Duty” to defend those who are not as empowered, or felt that they were left out of the American experience.  Scouting does not brook bullying of those that are different, and neither should we as a Nation.  My definition of being “physically strong” and “morally straight” required me to defend those that are less able to defend themselves.

When I think about our world in the 2020’s, I struggle. It’s now fifty-six years since I first stood in a green uniform, held up my right hand in salute and took the Scout Oath.  We are a Nation where many don’t “help other people at all times”, and are trying to force their own version of “morally straight” on our entire population. Could there be anything more immoral?   

Be a Scout

Nothing in the Scout Oath or Law says anything about gaining wealth and power. But that seems to be the “law” that many of our leaders are following.  Instead of empowering the less fortunate, bringing the benefits of our national wealth to help all (help other people at all times), some are just helping themselves.  There’s nothing in the Scout Foundations that encourage selfishness, but there’s so much selfishness in our Nation today. 

There is an old insult – “Stop being a Boy Scout”.  Stop standing up for what’s right.  Stop looking out for others, for “doing a good deed daily” (the Scout slogan).  Don’t use your physical and mental strength; your moral courage, for the good.   For some in our post-covid, post-truth era, being a “Boy Scout” is just not cool.  

Insult me all you want.  But the Foundations of Scouting still apply today, fifty-three years since a kid with black curly hair and glasses became an Eagle Scout.  In fact, Scouting is “woke”, and so am I.

Sorry it’s been a few days. I spent three days at the State Track Championships, officiated three exciting pole vault competitions, and had three days of ninety degree heat with some lightning and even hail added in. It was fun, but it’s good to be writing again.

Covid World

First, let’s get this out.  It feels way, way, way too soon to be talking about Presidential elections.  It seems like just a few months ago that President Biden won the 2020 election, in the haze of the Covid pandemic.  We strive to forget the shutdowns, the masks, and the “drive-in” rallies; somehow those memories seems to have a different time dimensional warp.  Looking back, I think some of them may be erased from my memory in a “Covid fog”, along with my sense of smell.

But here we are in 2023, “only” eighteen months before the election.  Barring disaster, Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate for President.  But there is an open race for the Republican nomination.  For Republicans, it’s a simple question; choose the past, or choose the future.

Past or Future

We all know what the past is:  Donald Trump.  And Trump still has a firm grip on the Republican Primary voters:  53% of them support him, far more than he had in 2016 (CNN) and 20% more than any other candidate.   Like it or not, he still has a stranglehold on the base.

Most of the other candidates are trying to “parse” the Trump base:  DeSantis and Scott, Haley and Hutchinson, former Vice President Pence and business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (kind of a harder edged Andrew Yang).  As DeSantis says over and over again, they all have Trump’s MAGA ideology, without Trump’s legal baggage.  And there sure is a lot of baggage, likely to get even heavier as more indictments come down this summer.

The indictments are the “elephant in the Republican room”, just as Biden’s age stresses Democrats.  Sure the MAGA base will make the argument that the New York indictment is a “political hit job”, an issue already “adjudicated” in the Federal Courts.  But the Georgia indictment(s), and the Federal classified documents indictments soon to come, will create a heavier load.  And, should the Department of Justice actually move ahead with an Insurrection indictment, the Nation will be just as polarized as we were that day in 2021.  

Slice and Dice

It might be that “the politics” of indictment actually works in favor of Trump.  MAGA ideology is one of “victimhood”, and there’s nothing more victim-like than having multiple charges in multiple courts for multiple crimes.  His base may respond by “having his back”, and try to give him (and some of themselves) the “protection” of the Presidency. 

The political risk that all of those “Trump-like (lite)” candidates take is that they can keep MAGA, without keeping Trump.  As long as Trump remains in the field though, that seems unlikely.  Trump’s 2016 “slice and dice” strategy was to divide the field by winning a third of the votes, and leave the multiple other candidates to slice the remainder up.  It worked:  Trump didn’t receive a majority vote win until April, after the nomination was already won in the March primaries.  It’s the setup that Trump’s strategists would like to see again.

And then there is the “full” alternative to Trump.  Chris Christie, former Republican Governor of  “blue” New Jersey, is preparing to jump in.  Christie is no “moderate”, but he definitely takes a more traditional conservative business-Republican view.   Christie will need to make the argument to the Republican primary voters that winning a general election against Biden is more important than  either strict adherence to MAGA ideology; or having the confidence of the former President himself. 

No Labels

And lurking behind all of that is the “No Labels” movement.  “No Labels” is a center-right movement who are considering a third party run for President.  Think of them as old fashioned:   “Blue Dog Democrats” meet “Rockefeller Republicans”.  They portray the existing political parties as extreme, and promise a middle ground like the “good old days”.  John Kasich (R), Liz Cheney (R), Joe Manchin (D), former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman (D), and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) are all possible choices for the “No Labels” ticket.

Democrats argue that “No Labels” (unintentionally?) will create a general election version of the Trump 2016 “slice and dice” strategy.  Our National elections are tilted towards Republicans in the first place, with the structure of both the Electoral College process and the Congressional tie-breaking procedures slanted to gerrymandered Republican states.  While “No Labels” is highly unlikely to have a winning candidate, they are very likely to split the “moderate” vote, leaving a Trump candidacy with a winning path through our institutions.  Think of the impact of Ralph Nader on the 2000 election, where his minimal vote was enough to put George W Bush in office.

Doubt

For those who wonder if a re-match of 2020 is inevitable there is one small shining speck of doubt.  In the New York civil trial where EJ Carroll sued Trump for sexual impropriety, one of the jurors noted that he got almost all his “news” from a right-wing podcaster.  Despite getting a Trump-slanted view of politics and the world, the juror still joined in the unanimous five million dollar verdict against Trump.  Perhaps the MAGA “monolith” for Trump has more cracks than we know.

Or that might just be another Covid induced brain fog.  Either way, welcome to 2024. Or, here we go again.