Month: April 2026

Grand Fenwick

There is a book written in the mid-1950’s called The Mouse that Roared.  It was required reading in my nuclear strategies class of the 1970’s, as we students at Denison University weighed the issues of thermonuclear mass destruction.  The premise was simple.  A mythical country located in the Alps between France and Switzerland, was called the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.  Fenwick remained a medieval nation, with their proud military armed with bows and arrows.  The one product that Fenwick produced was a single wine, the Pinot Grand Fenwick.  

But a California vineyard produced a “knock-off” variety of Pinot Grand Fenwick, and the country was threatened with bankruptcy.  Their only chance of continued existence:  declare war on the United States, lose, and then depend on American largess (like the post War World II Marshall Plan) to reinvigorate their economy.   A declaration of war was sent to the United States. But the note got misplaced in the State Department.

The Duchy is ignored, and realized that they must actually invade the United States.  So they send a “force” to attack New York City.  Led by a “Field Marshal”.  It consists of him, three “men-at-arms” (think medieval knights), and twenty bowmen.  They land in the City at a time that the entire town is below ground for a civil defense drill, and march  (unintentionally) through the empty streets to a top secret laboratory.  There they capture the ultimate weapon, the “Q” Bomb, accidently making the Duchy of Grand Fenwick the most powerful nation in the world.

The Field Marshal takes the “Q Bomb” back to Fenwick, and leverages the world to control all nuclear weapons.  It’s a great story, and film with Peter Sellers (the Pink Panther) in the lead role.

Iran’s Q Bomb

The United States is the most powerful military in the world.  But, we discovered in Vietnam and Afghanistan, that power still has limits.  Those limitations are; what we are willing to do, and, what is the opposing nation willing to take.  It seems we have found those limits once again in Iran.

Sure we still have nuclear weapons.  When the President threatens to end “Persian Civilization”, there is the implicit message that we would use them.  Writer Tom Nichols in the Atlantic suggests that Trump seriously considered it.  But realistically, the United States would be a world pariah if we used our nuclear weapons for anything but the ultimate National defense.  In his article, Nichols demanded that the military resist any attempt. Nichols wrote, “… They should lay their stars on his desk,” rather than launch a nuclear strike.

So, assuming that we aren’t “thinking the unthinkable”, it seems that Iran is able to absorb the worst the United States can do, and still remain standing.  On the other hand, Iran’s ability to deny the world use of the Strait of Hormuz (or Vermouth, as Treasury Secretary Bessent calls it) is the ultimate non-nuclear “Trump” card.  The Strait is their “Q Bomb”, placing a militarily weak nation in control of the world.  Twenty percent of the world’s oil will do that.

Weak Side

The ultimate failure of the Trump Administration is that they “missed” this possibility.  Perhaps it was hubris from the “shock and awe” of the Venezuela kidnapping operation, or perhaps it was the amazing sales ability of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu in the White House situation room (NYT).  Either way, the “decapitation campaign” at the beginning of the war, killed off the leadership, but failed to account for their replacements being even more extreme.  The “regime change” of an uprising by the Iranian intellectual class failed, because they were forced to choose between the leaders they hated, and two nations waging total warfare against them.

And then there is that twenty-four mile wide “aorta” of the world’s economy.  It’s not the Iranian Navy (unless speedboats count).  It’s mines, it’s shoulder launched missiles, it’s mobile drones, it’s even targeted missiles. None of them were  accurately accounted for in the “battle plans”.  It’s the Iranian “Q Bomb”. 

So now, the United States is the “side” that needs to negotiate a peace.  With all of the military inequities, Iran holds the upper hand at the table in Pakistan.  Americans “need” them to show up.  And Iran is willing to “pay the price” if they chose not to. The United States is sending the man who holds the second most powerful office in the Nation.  He’s to negotiate with the third and fourth level guys who are the ones left alive to talk. 

Iran’s “Q Bomb” puts them in control.  And it makes Trump look weak, in the eyes of the world, and the American people.  Peter Sellers would be the one to play him in the new, modern version of the Mouse that Roared.  Only he could make the absurdity of this American White House make sense.

Too bad he died in 1980.   

Fox News

I was coming home from a track meet last Friday night and got a little sleepy at the wheel.  My tactic for staying awake:  switch over to Fox News.  That normally raises my blood pressure, grabs my attention, and after a few minutes, has me considering throwing my phone out the car window.  So I listened to Jesse Watters, the guy who took over the Tucker Carlson hour a few years ago.

Watters chastised “us Democrats”, and, of course, the “mainstream media”.  He demanded that we look at the achievements of President Trump in Iran.  After all, the Iranian nuclear program was (obliterated, decimated, set back) destroyed to nuclear “dust”.  The Iranian Navy (really, they had a Navy?) is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf.  An entire generation of their leadership is dead; “regime change” achieved.  Their missile production is (obliterated, decimated, set back) reduced.  And, (as of that single moment on Friday night) the Strait of Hormuz was open.

Watters told us to stop “wringing our hands” and do the right thing:  say “thank you, Mr. President”, for solving the Iranian problem after forty-seven years.

Watters, then followed up with the Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy.  The billionaire proceeded to tell me that “us Democrats” don’t have any political goals, except to be “against Trump”.  In fact, we can’t come up with a solution to anything, other than to “say no” to Trump.  Watters and Ramaswamy served their purpose well.  I got home, safe and wide awake.  And I still had the phone, barely.

Sunday

It’s Sunday morning.  Iran fired on Indian tankers in the Strait.  It is NOT open.  And while gas prices dropped Friday (down to $3.66 a gallon here in Pataskala, thanks a lot Mr. Trump!), I bet they’ll head back up again tomorrow morning.  The victory that President Trump so longs for in the Persian Gulf still eludes him.  Instead, his administration puts forth a schizophrenic series of foreign policies statements.  Vice President Vance is going to Pakistan to negotiate.  Wait, he’s not.  The Strait is open.  Wait, it’s not.  The peace deal is done. No, the United States is going to bomb every power plant and bridge in Iran, a nation almost as big as Alaska.

And after all of the celebration in the deaths of the Iranian leadership; we find that an even more hard line son of an Ayatollah is now in charge.  The nascent Iranian revolutionary movement that Trump hoped would rise up, is now making the choice between their religious leadership and the nation that threatens to destroy their civilization (Trump’s words, not mine).  The American attacks served to “put down” the resistance almost as well as the rumored 40,000 executed in the streets before the war began.

Meanwhile, Israel has a “ceasefire” with Lebanon; though they reserve the continuing right to bomb who they want, when they want, and where they want.  Netanyahu’s strategy is more manic than schizophrenic.  His goal seems to be to leave nothing but dust all around Israel, so that he can send settlers in to “civilize” the Holy Land.  

What Now

What can we be sure of?  That, from the ashes of destruction, Iran is snatching a strategic victory.  The American/Israeli attacks led to Iranian exercise of control and even monetization of the Strait, now the “Queen” on the chessboard of Middle East strategy. (That was not even on the board before this “excursion” in warfare).  And now the man who made his “living” as the ultimate deal maker, can’t seem to find a way to close.  Maybe he’ll follow President Obama’s lead, and release funds more of Iran’s frozen funds. Of course, Obama did get a nuclear deal, without war, and without shutting down twenty percent of the world’s oil supply.  

I need to add, it’s sad to be an American right now.  We have the greatest military in history, a force we are proud of.  I know many who serve, and I have nothing but respect for their skills, their sacrifices, and their incredible effectiveness.  To use the reasoning of Second Amendment advocates, it’s not the weapon, it’s the user.  The user of this incredible war machine, the President of the United States, is acting recklessly and thoughtlessly.  He’s abusing his powers, and risking their lives.

What happens next?  It’s in the world’s interest to recognize reality.  Iran is NOT destroyed.  But they want the attacks to end.  The United States has not achieved regime change, but we need to “cut our losses”, “declare victory”, and get the Hell out of there.  And someone, anyone, needs to stop Israel’s aggression.  

But just because it’s the right thing to do, it doesn’t mean that Donald Trump will do it.  And that should be enough to keep us all awake, all the time.

Sancho

Listen, I’m a huge fan at tilting at windmills.  Don Quixote is one of my favorite literary characters.  But I’m a Pancho Sanza fan as well.  For those who aren’t up on their classic literature, Don Quixote is the central character in Manuel de Cervantes early 1600’s fictional tale of the same name.  Quixote is a would-be Knight, enamored with the chivalry of the Middle Ages, and  looks for a dragon to slay.  He chooses a windmill as his target.  Pancho Sanza, his squire, is a pragmatic peasant who recognized that his “knight” is, in fact, attacking a windmill, not a dragon.  Thus became the “modern” phrase, “tilting at windmills”.

What windmills am I referencing?  Well, let’s start with the Congressional power of impeachment, the one way that Congress can exercise power over the Executive and Judicial branches.  Impeachment is the House of Representative’s way of charging the Executive Officers (including the President) and Federal Judges with removable offenses.  Conviction of impeachment is the Senate’s confirmation that actually removes them from office.

Impeachment

We all know how that works.  President Trump was impeached twice for actions during his first administration.  The first impeachment was over the “perfect phone call” with the then newly elected President of Ukraine, Vladomyr Zelenskyy.  In the call, Trump threatened Zelenskyy with the loss of US financial support, unless Ukraine found evidence against Trump’s major rival, and the future Democratic candidate for President, Joe Biden. 

Zelenskyy did not provide the evidence.  Biden was eventually elected President of the United States in 2020.  And, since Trump regained the office in 2024, Zelenskyy’s refusal has been a hurdle to Trump’s  continued support of Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

And the second impeachment was for Trump “fomenting insurrection” on January 6^th.

In both cases a majority of the House (then controlled by Democrats) voted to impeach the President.  And in both cases, the Senate failed to get a two-thirds majority to convict, and Trump bore no consequences, other than the ignominy of being the only President impeached twice.  

2027

Democrats may well regain control of the House, assuming a “free and fair” election process in 2026.  (That’s a big assumption, as the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to take Federal control of the process).  Democrats might even regain narrow control of the Senate, though that’s a more difficult task.  In 2027, there may well be a “clear path” to impeachment in the House, both for the President, and his cabinet.  But there is not a path, not even a narrow one, to conviction in the Senate.  Should Democrats control the Senate, there still will be at least fifteen Republican votes needed for actual removal from office.  

While Impeachment trials are a great way to highlight Presidential or Cabinet level criminal acts, the reality is clear:  impeachment and conviction is not a functional way to reshape our government.  No matter how clear the cause may be;  what might look like a dragon to us Democrats, is really just a windmill.

Amendment

But impeachment isn’t the only windmill in our current political life.  Other issues are ending the Electoral College method of electing the President, and altering the Second Amendment to restrict personal gun ownership. (And, from the other side, altering the Fourteenth Amendment to end birthright citizenship).  While both sides of American political thought have “things” they want to change in the Constitution, the paths to make those alterations are politically arduous.

Democrats are largely in favor of “direct election” of the President, by simple majority vote of the citizens.  But in order to accomplish that, it would require re-writing the 12^th Amendment to the Constitution (the Amendment that reorganizes the process outlined in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution).  

And many Democrats are in favor of altering the language of the Second Amendment, now interpreted as giving an absolute individual right to “keep and bear arms”.  While, in the past, there was some “flexibility” in the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second, in order to change that today likely would require changing the Constitution.

Also, Trump and other Republicans are fighting a “rear-guard action” to alter the common language interpretation of the “birthright citizenship” clause of the 14^th Amendment.  While in today’s MAGA majority Court anything is possible, it’s likely that even this Court will rule against the Republican argument and uphold that the plain language of the Amendment.  If they do, then the only choice Republicans would have would be to change the Constitution.

Real Dragons

All of these are “windmills”, not dragons.  To amend, the Constitution, it requires two-thirds of both the House and the Senate agree, and then three-fourths of the states confirm as well. Not only is it highly unlikely that two-thirds of either the House or the Senate would agree on anything, but for thirty-eight out of fifty states to agree is almost inconceivable.

Or, two-thirds of states (34) could call for a Constitutional Convention, and then three-fourths of the states agree to Amendments from that Convention.  That’s an even higher bar, (and even more unlikely).

So when I get the email asking me to donate to “end the Electoral College”, I sympathize with the concept.  When I hear calls for Trump’s or Hegseth’s or whoever the current Secretary of Homeland Security impeachment, I heartily agree.  But I won’t put my hard-earned money on “tilting at windmills”.  It’s 2026, a pivotal election year in American history.  There are very real “dragons” to defeat in this next election. 

I’m putting my money against them.

Swalwell

A week ago, Eric Swalwell was a leading candidate in the California Governor’s Race.  The now former Congressman is well known as one of the “stand-up” Democrats during the first Trump Administration.  He served as a manager in Trump’s second impeachment (for January 6^th).  He even survived scandal.  A woman named Fang Fang involved herself in Swalwell’s political campaign in 2014.  She arranged for an intern to work in his office.  The FBI briefed Swalwell on Fang Fang’s involvement as a spy for the Chinese Government.  He cut ties with her, and the FBI absolved him of any wrong doing.

But we now find out that Swalwell was a womanizer, willing to use his authority and his obvious personality to get women in bed, seemingly without their consent.  That’s such an old American political malady, it’s memorialized in the Broadway musical Hamilton.  The title character sings; “I don’t know how to say no to this…But my God, she looks so helpless. And her body’s saying, ‘Hell, yes’…”  Swalwell  joins an “illustrious” club; American politicians who failed to say “no”.   Even the founding fathers, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Franklin; were well known for their “swordsmanship”.

Power

More recently, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, and, of course, Bill Clinton are all Presidents rumored to have had affairs.  

There are important differences between some of these men and Eric Swalwell.  Jefferson’s tristes were with a woman he enslaved, and the age and power differential between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were extreme.  The others, like Harding, just carried on affairs with or without the knowledge of their spouses. But, by today’s standards, most, from Hamilton to Clinton, would have lost their careers over that behavior.

The most blatant example was Colorado Senator Gary Hart, the Democratic front runner for the Presidential nomination in 1988. He was rumored to be having an affair while on the campaign trail.  When reporters asked him about it, he literally challenged them to, “Follow me around, I don’t care. I’m serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They’d be very bored.”  So they did, and documented the affair that ended his campaign. 

Insider Deal

 In the Kennedy days, reporters knew what the President was doing.  There was an “insider’s deal” not to report it.  Since Gary Hart, those rules have changed.

So Swalwell is in a long line of politicians from both parties.  The difference is the day. This day, our day, we hold them to a higher rule.  Our current cultural standard is that, while most of what people do in bed is private, the one thing that must occur is an equal, knowing, and consensual relationship.  And that’s where Eric Swalwell, a Congressman I once admired, fell from grace.  

Did Swalwell get a young staffer drunk, and then rape her?  That’s for the Courts to decide.  But did Swalwell take advantage of the “power differential” between the two?  His current actions: quitting the Governor’s race and resigning from Congress, demonstrate the truth of those accusations.  

Risk Genetics

There’s an extreme psychological theory, the “risk gene”.  It  tries to explain why otherwise brilliant and charismatic figures, particularly in politics, take obvious and ridiculous risks.  Why do they claim it’s genetics?  The case study is the Kennedy family.  

The patriarch, Joe Kennedy senior was well known for his “risky” business behaviors.  Some of it was particularly adept, getting the family fortune out of the stock market months before Black Tuesday.  Some of it was marginally criminal, dealing with bootleggers during Prohibition.  And some of it was personal:  Kennedy was a well-known philanderer, using his contacts with the entertainment industry to get what he wanted.

Kennedy’s Sons

His oldest son, Joe Junior, was a risk taker as well.  He was, from birth, the “anointed one”, destined for political glory.  But young Joe was willing to risk his life in World War II, and ended up dying on a nearly-suicidal bombing mission over Europe.

The second son, Jack (John F), was more intellectual.  But he too was a risk taker, a war hero himself, and as a politician. Those risks paid off; Kennedy was so young when elected to the Senate, he had to “prove” to the Capitol Police he wasn’t a page or staffer.   Kennedy was a sexual risk taker as well, even after his marriage to Jackie. And it wasn’t just Marilyn Monroe, there were a series of women in and out of the White House during his administration.

And the fourth son, Teddy (Edward) followed suit.  He was a young, charismatic Senator with aspirations of being President himself.  But his future was derailed by a tragic car accident, when, likely under the influence, he drove off a bridge with a young secretary in the passenger seat.  She died in the waters, he swam to shore, and managed to call his lawyer rather than the police.

 The “genetic theory” goes onto follow the next generation.  Jack’s son John Junior died flying a private plane in poor weather conditions.   Two of Robert Kennedy’s (the third brother) sons died tragically:  David of drugs, and Michael in a skiing accident.  And then there’s the current Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Junior, a former drug addict and known womanizer.  His first wife, Mary, committed suicide allegedly after reading Robert’s journal chronicling his affairs with thirty-seven other women.

Privilege

Is it really genetics, or is it a “learned behavior”, with the new generation learning from the last?  Or, is trying to “science” their actions just another “benefit” of privilege?

So perhaps Eric Swalwell will use the “risk gene” as his excuse.  But is it really a genetic disfunction, or is it just the unbridled behavior of men who find themselves with power, and think it’s their entitlement?  From the outside looking in, it seems like pure lunacy that politicians with the highest aspirations would be unable to control their personal urges.  Somehow, they equate their constituents votes to personal gratification.  Whatever the rules of the past, today, it does not.

The price Swalwell will pay for that physical gratification is high.  And so is the damage to his family.   But for California Democrats and the rest of those of us who admired him:  good riddance, Swalwell.

Mafia Terms

“Il bacio della morte”.  You may not know Italian, but, if you saw the Godfather movies, you know what that means.  It’s what Michael Corleone gave his brother Fredo on the lips in The Godfather Part II.  It’s a big goodbye kiss, “the kiss of death”.  It was soon after, that Fredo went fishing on Lake Tahoe, and Michael’s bodyguard put a bullet in the back of his head.

A lot of what the Trump Administration does looks like “organized crime”.  They act outside the laws, and they enrich themselves at every turn in American policies and politics.  They sell pardons to the highest bidders, and take “gifts” both from American corporations and foreign entities.  And Trump definitely styles himself as the “Godfather” of MAGA’ism.  He tells “his voters” who to vote for, and who to reject.  Part of Trump’s absolute power over the Republican Party is his death grip on the perhaps 30% of voting Republicans, where Trump’s word is law.  

Trump’s Influence

But as we move into the 2026 election cycle, when all of the House of Representatives and a third of the US Senate are up for election,  Trump’s backing seems to be more of an unintentional “il bacio della morte”.  Sure, Trump’s endorsement is still necessary to win a Republican party nomination.  But in head to head elections Democratic candidates or propositions are winning, or dramatically cutting into the past Trump margins.  

And now we’ve even seen it on the international stage.  Viktor Orban, the authoritarian leader of Hungary, lost his legislative majority in the Hungarian National Assembly Sunday.  In fact, the Assembly went from a majority  of 133 seats favoring Orban (out of 199), to a super-majority of 138 seats opposing him.  Orban charted an authoritarian course for Hungary since he gained power in 2010.  Hungary became a thorn in the side to both the European Union and NATO (Hungary is a member of both).  He stood in opposition to sending aid to Ukraine. And he became a supporter of Europe’s premier authoritarian leader,  Russia’s Vladimir Putin.  

Orban’s Demise

Orban found a huge support network among American right-wing groups, including the Heritage Foundation and many in the Republican Party.   He appeared at CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) and even created a CPAC of his own in Hungary.  And Orban was a fellow proponent of Christian Nationalism. In fact, some of Trump’s actions towards those he calls “woke”, like major educational institutions, are straight from Orban’s playbook.  (Compare what Trump is doing to the Ivy League Schools, and what Orban did to Hungary’s Central European University).

As the Hungarian election grew closer, both President Trump and Vice President Vance tried to help Orban maintain power.  Vance actually went to campaign rallies for Orban in Hungary, and Trump called into the partisan Hungarian crowd, telling them they needed to make sure Orban stayed in office.  

Like many Republican candidates here in the United States, Trump’s approval seems to be the “il bacio della morte”.  Here in the US the issues are clear:  ICE illegalities, hikes in consumer prices due to tariffs, cuts in health care, and foreign adventurism in the attack on Venezuela and the War in Iran.  What in Biden’s day was “the price of eggs”, now is reborn as “the price of gas”.  The people of Hungary know what’s going on here, and also recognize the danger that Trump, and Orban, represents to their future.  Vance and Trump’s support were  the “kiss of death” for Orban’s candidacy.

Fish Heads

Hungary choses its chief executive through a Parliamentary system.  The party with the majority in the Assembly chooses the Prime Minister.  So it’s easier for them to change the executive than the locked-in four year Presidency of the United States.  But folks here in the United States can still take some heart.

If Democrats take control of the Congress, Trump may be impeached again by the House of Representatives. (The prediction markets  are at 71%).  But it is more than unlikely (the markets at 27%) that the Senate could reach the two-thirds threshold to convict.  

But what a Democratic House and Senate could do is to block some of Trump’s most outrageous actions.  And they’d have to the power to investigate and subpoena, laying out the corruption that seems endemic to the current Administration.  To use another Italian expression “il pesce puzza della testa”; the fish rots from the head.  A Democratic Congress will make it their business to expose that rot to the American people, particularly as we near the 2028 Presidential election.

Speaking of elections:  the best way to safeguard a free and fair election in 2026 and 2028, is to protect the states from federal incursion into election processes.  Since the Trump Administration is convinced that our electoral system is “rigged”, that’s going to be the tough fight to win.  A Democratic Congress would help.

Give Viktor Orban credit:  he recognized a legal election loss, and conceded to his opponent.  That’s something that the current head of the United States government has never done. 

Il pesce puzza della testa.

This is another in the Sunday story series. No “current” politics today.  

Young Athlete

I’ve been involved with athletics for almost all of my life.  I was a five-year old Little Leaguer in Cincinnati, (the University of Cincinnati basketball coach, Tay Baker, was our Coach).  I competed as a swimmer when we lived in Dayton and then in high school.  And I always knew I was fast, the fastest kid in Southdale Elementary School.  I loved 50 yard dash day.  

Then I read the Jesse Owens story, and I was hooked on track and field, even more than being the first baseman on the baseball team.  Through Scouting I actually got fifteen minutes to talk to Mr. Owens. That cemented my track decision. And finally, in Junior High, I started wrestling. There was even a point when I was  swimming, wrestling, and getting ready for track all at the same time.

Wrestling

As a high school wrestler, I experienced a “questionable coach”.   He taught us a lot about wrestling.  But he also made sure we knew how to cheat the weigh-in scales.  You could casually lean back on a convenient teammate’s thumb directly behind you.  Or you could crunch up paper to put under the foot plate of the scale (all balance scales back then).  And there were a variety of other ways to “rig” the system.   

It was about that time that I also learned that you could “stand on your head” for a couple of minutes, then jump upright and onto the scale. This wasn’t cheating, it just defied the laws of physics. But it worked: usually saving the few ounces needed to make weight.  A common sight at weigh-ins back then, was for several wrestlers to be upside down against the wall, waiting to get a final shot at the scale.  (In more modern times, wrestlers weigh-in with a singlet on, and only get one try). 

But that same Coach demonstrated the dedication that wrestling requires, especially when it came to controlling weight.  He was a “hands on” coach, and if he really wanted to teach a lesson, you’d wrestle with him all practice.  After all, we were adolescent boys, wrestling in weight classes fifteen to twenty pounds below or normal weights.  Boys not eating for days at a time – that’s dedication. 

Looking back on all that, my wrestling coach was young, fresh out of University of Cincinnati.  The cheating was a “reverse” lesson for me, showing the kind of example I didn’t want to be.  But there was an even more important point from that Coach. You can be the person that kids will “run through a wall” for. It’s up to you to pick the right wall.

Track

And speaking of high school coaches, my track coach for two years was Gary Jump.  Coach Jump was really a football coach, and he ran the track team like it was football conditioning.  But, he was a good guy and one lesson he taught me hit home.  We were on a bus trip to an away track meet. But it also was the day before “senior skip day”.  The senior athletes discussed how to “get away” with it on the bus. Being the budding lawyer that I was back then, I suggested that they claim they were sick, all at once, at the Winton Woods picnic area.

Then Coach Jump, sitting in the front (that’s where the coaches go – right?), growled at me. It was a simple phrase, but it stuck with me for now fifty-two years.  He answered, with what we would now call “mike drop” simplicity.  “Dahlman, they aren’t LIARS”.  And that struck home.   I did skip school senior skip day, but I did it in the middle. I showed up in the morning, then skipped out for lunch.  Then I came back afterwards, with lunch for my favorite teacher, Eve Bolton, the major reason I ended up a teacher myself.   I was ready to “face the consequences. I wasn’t a LIAR.

No one got punished. As I now know, the school Administration was just as interested in getting rid of the inattentive seniors in May, as those Seniors were to go.

Coach

My first and most important early coaching mentor was John McGowan, my first head coach.  John was competitive, and coached most of the team by himself in the early days.  But John was also compassionate to our athletes, and made sure they knew that he (then we) cared about them more as people, than times and distances.   For me, he became the ultimate “measuring stick” on how to coach.  I wasn’t always successful, but we (my staff) tried to put the kids first. Then the effort, the dedication, and the success comes.  Our Track team was a family, and my assistants and I worked to make that possible.

I was twenty-five when I became the Head Boys Track Coach at Watkins. Today,  I would call me a “Kid Coach”, just like my old wrestling coach.   “Kid Coaches” are the ones who look like they could put on a jersey and run a relay leg in a high school meet.  When I see them now, it’s hard to be sure who they are:  athlete, spectator or coach.  Twenty-five was young, just a few years older than the sixty or more boys on the team.  But I was confident, I mean, really confident, that we could be a great team, year in and year out.

I definitely stepped on some toes in those early days.  I knew things were bad, when the High School Principal Bill McKinley told me, in the middle of a lecture on a different subject: “I see runners on the road, then I think about you, and I get nervous”.   By the way, Bill and I didn’t get along when it came to track or cross country until the mid-1990’s.  Then he gave me a sage piece of advice:  “I respect staff who stand for what they believe in, even if it means you’re yelling at me!!” I did that once – stood up and yelled back. And our relationship became much better. Job saved – Lesson learned.

Official

I’ve been a track official since 1979 (with a pause in the early 2000’s).  And most of those years, I also coached high school track and field at Watkins Memorial High School.  I coached every event in track and field, from sprints relays and hurdles to shot and discus, high jump, long jump and, of course, pole vault.  And, I even had national qualifying athletes in those events and more: Triple Jump, javelin and the steeplechase and the hammer throw .   

I know my way “around” the track, and the field. So when I went to this “dark side”, officiating full -time, it was natural for me to start at pole vault.  I still run the pole vault safety program for the Ohio Track Coaches, now for thirty-six years.  I looked for officials to model, the best pole vault officials I worked with as a coach. That’s the kind of official I wanted to be (Tom, Roger, Brian, Patty, Bill; if you know, you know).

I’ve Officiated Districts, Regionals and the State meet for the past four years.  The “book” on me, is that I’m a “pole vault guy”, who can still communicate with the “pole vault guy” coaches, as well as the “kid coaches” who come out with intensity and demands. They’re a younger me in from the 1980’s!!. As I tell them, I’ve been on their side of the “coaching box” (where coaches can watch their vaulters), a lot longer than I’ve been on this side (the “Dark Side”).  I’ll be back at the District, Regional and State pole vault pits in May and June.

Future

Now, I’ve decided   to diversify my officiating.  So this year I applied for pole vault, District, Regional and State.  But I also applied for the Head Field Judge, the official administrative position. That official is responsible for all of the Field events.  Last week, I was hired as a Regional Pole Vault official for the Division IV competition in Chillicothe, and the Head Field Judge for the Division V competition at the same place (different days).

I’m not worried about knowing the “ins and outs” of field event rules.  After all, I’ve got the vertical jumps down.  I’ve done a lot of long jumps over the years, even at Districts meets.  And I coached throws. But, there is a process for making sure that the implements, the shots and discs, are legal.  They need to be weighed and measured with special templates.  And then the “good ones” need to be marked to withstand impact, and so the event official knows that no one is sneaking in a “ringer” implement.

I called my “favorite” Head Field Judge, Mark Moore.  Mark mentored me as I started this second career in 2019, making sure that I had the support and backup I needed to do my pole vault assignments.   And Mark is directly responsible for me knowing my “official number”, signed on each score sheet.  He had mine memorized even before I did, then he made sure I knew it.  His quiet expertise is exactly the kind of Head Field Judge I want to be.

One More Story

At sixty-nine, I’ve had great mentors in all of my endeavors:  teaching, coaching, administering, and now, officiating.   But, there’s always “one more story”. This lesson I learned as a “hot shot” political operative working for the Carter/Mondale Presidential campaign in 1976.  I was twenty-years old (still extremely confident), and owned a 1967 Volkswagen Squareback (station wagon).  

Part of my job was to drive all of Southwestern Ohio, coordinating the different groups who were helping Carter win Ohio.  I had fun with college groups and high school volunteers.  Then I was assigned to work with the United Auto Workers labor union in Hamilton, Ohio.  So I pulled up in my VW, wearing my personal“uniform”: blue sports coat with a Bicentennial American Flag tie.  I went into the Hall, and had a good talk with the leadership about what they could do for Jimmy.

We completed our meeting, and I started to leave, when the Local President came up and put an arm across my shoulders.  His grip was more than friendly, perhaps even a little menacing.  He walked me to the Union Hall door, and quietly said: “You’re a rookie and we like you.  But if you ever drive that Volkswagen up to this Hall again, we’re done with you”. 

Good thing Dad had a second car, a bright red 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass.  It had the big engine, and I was tempted to see how fast it could go.  But the suspension wasn’t as solid, and going much over eighty was an adventure that might have a bad ending.  So, Dad saved the job for me.  The UAW guys were a lot happier the next time I parked that Cutlass in front of their Hall. It was another lesson learned.

The Sunday Story Series

2021

• 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

2022

• 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

2023

• Fair or 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
• End of an Era – 6/25/23
• Paybacks – 7/2/23
• Graying in Pataskala – 7/17/23
• Being a Goat – 7/23/23
• Toy Truck – 8/20/23
• Medical Terms – 8/27/23
• Missing Margaritaville – 9/3/23
• The McGowan – 9/10/23
• Who’s Watching – 10/22/23
• The Saturday Before – 10/29/23
• A Tale of Turkey, and Dogs – 11/26/23
• Bruno’s Story – 12/3/23
• Out in the Country – 12/10/23
• Christmas Eve – 12/24/23

2024

• Rube Goldberg – 1/12/24
• Our Pataskala Kroger’s – 2/5/24
• A Sad, Sad, Dog – 2/11/24
• Singing in the Tornado – 3/3/24
• Your Safe Spot – 3/17/24
• Easter Dawn – 3/31/24
• Swarms – 4/14/24
• Lowest Common Denominator – 4/28/24
• Seniors – 5/12/24
• Season’s Over – 6/22/24
• Camp Morning – 6/30/24
• Jeeping – 7/7/24
• How Mondo Won the Gold and Started a Dog Fight (almost) – 8/6/24
• Fifty Years of the McGowan – 9/8/24
• A Walk in the Woods – 10/22/24
• Smokin – 12/6/24
• Coal for Christmas 12/16/24
• Provenance – 12/22/24

2025

• Lost and Found – 2/22/25
• Catching Cars – 3/2/25
• PV Mentor – 3/31/25
• Dogs, Jeeps, Fireworks and Beer Coolers 7/6/25
• It’s About Time – 7/27-25
• Gas War – 11/30/25

2026

• The End of My Nose – 1/18/26
• The End of the Jeep – 1/25/26
• Fat Chipmunk – 2/15/26
• A Flash of Unity – 2/23/26
• Lessons Learned – 4/12/26

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks”  – Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 2)

FLOTUS

Yesterday, the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) Melania Trump, delivered a “stern” message to America.  She firmly denied that she was in any way involved with Jeffrey Epstein.  She claimed that she was aware of him and they spent a lot of time in the same social circles in both New York City and in Palm Beach.  But that was it, just over-lapping social circles.

Yesterday, the President of the United States (POTUS) Donald Trump, said he didn’t know his wife was planning on speaking publicly.  There was no statement from POTUS, supporting FLOTUS.  Instead of “standing” by his wife, Trump used his universal excuse to the world:  “I didn’t know”.  

So why did Melania feel the need to address the Nation?  It’s all about longtime Trump nemesis, author Michael Wolff.  He’s the guy who wrote the “tell-all” near the beginning of Trump’s first term, Fire and Fury.  I remember reading it in 2018, lounging on the beach in Florida when Jenn and I were doing our “snowbird” thing.

Getting Ahead

Wolff is a compelling author, but isn’t particularly wedded to the facts.  The story comes first.  And the story he’s working on right now, is about Jeffrey Epstein.  It’s rumored that Wolff will claim Epstein “had” (in the Biblical sense) Melania first, then introduced her to Donald.  Melania threatened to sue Wolff for a billion dollars.  Wolff counter-sued. He claimed that she was denying his First Amendment rights, using the courts and huge numbers to suppress publication.

Melania is trying to “get ahead” of the story, before Wolff publishes.  Of course what she really did is guarantee Wolff’s book pre-publication sales will put him on the New York Times bestseller list.   Still, it’s an astute political move, claiming the high ground before Wolff gets the lower fields plowed.  At least that’s good for her.

But it’s really NOT good for Donald Trump, who has, amazingly, managed to temporarily dampen the EPSTEIN FILES furor.  It took a war, thousands of civilians dead, Billions of dollars spent, and shutting down 20% of the world’s oil supply to change the subject.  Oh and that whole thing about wiping the Persian civilization out, “Sending them back to the Stone Age”.

EXTRA-EXTRA

Melania brought it all back, right to the front of the line (and the lead in the newscasts).  That can’t be what her “Donald” wanted.  And on top of that; Melania called on Congress to take the victims, place them under oath, and make them testify to the world.  In other words, force the victims to be re-victimized.  She said nothing about the perpetrators of the Epstein bacchanals, the now older white men who used their wealth and influence to get what they wanted from Epstein:  sexual pleasure with under-aged girls (and even under-aged boys).  

Here comes another round of victim statements, more calls from House Democrats for investigation and depositions, and probably longer Congressional recesses so that Republicans can “keep a lid on it”.  Sure, bombs and death deflected from the EPSTEIN FILES for a while.  But over two million documents are still hidden from public view.  

FILES

Todd Blanche is the Trump attorney who interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell. She told him that the Trump’s weren’t involved. Blanche is now the Acting Attorney General of the United States.  Maxwell is now housed in a minimum security prison, violating Bureau of Prisons policy for someone sentenced with her crimes.  Any testimony by her is “tainted” by what looks from the outside like a corrupt bargain.  She got her “quid pro quo”.  Maybe a full pardon is next.

In the end, the EPSTEIN FILES won’t go away.  Four dollar a gallon gas, Americans fighting abroad, the old Attorney General fired (and told not to testify to the House Committee):  the appetite of the American people for Epstein information and justice does not stop.   Melania might try to cover, and Michael Wolff try to profit; but in the end, America will know what happened.  Justice will be done for the victims of Epstein, and to those who “benefitted” from his actions (that includes you Mr. Wexner!!).

I remember a Mel Brooks movie of my youth, Blazing Saddles.  It was an irreverent parody of the cowboy movies (think John Wayne) that filled the screen in those days, and it was funny as Hell.  (The movie is completely/totally/absolutely, politically incorrect for the 21^st Century. It was pretty incorrect back in the 1970’s too. To watch it, turn off your “Woke Meter”, and accept it as the period piece it is).

Badges

The lead actor was Cleavon Little.  He played “Bart”,  a black man, chosen by the Governor (Mel Brooks) to save the little prairie town of Rock Ridge.  The town was under siege by the criminal forces of a rich railroad executive Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman).  The corrupt Governor counts on the racist town people, unwilling to accept a black sheriff, to create the chaos necessary for Lamarr to overrun the place.  What he didn’t expect was the new sheriff’s friendship with “Jim”, played by Gene Wilder, an alcoholic ex-gunslinger who is unable to hold his gun hand steady enough to shoot.

Go watch the movie if you want to know what happens, or how NFL Hall of Famer Alex Karras knocks a horse out with one punch.  Or to hear the tagline that outlives the plot of the movie itself:  “Badges?  We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!!”

But one scene reminds me of our current political world. Bart faces a mob of the folk of Rock Ridge, ready to lynch him rather than have a black sheriff.  In an instant, Bart takes himself hostage, pointing a gun at his own neck and saying, I’ll shoot the – black sheriff  – he uses a term than I will not in 2026.  Bart them reverses his voice, and pleads with the crowd to not make “him” shoot “me”.  He carries this charade on long enough to get into the sheriff’s office door.  Bart then says: “Oh baby, you are so talented”.  He then looks directly into the camera and adds: “And they are so dumb!!”

In the Times

All of this because of the world brinksmanship that we lived through the past few days.  Donald Trump threatened the very existence of the Iranian/Persian culture. He made it clear it was his plan blow up their entire civil infra-structure in a massive four-hour bombing raid.  Trump, operating without support of Congress, or NATO, or the American people, determined to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age” (his words).  And it would all start at 8:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, March 7^th.

It was all a matter of degree.  Trump already took America to war against Iran, launching a devastating bombing campaign along with the Israeli government.  The first episode took place last June, when B-2 Bombers were sent with enormous multi-million dollar bombs to destroy Iran’s buried nuclear research facilities.   According to Trump, their nuclear development program was obliterated.

And, if the New York Times is accurate, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu convinced Trump to join him in an all-out assault on the Iranian leadership, a “decapitation strike” that began our current conflict on February 28^th of this year.  The reasons:  the nuclear program might not be as “obliterated” as Trump thought.  And, in concert with civil unrest within Iran, perhaps a new government might gain power.  

As the American Secretary of Defense crowed daily about the successes of US arms against Iran, somehow the new theocratic leadership managed to launch successful missile and drone strikes against American bases and our other allies in the Middle East.  “The  Iranian Air Force was destroyed, their Navy on the bottom of the Persian Gulf”.  But still Iranian missiles and drones continued to find targets.

By the Barrels

And Iran played its ultimate “ trump card”.  They choked off the Strait of Hormuz, denying the rest of the world 20% of oil production.  Costs for petroleum products worldwide sky-rocketed as the price per barrel went from $72 to $115.  America’s gas prices topped $4.00 a gallon.   The US might be able to destroy targets at will, but Iran had the world by the “barrels”, and there was little the vast armed might of the United States could do about it.

American allies, from Western Europe to the Pacific rim, demanded that the Straits be reopened.  They weren’t interested in participating in the United States’ “war of choice”.  But they did not want the world thrown into economic chaos due to the lack of oil.  Trump also faced internal political opposition, with dwindling support for his”excursion”.  Recent polling showed 57% of Americans opposed to the war, with only 34% strongly or somewhat for it (YouGov).

Then came Trump’s ultimatum, the threat of massive destruction against a nation of 90 million people.   The Iranian government at the last moment issued a potential peace deal, and asked for a two week ceasefire.  Trump accepted, and negotiations are ongoing in Pakistan.  Trump supporters would have us think that he was holding the gun on his hostage Iran, who capitulated to his dire threats.  And maybe that’s true:  maybe Iran realized that the President was willing to commit whatever war crimes were required to loosen Iran’s grip on the world’s barrels.  The first rule of dealing with a crazy man – realize that he’s crazy.  To be clear, I mean the President, not the Ayatollah.

North Korean Tactics

Or maybe Donald Trump took the American people and our European allies, and pointed the gun at our own collective neck.  Trump would send our kids to war.  (By the way, why did the question of 18 year olds registering for the draft come up this week?) He’ll risk World War III (something Trump himself accused Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy of doing).  The United States will bomb and destroy, untethered by the Geneva Conventions or the “rules of engagement”.   Trump would even risk the Straits of Hormuz remaining closed, and world economic collapse, all to get a deal.

Was he crazy?  Was he really willing to risk all to get what he wanted? Did Trump do this as a strategy, the Kim Jong Un method of political brinksmanship?  Or, was Trump actually planning to throw the whole world into chaos, in order to gain a “victory” from the Iranians?  “I’ll shoot the Western world, I’ll do it!!”  “Please, please don’t make him shoot me!!”

Now there’s a two-week ceasefire.  There’s possible language for re-opening the Straits. Currently, Iran is making money, charging a dollar a barrel toll for tankers (with millions of barrels) to go through.  And, maybe, there’s a deal to be made.  Or, two or three weeks from now, we’ll be back in main street of Rock Ridge, waiting for the sheriff to shoot himself.  

Then we’ll be saying:  we are so dumb!!!

On the Clock

Today, we are on a “knife’s edge” of time.  The President of the United States has the entire world holding its collective breath.  Yesterday he threatened to destroy Iran; bombing their power plants and highways, sending bombers and missiles to, as he said it; “Send them back to the Stone Age”.  His “deadline”: 8:00pm tonight, 3:30am Tehran time.  We already have assassinated their leadership, destroyed their navy and air force, and decimated their communications.  This next step is “total warfare”, when we stop attacking military targets, and begin to wage war against their populace.  

Today, the Vice President of the United States is in Hungary, campaigning for the authoritarian Presidential candidate there, Viktor Orban.  The opposition to Orban, Peter Maygar, is in favor of restoring democratic institutions, against Orban’s crony-corruption, and for improving relationships with the European Union.  Orban is a “knife’s edge” away from being a Fascist, Magyar is a “center-right” candidate.  But the man a heartbeat away from the most powerful position in the world, Vice President J.D. Vance, is campaigning for Orban.

1968

Yesterday a wonderful thing happened.  For the first time in over half-a-century, human beings were once again circling the moon.  I was thrown back to the first time that occurred, in 1968.  

I was twelve years old, living in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.  1968 was a very difficult year for America.  The country was torn apart by the Vietnam War.  Two important national leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, were assassinated in the prime of their lives.  President Johnson chose not to run for re-election. His Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, was caught between supporting Johnson’s Vietnam policy, or gaining the anti-war support.  That division led to riots at the Democratic Convention, and the eventual election of a pro-war President, Republican Richard Nixon.

Riots, war, political turmoil:  1968 was a year on a “knife’s edge”.  Cities burned.  University campuses were closed.  Protestors faced off against National Guardsmen, putting flowers in the barrels of their guns. 

Americans as One

But on Christmas Eve of 1968, Americans were, for a moment, united as one.  There was Christmas dinners, presents around the tree, but more importantly we huddled around the television that evening.  Three Americans were doing the impossible: they were orbiting the moon.  And we were all there, watching, as Apollo 8 came out of the communications blackout around the far-side of the Moon, and, for the first time, saw earthrise over the lunar surface.

Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders read to the world the first words in the Bible, the book of Genesis.   As the on-board camera panned the moon, Borman intoned, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.  Then, as the camera tilted to see the earth, the “big blue marble” rising, they continued “And God said, let there be light, and he separated the light from the darkness”. 

I was a kid, sitting on the living room floor at one of Mom and Dad’s friend’s house.  We were there for dinner, but stayed to share in the moment, with the rest of the country.  As divided and angry and riven as Americans were; for that moment, we were one.  It didn’t “fix” our world, but it made us realize that the seemingly infinite problems really were finite to a small “blue marble” that we all shared.

The Dark Side

Yesterday we (humans, Americans and a Canadian) were back.  I sat in my own family room, now sixty-nine years old, and marveled as the Artemis crew came out from the dark-side of the moon.  I don’t think the whole world was watching.  We are again torn, again facing war, again agonizing over political choices.  And today, with viewing so personalized (not the three channels of the 1960’s) most probably missed it.  Jenn and I had to download the “NASA app” to see it in real time.  

And even though we again saw how finite our earth is, like 1968, it was just a moment, in our knife’s edge world.  Most of the world takes going to the moon again for granted – I guess they’re waiting for 2028, when Artemis IV will actually land on the moon.  Just like we took it for granted in the 1960’s that humans were on the moon to stay, after we landed in the summer of 1969.

There’s nothing pre-ordained here.  We went to the moon in 1960’s and 70’s, then abandoned the effort.  And we spent another six years in Vietnam, another 20,000  Americans were killed.

We are on the knife’s edge today.  Our world changed for the “good” yesterday, but by tomorrow, we may be in a full-scale war.   Today we take a deep breath – then hold it to see where our world will go.  Is it a future in space? 

Or another war in a far-off place?

Misunderstood

Trump’s “team” is suffering from a simple misunderstanding.  They think in global, strategic terms:  number of weapons, power of bombs, percentage of destruction.  In their mind, any “rational” Nation would cower when faced with the ultimate might of the United States, three Carrier Groups, thousands of aircraft, tens of thousands of troops ready to put “boots on the ground”.  And, frankly, to most Americans that makes sense too.  Don’t mess with the USA!!!

After all, we grew up in a society that prizes money and power.  We did learn from a young age to admire those who, as the saying goes, “speaks truth to power”.  But we also were very aware of the consequences of such actions.  Those courageous folks were often cut off from economic and social support, and seen as “odd” or even “crazy”.  Americans understand power, and most of us, really all of us, pick our battles.  We go along with a lot, and only fight when there is no other choice, morally or physically.  (Need an example:  look at the Ohio State Legislature, which regularly ignores the voted “will” of the people.  Sure it’s annoying, but the reality of Ohio is that few stand up against this blatant abuse of power).

That’s America’s way of thinking about power.  But just because “we” think that way, it doesn’t mean the rest of the world does.  And that’s the fatal flaw in the Trump plan in Iran.

Vietnam

Back in the 1960’s, America was fighting a war in Vietnam.  The power “balance” was incredibly lopsided.  The American military in its full might, versus the Viet Cong.  US soldiers, trained and equipped with the best armaments, versus men in black pajamas and sandals.  But, year after  year, the US was unable to claim “victory”.  Instead, we kept track of the “body count”; how many Viet Cong were killed.  By the late 1960’s, it became clear.  Either the Viet Cong were completed decimated, and someone else was fighting in their place; or the “body count” was a lie.

John F Kennedy in his first inaugural speech, promised to “…(P)ay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship…to assure the survival and success of liberty.”  But Vietnam taught us a different lesson.  THEY were willing to bear any burden, not us.  THEY were willing to pay any price, not us.  In Vietnam, THEY would accept any sacrifice to sustain their fight.  It was the United States that wasn’t.   It took us fifteen years to figure it out.  

In Afghanistan we had to learn that lesson all over again.  The power was so unbalanced, the most modern military in history versus Mujahedeen with rifles and improvised explosive devices.  But we still failed in the end. It “just” took twenty years to learn that time.

Stone Age

So here we are, preparing to “bomb Iran back into the Stone Age”.  America just spent nearly half a Billion dollars to rescue the two-man crew of a F-15 fighter from capture.  And that’s exactly what Americans want our military to do:  “No one left behind”.  They are our sons, daughters, and friends:  we will pay any price to get them safe.  

But the leaders of Iran are not us.  They, clearly, are willing to accept any sacrifice.  The US and Israel takes great pride in destroying the leadership of Iran, but, to steal a phrase from the Ohio State Football team, for Iran it’s just “the next man up”.  The Iranian Intelligence Chief was killed yesterday, there’s a new man in his place today, carrying on with the work.  The Ayatollah was killed in the first wave of bombings, his son is now in charge, and even more intransigent than his father.

By the way, the “bomb them back to the Stone Age” phrase came from Air Force General Curtis LeMay, the “father” of America’s strategic bombing forces.  It was LeMay who led the massive bombing effort on Japan in World War II, attacks that burned Tokyo, and culminated in the only time in history atomic weapons were used.  LeMay thought that’s what we should do to Vietnam.  In fact, more bombs were dropped by the US in Vietnam than were dropped by both sides in World War II.  But, in the end, Americans left, and the Vietnamese Communists won.

World Poker

We are on the cusp of another war defined by asymmetry.   The United States has all the “cards” and all the “chips”.  Yet somehow, Iran plays on.  We can take the next step; Trump can order our forces to go “all in” against Iranian infrastructure.  And clearly we will be successful, destroying their power plants, bridges, hospitals and schools.  But all of that will not force Iran to sue for peace.  It will cause them to double-down on their willingness to sacrifice, and unify their people behind their theocratic leadership.  

We will win the war of “body-count”.  But we, in the end, will not “pay any price” for Iran.  They know it.  The American people know it.  The question is:  does Donald Trump know it?

Happy

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy beginning of Spring, happy, happy, happy.  Find something to be happy about today, this Easter Sunday of the year 2026 in the Christian Era.  My first plan would be:  don’t turn on the news.  Get on with whatever holiday preparations you need to do.  

There is definitely one reason to be happy today.  The “WIZZO”, the back seat weapons specialist officer in the US F-15 shot down over Iran, has been rescued.  After a couple of days of escape and evasion, and a massive effort that included the loss of three other aircraft (an A-10, and two HC-130’s) but no other casualties; the officer is back in US hands.   Glad the “Wizzo”, and everyone else involved is safe.  Total cost for the four lost planes, almost a quarter Billion dollars.  That, by the way, is in addition to the Billion dollars a day Trump’s “excursion” to Iran is costing us.

And while we’re on this subject, what are Americans thinking?  There was a “betting line” on the prediction market on how long it would take for the rescue?  People were betting on this officer’s life!!  And then there was the “private rescue” guy  on streaming news from “Grey Bull” (the company that got Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado out). He wanted to go into the graphic details of what happens to Americans turned hostages.  We all know; and somewhere out there in America, there’s a father and a mother and a family who didn’t need a vision to be reminded about the risks their child was facing.  It felt like the “Grey Bull” guy was being “honest”; mostly to drum up future business.

Dollars to Debt

President Trump is feeling the financial pressure.  Last week he questioned how the Federal government could pay for things like daycare and Medicaid, when he has a war to fight.   The United States now has a total debt of $39 Trillion, up $3 Trillion from the day Trump took office.  What’s the point?  Twenty percent of the Federal budget is now going to pay interest on the debt.  It’s like the first few years of a thirty-year mortgage:  it seems all you do is pay interest and the principal remains the same.  For the US, it’s a Trillion dollars a year, just to stay even.

Whoops:  Happy is the order of the day.  I was happy Friday, I managed to get gas at $3.67 a gallon.  Remember the “Thank You Joe Biden” campaign, with stickers on the gas pumps about the high gas prices.  Now it’s “Thank you Donald Trump (may I have another?)”.   It’s not just the President and Congress paying the price of the Iran War.  Americans are “sharing  sacrifice”, with higher gas prices, and rising prices for everything that comes from oil.  That includes fertilizer for crops and transportation for food.  

Unlike other Presidents, I don’t remember Donald Trump asking us to “join in” for the “greater good”.  In fact, it feels like he just assumed America would go along with his expensive “excursion”.  Even his prime time speech last week  wasn’t a “Win one for the Gipper” address.  It was just a rambling mash of Trump’s Truth Social tweets from the past month.  

Take Some Advice

My advice to the President:   You’re supposed the “Art of the Deal” guy.  So, make a deal with Iran.  It could be:  they won’t build a nuclear bomb (the deal Obama made a decade ago), and leave the Strait of Hormuz alone; and we’ll stop bombing and call off our Israeli attack dog.  Declare victory, Mr. President. Then have a big parade down Pennsylvania Avenue for our victorious forces.  It’s another thing you’re supposed to enjoy.

Meanwhile, have a Happy holiday Sunday.  I’m excited:  there’s a ham to be smoked. I’m a sucker for smoked spiral sliced ham with all of the trimmings. So I’ll stop my rant here, and start “smokin’”!!!!!

Ban Property Taxes

Here in Ohio there’s a “new” movement to ban property taxes.  That’s right, folks are out there campaigning to pass an Ohio Constitutional amendment that would, after a year, drop all property taxes.  

What’s driving this movement?  Well, first of all, no one likes taxes.  So it makes citizens “feel good” to actually talk about wiping some out.  That’s particularly true in most of Ohio, where property values have gone up astronomically in the past few years.  My example:  in 2015 our house here in Pataskala had a market value about $180,000.  We paid around $2300 a year in property tax.  That’s 1.3% of the value a year.  Ten years later, the same house now has a market value over $300,000.  We pay $4030 in taxes.  That’s still 1.4% of the value a year – but it’s a whole lot more money.  

That compares to income taxes.  We’re both retired, so our incomes are pretty stable.  We don’t make a whole lot more money now than we did in 2016, and we pay about the same amount of income tax, federal, state and local, every year.  It fluctuates a little bit, often depending on the “politics” of the moment.  But, year in, year out, we pay somewhere around 12% of our gross income in taxes.

Income Tax

Income taxes are flexible.  If you make more money you pay more taxes.  But property taxes don’t work that way.  Sure, you house may increase in value, but you don’t benefit from that increase unless you sell.  Meanwhile, the taxes continue to go up on that “anticipated” value.  But that anticipation doesn’t put a dime in your pocket when it comes time to pay the tax bill.

Most would agree that income taxes are “fairer”.  But, here in Ohio, the State Legislature is working hard to reduce income taxes.  Maybe that sounds good to some. But income taxes are based on earnings, so that those that earn more, pay more.  If you’re Vivek Ramaswamy (Republican candidate for Governor), making millions of dollars a year, income taxes are a bigger burden than on this retired teacher in Pataskala.

The State Legislature is dependent on the wealth of Ramaswamy and others for campaign (and other) money.  Those politicians want to keep the wealthy happy, so the legislature keeps income tax low.

What We Pay For

Meanwhile, most of the local services folks get are paid by property taxes, not income or sales taxes.  And in recent years, the Legislature has put more and more of the  burden on the local governments, and picked up less and less of the tab from income tax.   Here’s the list of local entities that get a “piece” of my property taxes:

• Local Schools
• Fire Department
• City of Pataskala (Police, Snow Removal, Roads) 
• County (Sheriff, Snow Removal, Roads)
• Vocational School
• County Parks
• the local Library
• County Services for  Developmentally Disabled 
• County Services for Children 
• County Services for Senior Citizens 
• County Services for Mental Health.

So while it may “feel good” to talk about cutting property tax, there is the other side of the equation.  If you zero out property tax, then who pays for all of those services?  The Legislature isn’t likely to raise income taxes, even though that would be the fairest way to do it.  So, which of those services should we just “give up”:  fire, schools, police, the library?  

Pending Disaster

The anti-property tax folks don’t really say much about that.  They, rightfully, just feel that property taxes place an unfair burden on many. It’s increased taxes without an increased ability to pay those taxes.  That’s unfair, there’s no question about it.

Every state in the Union has a property tax.  Even the states with biggest income tax rates, like California, still have local services supported by property tax (about 1.5%, just like Ohio).  So a property tax “ban” would be a radical change, both for Ohio, and in the Nation. (Just an aside, Ohio has never been the home of “radical” government anything).

Tax reform sounds great to me.  I think that ALL of our taxes, should be collected by the state in income tax, then distributed back for all government services.  That way everyone pays their fair share, from Vivek all the way down to Marty.   But that radical reform isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.  And meanwhile, the government services we need and use the most, schools, police, fire, snow removal; all depend on the property taxes it would “feel” so good to dump. 

There are two sides to the equation.  The draconian “dump property tax” crew are happy to cancel out one side, but have nothing in mind to balance the other.  They’ll let the Legislature deal with that.  If they get their Amendment on the ballot, the people of Ohio will be asked to make a radical leap of faith in the Legislature to do the “right thing”.  And there’s no empirical evidence to show they could, or would, do so.

Dumping property taxes might feel good, but it just might be a disaster.  

Pax Americana

At the end of World War II, American leaders realized several things.  First, the nature of warfare was unalterably changed by the creation of nuclear weapons.  In the future, no “World War” in the nature of the First or Second, could be fought.  At the end of such a war, no country would accept ultimate defeat without using their nuclear weapons.  And as nuclear weapons developed even far beyond the “Manhattan Project” model, it became clear that another World War would destroy the world as we know it.

Second, American leaders recognized that big wars come from little wars.  World War I began with a crisis between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  World War II could have been prevented with an enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles in the early 1930’s or at the Munich Pact.  None of the World War I “winning” countries including the United States, were willing to make that commitment.  When it became clear that Nazism was the world threat, it was also too late to easily defeat it.

 So America reversed course from its post-World War I isolationism, when the US refused to enter the League of Nations.  Instead, the US proposed the United Nations, headquartered in New York City.  The ultimate goal of the UN was to contain the small conflicts that could develop into worldwide issues in a nuclear world.

Balanced Alliances

And third, the United States recognized that the post-World War II rival was the Soviet Union.  We fought together with them against Fascism in the war, with American and Soviet troops locking arms at the Elbe River.  What they didn’t realize at the time was that river would become the dividing point between Allied backed West Germany, and Soviet backed East Germany.  

So the United States organized a military treaty alliance to offset the Soviet bloc of countries.  NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) surrounded the Soviet borders from the Arctic all the way to its Southern Border with Turkey.  The Soviets responded with the Warsaw Bloc, the countries they occupied and controlled after the war.

Those institutions, the United Nations and NATO, outlasted the Soviet Union.  The Cold War era ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union on Christmas of 1991.  Some of the analysts of the 1990’s saw an opportunity to tap into the vast wealth of Russia (the successor state to the USSR), especially with the literal “fire sale” of the former Communist industrial assets.  What they didn’t plan on, is that Russia would “come back”; no longer Communist, but with a more “traditional” authoritarian regime under Vladimir Putin. 

In the final analysis, the Cold War enemies, Soviets and Communist China, remain the biggest threat to a stable world (stable = without war).  And the institutions set up to contend with them in the 1940’s still have relevance today.  And that’s why the American military “adventure” in Iran is so troubling.

Empires

The world today is facing a Russia bent on re-establishing empire.  The war in Ukraine continues to drag on, and, in Cold War tradition, NATO and the US are providing the weapons and other materials to wage war against Russia.  It’s fought with Western materials, and Ukrainian blood.

And China made it clear that their goal is the “reintegrate” (read conquer) Taiwan.  Not only should the US see the obvious moral imperative:  Taiwan has a Constitutional Democracy, China is a Communist dictatorship.  But there are huge economic consequences.  Taiwan is the global center (90%) for the manufacture of computer chips.  So in a “short-term” world, China gaining control of the world supply of computer chips puts them in charge.

But the United States has made a huge military commitment to the Middle East.  Here’s some simple “military math”.  The US has eleven aircraft carrier groups, the key method used to project US power across the world.  Four of those groups are in a maintenance cycle right now, and unavailable for use.  Three are now stationed (or moving to) the seas around Iran.  That leaves only four groups left to “patrol” the world, including the areas between China and Taiwan.

On Excursion

And the United States depleted its stores of weapons in Iran.  The Defense Department is facing shortages of “high-end” missiles, like the ACACMS and THADD interceptors and Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles. The US is even threatening to “strip” current NATO allies of weapons supplies.  Some of those were already committed to Ukraine, others are in reserve should Russia decides to expand their war.

In short, the American “excursion” to Iran bares other areas to possible attack.  Russia, until now bogged down in Ukraine in  World War I type trench warfare dominated by drone attacks, now sees openings not only there, but in Eastern Europe.  And China can hear the “sucking sound” of American military might being pulled to the Arabian Sea.  Now what prevents them from making a military move on Taiwan?

Meanwhile, the President of the United States threaten to withdraw from NATO, because the alliance isn’t following the US in this Middle Eastern “excursion”.   No one asked the other NATO nations for support before the bombs were dropped.  The NATO alliance Article Five (an attack on one NATO nation is considered an attack on all NATO nations) does not apply to wars of singular aggression.  But last night, Trump intimated that the US might soon “declare victory” and leave, without opening the Straits of Hormuz to world old production. As Trump said, the US has plenty of oil. (Now even more as the price of gas edges over four dollars a gallon).  We don’t need the 20% of world supply coming through the Straits, so, “It’s not our problem”. 

The Price 

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of State Colin Powell used to say that the world works with the “Pottery Barn” rule:  “You break it, you own it”.  Donald Trump has taken America to war in Iran.  The damage to the world economy is becoming more apparent, not just to Nations, but to everyday folks stopping at the BP station to fill up their tank.  Trump “broke it”, when it comes to Iran, and the Straits of Hormuz, and NATO.   His speech last night gave no clue about whether he’ll “own it”. Actually, he suggested that he might do what he did throughout his career as a businessman:  make a deal, get the service, then not pay the bill.  

The real price of US actions may be a change in the world’s power structure, a change that doesn’t favor democracy, or the United States of America.  Like it or not, Trump owns that.

“If you want to win, make your own rules” (an old football coach)

Inflection Point

November, 2026 may well be what history calls an “inflection point”.  What direction will the United States take?  Will Americans endorse more authoritarian rule by the Trump Administration, more Federal intrusion into private lives, more wealth moving from the masses to the few at the top?  Or will a Congress get elected that’s willing to stand up for Article I of the Constitution, redeem the power to declare war, stand in front of the Supreme Court and the President as the lawmaking power?  It’s not just that the November elections are important. The 2026 choice may be the last, best chance that Americans have for a free and fair election.

Ohio

I live in Ohio.  The “Safe Act” now in Congress,  is politically designed to reduce the voting population by making it more difficult for millions to vote.  Much of that Act is already the law here in the Buckeye State.  Our gerrymandered state legislature knows no boundaries when it comes to pursuing the MAGA agenda.  Even the Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, is unable to curb their enthusiasm for legislating elections, bringing religiosity to school curriculum, interfering in personal rights, and transferring wealth to the already wealthy, as quickly as possible.

Democrats in Ohio have strong candidates for some offices.  Sherrod Brown is running for the US Senate again, this time facing the appointed Senator John Husted.  Amy Acton, the former state health director, has a well-financed campaign to counter Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s personal wealth of billions.  But I’m not holding my breath.  The “game” of politics ain’t “ tidily winks” here in Ohio; and Republicans here, like those in Texas, will do whatever it takes to remain in power.  But “us Democrats” will fight the good fight.  I hope that a national “Blue Tide” will rise high enough to float even our boat.

Rigged Elections

But what about the rest of the nation?  

Let’s dispense with the ridiculousness.  There are virtually no “undocumented” voters in the United States.  Even the Republican “think tank”, the authors of “Project 2025″, the Heritage Foundation, agrees.  But, the Republican Party, all the way to the Speaker of the House , the Vice President and Trump himself, claims that the only way Democrats can win is through “criminal, illegal voters”. 

 That works two ways.  First, if they can use that line of “bull” to pass the Safe Act through Congress, they can keep millions of legal US citizens, particularly those of color or women, (and more particularly women of color), from voting.  Women of color are a huge, largely Democratic voting block (see Georgia). Reducing their influence would be a huge win for Republicans. 

Never Lose

But even if they can’t get the votes to pass the Act in Congress, they are setting up their post-election strategy.   If Republicans win, that’s only because the “overcame the cheating”.  And if they lose, they can say “we told you so”, and try to block the legitimate electoral outcomes.  Already, Federal Courts have accepted purely falsified conjectures about the 2020 election to issue subpoenas for ballots (Atlanta).  Once the Trump Department of Justice gets hold of the election results, who knows what might happen.

It’s been the Republican talking point since 2016.  And it’s achieved one goal:  millions of Americans are convinced that elections in “other states” (blue states) are rigged.  What was an American norm, beginning with John Adams leaving Washington DC to his opponent Thomas Jefferson, is now altered.  Nixon didn’t contest his 1960 loss to Jack Kennedy. Gore went to the Nation to tell us to accept the Supreme Court decision giving Bush the Presidency in 2000. John McCain and Hillary Clinton both conceded their losses and wished their opponents well.  But now, Republicans don’t ever “lose”, they simply claim the election was  stolen.

Stop the Steal

Trump tried to “stop the steal” in 2020.  He’s still whining about that election. He was ready to contest a Biden win in 2024.  And now, he’s trying to gain the power to actually steal an election himself. That is, if he can find a way to Federalize the voting process.  The “Safe Act” is just one step.

The Department of Justice is already trying to collect detailed voter information from the states.  Many states, including here in Ohio, just gave it to them.  Other states are fighting to keep Justice from getting the information.  What would the Federal government do with all of this?  Here’s the first example announced by the White House yesterday.  The President, by executive order, directed the US Postal Service to refuse to deliver mail-in ballots to voters that are not “verified” by the Federal Government.  

That’s a huge deal, particularly in those states that primarily use mail-in ballots to conduct elections:  California, Colorado, Washington DC, Hawaii, Nevada and Oregon.  And it flies in the face of the US Constitution, which states:

“The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations…”(US Constitution, Art 1, Sec 4, underlining added).

The theft of the 2026 election is already underway.  Like many of the transgressions of the Trump Administration, they aren’t stealing under cover of darkness, but brazenly in the light of day, as if it wasn’t illegal at all.  

Americans need to choose whether we allow it or not.