Category: Uncategorized

Oligarchy – a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution

1981

1981 was a big year of change for me.  I left teaching in June, and started law school at the University of Cincinnati in August.  Cincinnati was home, and I was soon managing a Cincinnati City Council campaign for a good friend who was a great candidate.  Like many Democratic campaigns of the time, we were well organized, had great volunteers, a very little money.  We were trying to run a $40,000 campaign on a $10,000 budget.  This campaign taught me an important political lesson. I was a good campaign manager, but a lousy fundraiser.  That’s a near-fatal flaw in politics.

But we had an offer, an opportunity, from a wealthy Cincinnati woman interested in supporting other women for office.  She offered $15,000, more than the entire cost of our efforts.  It would have allowed us to jump into the television market, the one area that we were desperate to crack, but blocked by the entry costs.  

Quid Pro Quo

I remember serious discussions with the candidate about the position that the single donation would put her in, were we to win.  What did that amount, and more importantly, what did that percentage of our effort, guarantee to the donor?  Sure money in politics guarantees access to the office holder, but at what point does it actually promise action?  Is there an implicit quid pro quo if a donor literally writes the check that wins the office?

We agreed the answer to that last question was a resounding “yes”.  So we backed away from the donor, and never got the “magic check” that would change everything.  We lost, thirteenth out of twenty with the top ten winning a seat on the Council.  I went on to leave law school at the end of the semester, discovering that my three-year taste of teaching and coaching was more powerful than my desire to learn the law.   There were lots of decisions for me in the fall of 1981.

Musk’s Lead

The 2024 Donald Trump campaign raised and spent around $1.5 Billion in the last campaign (Open Secrets).  We know that Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, spent $277 million supporting the Trump Campaign (CBS).  That’s about 18.5% of the total.   Since Trump won the election, Musk has literally moved in with him at Mar-A-Lago.  He’s been “appointed” to lead an unofficial advisory group, deceptively named the “Department of Government Efficiency”(DOGE). Only Congress can create a whole-new department of the executive branch. 

And this week, Musk exercised unilateral power over the House Republican Caucus; single-handedly killing a bi-partisan agreement to keep the US Government from closing.  His combination of social media attacks (after all, he does own Twitter) and threats of retribution threw the House into a crisis that still isn’t resolved.  The Government technically shuts down Friday at midnight – with no reasonable solution in sight.

Sure, the President-Elect chimed in.  But he clearly was following Musk’s lead.

Elon Musk is the ultimate capitalist.  His expertise isn’t in space travel, nor in social media, and not even in electric car technology.  Musk is a venture capitalist, with his original stake coming from his wealthy South African parents.  He co-founded PayPal, then sold it to E-Bay for $1.5 billion.   Now he owns Tesla, Space X, Twitter (now known as ‘X’) and some other smaller companies.  

Money Talks

Capitalists understand that they get something for their money.  And Musk gave a lot of money to Donald Trump, enough that he can take the credit for Trump’s win in 2024.  So what’s the “quid-pro-quo”:  what did Musk buy?  

It certainly is more than just access, though he got plenty of that:  breakfast, golf, lunch and dinner with the next President of the United States. And it’s more than the unofficial head of “DOGE”.   Musk is now acting as the “muscle” for Trump’s influence on his own MAGA-Republican Party.  When Trump tells a Congressman to do something, his threat is to “primary” the legislator if they don’t.  Now it’s not just Trump’s endorsement; the threat is also backed by Musk’s almost unlimited money.

The easiest way to explain the Russian Government is that it is an oligarchy, with a few very wealthy people running the government, “fronted”  by (and scared of)  Vladimir Putin.  We haven’t even started the second term of the Donald Trump Presidency.  But the outlines are already clear:  there is a single oligarch, Elon Musk, determining the course of the United States of America.  

Money talks, (everything else) walks.  That’s what America looks forward to for the next four years.

RESISTANCE

The “mantra” of the first Trump Administration – RESIST.  Resist the Nation altering changes that his Presidency represented. Resist the atrocity of child separation at the border. And, Resist the mind numbing litany of hate and disrespect uncovered by his presence.  And Resistance was effective (not futile, for those Star Trek fans – he ain’t the Borg).  But it wasn’t half as effective as Trump world falling all over itself.  

Trump was unable to make systemic changes in America in large part because he, and his minions, couldn’t get it together.  They constantly stepped on their own messages, fell over their own ideas, over-reached when the shouldn’t, and fell back when they should have “charged”.  They knew it, and so did the larger “MAGA” movement.  That’s why the “good folks” at the Heritage Foundation laid out almost 1000 pages of explicit plans for the second Trump Administration, “Project 2025”.  They don’t want to miss their “second bite at the apple”.

Chaos Theory

He’s not the President, yet.  But Trump is already starting his personal brand of “chaos theory”.   The latest example is the general disorder of the House of Representatives and the current government funding bill.  It’s all pretty simple:  if the House (and the Senate, already on board) don’t pass a spending resolution before tomorrow (Friday, 12/20), the government will shut down.  Well, not really, but those parts of the government deemed “non-essential” will shut down.  Paying Federal employees for example is not essential (according to them), especially the week before Christmas.  Many will still be required to come to work.

But it’s still a big deal, and the Republicans in the House of Representatives know it.  So they negotiated a bi-partisan deal with the Democrats, one that most of both parties could support, to gain the majority needed to fund the government until March.  Part of that bill is emergency aid for disaster relief to places like North Carolina and Florida.  Yesterday morning, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson woke up secure that the bill would be passed, and he could send his Congress home for Christmas secure the government was still functioning.

That’s when Trump, and his new side-kick Elon Musk, decided to tank the deal.  Musk (in Trump’s name) demanded that a debt limit be included in this piece of legislation, a “poison pill” to any bipartisan legislation.  And Trump backed it up, saying he would support a primary challenge against any Republican (that’s his own Party) who dared to support the “old” bipartisan bill.  Musk followed up with a pledge of financial support to those challengers.

 Blackmail

If that sounds like good, old-fashioned political blackmail, it is.  Blackmail from two men who currently hold no office in American government, who are operating from their own “capital” at Mar-a-Lago, and who completely undercut their own, elected, Speaker of the House.

So what’s the plan?  Is this really about shutting the government down, or is this more about sending a message to the Senate?  Pete Hegseth, Bobby Kennedy Jr, and Tulsi Gabbard all are highly problematic appointments to the prospective Trump Cabinet, each with multiple Republican Senators questioning their fitness for office.  Is Trump and his “muscle” Musk flexing to make the point to Murkowski, Ernst, Collins and Cassidy:  this can happen to you?

Miss the Target

It’s pretty clear, the only path to keep the government open would require Speaker Johnson to make a deal with Dems, a “poison pill” for him that may well cost the Speakership in January’s House vote.  Johnson can’t depend on Democrats to pull him out of the fire on then.  Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is more likely to let the vote go for days, demonstrating how weak and divided the House Republicans really are, with only a couple of votes to the majority.

And maybe that’s what Trump wants:  a Speaker wholly beholden to him.  Hard to imagine Mike Johnson as some kind of “rebel”, but he is theoretically the most important Republican in the government right now.  Maybe Trump needs to disable him first, though no one can top Johnson for his sycophancy to Trump.  It doesn’t matter.  

Close the government.  Dump Mike Johnson.  Make Elon the “Q” (another Star Trek analogy) behind the throne.  It doesn’t really matter.  The second Trump administration seems to be starting where the first Trump administration left off.  Sure, we need to RESIST where we can.  But, at least this far, Trump and his minions aren’t “the Borg”, an immense, immutable force.  Instead they’re more like the Feringi, in for the profit, and often “the gang that can’t shoot straight”.  

In the long run, that’s good for everyone.

Boomers Know

Covid took America by surprise.  I think we thought that the “age of disease” was past.  In fact, most Americans today believe that cancer will soon be “cured” (in some way or other).  I hope they’re right.  But folks of my generation, the dreaded Baby Boomers (I’m near the tail end), should know better.  Many of us were born in the shadow of polio, a disease of the summer that could quickly take your life.  Or, it could leave you paralyzed or even trapped in an iron lung (a steel tube that changed air pressure to force your lungs to expand and contract, replacing paralyzed chest muscles).  

It was real.  There seemed to be no way to avoid it, no action parents could take that could guarantee their child wouldn’t be stricken.  We all knew kids on crutches, or in braces; left disabled by the virus.  The most effective national fundraising operation was called “The March of Dimes”, raising money for polio research and medical care.  It was a time when dimes made a difference.

If you were a kid of the 1950’s, you were part of the near-miraculous experiment:  the polio vaccine.  The first was the injectable vaccine, created by Jonas Salk (University of Michigan), with incredible results.  But one manufacturer put out a “bad batch”, that sickened a lot of kids.  So the Salk vaccine was placed on hold for a while.  Meanwhile, there was a second vaccine, this one taken orally, literally with “a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down” (and where the “Mary Poppins” song lyrics came from).  

Maggie’s Street

Albert Sabin developed the oral vaccine.  He lived in Cincinnati on Rawson Woods Lane, just down the street from Mom’s great friend Maggie Miller.  A family story tells of neighborhood kids lining up at Sabin’s back door to be a part of the original vaccine studies.  I don’t remember doing that; I would have been three or four, but Sabin’s oral vaccine soon became the standard of care for preventing polio.  The shadows cast by “iron lungs” faded into vague memories.

And we also went through a litany of other childhood diseases.  Most came out unscathed, but there were always a few who “didn’t make it”.  Measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, scarlet fever, mumps; most kids had them all.  Like my classmates, I had them too (though it took until my thirties to “finally get” chicken pox).  

The Boomers were the last generation facing that.  Childhood vaccinations; polio, the “MMR” (measles, mumps, rubella, also known as “German Measles”) and later the chicken pox vaccine spared millions of kids the known risks of disease.  In fact, the vaccines were so effective, that the miniscule number of adverse reactions became “the story”.  Instead of marveling at the vast numbers who didn’t get sick at all, we focused on the few damaged by the vaccines.

Covid

That was, until Covid.  Since more recent generations grew up in an era when the most dangerous community disease was the flu (with some protection available even for that), there was a great deal of skepticism about Covid.  To a large segment of our Nation, it became another infection to get, survive, and move on.  Even when the Covid vaccines were developed (with “Warp Speed” under the Trump Administration), many decided to ignore them, and take their chances with the virus.

Covid killed 1.2 million Americans.  It still is in the “top-ten” of causes of death in the US today.  Even though the vaccine didn’t prevent infection, it clearly reduces the impact of illness.  IF Americans were vaccinated, then those who are most vulnerable to Covid infection would be better protected.  Instead, Covid vaccination became a political talking point, a way to rally “the base”, and a point of honor to many Americans.  Vaccinations don’t work in a Nation where it is tied to ideological Red or Blue.

Hallowed Name

President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Kennedy carries a “hallowed” name, the son of my greatest political hero.  But that’s where the similarity ends.  Kennedy originally made his mark as a lawyer who fought against polluters, but now stands as the premier “anti-vaxxer” in the Nation.  And his “anti-vax” stand doesn’t just include the Covid vaccine.  He has called for an end to mandatory childhood vaccinations, including polio.  His “science” is based on radically divergent medical opinion.  He cherry-picked a very few doctors opinions against the overwhelming majority of scientific facts to base his view.

Donald Trump wants to make him the head of the Department that controls public health.  He plans to place a man in charge who is determined to go back to the era of childhood diseases, back into the shadow of the iron lung.  Kennedy may have his “whack-o” views, perhaps a byproduct of earlier heroin addiction, or the worm infection in his brain.  That’s sad; for both him and the rest of his family who finds their hallowed name dragged through the mud.

But what is totally irresponsible is that the man elected President ( by a very slim margin) would place such a man in a position of authority.  

That’s the real failure.

It’s not Sunday – but this is definitely a “Sunday Story”. Enjoy a Christmas Tale.

NPD Inc.

Modernization, it’s a Santa Claus thing.  Here’s a guy who runs a worldwide distribution network, North Pole Delivery Inc. (NPD Inc.).  He’s always, “just in time”.  There’s a twenty-four hour delivery window, carefully coordinated with the time zones, and, of course, the North American Defense Command (NORAD).  Wouldn’t want Santa shot down, or worse, the cause of a nuclear confrontation between the super powers. 

Of course, someone with that expertise would use the most advanced intelligence gathering process possible.  The “old days” of taking written reports from parents all of the world, then hand collating them to the children available is gone; gone with the old written ledgers at the bank, or the checkbook in the desk drawer.  Now there’s a digitized process, integrating school records, social media information, police reports, and also, direct elfin observation (those odd-looking elves on the shelves).  It’s not your old fashioned St. Nicholas with a pipe and a rocker anymore (and no tobacco use either).

Legal in Jersey

You see, with all the presents requested in the past few years, NPD Inc. discovered what most kids already know:  drones are cool!!!  For just a few hundred bucks, you can vicariously fly around the neighborhood.   Better yet, you can look over the neighbor’s privacy fence to see what’s really going on, and have a birds-eye view of parades, games, and neighborhood celebrations (did you see Mrs. Smith take her top off after that sixth Tequila shooter??).  

The present selection advisory committee, headed by senior elf Jingle, suggested to the intelligence gathering service that the big guy get into the 21^st century.  What better way to “know when you’ve been bad or good…” then to have a series of drones observing the “customers?”

It’s Santa Claus:  there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing.   But like any good toy, Santa wanted to field-test “Project Bad or Good” on a limited basis before going to worldwide distribution.  And what better place to determine the efficacy of such an expenditure, than New Jersey.  Afterall, as the musical Hamilton made clear, “…everything’s legal in Jersey”.  

Good or Bad

Dobby the elf who invented the hobby horse, was placed in charge of “Project Bad or Good”, Jersey style.  He gathered dozens of drones, all kinds and sizes, to see which would work best for the planned up-scale.  Dobby carefully selected a cadre of younger elves as pilots, familiar with hand controls from their long experience in testing video games for Santa’s “peddler’s pack”.  And they settled into a temporary headquarters, an old warehouse in Asbury Park, just down the street from the bar where Bruce Springsteen first sang “Born to Run”.   These elves were “Born to Fly”.

“Project Good or Bad” started three weeks ago, with just a few smaller drone flights.  But the information was amazing, masses of “good or bad” behaviors that fully informed Santa who should get presents. And Dobby was able to use infrared technology to answer that all too critical NPD Inc. question:  “…(H)e knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake”.  

With the early successes, Dobby continued to increase the drone flights.  He even went to bigger drones, capable of staying up for hours and provide gigabytes of data on good little girls and boys.   What Dobby didn’t anticipate was the reaction of Jerseyites to the drones.  You’d think that with Manhattan’s waste washing up on the Jersey Shore, and Donald Trump’s first wife buried in a Jersey golf course, drones would be the least of their worries.  

Biden’s Gift

But even ex-Governors, Chris Christie and Larry Hogan (of Maryland, one of the younger elves got lost) got into the act.  So Santa himself was forced to consult with NORAD, to let them know that, truly, they had nothing to dread.

NORAD communicated the Santa-connection to President Biden, who actually giggled.  It was nice to see him smile, the first time since that ill-fated debate with Trump in June.  Biden ordered all government agencies (and his own press staff) to “dummy up”.  Sure, he wanted to back the “big guy”, Santa.  He knew him well from his childhood days in Scranton, back in the late 1880’s.  But all of the drone uproar was also drawing attention away from the incoming Trump administration.  Biden knew full well; the one thing Donald Trump wants most is attention.  Drones were the best “gift” Biden could give the President-elect.  He gave Dobby full authorization to continue.

“Get Ova-h It”

But some in New Jersey took things into their own hands.  Shots were fired at the NPD Inc. drones, and rumors that they were Iranian, or Russian, or Isis; spread like Christmas Ale at the office party.  An old broken down trawler, marooned two dozen miles at sea, was identified as the “Iranian Mother Ship” sending drones to spy on the good citizens of Jersey.

Dobby reported back to Santa:  “The drones work great, but folks in Jersey are crazy”.  Santa was nervous; it was close to “game time”, only weeks before Christmas.  The old man wasn’t interested in distractions.  “Either the folks in New Jersey ‘get ova-h it’, or they’re not going to be happy on Christmas morning!!!”

We’ll see what happens.  Maybe New Jerseyites will settle down, or maybe Dobby brings in the stealth drones intended for the Ukrainian military stockings in two weeks.  But if the good citizens of the Garden State don’t get with the Christmas spirit, there’s one thing for sure.

Invest in coal stocks.  Because there’s likely to be a shortage – all the coal will be in stockings hung by the chimney with care — in New Jersey.

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
• Coals for Christmas – 12/16/24

Above the Fold

What importance do newspapers have today?  They used to be the primary source of news, delivered straight to your doorstep every morning (or farther back, morning and evening).  Who won the Presidential election?  Look at the front page of the paper (except for the Chicago Tribune’s mistake: a jubilant Harry Truman and the front page with “DEWEY WINS”).  Want to know which team won the local football rivalry?  Check out the back of the sports section.  Want to know who got married, divorced, died?  It was right there, on your front doorstep, knowledge directly “at hand”.

But that’s not so true today.  While newspapers still exist, they are now a “niche” news delivery system.  We all have the answers to those important questions literally in our pocket.  Our phones know-all:  Presidential results, sports scores, local events, obituaries.  So why get a newspaper?  For the older generation it’s simple habit. We can browse a “paper”, feel the pages, see the black type on white newsprint, and, of course,  do the crosswords and wordles and word searches.

There’s a Sunday Columbus Dispatch sitting across the table as I type.

 Single Source 

And, there are certain important topics which struggle to rise to the level of “news on the phone”.  Sure, there’s always an “app for that”, including an app for the Columbus Dispatch.  But the paper, the actual paper, is actually a quicker way to “index” what’s going on, especially in local and state news.

Here in Ohio, the Gannett Newspapers own 18 daily papers.  That includes the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Columbus Dispatch, and the Akron Beacon Journal; three of the seven major Ohio papers.  So when Gannett “speaks”, especially on state issues, they become the one voice that many Ohioans hear.   And when Gannett uses a single reporter for years to explain a single issue; that reporter’s view becomes the “sole, single” source for many.

Premier System

My “niche” concern is the State Teacher’s Retirement System.  Without getting to “in the weeds”, (OK, maybe a little weedy) the problem is simple.  There are over 150,000 retired teachers in Ohio.  Those teachers worked in the schools for relatively lower wages, in part, because of a promise:  a “Premier” retirement system.  In fact, my generation of teachers didn’t even pay into social security or Medicare.  The State of Ohio exempted us, saying that our “Premier” retirement would serve all of our needs.  

And that was true until it wasn’t, in 2012.  The State of Ohio changed the deal.  The legislature delegated their powers to the State Retirement Board to make cuts (a “courageous” move by the legislators – “cuts aren’t our fault”).  They were worried that there wouldn’t be enough money in the fund to cover the mass of “boomer” teachers retiring; and the Legislature didn’t want to be part of a financial solution.  Over the next decade, the Retirement System cut what retirees thought was their “contract”.  The most important cut, Cost of Living Allowances (COLA).   

It’s simple:  you retire with an annual income of, say, $70,000 in 2013. Due to inflation, with prices up over 35% in a decade, that requires  $94000 to “stay even” now .  An annual 3% COLA  keeps “buying power” close to the cost of living. But the Retirement System cut COLAs.  It’s like retiring on $45,000 back in 2013, something that you’d never do.  When you did retire, the Retirement System, the Premier System in the Nation, promised the COLA.  They even put it in writing.  And then they broke that contract.

Old Teachers

But even worse, the Retirement System took their billions of dollars of teacher-earned money (over $90 Billion) and invested  close to a third in “private equity” firms and in real estate.  Those investments paid back less than 7% a year, and there were some years were they lost money.  If those funds were simply in the stock market over those years, they would have average over 14% gain a year.  Meanwhile, the System paid untold fees to equity firms (hidden from the public) and spent millions in wages and bonuses to the in-house staff as well.

Over 40,000 retired teachers joined together to make changes to the elected Retirement Board.  They want to change the way the fund is managed, and stop the profligate staff spending.  The goal: secure the fund for the future, provide promised COLA’s to retirees, and allow teachers to retire after thirty years of service (though they certainly can stay longer if they want to). 

But the Gannett Newspapers have decided that those 40,000 are simply a “lobbying group”.  And their reporter, author of almost every article (in the Columbus Dispatch and the Newark Advocate locally) has taken the current staff’s “line” in most issues.  To the reading public, Gannett sees the “lobbyists” as trying to soak the fund for their own benefit.  And since Gannett controls the information to most of the state – that’s how this story is heard.

You can go read the Toledo Blade, or the Cleveland Plain Dealer, to get alternate information.  If you live in Columbus, you can listen to the great work by WCMH’s Colleen Marshall.  Or you can go talk to a retired teacher.  But for most of the state, the story is cast as “greedy old retirees” versus “hard working young teachers”.  

There’s only one voice heard – Gannett’s. 

A Process

Every morning I wake up, and for a brief moment I can focus on my day.  Then Atticus, our white Lab (loveable, but not the brightest bulb in the box) realizes my eyes are open.  That means, he can go outside, and more importantly, start the breakfast process (there’s four dogs, eating in three shifts, he’s on second).  So he burrows into my side, getting me to roll over, get an unexpected kiss (he goes for the lips) then gently shoves me out of bed.   The day begins.

Somewhere in the process I turn on the news, and the reality of the Trump Administration crashes down on me once again.  Whether their talking about Pete Hegseth (a wholly unqualified candidate for Secretary of Defense), or Kash Patel, (a confused and mistaken  intelligence “expert”) leading the FBI:  it’s as if leading the Nation is just a Trumpian joke.  Sure, Matt Gaetz abandoning his Attorney General bid helped.  But it simply made Pam Bondi, another “Fox (animal and media) in charge of the chicken coop”.   And two other remaining whack-a-doodles,  Tulsi Gabbard and Bobby Kennedy, quietly proceed to high office.  

Normal

Do we have to pick our battles?  Maybe give up the FBI to protect Dreamers, or accept a simply brutal and cruel man as “Border Czar” in return for putting responsible people in charge of our intelligence apparatus.   Trade off’s – in what America is and should be.  

And it’s all been normalized.  Senators (even Democrats) walking in the Senate halls, talking about the wonderful conversations they’re having with Hegseth or Patel or Kennedy; folks dragged from the extreme to now appear as “moderate choices”.  And in the background, billionaire “enforcers”.  Vote for Trump’s guys, or face a multi-million dollar challenge in the next primary election, with Elon Musk’s imprimatur and cash in hand.  Musk, Ramaswamy, Zuckerberg, Bezos:  are we still a democracy, or have we already descended into a billionaires’ oligarchy, where money talks and the rest of us walk?

Not surprising , it’s the Republican women:  Ernst, Murkowski, Collins (don’t trust her though) who are resisting.   The men don’t have the cojones to stand up to Trump, or Musk, or the MAGA base.  The women may not either (Murkowski is tough), but at least their holding things up for the minute.

And normal:  Donald Trump is Times “Person of the Year”.  I know, I know; Hitler, Stalin, and the Ayatollah Khomeini  were all once Man of the Year too.  But the media and seemingly the world has accepted the normalization of Donald Trump.  The international world, from Zelenskyy to Prince William to Justin Trudeau doesn’t have a choice.  But the rest of us do.  And we should look with skepticism at any effort to say this guy and his MAGA crowd are normal.  They aren’t.

Distract

We try to change the subject.  Luigi Mangione the assassin made a big splash, killing the CEO of United Health Care in broad daylight on the Avenue of the Americas.  I guess only Trump can shoot someone on the streets of Manhattan and no one would care.  And we all are fascinated with the assassin, his escape, his resume.  How did a brilliant, good looking, Ivy League millionaire-child, turn into a hooded figure shooting a man in the back?

Or if that doesn’t provide enough distraction; there’s the drones over New Jersey.  Is there really an Iranian “Mothership” somewhere in the Atlantic (isn’t that from Independence Day)?  Or are there a bunch of newly minted FAA “Airmen”, drone licensees, having a few afternoon brews and sending car-sized pilot-less vehicles over the New Jersey (and Maryland too) landscape?  Be careful, maybe it’s really Santa Claus, with a whole new way of; “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when your awake!!”  Don’t stop the drones or “no presents for you!!!!”.

(Hey – just heard that the US Military has a laser device that can take down a drone.  That might be worth the distraction – a green beam knocking a drone from the sky.  That is,  as long as they don’t drop a six-foot drone on MY house!!).

Your Moment

“Distract, delay, depo…..”, oops, no “d” words in succession; that’s not currently acceptable.  But that’s what we’re all trying to do.  Does “resistance” mean fighting for every inch, or do we pick our battles?  Let Bobby end childhood vaccinations, if we can keep Kash out of the FBI?  Who do we sacrifice first?

It’s going to be a long four years.  We are going to be asked to sacrifice, to “RESIST”, to do all that we can to preserve our view of the American experiment.  As my distance coaches often say, you can’t win the mile in the first 440 yards, but you can lose it.  Pace yourself,  and pick your moment to stand up.  It’s the American thing to do.

Lame Duck

It all happens in the “lame duck” session. That’s the harried last few weeks before the Ohio State Legislature is adjourned for the year.   One of those last minute bills this season requires school districts to “publish” their policy on the Pledge of Allegiance (WCMH).  

The Pledge Policy bill would not require school districts to recite the pledge.  What it would do is require all districts to publish a policy for it online.  Some districts don’t have a specific policy on the Pledge of Allegiance.  It is often a matter of individual school administrators.  And that would be “OK” under the bill, but the district would have to make that a publicly available policy.  

For example, a local school district here in Central Ohio has the following policy publicly in place:

The Board requires all students, grades kindergarten through 12, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance during the school day at a time and manner specified by the building principal. 

In addition, District administrators, staff and students are prohibited from altering the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance. 

The Board recognizes that beliefs of some persons prohibit participation in the pledge, the salute to the United States flag or other opening exercises.  Therefore, such persons are excused from participation. 

The Board prohibits the intimidation of any student by other students or staff aimed at coercing participation in reciting the pledge. (2017,2020 – Board Docs).

Most schools recite the Pledge of Allegiance sometime during the school day.  It was common practice in public schools up until the late 1960’s. But then the Pledge became a focus for student protests against the Vietnam War.  Many schools determined to avoid controversy  and division by dropping the practice.  It wasn’t until the early 2000’s that reciting the pledge made a “comeback”, after the attacks of 9/11.

Why a Bill?

So what’s the purpose of the “Pledge Policy” bill?  

The avowed purpose is to push school districts to include the Pledge in their classrooms.  By requiring them to “publish” a policy, the local Boards of Education would open public debate on the issue. That puts a Board without an “acceptable” policy in the public glare.  The bill’s sponsor, Tracy Richardson of Marysville (R), states that: “Ohioans are concerned that we are losing our identity as a nation, a nation that is full of opportunity, freedom, and justice for all…”. She believes that reciting the Pledge would  promote; “unity and nationalism by affirming our commitment to our values.”

Representative Richardson must have missed that high school social studies class when they explained the difference between patriotism and nationalism.  Patriotism is defined as; “…devotion to and vigorous support for one’s country” (OED1).  Nationalism on the other hand, is; “…identification with one’s own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations” (OED2).  The first one is “good”, the second a cause of war. 

Justice for All

As an American, a patriot, and a retired teacher, I don’t have a problem with personally reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  I have a role as a teacher, coach, and now an athletic official. And I recognize the public example I set by being patriotic.  But in practice, many students stand, put their hand over their heart, and listen to the Pledge recited by someone else rather than Pledge themselves.    

I am concerned though, for those students who remain seated because of their individual beliefs, religious or political. If the avowed goal of the Pledge is to “promote unity”; physically identifying students whose beliefs prohibit reciting it, is hardly unifying.  “Liberty and Justice for All” might be learned in the example of those who sit; what a good teacher might use as a “teachable moment”.   But, just as likely in our era of internet bullying, it might set them up as  targets.

Local schools know best what their student body is like and what is best for them.  For a state legislator from Marysville to tell schools in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Millersburg, Ansonia or Pataskala how to “Pledge” is an overreach.  But, of course, Ms. Richardson isn’t “telling” them anything.  She’s a better politician than that.  She’s just forcing them into confrontation, where a majority of the parents can tell a minority how all kids should be taught.

And that’s the point.  Parents can and should make choices about their own child’s education.  But they shouldn’t have the right to choose what happens to someone else’s kid.  Parent choice should cut both ways, even with the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Shame on Us

It seems like just another “Trump Promise”, somewhere between Mexico paying for a wall and putting Hillary in jail.  It’s all wrapped up in his first and most successful political gambit. He called migrants criminals, or insane (looking for asylum like Hannibal Lector) illegally crossing the border into the US.  That’s what got him elected to the Presidency, twice.  So much for the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”.  

Yesterday Trump did an interview with NBC’s Kristin Welker (notable for Welker’s lack of pushback on Trump’s “alternate facts”). The President-elect stated that he would “get rid of birthright citizenship”.  It was as if he could just write an executive order, without Congressional or National consent, to change the United States Constitution.  But here we are, in the “new age of Trump”.

Black Letter Law

The right of someone born in the United States to be a citizen is plain, “Black Letter Law”.  The Fourteenth Amendment makes it clear in the very first sentence.  

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

That seems straight forward.  All Persons born in the United States.  It doesn’t suggest  some exception about their parents’ citizenship status.  And that’s absolutely intentional.  The Fourteenth Amendment was written as part of the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War.  There were a large number of Americans, born in the United States, whose parents weren’t considered citizens. That’s because they were enslaved.  The Fourteenth specifically defined the citizenship of those former “non-citizens”. They were citizens of both the Nation, and the State where they reside.  

Their citizenship was a result of where they were born.  In recent times that section has been dubbed “birthright citizenship”, and been derided as some “illegal migrant trick”.  If a couple come to the United States by crossing the border without permission (a misdemeanor offense), and has a child here in the US, that child is a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment.  The “trick” is that now the couple has a member of the family who is a citizen. (Detractors use the term “anchor baby”).  Someday, that “anchor” could use his status to stay in the US, regardless of what happens to the parents.

Looking for a Loophole

So how do far-right scholars see a loophole in the Fourteenth’s Black Letter language?   They hang their argument on the “subject to jurisdiction” phrase.  If the migrants are here without permission, then are somehow avoiding the jurisdiction of the Nation and State. Therefore they are not covered under the “all persons” definition. 

 It’s a specious statement.  If those migrants steal bread at the store the State will step in and take jurisdiction in the criminal courts.  So those flawed scholars see lack of jurisdiction only when it serves their purpose.  Of course the laws will be enforced on all, migrant, legal or illegal, and citizens alike.

Immune

But it is the “New Age of Trump”.  The United States Supreme Court, just last year, found a whole new perk of the Presidency; one that didn’t exist in the two hundred and thirty-four years of the Constitution before.  The Trump dominated Court provided the President of the United States with far ranging criminal immunity for “official actions” in office.  What seemed clear only two years ago, that Presidents could ultimately still be held responsible for their illegal actions, is largely no longer true. 

So perhaps, on taking office, Trump goes ahead and violates the existing Constitution by an Executive Order removing American citizenship from folks he wants to deport. He’ll take his cue from Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears, when he said of the Supreme Court, “John Marshall (the Chief Justice) has made his decision, let him enforce it”.  

Of course many, including the American Civil Liberties Union, will go to Court, and we will begin a years-long battle to determine what the clear language of the Fourteenth means.  But since the President now has this “official immunity”, he might decide to ignore court orders and simply proceed.

New Age of Trump

Or, a Court that could create blanket Presidential immunity, is certainly capable of ignoring the history and the clear meaning of the Amendment.  They could re-interpret the Fourteenth as only applying to those that were enslaved, regardless of what the Amendment actually says.  Perhaps they’ll argue that since, at the time, it didn’t apply to Native Americans (they were considered outside the jurisdiction, as separate nations to be negotiated with and defeated by armed force) that same “precedent” applies to illegal migrants.  

It doesn’t.  Migrants, legal or illegal, are clearly under the jurisdiction.  But there are five or six minds on the Court that could warp their way around it.  Anything is possible in our New Age of Trump.  

This is a part of the “Sunday Story” series – even though it’s not Sunday. No politics today – just a story about “smoking”!!!

Thanksgiving

It’s the week after Thanksgiving – and just now I’m smoking a turkey;  well, sort of.  This year Jenn and I decided to not “do” Thanksgiving.  Instead, we met my sister and her husband at Cooper’s Hawk, a restaurant in nearby Columbus, to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast.  It was a great dinner, with great company, great food, and great wine; all for a great price. And no dishes to clean-up afterwards!  

But, when you have a smoker, sooner or later you’ve just gotta smoke.  And so today, December 5^th, a Thursday, I’m smoking a turkey breast.  Sooner or later, they’ll be mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing and green beans – a full Thanksgiving repast for just the two of us.  Why a Thursday in December?  Because we’re retired, and we have a day at home, and the turkey is defrosted.   Why not?

Turkey Challenge

But smoking a turkey breast is always a challenge (as is the full bird, way too much food for just the two of us).  I can smoke baby back ribs (my best thing), spiral sliced ham (really good too), chuck roast (good – needed to stay in longer), and even chicken (a whole chicken is good, but chicken wings and pieces aren’t my favorite).  I’ve even been a part of a whole brisket (shared with the neighbor, who gets up at 3 am for work anyway – it takes over 12 hours).  That was delicious.

I’ve also tried pork chops (too big to eat), pork tenderloin (really good), and even salmon (I liked it, but the rest of the family thought it had a “weird texture”).  Anyway, one of the best things I grill is salmon –so why mess it up?  And then there’s steaks and tenderloins, also really, really good on the grill.  I know what I like, and I like those grilled and medium rare – not smoked.

Windchill 

But turkey always gets within ten degrees of being done (165), and then stops.  I leave it in an extra hour, and still it’s holding at 153, not budging an inch (or a degree).  So for the past couple of turkeys, it’s been 30 more minutes in the 1929 Magic Chef Restaurant class oven at 350 degrees, the centerpiece of our kitchen.  (Remember that advertisement on TV, where the lady asks an architect to design a house around a faucet?  Jenn designed our open kitchen/dining room around that cast iron stove that took seven boys and two grown men to get into the house!!!). 

Part of the challenge with turkey, is I’m always smoking it in the winter.  Today, it’s 22 degrees with a 22 mph wind, making the windchill 7.  It’s cold, and while the smoker doesn’t “feel” windchill, it’s still a stand-alone smoker sitting in the middle of the sundeck in the side yard.  In the past, I’ve found smoking in sub-10 degree weather didn’t work out – the smoker couldn’t hold temperature, and we had to bring that ham in to finish in the Magic Chef.  It ended up dried out.  But this is a new smoker, and it’s not quite as cold as that first Arctic day.  So I’m hoping we get solid heat.  So far, it’s been on for three hours and holding the 260 degrees needed to get the turkey done.

Flavor and Patience

As far as flavor is concerned – I like hickory smoke for ribs and beef, and apple smoke for ham,  turkey and chicken.  I’ve tried hickory with everything and like it fine, but apple is less overwhelming.  And I’ve put everything from Guinness beer to apple vinegar in the “steam”, but water works just fine with turkey.  If it smokes for four hours, it still comes up tender and juicy.  (Oh, and one more trick for turkey – injections!!! I inject Zatarain’s turkey marinade several places into the bird.  The flavoring is good, but the juiciness is awesome.  No “chewy” white meat in this turkey!!).

It’s supposed to take 3 ½ to 4 hours.  But my smoking experience is like that famous line from the old Charlton Heston movie about Michelangelo, The Agony and the Ecstasy.   The Pope (Rex Harrison) comes into the Sistine Chapel and asks Michelangelo (Heston) busy painting the “Creation” when he would be done. The artist grumbles, “When I am finished”.   The turkey is done at 165 degrees.  When will that be?  When it’s finished.  Or when I can’t wait anymore – and the Magic Chef can finish the job.  It’ll still be great!!!!

Post Script

So the turkey breast stayed in the smoker for over five hours – and “stalled” at 154 degrees. It took another 25 minutes in the Magic Chef to get to 165, but it was well worth it. Tasty, smoky, juicy — and enough leftovers for sandwiches and even another dinner in the near future!!!

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

Unprecedented Times

Let’s be very clear.  We live in unprecedented times.  Not since John Adams left the White House in March of 1801 (or James Buchanan in 1861), has our Nation faced such an extraordinary shift in attitude.  If we don’t acknowledge that fact, then we are hiding our heads in the sand.  For many of us, the fate of the American experiment seems in peril. 

President Joe Biden had an exceptional Presidency.  He brought the Nation out of a pandemic, not only the health crisis, but the economic disaster that accompanied it.  From what surely could have been a depression on the scale of the 1930’s, Biden guided us to a “soft landing”.  By all of today’s economic metrics:  unemployment rate, inflation rate, the stock markets (the Dow Jones broke 45,000 yesterday, 25% higher than when Biden took office)  the Biden Presidency was a huge success.  

There was economic pain along the way.  And Biden, and then Kamala Harris, paid the electoral price for that pain.  But the long-term impact of the Biden Administration is clear everywhere you go, at least here in Central Ohio.  The interstate highways are being modernized, the high-tech manufacturing plants are going up, and the whole region is “humming” with economic activity.  Whatever the incoming President does, those huge infrastructure improvements will continue.  Trump won’t close the Intel plant, and he won’t tear the I-70/I-71 interchange project down.  I don’t think he’ll throw that “baby out with the bathwater”. 

Justice Delayed

The one great flaw of the Biden Administration was they failed to hold some Americans legally accountable for their actions.   It took more than two years, and a high profile Congressional hearing, to even begin to investigate what happened on January 6^th, and the conspiracy to violate our laws in the months leading up to it. 

We know why there was a delay.  Biden, and his chosen Attorney General, Merrick Garland, both are traditional American leaders.  They followed the long precedent of not “questioning” past Administrations, but just moving forward. (The most recent example:  President Obama’s decision not to prosecute Bush officials for the “torture” memos).  

But we do live in unprecedented times:  and by following precedent, Biden failed to address the current problem central to our democracy.  For all of the amazing things Biden accomplished, this is the prime failure of his Presidency.  I hope the Republic survives it.

Retribution

Joe Biden now has a last opportunity in his last few weeks remaining with ultimate power.  And, he has ample evidence about what is going to happen.  There is a reason that Donald Trump tried to appoint Matt Gaetz to lead the Department of Justice.  Gaetz’s replacement, Pam Bondi of Florida, though politically more palatable, is just as dedicated to Trump, and just as much an election denier.  Add to that, the outrageous attempt to put Kash Patel in as Director of the FBI, and the course of the Trump Administration is clear:  retribution.  Trump said so himself.

America has discovered the MAGA axiom:  they complain most about what they themselves are planning to do.  Their fear of Democrats “weaponizing” the Justice Department is just a mirror reflecting their intent.  The Gaetz, Bondi, Patel selections make that clear.  Mr. Patel has even given us a Nixonian style “enemies list”, sixty names of both Democrats and out-of-favor Republicans who should be prosecuted.  Trump is acting on his avowed desire for “retribution”.  His choices for leadership simply proves that intention.  

Door’s Open

This week, President Biden pardoned his own son from Federal crimes.  There was an uproar, among both Republicans and Democrats.  Republicans barked and growled: Biden took their “bone away”.  And Democrats (and others) worried that Biden had somehow “opened the door” to a vast array of pardons from Trump as he enters the White House.

That’s coming.  Those prosecuted and imprisoned for January 6^th are coming out.  The Capitol Police officers who risked their lives for our Republic are going to face one more indignity.  Those who attacked them will be lionized, not jailed.   Congress will be affronted as well. Peter Navarro, from fresh the Federal Penitentiary, is back as a White House advisor.

So Biden should stop worrying about keeping precedence in this unprecedented time.  He has the opportunity to protect folks; Liz Cheney, Adam Kinsinger, Dr. Fauci, to name a few, who courageously did their duty in spite of MAGA outrage.  And for those who say that the Courts will ultimately protect those folks from injustice anyway, don’t count on the US Supreme Court to hold.  The “six” have already granted the President almost universal immunity from the law.  There’s no reason to believe that they would, all of sudden, stand for justice.

As Biden walks out the door on January 20^th, he should drop a list of pardons as long as his arms.  He has this last opportunity to protect those who tried to protect our Nation.  It’s his duty, his last chance, to make that right. 

Pardon them all.

Form Responses

On November 21^st, I sent an email to the White House.  That was kind of a big deal for me.  Years ago, I worked as a “correspondence” guy for a US Congressman.  We got letters, snail-mail back then, all the time. There were dozens on a normal day, and hundreds when some particular issue was “hot”.  My job was to read each one, and make sure we (acting as the Congressman) responded.  

We even had a special programmable typewriter (the mid-1970’s, an IBM SElectric). It could type out a letter on a given issue, pausing so you could type in the “personalization” of name, address, and sentences that made it unique.  So I would read all the letters, divide them into subject groups, and start replying to them.  If it was an issue where there was no “form” already written, I’d write a full response. But those new responses were “vetted” by the Congressman himself before they went out.

Some letters were personal requests. Those I forwarded to the “constituent service” folks to see what they could do. Later, I would be part of that service. The problem-solving was the most fun, and fulfilling, task in the office.

Indirect Influence

Then I summarized what came in that day, and make sure my boss, the Administrative Aide, knew what was important.   I’d finish sorting and answering the mail, and get onto whatever else was on my plate (a lot of scheduling, some legislative stuff). It was important was not to miss a day.  Like email today, miss a day and it just piles up, absorbing more time than possible to clear my desktop.

So I emailed the White House, knowing full well that it wasn’t going to the “ear” of the President. But it was important for me to let the President know, even indirectly, that this issue was important to me.

Hunter

My email was simple:  I asked Joe Biden, the 46^th President of the United States, to pardon his son Hunter. I then gave my reasons.  And Sunday, Joe Biden did exactly that.

Of course, it was my “permission” that allowed Biden to issue the pardon – NOT!!  I’m sure there was a computer file full of emails asking for Hunter’s pardon, and just as big a file full of those against.  But, just like in Congress, a summary made it to the Presidential ear.  

So what did I tell President Biden?  I told him the truth.   If Hunter Biden was Hunter Brown, he would never have been indicted , much less face imprisonment.  Hunter Biden didn’t pay his taxes, got caught, then paid them all with interest and penalties.  That happens in the US all the time, and seldom are criminal charges filed.  

Not Al Capone 

Sure, there’s definitely the “Al Capone” exception.  The Untouchables couldn’t get Capone for gangster activities like murder and bootlegging, but were able to put him away for tax evasion.  Capone couldn’t explain the income. If he did then he’d have to explain where it came from, and face an even greater prison sentence.  Hunter was able to demonstrate how he earned the money, and while some of it “smelled” of influence peddling, it was all legal.  

And “what-about” the gun charge? Hunter signed a document saying he was legally allowed to have a gun when he wasn’t.  That’s seldom charged in Federal criminal court, and is likely to be declared unconstitutional by the MAGA-Supreme Court majority shortly. All of the Biden charges reeked of “selective prosecution”.

Hunter Biden ain’t no Al Capone.  He’s simply the son of the number one “high value target” of the MAGA-Republican Party, Joe Biden.  The entire investigation doesn’t happen except Hunter is the son of Joe.  So, in the end, Hunter Biden would be serving Federal time, not because of his actions, but because it was the way to get at Joe Biden.  (Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, and many former US Attorneys make the same point).

No Supervision

It started under the Trump Administration with a Special Prosecutor, David Weiss, the former Republican US Attorney for the Biden’s home state of Delaware.  When Biden came to office, he chose not to interfere with the investigation of his son, allowing it to continue.  Hunter and Weiss came to a plea-bargain which would have avoided jail time.  But the MAGA-Republicans in Congress were able to raise such a ruckus, that the judge threw the bargain out.  Hunter was then re-indicted on more counts, and pled guilty to avoid risk of many years in jail.

Attorney General Merrick Garland bent over backwards to give Weiss all of the “runway” he needed to investigate Hunter.  Even five years and another President into the process, there was no “interference” or even “supervision” by the head of the Justice Department.  So while Democrats might have been in charge, it was the Trump appointed prosecutor that still had Hunter Biden by the scruff of the neck.

The Backlash

There was always going to be a backlash for Biden pardoning his son.  The MAGA-Republicans are angry:  they had Hunter, and the President stepped in and pulled him from their clenched jaws.  It’s rich, even laughable; listening to  the whining of MAGA supporters of a convicted felon for President, who made it clear he would use the pardon power to “clean the slate” for his followers.  And it certainly doesn’t show that the Justice Department is “weaponized”.  

What it does show that President Biden (and Attorney General Garland) allowed the system, tainted by Trump’s version of “weaponization” from the beginning, to go forward.  But there was nowhere else for it to go now, except for Hunter to do time in Federal prison.  And, of course, that time would be under the questionable oversight of a Trump Administration willing to use whatever tools necessary to get what it wants.  The current President didn’t want his son in jail, and he absolutely didn’t want a really weaponized Trump Justice Department to have literal control of Hunter’s very life.

Way to go Joe; you did exactly what needed to be done.  I’m proud of your service, in awe of your Presidency, and glad you can use the power of the pardon to right the wrong that was committed against you and your son.

Merry Christmas, Mr. President!!!

Thank you Joe Biden, for doing the right thing and pardoning your son, Hunter.  There’s a lot to say about that  – and I hope to have it ready for tomorrow.  

Fever Dreams

Watch out!!! History is being re-written, “whitewashed”, before your very eyes!!  On NBC’s Meet the Press this past Sunday, MAGA-Republican Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee made these “matters of fact” points.

• The 2016 investigation of Russian involvement with the Trump Campaign was not only “fake”, but a collusion of the FBI leadership with the Democratic Party.
• In 2020, the FBI “colluded” with Social Media companies to hide the “true evidence” on the Hunter Biden laptop.
• That “collusion” was the reason that Joe Biden was elected President.

That a MAGA-Republican representative would say that on national television isn’t really shocking.  What is shocking is that the Meet the Press moderator, Kristin Welker, allowed all of those “facts” to be posited without objection.  

These Steve Bannon “fever-dreams”, will be used to justify appointing a wholly unqualified Kash Patel as the new director of the FBI. (That is, after current Trump Appointee Chris Wray is forced to resign or is fired).  Patel, like Bobby Kennedy at Health and Human Services, Pete Hegseth at Defense, and Tulsi Gabbard as National Intelligence Director; all are part of Trump’s cabinet picks, chosen for their loyalty to the United States, the Constitution, and most importantly – Donald Trump.   

Revisions

Here are some “real” facts:

• The Mueller Report found 140 contacts between the 2016 Trump Campaign and Russia and Wikileaks (the group that leaked the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s emails).
• This guy – a near-blind computer technician wearing a “tam-o-shanter”, is the “direct evidence” behind the Hunter laptop.  Tough to believe then, or now.

• There is no evidence, other than MAGA frustration, that the Hunter Biden laptop (or Hunter’s nude lap for that matter, displayed to the world by MAGA-Republican Congressman Greene)  would have changed the 2020 election results – anymore than the Access Hollywood video altered the 2016 results.

But we are going to hear a lot more “revisionist” history in the next four years; so get ready.  Here’s a list of events that will be whitewashed, and how the new MAGA-Republican Administration will insist they be seen.

Insurrection

There was no Insurrection.  There was a peaceful protest at the Capitol Building on January 6^th, 2021, where a few folks got out of control.  If the Capitol Police had simply let them all in, the “peaceful protestors” would have voiced their opinions, and left the Capitol undamaged.   Therefore, all of those imprisoned for offenses on January 6^th should be released (and pardoned), and those “Democrat” prosecutors who brought charges against them now should be the prosecuted.  And besides, it was Nancy Pelosi’s fault.

Pandemic

Sure, there was a pandemic in 2020-2021.  But if we had just let the country go, it would have “burned through” the Nation, and we survivors would all now have “herd immunity” (the view of Trump’s appointee for Director of the National Institute of Health, Jay Bhattacharya).  While Trump was instrumental in the quick development of vaccines, wearing masks was a “waste of time”.

  Those that advocated masks and closing schools and businesses ought to be held accountable for the “damage” they did.  The fact that 1.2 million died (and are still dying) from Covid, and that number would be multiple millions more if we tried to gain “herd immunity”, is “wrong-speak”, not accepted or allowed by the New Administration.

Child Separation

If we only made migrants really, really regret coming to the United States, they would stop coming.  So the first term Trump child-separation policy was not abhorrent at all, but brilliant.  The only flaw in the policy was that the media got access to what was going on.  We need to let the “dirty work” to “protect our borders” go on without interference.  (It’s the old Kiefer Sutherland in Twenty-Four attitude, secretly “doing American’s wet work”).   

The fact that conditions in some Central and South American countries are so bad, that anything, any risk, is better than staying there doesn’t mean anything at all.  The Border Guards should grab up their kids, whisk them all over the country on buses, and send the parents to camps and ultimately back to Nicaragua.  Ask Tom Homan, Trump’s new “Border Czar”. 

Tariffs

Tariffs will protect American industry from foreign competition.  If we just make those “furr-in” products more expensive, then we’ll “get back” to buying “good ol’ American stuff”.  (So back in the mid-1970’s, I worked for Sears in their TV and Stereo department.  My job was to “sell American”. Back then a company called Fisher, was the  only “American” stereo manufacturer.  Don’t think about Pioneer or Sony, buy American.   Sure, it cost more, and the quality wasn’t quite as good, but it’s American – right?)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it best.  Tariffs cost American consumers money for imported goods, and the response to American tariffs will cost Canadians more money as well.  No one wins.

Resist

Part of the insidiousness of MAGAism is the impact on what we think of as facts.  In our current environment, those with the loudest megaphone often get to “declare the truth”, regardless of whether it’s true or not .  Add that to the Red State takeover of public education curriculum, and there is a real chance that the Whitewash will work.  Most Americans now believe that the Mueller Investigation was false, and that somehow it exonerated Donald Trump.  Neither of those are true.

Resistance (Part Two) includes standing for the truth, not some revisionist story.  That’s going to take courage, both by private individuals (and “essayists”) but also from journalists who will face intimidation and possible legal challenges for daring to telling it the way it really is.  And maybe the high school student who doesn’t allow a MAGA-based history course to pass without objection.

Dan Rather might have said it best when he chose one word to end his nightly newscast on CBS – Courage. It’s what will be required in the new Trump Era.

Performance

I was not a football coach – and I’m sure that my football coach friends will say that I don’t know what I’m talking about.  But, after forty years of coaching, from cross country to track to wrestling; I do know performance.  And I have a thought about the Ohio State versus Michigan football game that concluded in another Michigan win yesterday.  

I know both teams “wanted” it.  No one quit; every player, on both sides, tried to play to their maximum level.  So there’s something to consider:  is it possible to play beyond your maximum, beyond yourself?   What happens when each player all of a sudden feels the need to be a “super-hero”?  I can’t tell you what the pressure is like at the Division I collegiate level, particularly now that millions of dollars ride on each player.  I’ve never had to coach on that level.  

Try Harder

But I can tell you this:  players have to be able to respond automatically to what’s going on in front of them.  Anything that makes them think, or “try” too hard, is going to disrupt the flow of their game.  It’s so easy to tell an athlete to “try harder”, when it is that act of trying that often disrupts their performance.  And clearly, that was happening on the Ohio State offense. (Give the Defense kudos, they held Michigan to only 13.  No one expected the Buckeyes to just score 10).

Michigan’s coaches have found the secret.  They can be primed, ready, pumped, without losing their “autonomic responses” that make football players great.  The Wolverines weren’t screaming mad, fighting a “war” (as Ryan Day was quoted saying).  They were playing their “championship game”.  It’s their biggest game this season, a decent team that’s had a bad year.  They had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.  And they were playing to win.

And sometimes if you try to be Superman, you end up much less. 

Hyped 

Football is a game of muscle, of enforcing your will on someone else.  But it’s also a game of mental “flow”.  We saw a flash of that at the end of the second quarter, when the Ohio State offense just played.  But the rest of the game, from the coaches to the players, Ohio State’s offense was playing hard not to lose. My coaching analogy is that they were trying to hold “Jell-O”.  The harder you hold it, the more leaks out of your hand, until, ultimately it’s all gone.  So you have to hold it gently; with control of emotion, strength, and focus.  

Maybe screaming and yelling, maybe coaches breaking chairs in locker rooms work for some athletes (I’ve tried that).  But what I really think is that there’s  too much hype, too much craziness, too much of, “we can’t lose”.  Maybe we should walk it back a step, and make it another game; not Woody’s Ten Year War, not Urban’s magic, not Ryan Day’s curse.  At least, maybe that what Coach Day (if he’s still the coach come next Thanksgiving – the game is that important to Buckeye fans) needs to do.

House Divided

My best pre-game talk was simple:  “Do what you do.  Don’t be superman.  You got us here, you’ve won before.  I don’t need ‘Super You’ – I just need you”.

Ohio State’s offense tried to be Super-Bucks.  They only needed to be the team that won ten games before.  Michigan had nothing to lose, nothing on the line but pride.  It will be interested to see what lessons are learned – as Ohio State plays through the playoffs, and as both teams take the field in “The Big House” next year.

I live in a “House Divided”.  My family are Michigan fans, I am a moderate Buckeye fan.  I truly hope that Coach Day figures this out, that Ohio State plays through the playoffs, and gets to a National Championship Game.   He’s proven he can win almost everything – that is – except this one game.

As far as the fight after the game – I blame both coaches.  Coach Moore of Michigan was so exultant, he didn’t focus on his own kids.  Coach Day was clearly in shock, already replaying in slow motion a game that went by way too fast for him.  Neither looked to their primary duty, a job that doesn’t end when time runs out.  That duty is the behavior of their team, and the very foreseeable actions of both squads at the end of the game.  You can’t say it’s a war, and then pretend it’s not when time runs out.

There’s a movie called “Any Given Sunday”, about how every team has a chance at every game.  Michigan gets it, Ohio State doesn’t.  But there’s always more football – and I hope my Bengals, having a “Michigan like” season, find their “given Sunday” this afternoon against Pittsburgh.

Official Announcement

This week, the President-elect officially said on “X-formerly known as Twitter” (legally recognized as an “official source”) that on his first day in office, he will put a 25% tariff on America’s neighbors and allies, Mexico and Canada.  He claims that neither country is controlling migrants coming from them to the United States, and that Mexico is a source of fentanyl as well.  

So let’s try to keep this simple (the KISS principle, Keep It Simple, Stupid).  A tariff is a tax on imported goods.  When a bottle of Mexican tequila comes to the border at a cost of, say $20, a 25% tariff would require that $5 more be paid to the US Government.  Tariffs are normally about trade, not illegal migration or personal animosity.  But tariffs do “raise money” for the US Government, and, in fact, were the major source of income for the government in the early years of the Republic.

Drunken Math

Here’s the deal though.  The Mexican tequila Agaveros (the guys who actually make tequila) charge $20 for their product.  When the US taxes that, the seller simply adds that cost onto the price of the bottle.  So, what Americans bought for $20, now costs $25.  The tariff, the tax, comes out of the consumer’s pocket, not the producer’s.

Of course there could be an impact on the producer.  Maybe fewer people buy their tequila, because it costs more.  And if there is enough producer “pain and loss”, perhaps the Mexican government will accede to the demands of the “taxer”, the US Government.  But the immediate “pain” of a tariff is on the consumer, the buyer; not the Agaveros in Mexico.

Sure, tequila drinkers in the US could stop drinking it.  Since tequila is exclusively a Mexican product, they could switch to Tennessee Whiskey, or even Irish Whiskey, since there isn’t a tariff on Ireland, yet.   But if they want tequila, they have to pay the Agaveros, and Uncle Sam.

Bored Feet

The same is true for Canadian products.  Some “simple” numbers:  the US produces 70% of its construction lumber, and imports 30%.  Of that 30%, 85% comes from Canada.  A little bit of mathematical wizardry, and; 25% of American construction lumber comes from Canada.  Trump’s tariff would add 25% to the cost of that lumber (12.7 billion board feet).  So to keep it simple (KISS), construction costs go up all over the United States.  Who pays for that?  The folks who are paying for construction; that new house, or school, or rebuilding the deck that finally started to rot away.  US consumers pay the price, not the West Fraser Lumber Company in British Columbia.

Your Pocket

It’s a tax on us (us, you and me, and US the United States).  It’s not a tax on them (Mexico, Canada, China and the rest).  Even if you didn’t vote for Harris for President, she certainly had  one valid point.   If the Trump Administration actually goes through with their tariff policy, Americans will pay a huge additional tax, on average, $4000 more per family a year.  

So why use tariffs?  In American history, tariffs originally produced revenue for a national government that couldn’t directly levy taxes (until the 16^th Amendment was passed, allowing for an income tax).  But today, tariffs only raise about 2% of the total government revenue.  51% comes from personal income tax, that’s $2.18 trillion.  37% comes from social security and Medicare tax, and only 4% from corporate taxes.  

Thanks Trump

How much would the Trump tariff policy raise?  Estimates puts it at $2.8 trillion over the next ten years ($280 billion a year).   That is about 13% of the money raised by personal income tax.  So if there was a 13% cut in income taxes, American consumers might, maybe, break even.  But here’s the thing; tariffs aren’t a “graduated tax”, where the people who make more pay a greater percentage.  Tariffs are strictly, you but it, you pay it.  So, just like other forms of sales tax, tariffs impact lower income folks greater than upper income folks.  It called a regressive tax because the “burden of taxation” isn’t evenly shared. 

Let’s get simple (KISS) one more time.  A huge increase in tariffs, would result in higher prices for everyone.  It’s inflation, this time directly caused by the government taking the money in tax.  What the government does with that money isn’t really the point – the simple point is, tariffs will cost consumers more out of their pockets then they are paying now.

And instead of the “Brandon” inflation slogan of 2022, “Thanks Joe Biden”; we will be able to say “Thanks Trump” for it all.  

Ripped Off

Special Prosecutor Jack Smith ripped the band-aid off yesterday.  The Justice Department, under Smith’s name, dropped the charges against Donald J Trump in the Washington “Insurrection  Case”.  Smith did not say that his indictment was in error, or that Trump was somehow, all of a sudden, innocent.  Instead, Smith cited that old internal Nixon Justice Department memo that states a sitting and now, an elected President cannot be indicted or charged while in office.

At the same time, Smith also asked the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals to drop Trump’s involvement in the Mar-a-Lago, classified documents case.  That case was dismissed by trial judge Aileen Cannon, after which Smith appealed the dismissal.  The others involved in the case, including Trump aides and lawyers, are still included.

Unbalanced Scale

There is an old saying:  “Elections have consequences”.  Donald Trump is the next President of the United States.  The United States Supreme Court already put their collective thumbs on the “scale of Justice”, declaring that many of Trump’s actions were immune from prosecution.  The six Justice majority made it pretty plain:  they thought that charging a former President was inappropriate, and probably, unconstitutional.  And with a Trump appointed Justice Department coming in the door on January 20^th, now there is no one left to prosecute a case against him.

So what of the 2020 election, the Insurrection, and the boxes of classified documents in the golden bathroom of  Mar-a-Lago?  Star Wars character Obi-Won-Kenobi said it best:  “There’s nothing to see here, move along”.  In fact, it’s reasonable to assume that early in the Trump Presidency, perhaps even on his first day in office, a wide range of Presidential Pardons will be issued to all those involved.  Don’t be surprised if those serving Federal sentences for Insurrection offenses are not only out of prison, but somehow employed in the new Trump Administration.  

Whitewash

For the next four years, the events of January 6, 2021 will be whitewashed.  We will hear that those who stormed the Capitol are really heroes, standing up for a stolen Presidency.   And in our current era of political “right-ness”, there will be educators who will tell our children a whole-cloth fiction of those tried to overthrow our Constitution, and the gallant struggles of Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro. 

In the American South, the atrocity of white rioters destroying black communities in the early 20^th century isn’t taught in most schools.  Like the parents there, we will have to teach our children the true story outside of our educational institutions.   The Insurrection will be another hidden horror, like Tulsa and Rosewood and the 1932 attack on the Bonus Army in Washington, DC.

And for those who hold out false hope that somehow, sometime, those indictments will be reinstated:  that’s not going to happen.  Even if, Democrats weather the next four years; even if our democracy manages to survive this crisis in authoritarianism; even if the right for everyone to vote isn’t subsumed by the government sanctioned onslaught of restrictions:  it will never be politically expedient to revive this issue.  It will be like the McCarthy era of the 1950’s, a dark spot in the history book, seldom discussed and never adjudicated.

Our Story

We all know what happened in 2020 and 2021.  Regardless of the forthcoming “re-write”, many Americans won’t ignore their “lying eyes”, and pretend what they saw in plain sight didn’t happen.   And even if there is no legal justice in America, we can still hope to save our Democracy.  What happens in the next four years is as critical as any period in our history, including the Civil War.  What story will we tell our children eight years from now? 

When Trump was first elected in 2016, the leading musical on Broadway was “Hamilton”.  The songs of Lin Manuel Miranda helped get many of us through the first four years of Donald Trump, and fueled the “Resistance” to his actions.  We now stand at the beginning of another four years of outrage by “tweet”, and real-life atrocities.  Yes, Donald Trump and many of his minions will never be called to the bar of justice.  But what happens next is so much more important than what happened before.  Who gets to “tell the story” of the 2020’s, of a nation so narrowly divided that we could turn from Trump to Biden, then from Harris back to Trump.  

“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”   We get to decide, again. 

Sixteen

I was sixteen years old in 1972.  We were already four years into the Nixon Presidency. He failed on his election promise to end Vietnam. I hoped that Senator McGovern of South Dakota might finally stop what at that time was America’s longest war.  I was mistaken.  The McGovern campaign self-destructed within days of his nomination, and, as we found out in the next couple of years, Nixon led his campaign to criminally interfere and “help the destruction along”.  It was called Watergate.  

(By the way, thank you President Biden, for “biting the bullet” and ending America’s new longest war in Afghanistan).

There wasn’t much trust in the government as a whole.  The FBI seemed to spend more effort trying to disrupt student protests and civil rights movement, than they did solving crimes.  The Director was the aging J Edgar Hoover, entering his forty-eighth year at the helm.  His “files” on American public figures were legendary, backed up with the full investigatory power of his federal agency.  No one really had authority over Hoover, though Nixon’s campaign manager turned Attorney General John Mitchell was “in charge”.  Hoover did whatever Hoover wanted.  To go against him was a guaranteed swift trip to political oblivion.

Not On TV

Comedian George Carlin spoke for a lot of younger Americans when he wrote the ground-breaking “Seven Words” sketch.  It was about the seven words you couldn’t say on TV.  Should one of those words slip out, the Federal Communications Commission could remove a radio or TV station’s license to broadcast. 

 In the late 1960’s my father had a direct experience with that.  His TV station’s morning news show starring Phil Donahue interviewed Jerry Rubin, one of the seven charged for disrupting the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.  It was a “live” show.  But Dad inserted a seven second delay, literally taping the show on one machine then stringing the tape across the room to “playback” on another.  The delay gave Dad time to push the “mute” button for the inevitable profanities that Hoffman was famous for.  Missing one might take the Station, WLW-D in Dayton, Ohio, off the air.

We didn’t hear Carlin’s sketch on television or radio.  We had to buy his record, or tape, or “pirate” one from a friend.  So my copy of “Seven Words” was on a homemade cassette tape, mis-labeled as Joni Mitchell’s “Clouds” in case Mom or Dad checked.  And it was through this “underground” method, that Seven Words became famous to an entire generation.

A Strong Word

Ok, I know, you’ve been waiting to read the “seven words”.  Here’s a link. Even in my current obstinant old age I’m not comfortable putting them all on paper (or your screen).   But I am going to use one, the big one, that one that’s never, ever,  OK, even on today’s TV (but fine on cable):  F**K.  It was (and often still is) one of my favorites, and it’s all because of Carlin.  To paraphrase him:  “(It’s) a good word, a strong word.  It could be the name of a hero:  “I am F**K, F**K of the Mountain!!!”  I did shout that from the top of the White Mountains, the Rocky Mountains, the Cascades, the Appalachians, the Western Fells in Great Britain; and several smaller hills throughout my backpacking career.

Which gets me back to this essay.  Because, like the late sixties and early seventies, we are entering an era where we might not be able to trust the government.  When I see who might be leading our most important agencies:  Homeland Security, Department of Justice, the CIA and the FBI and the rest; I worry about surveillance and payback.  Trump has already promised “retribution”; and if he ever gets down to “bloggers” (I hate the term, I’m an essayist, G*D  D*MN IT!!), there’s a million words that connect to me (Our America).  

Who’s Listening

As part of Carlin’s skit, he noted this 1960’s concern about surveillance.  He answered his phone and assumed there was an FBI wiretap in place:  “F**K Hoover, can I help you?”  Now, it’s going to be a long two years, or four, or maybe forever until I feel secure from my government again.  With MAGA control of the Presidency, the Congress, and Trump and McConnell’s stolen majority on the Supreme Court; who will speak when they come for me?

That’s why I need to write this essay, so folks won’t be quite so put-off when they hear my new phone greeting. And for the few old “hippie” veterans  left from the anti-war movement, I hope it brings a smile.

 “F**K Trump, Hi it’s Marty!!”

A History Lesson

By the mid 1820’s, the United States was entering “adolescence”.  The era of the Founders had ended, their passing tolled by the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.  On July 4^th, 1826; fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died.  (Supposedly Adams last words were, “at least Jefferson still lives”, not knowing that the Sage of Monticello had passed earlier in the day). They were aware of the significance of what they started in 1776, and hoped for even greater things for the Nation they created.

Adams’ son, John Quincy, was the President of the United States.  Like his father, he was definitely not the most popular politician of his time.  In fact, he didn’t win either the popular or the electoral vote in the election of 1824. In that era, there was no “two-party” system.   Of the two original political parties in the Nation, John Adam’s Federalists, withered away after the War of 1812.  That left the party of Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican Party, as the only national political force.  In 1824, four different Democratic-Republicans ran for President.  

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams was the Secretary of State (and the true author of the “Monroe Doctrine”).  For the past three Presidencies, the Secretary of State succeeded into the highest office, and Adams wanted to continue the trend.  He had the backing of his home New England states.  Andrew Jackson, Senator from Tennessee and the Hero of the Battle of New Orleans a decade before, represented the Western Party.    Henry Clay of Kentucky, Speaker of the House of Representatives, was able to get his support from the center of the Nation. And Treasury Secretary William Crawford had support from his home state of Georgia, and the largest state in the Nation, Virginia.

Jackson represented a populist view, arguing against “His Excellency” the son of the founder Adams.   He received 40% of the popular vote, and the most electoral votes.  Adams was second with 32% of the vote, and the second most electoral votes.  Crawford and Clay split the rest, denying either of the first two candidates a winning majority in the Electoral College.

With no Electoral majority, the 12^th Amendment to the Constitution mandated that the House of Representatives select from the top three candidates.  Each state had one equal vote, so state Congressional delegations had to vote among themselves to see how their one vote would be cast.  Clay, fourth in the election, was dropped from the race.  But as Speaker, and a strong opponent of Jackson, he lent his support  and influence to Adams. 

Corrupt Bargain

Adams won thirteen states to Jackson’s seven.  Clay would become Adams’ Secretary of State.  And Jackson, shocked by the result, began his 1828 campaign for the Presidency on what he claimed was the  “corrupt bargain” between Clay and Adams.

Four years later, there was no doubt as to the outcome of the election.  Jackson won 55% of the popular vote and 178 electoral votes to Adams’ 44% and 83.  America’s first “populist” President took office in 1829 (Adams, like his father, refused to attend the Inauguration). Jackson opened the White House to the Inaugural crowd, and the resulting party did thousands of dollars of damage to the furnishings.  Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story put it:  “The reign of King Mob seemed triumphant”. 

 One of the first things Jackson did was fire every government employee that he controlled, and put in his own supporters, all the way down to the local postmasters throughout the Nation.  His argument was that any good American can do the job, so it might as well be a good American who supports me.

To the Victor

Senator William Marcy of New York described it best:  “To the victor belongs the spoils”.  And so began the “spoils system”, when each new President, and particularly each one of a different political party, would empty the Federal employment and replace them with his own supporters.   This continued until after the election of 1880.  That winner, James Garfield, was soon assassinated by a disappointed office seeker.  Garfield’s successor, Chester Arthur, used the tragedy to pass the first true Civil Service reform, making most Federal employment available on merit, as opposed to political affiliation.

It is no accident that Donald Trump deeply admires Andrew Jackson’s Presidency.  Jackson was a man of action.  He stood up against the Supreme Court, ignoring their order to stop the Indian Removal ( “The Trail of Tears” was only one part of the massive exile).  Jackson supposedly said of the Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Marshall; “Marshall’s made his decision, let him enforce it”.  That might be a good thing to keep in mind with the looming migrant round-up and deportation.  

And Jackson believed that the most important qualification for holding office was loyalty to himself.  Trump wants to alter civil service so he can “deconstruct the administrative state”. So when we see the list of his appointees to the highest government positions:  from election denier Pam Bondi as Attorney General to Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, keep that in mind.  They are Trump loyalists.  That is their most important qualification.

To the Victor go the Spoils.

Post Script

Jackson’s political party became the Democratic Party of today.  Adams supporters became the Whig Party, which dissolved in the enslavement crisis of the 1850’s.  But many Whigs became part of a new political Party, the Republicans, including their first President, Abraham Lincoln.

So there is precedent for political parties to “evolve”.  We saw it as the Segregationist Democrats of the 1920’s became the current diverse Party. And, we experience it now as the “traditional Republicans” of a decade ago are replaced by the “MAGA Republicans”.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Dawn Thirty

Look, I taught public school for thirty-six years.  That entire time, kids arrived at school about 7:15 in the morning.  So I was at work by six-thirty for my entire life. (Except for the years when I was part of “zero-period” or held morning workouts, then I was there before six).  Part of the “glamour” of retirement, was that I could sleep-in as late as I wanted, and stay-up to the “wee hours” if I was so inclined.

Old habits definitely die hard though, and the (now) four dogs don’t necessarily like to sleep-in.  So while I’m not up at five am that often, 6-ish is still the normal wake-up time.  I take care of dogs, I clean up the kitchen, and then, I write.  And for more than a decade, the background “noise” to all of that has been the MSNBC  morning show first called Scarborough Country, now Morning Joe.   

Scarborough

If you don’t know, Joe Scarborough was the Republican Congressman from the Florida Panhandle. (He held the seat recently vacaterd by Matt Gaetz).  He was elected as part of the Newt Gingrich “contract with America” crowd in 1994, in the middle of Bill Clinton’s first term as President.  Scarborough was a conservative with a 95% rating, and resigned from the Congress in 2001.

He then moved to be a “conservative voice” on MSNBC, along with such luminaries as, believe it or not, Tucker Carlson and, more recently, Nicolle Wallace.  His morning show began in 2003, and he’s been there ever since.  In 2007, he brought Mika Brzezinski in as a co-host  (along with Willie Geist), the daughter of Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.  Joe and Mika ultimately divorced their spouses and married each other in 2018. The ceremony was held in the National Archives main chamber, and officiated by Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings. 

Issues

Not surprisingly, I don’t agree with Scarborough on a lot of issues. But he has come a long way, and even resigned from the Republican Party after the first election of Donald Trump.  He often has other commentators on the panel that I enjoy, and sometimes his “rants” are challenging and even entertaining.  But there are two issues where I really struggle with Morning Joe.

The first was back in 2015.  Joe and Mika gave an open phone line to Donald Trump; hours of “free on-air time” for Trump’s riffs and rants. All he had to do was call in.  And while both Mika and Joe criticized Trump to his “ear” on-air, they fell prey to a Trump tactic:  better to have bad attention than no attention at all.  

Those on-air conversations on Morning Joe served to legitimize the first Trump candidacy, and brought him the national attention he wasn’t getting from other candidates.  They didn’t “elect” Trump, but the sure gave him a leg-up. But afterwards, one thing you could count on from Morning Joe:  they were critical of Donald Trump.  Trump responded to the criticism with personal attacks.   He insulted Mika about her facial surgery, and even went so far to accuse Joe of complicity in the murder of one of his staff members. 

In this last year Joe and Mika were outspoken in warning about Trump’s threat to American Democracy.  They even put their own thumb on the scale. When Joe Biden was pushed off of the ticket, they supported Kamala Harris’s candidacy.   And they were as despondent as the rest of us with the results of this month’s election.

Kiss the Ring

So I was shocked when I watched the two of them try to justify going to Mar-a-Lago for a private audience with Trump two weeks ago.  Mika said; “Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago to meet personally with President-elect Trump. And for those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, why wouldn’t we?”

Comedian John Stewart spoke for the rest of us when he responded:  “Uh…because you said he was Hitler.”

I guess we were warned in September.  The “billionaire class”;  Musk, Bezos, Jamie Diamon and even Warren Buffett were all “hedging their bets” against a Trump win (Mark Cuban stood out as the exception).   They, especially Musk and Bezos, “swallowed” the events of January 6, 2021, and excused them away.  Instead of standing up for Harris, many ducked.  That is, except for Musk, who put his billions where his mouth was, into the Trump campaign.

Defend Democracy

Marc Elias, the lawyer to the Democrats, put it well.  He compared the normalization of the Trump Presidency, to a character in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, who told how he went bankrupt:  “Two ways.  Gradually, then all at once.”  Some Americans are “gradually” accepting the bankruptcy of a Trump Administration, gradually acting like it’s all “normal”.  It is not.  And some Democrats, commentators, and influential business leaders, are showing us the “gradual” way.  

Elias fears that he may be on the wrong side of history.  His efforts (outlined in his newsletter, Democracy Docket) are paid for in part by his subscribers, and he promises as long as he has their support “…it will not obey and it will not back down”.  

Mika and Joe went to Mara Lago.  Whatever “frank” conversations they had with the President-elect, their mere presence put them on the same side with Kevin McCarthy, and Lindsey Graham, and the dozens of others who opposed Trump, lost, then went to “kiss the ring”.  Scarborough will say that they are recognizing the obvious, Trump is going to be the President.  Others, like John Stewart, rightfully call out the hypocrisy.  Either he was a threat to American democracy, or he wasn’t.  Either they were lying then, or they are cowards now.

I wish I could stand CNN. 

Sitting Shiva

Ok, the ritual time of mourning must come to an end.  Half of the Nation “sat shiva” for the election results.  Now, like it, or more specifically, not like it, Donald Trump will be the President of the United States for the next four years.  For many of us, there is a great concern about the survival of the American experiment in democracy.  I know, those that voted for the new President will call that extremist.  I only take him at his own words – words that we are told to ignore.  But, like the old saying about “drunk truth”, I think Trump says what he thinks, believes, and wants.  

There are things that a President can do, by himself, and those that he cannot.  Set let’s look at what those areas are.

Congress and the Law

The President cannot change the law.  That is a power of Congress.  So if Congress passed a law creating the Department of Education, the President cannot, of himself, dismantle it.  It takes a literal “act of Congress” to undo an “act of Congress”.  On the other hand, the President can undo the executive actions of former Presidents.  An example:  Trump could end all of the actions Joe Biden took to reduce student loan debts.  He could also decide to enforce the existing laws against illegal migrants.  That’s why Biden tried so hard to get an immigration law passed by Congress.  

And, for those local folks, the President cannot of himself repeal the “Chips Act”, that so impacts our economy here in Central Ohio.  Even in a Republican controlled Congress, it’s hard to imagine that they will somehow revoke the “deal” with Intel, and stop the construction of the billion dollar chip production plant in New Albany.  It was kind of a Republican thing anyway.

President Trump cannot by himself, end the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.  Again, it’s a law.  As John McCain made it clear the last time Trump was around, if the Congress won’t, he can’t.  So we might not have to worry about the Republican “concepts” of what health insurance laws might be.

Recess Appointments

And while the President has the authority to appoint his own cabinet members, the Senate has the “check” (of checks and balances) of “advise and consent”.   In short, the Senate must agree to his choices by a majority vote.  So while Donald Trump can nominate anyone he wants, the Senate still must confirm by simple majority (appointments are not subject to the sixty-vote filibuster rule).  

The Senate is narrowly divided between 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats, with a tie vote broken by the Vice President, soon to be Republican JD Vance.  So it would take three Republican Senators to disagree with Trump’s pick to deny any appointment. Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, Robert Kennedy for Health and Human Services, and Pete Hegseth of Defense Secretary should make the Senate reconsider Trump’s choices.

If the Senate were to go into recess for ten days or more, the President “might” be able to appoint Cabinet members without consent.  They could serve for as much as a year.  In his past term as President, Trump took full advantage of recess appointments.  In the last days of his Presidency, several cabinet level positions, including Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General were held by unconfirmed leaders.

But the Senate has the ultimate choice in this matter.  If they remain in session, recess appointments are prevented.  And the Senate can stay “open” even if most Senators are out of town, by having two members present, one to preside and one to call the Senate into session.  So they will make the choice, not the President.

Executive Action

But, when Trump says he will round up and deport migrants who came into the United States illegally, he can.  Congress could try to control that through laws and funding limitations, but I don’t expect they will.  He can even nationalize the National Guard to help. But can he send in the United States military?  

Let’s get into “the legal weeds” for just a moment.  There are two conflicting laws at play in the use of Federal troops to enforce US law.  The first is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which gives the President power to deploy US troops (at state request) to put down an insurrection.  The second is the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the use of Federal troops to enforce domestic law.  

So if the illegal migrants pose a threat of “insurrection”, then the state governor (see Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas) could request Federal troops.  But without the threat of insurrection, then Posse Comitatus should apply.  All of that sounds like a case for the Supreme Court.  

With this Court, all outcomes are possible.   The bad news here:  I fully anticipate Americans to commit unforgiveable actions against migrants, illegal and legal, under the “color of law”, in the next four years.  It’s perhaps the most heinous results of our fellow citizens’ choice of Donald Trump.

Commander-In-Chief

Where Trump actually has the most power is his authority as Commander-in-Chief.  He absolutely CAN order the court martial of members of the military, essentially for any reason he chooses.  The old legal saw that a prosecutor can use a grand jury to “indict a ham sandwich” is even more true in the military.  But once the court martial is summoned, the Court itself determines whether the defendant is guilty or not.  That is NOT the President’s decision.  So the threat of court martial is real, just as any of us could be indicted on some charge.  Whether that charge results in a conviction and penalty is completely different.

But the Commander-in-Chief can “fire” generals from their current posts, and appoint different ones. He can “stack” the current military commands with leaders of his liking.  So don’t be surprised to hear that the Flynn brothers, retired Generals Mike and Charles, are returning to active service.

And the President has vast powers in executing the foreign policy of the United States.  Whatever President Biden tried to achieve in the Middle East, Trump has publicly communicated to Netanyahu that he should do whatever he needs to “…to wrap this up”.  And President Zelenskyy of Ukraine is well aware that while he had Biden’s support, that will wither under Trump.  So he too has to look at a future with limited opportunities for victory.

Bobby Kennedy (the Senator, not the freak) used to quote an old Chinese curse:  “May you live in interesting times. Like it or not, we live in interesting times.”  When I was younger I struggled to understand why this was a curse.  

Now, in the “New Age of Trump”, I get it.  

SWAT

You’ve seen it on TV.  The SWAT team is poised outside the door, one officer wielding the “post-pounder”, the heavy steel tube with handles that can crash through any lock.  There’s the legally required warning; “Police!!” —  then the crash of the “pounder” busting through.  But it’s the next step that I’m interested in.  The “door crasher” steps back, and another officer leans in and tosses what looks like a grenade from an old black and white World War II TV show. 

It’s not that kind of explosive.  Instead, it’s a “flash-bang”, that explodes with a brilliant and blinding flash of light, followed by a deafening “boom”.  The theory:   it will disorient the suspects, and  allow SWAT to get into the room and gain control before they can react.  It’s a distraction, and before the suspect knows it, they are face to face with heavy weapons, handcuffs, and little choice but to surrender.

Appointees

This week, President-Elect Trump (first time I’ve typed those words in eight years, might have to take a short break), announced some cabinet appointments.  A few were expected and “normal”; Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, former Congressman John Ratcliffe to head the CIA; the “father” of child separation Tom Homan as “Border Czar”.  (OK, Homan isn’t normal, but, like Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller, foreseeable).  And there was the inevitable “Fox and Friends” host.  Last time it was Larry Kudlow as economic advisor.  This time it’s Pete Hegseth for the Secretary of Defense.

Except for Hegseth,  no one created too much “shock and awe”.  They were the crash of the post-pounder at the door.  Then the grenade rolled in.  Trump nominated former Democratic Congressman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, as Director of National Intelligence.  That’s a big deal.  Gabbard has connections to dictators throughout the world, and has followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “party line” in recent years.  Handing her the reins to the Intelligence apparatus seems like a dubious idea, the fox guarding the chicken coop kind of thing.

Next he added North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security.  Her qualifications seem to be that she governed a state with a long international border, with Canada.  And she was willing to send the North Dakota National Guard to Texas.  Oh, and she told the world that she shot her dog – maybe a strong “Trump” qualification for dealing with migrants.

Flash and Bang

But then the first “Flash” exploded. Trump proffered former Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida up as the next Attorney General .  Gaetz is a lawyer (William and Mary), and actually passed the Florida bar.  But he has little experience practicing the law, and no training as a Prosecutor.  And he’s been under investigation by both the Department of Justice that he would lead, and his own colleagues in the Congress.   He allegedly engaged in hiring prostitutes, some underage, and transporting them across state lines. In fact, he resigned from Congress in order to dodge a House Ethics Committee report, due out at the end of this week.  

Senator Markwayne of Oklahoma last year explained that “they all” saw the videos on Gaetz’s phone:  sex parties and “Red Bull/Viagra” cocktails so Matt could go “🎵All Night Long🎵”.  But the Department of Justice dropped their investigation, and now that Gaetz is no longer in Congress, the Ethics Committee doesn’t have jurisdiction. 

But all is not lost for Gaetz.  Thursday it was revealed that he resigned from THIS Congress – not the next one. So, in effect, Gaetz is taking a two month vacation, with the option to return as the Congressman from Pensacola in January.

Next came the “Bang”:  Bobby Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The premier anti-vaxxer in the Nation, would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.   So what if he (like Gaetz and Hegseth) has a history of “women issues”.  And then there’s the whole bear in Central Park thing, whale-head on top of the family car, and the worm eating his brain episodes.  I guess those really aren’t a problem for the incoming President.

Payoffs and Tradeoffs

So what’s the point of the Gaetz/Kennedy grenade?  

First of all, it’s all about payoffs.  Gaetz, Gabbard and Kennedy all supported the Trump Presidential campaign.  And Gabbard and Kennedy were once Democrats, pariahs in their own Party who “switched” to the other side.  So Trump can even claim he’s being bipartisan.

Second, it all about “owning the Libs”.  Gaetz has been a continual gadfly, supporting every issue to make “Libs” feel bad.  And Kennedy, while still the scion of the family Democratic name, has been politically disowned by his own family.  They say he’s got “mental issues”, and they know best.  But Trump can shove him down the “Libs” throat.

Third, it forces the Republicans in the US Senate to make a choice.  Are they Trump “Loyalists”?  As Markwayne, of “Red Bull and Viagra”, now says:  “whatever the President wants, I completely agree”.   If Republican Senators stand against the President, then they take the risk of being declare “RINOS”, Republicans in Name Only, with all of the electoral implications for the future.

But most likely, Gaetz, Kennedy and Gabbard  are a “Flash-Bangs”, meant to distract.  It’s a kind of tradeoff, if those folks are a bridge too far, then all of the other appointees are “acceptable”.  And of course, they aren’t; from former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin at the EPA, to former Senator and Christian Nationalist Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel.  And who knows what the “richer than rich” team of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will be doing with their unofficial-official “Department of Government Efficiency”.  

Welcome to  Trump, 2.0.  If chaos and upheaval is your thing – the next four years is going to be a “wild time”. Have fun!  

The fate of the Nation is in his hands.