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There’s a scene in the George Clooney movie, “Ocean’s Eleven”.  Don Cheadle is one of eleven thieves tasked with breaking into a vault.  His job: to handle the explosives blowing the vault door.  Cheadle blows the door, and  enters the safe – then an alarm goes off.  He turns to his compatriots and says: “Oh leave it out! You tossers! You had one job to do!”

One Job

It’s a tough job, being the Secret Service.  There are constant threats to their “protectees”, from social media “death sentences”, “wacko” emails, phone messages and even good old snail-mail letters. And, of course, there are the ones that never make contact, never emerge until they act.  The Secret Service has “one job” to do, neutralize those threats and keep the protectee safe.  And they have to be right, every time.   The attackers only have to “make it” once for the Secret Service to be a “failure”.   And the constant pressure of the threats doesn’t change.

The “threat environment” is always bad.  When I was working the Carter/Mondale Campaign back in the 1970’s, the memory of the Kennedy and King Assassinations was fresh. Those were by a single gunman, the “lone wolf”.  The Service advanced teams would come into town and create a list of everyone that authored crank letters, made crazy phone calls, or somehow seemed to be a danger.  The local police contacted all of those folks, most of them just crackpots, and made sure they were “controlled” while the protectee was in town.   

All Hands

And when the President was in town, it was an “all hands on deck” moment for all Federal agents.  Not only the Secret Service, but  FBI, US Marshals, DEA, ATF and all other Federal alphabetical enforcement personnel were dragooned into service, along with all the state and local authorities.  And it wasn’t just the black-suited “bodyguards”. 

 When candidate Jimmy Carter was in town, I was a junior staffer trying to clear a path through the crowd.  As I backed up, my elbow bumped into an unshaven guy in an old army jacket behind me. It hit something hard, on the side of his chest – a shoulder holster with gun.  As I turned around to see, we locked eyes.  All I knew what that I was between a gun and the path of the candidate.  The guy slowly raised the lapel on his threadbare coat.  The Secret Service “badge of the day” was underneath – he was one of them – Whew!!!

Coordination

When a candidate comes into town, there’s a whole series of groups that need “coordination”.   There’s the campaign:  first the national advance team, then the actual “main” team travelling with the candidate.  Then there’s the state and local campaign folks, working with the national team, figuring out where and how the event can play out.  Then there’s the myriad of law enforcement agencies.  All of those have to be coordinated – no surprises from any level when the candidate is actually there.  Everyone with close contact has to be vetted, every transportation move thought out, motorcade routes (and alternatives) mapped, and all the “what-if” scenarios thought through.  

Local hospitals are put on alert, trauma surgeons called in for duty, emergency department rooms isolated and prepped.  All for maybe an hour on the ground, and at the height of a Presidential campaign, four, five or even six locations per day.  That’s two Presidential candidates, two Vice Presidential candidates (just announced; Ohio’s Senator JD Vance the Republican running-mate), their wives and even adult kids.  All happening at the same time, all over the country, event after event, every day now from August to November.  And for the Secret Service, the end of one event is just the moment when it’s time to get in the car, or on a plane, to the next stop.

1968 -1976

Threats are magnified by the polarization of our Nation.  There is MAGA, and there are the Never-Trumpers, and there the Democrats.  There are few left in the middle, few who can “see both sides”.  Both MAGA and Democrats are claiming the “end of democracy as we know it” if the “other side” wins.  Cries for unity, by either Biden or Trump, are pretty hollow.  Unity means agree with us, or YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.  

America has been here before.  1968 was a year of riots: race riots as the promise of Civil Rights remained unfulfilled, and student riots against the Vietnam War.  Even the Democratic Party was riven:  the Democratic President, Johnson, was prosecuting the War to its fullest (and the Pentagon was lying to the public about winning).  And Democratic candidates running against him wanted the United States out of the war, now.  The Republican candidates were just as dedicated to the War as Johnson was.

It was also a year of political assassination – Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy.   And while there were the same calls for American unity, they also had the same “price tag”:  unity and agreement weren’t the same then, or now.  

And in my year in Presidential politics, we were all very aware of the dangers, not just of division, but of attack.  It never got so ugly with Carter and Ford that polarization was the issue.  Even at the campaign level, we still communicated with the Ford Campaign to “smooth out” issues.  We didn’t always agree, nor were we always happy; but we always felt like we could “call again”.  

The Service

It’s going to take a while, but in the final analysis, the Secret Service will admit that they screwed up in Butler, Pennsylvania.  Whether the Service had “responsibility” for the buildings outside of the “security perimeter”, or whether state or local police were delegated the role; in the end, it was the Secret Service’s fault.  After all, “they had one job”.  They failed to prevent the attack; they’d didn’t keep the shooter off of the building, nor did they “neutralize” him when he was in their sights, before he took his shot.  As John Wayne would say; “My fault, your fault, nobody’s fault…” it was their job. 

And for those of you who think Trump’s death would end MAGA’ism, I believe you’re sorely mistaken.  Trump’s death would make him a martyr to his cause, one that would be a rallying point for decades to come.  Smarter, more devious individuals would take up the “fallen” MAGA Flag, and use it to drive their divisive plan through.  Trump doesn’t need to die, he needs to be defeated, again, once and for all.  Then the United States can move past him, just as we did McCarthyism and Secession.  

 This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory…  – Franklin D Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address

Paralysis

The Democratic Party (my Democratic Party) is paralyzed.  We are paralyzed by fear, “…nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror…”  The public emotion that FDR faced in 1933, and what we Democrats face today, isn’t all that different.  Roosevelt looked out at a Nation shaken by economic collapse, wondering whether the American experiment in democracy would survive or live up to its promise.  Today, Democrats look at the possibility of Donald Trump winning back the Presidency, now made even more possible by the assassination attempt. With him comes the atrocity of Project 2025 and the likely end of American democracy. Democrats are responding with that same kind of fear.   We want and need, to be sure that our candidate for President can win.  

Joe Biden stumbled in the worst possible way in the Presidential Debate, now three weeks ago.  His “one job” was to show America that his eighty-one years of age does not impact his ability to govern and campaign.  He failed miserably.  In the debate, he seemed confused, unresponsive, and most importantly of all, unable to prosecute the case against Donald Trump.  As Biden himself would say, “It was a big F-ing deal”.  He blew it.  It shook Democrats to the core.  We felt that deep, ugly, empty feeling that we woke up with on the morning after the 2016 election.  It led to this terror, the terror of the possibility of Trump winning.  And, reasonably, many asked what alternatives there might be to Joe Biden.   

Baked-in

President Biden spent the last three weeks trying to convince us (Democrats) that the Debate was an aberration, not a new reality.  Those efforts, more than twenty campaign speeches, one-on-one interviews, a full NATO summit, the NATO press conference, and the post assassination attempt calls and speeches; lead to the following conclusions.  

First, Biden is an older version of himself.  He stutters, he over-thinks answers to questions, he gets names wrong (Putin for Zelenskyy, Trump for Harris).  It’s what he’s been doing for his entire very long political career.  Joe Biden was never an orator like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton.  Look up the word “gaffe” in the dictionary, and there’s Joe Biden’s picture.

But those issues were “baked-in” to Joe Biden.  It’s not fair to complain that he’s doing what he always did – those flaws were already “litigated” back in 2008, 2012, and 2020.   

Answers

Second, the questions that was answered this week are; can Joe Biden still “think”; can he prosecute the case against Trump, and can he still lead our Nation.

In his press conference after the NATO meetings, Biden showed a complex and thoughtful thought process.  He gave us a vision of the world, balanced between Russian expansionism, NATO unity, Chinese economic needs, and America’s strength.  His answers were insightful and complicated, and his explanations were cogent.  

In the post -Trump assassination attempt speeches and statements, Biden showed his continuing leadership. He put aside his vast differences with Trump to show not only concern, but to lead a Federal process to improve protection for his opponent and himself.

The President can still “think”; he still has a broad and deep grasp of the problems of the world.  And in his campaign appearances with the AFL-CIO and in Michigan and last night’s interview with Lester Holt, Biden began to articulate the case against Donald Trump.  It isn’t as forceful as many Democrats would like, but he is laying out his reasons, and raising the stakes.

Bring Back Obama

After three weeks, we know that Biden can still do it.  So why are some Democrats still calling for Biden to “take his laurels and leave”?

It goes back to the “nameless terror” we felt both that Wednesday morning in November 2016 and Thursday night just three weeks ago.  It comes from staring into the abyss of another Trump Administration, this one without “guardrails”,  better organized and programmed to alter America beyond recognition.  When Biden released that terror on debate night, it sent Democrats on a fruitless search for a new candidate, any candidate, to lead us away from our nightmare.

We search for a brilliant, articulate, “super star”, to make this election unquestionable.  We long for a candidate who is a “sure thing”.  To put it bluntly, we don’t want Biden, or Hillary; we want Barack Obama back.  And that’s not going to happen.

Frankly, Biden might well be a “better President” than Obama.  When you look at legislative success and improvements made, Biden is a better “legislator” than Obama ever was.  Of course he is:  Biden spent thirty years in the United State Senate.  He was a career legislator.  He intimately knows the process of getting things done in Congress.  Biden is like Taft was to Teddy Roosevelt, or Johnson (the Great Society and Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts) to John F Kennedy.  Obama is the orator, the leader, the ground breaker.  Biden is the grinder, the man who gets things done.  It’s no wonder folks love what Biden did, but don’t credit Biden for doing it.  He doesn’t have  the star power of a Roosevelt, Kennedy, or of Barack and Michelle.

Divide and Lose

Democrats are looking for a “star”.  It’s not Biden, or Vice President Harris.  And while there’s a huge “bench” of possible candidates, raring to go in 2028; it’s really not their time.  Here’s why.

If Biden were to “retire” from the race, almost 4000 delegates to the Democratic Convention, delegates pledged specifically to Biden, would be “free”.  The maelstrom of a truly open convention, where  delegates would be required to choose a “runner-up” candidate, is likely to leave the Party divided and broken.  The list of possible candidates is long:  Harris, Newsom, Whitmer, Moore, Buttigieg, (among others). That process looks like the quickest way to get Trump elected in 2024.

If Biden were to “command” his delegates to vote for Vice President Harris, most would obey.  Harris could also tap into the over $200 million in Biden/Harris campaign funds, something that other candidates could not.  And Harris is the obvious heir-apparent, Biden’s specific choice to follow his Presidency.  The “maelstrom” would be avoided, and the Party united. But while I like the Vice President, she isn’t the “star” Democrats seek.  And with her Presidential candidacy comes the unspoken worry:  is America ready to elect a Black woman as President?  Are Democrats willing to take that chance, here, now, in the face of Trump?

On Us

And so, my fellow Democrats, let me mis-quote another of our favorite Presidents:  “…ask not what the Presidential candidate can do for you, but what you can do for the Presidential candidate”.  Stop looking for a “knight in armor” to come and rescue us from Trump.  The safest, sanest thing to do is to nominate Joseph R Biden, gaffes and all.  Nominate Biden knowing that he’s an effective President but not a “star”.  Nominate Biden, then get to work as FDR said, “…(W)ith that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory…”

It’s not just on Joe Biden.  It’s on each of us.

Assassin

The goal of an assassin is to change history in one fraction of a second.  In less time than it takes to hear the crack of the bullet, the path forward is unalterably changed.  My generation is well aware of that deadly impact.  In just two months, we lost Martin Luther King Jr, the leader of the Civil Rights movement, and Bobby Kennedy, a Senator running for President.  Our world might have been a very different place if either Ray or Sirhan missed their shot.

Last night a twenty year-old white man from suburban Pittsburgh tried to kill Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.  There are so many questions:  what were his motives, why wasn’t the site line to Trump’s podium covered, what kind of weapon did he use and how did he get it?  What we do know is that Donald Trump “got lucky”; a fatal head shot missed by mere millimeters.  Trump ended up with a bloody ear.  Some spectators were not so lucky. One died, two others were critically injured.

Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, missed his target.  But his actions have dramatically changed the nature of our path.  Crooks, in his failed attempt, gave Donald Trump a “bloody shirt”.  

After the Civil War, politicians running for office would call on “revenge on the South for the deaths of the Union soldiers”.  That campaign rhetoric was called “waving the bloody shirt”;  sort of “elect me and I will get revenge”.  And, of course, many of the candidates had their own “bloody shirt”; wounds left still evident from the War.

Bloody Shirt

It has a literal meaning as well.  Teddy Roosevelt was President of the United States from 1901 to 1908.  He chose not to run for a second term in office.  William Howard Taft, Roosevelt’s friend, became President when Roosevelt left office.  But after four years, Teddy was not satisfied with Taft’s performance, and ran against him for the Republican nomination.  When he failed to get that, he ran under a third Party banner, the “Bull Moose Party”.

Roosevelt was to give a campaign speech in Milwaukee.  As he got in his car to go to the auditorium, a shot rang out.  Roosevelt’s secretary grabbed the gunman, preventing a second shot.  But the first made it home, and Roosevelt found a small bullet hole in his chest.  But his lungs remained clear, and he determined to continue his speech.

His first words to the audience were shocking:  “Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot.”  He then pulled out the folded fifty-page draft of his speech, covered with blood with two bullet holes in it, and showed them his blood soaked shirt.  The double-thickness of the document and his thick spectacles saved him worse injury.  He then went onto to give a speech (albeit shorter than intended).  It included the phrase,  “…it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose”.

Roosevelt went to the hospital for treatment after the speech, and fully recovered from the wound.  His second run for President was unsuccessful, though his candidacy did split the Republican vote and elected Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

God Alone  

Today is not the day to compare Donald Trump to Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, or Teddy Roosevelt.  But social media is already filled with pictures of the bloodied former President, raising his fist to the crowd and urging them to “fight”.   And his social media post this morning emphasizes his avowed “place” in history:

 “…(I)t was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness”.

Trump has his bloody shirt.  The campaign of 2024 has shifted again.  We don’t know what path this assassin has placed our nation on.

Leaks

First things first:  the Trump campaign; the one defeated in the “Most Important Election in a Century” in 2020; publicly says they want to run against Joe Biden again.  Think about that.  The Trump campaign let that “secret” out to Tim Alberta, reporter for The Atlantic.  Other reporters were amazed that the Trump campaign managers would “leak” such information.  Unlike the “old days” of 2016 and 2020, when the campaign was a clown show, Trump 2024 campaign staff is smart, professional, and ruthless.  

So why would they “leak” this to the press?  Why would they tell the world, “We want to run against Biden”?   Why would they lend their voice to the political melee surrounding the Biden candidacy?  Maybe they were just being honest.  Or, perhaps they wanted to set up a “fallback position”, an excuse if they would happen to lose to a different Democratic candidate.  But neither of those positions fit the Machiavellian reputation of the new leaders of Trump world, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles. 

They told Alberta that their entire campaign was premised on making Biden appear feeble, demented, and unable to govern.  The Trump campaign has already spent millions of dollars to emphasize the current President’s flaws to the American people, on television, and perhaps more importantly, through social media.  They’ve targeted this dark information to the critical swing states:  Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada.  In a year were fully 90% of the vote, perhaps even more, is already “baked in” for one candidate or the other, it is in those few states that the electoral vote will make all the difference.  Just like it did in 2020.

The Strategy

This election is about two things.  The first is the battle for the few undecided voters left.  And the Trump strategy for those voters makes sense.  Persuade those few that the current President is unable to lead, versus their strong, domineering leader.  Even if they don’t switch from Biden to Trump, maybe they chose a third-party candidate, or simply chose to not vote at all.

And the second is the battle of turnout.   Trump voters are committed, they will turn out.  But if Biden voters feel they don’t have a chance, or that Biden himself is a shell of the man they chose in 2020, the theory is that they won’t go to the polls. Add to that the Republican National Committee strategy of spending millions of dollars to make voting more difficult and dissuade Democrats from casting a ballot, and Trump wins the turnout campaign.

That way, Trump wins the undecided, and he wins on turnout.  What was a narrow Biden victory in 2020 becomes a Trump “landslide” win in 2024 (though the definition of “landslide” in our current politics is a win of two percent).

Alberta tells a story of a Trump Campaign that acts like the Covid vaccine.  Sure, it’s effective against one strain of the virus, but if a different iteration of the disease appears, the vaccine is useless.  LaCivita and Wiles’ strategy against Biden falls short against another candidate, say Kamala Harris.  But if that’s really true, why would the Trump campaign weigh-in about Biden’s fitness to continue?  After all, their “thumb on the scale” has an obvious impact on the Democrats who are actually making the decision. It might not be the effect that the Trump campaign is hoping for.

Kryptonite

Let’s take the Trump managers’ reputation at face value.  If they are so Machiavellian, then why would they lay out their strategy so clearly?  Democrats are determining whether to “switch horses in mid-stream”, and the Trump folks are literally saying, we want Biden.  Doesn’t that just become another “nail in the coffin” in the Biden candidacy?  Wouldn’t that make Democrats more likely to say, let’s find another candidate, one that the Trump campaign isn’t prepared for?

Or is that exactly what the Trump team wants.  Biden was Trump’s “kryptonite” in 2020,  perhaps he is again.  The exact nature of Biden’s “super-power” is clear:  he appeals to all of the regular Democratic base (minorities and women) but also is able to cross-over to some of the white men that used to be part of the old Democratic  fabric.  They are the so-called “Reagan Democrats”; lost to the Democratic Party for a whole generation.  Joe Biden is an “old white guy” and a staunch Union supporter.  He runs better with older white men than any other Democratic candidate in a generation. And where does that marginal difference in white men have the most impact?  The old “labor” states of the Midwest: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.   

So, is the Trump Campaign really convinced they can withstand Biden “kryptonite” this time?  Or is the Alberta “leak” a whole subversive strategy, first to lend more chaos to the “Chaos Party” of 2024, the Democrats, and second, to find a candidate that Trump matches up better against.  Are the Trump managers trying to get rid of Biden by saying he’s the one they’d rather run against? 

Nailed It

The Democrats have a lot to think about in the next few days.  The President, minus one name flub, gave an hour-long masters level course on foreign policy last night at his post-NATO summit press conference.  He did just what you’d want an “agile” politician to do – he answered the questions he wanted to, and dodged the ones he didn’t want to answer.  And he got in his political barbs:  Trump cheating at golf instead of working, and the “2025 Project” horror show.   He nailed the base Democratic point:  Trump will take your freedom away.

Biden made it clear he was staying in the race; literally daring anyone who wanted him out to a floor fight at the Democratic convention.  It’s a fight Biden will win, but a fight the entire Party might lose in November.  Any way you think about that 1968-like disaster, it’s playing into the Trump Campaign’s hands.  Democrats must avoid that catastrophe. So the decision is Biden versus the doubters, and it’s now.  

And Joe Biden has already decided.

Fifth Grade Teacher

So let’s say a public school district is looking to hire a fifth grade teacher.  Sure, they want the best teacher than can get.  And since teaching jobs, despite the relatively low pay and benefits, are still at a premium, there are dozens of applications, dozens of resumes to read.  The personnel department starts the “process” by reading, and setting up two piles.  Pile one:  those rejected out of hand, just on the “qualifications” or lack thereof.  Pile two:  those that make the cut, and might be called in for interviews.

Who doesn’t make the cut?  Let’s start with the basics:  do they have a criminal record (deal-breaker), do they have a history of multiple bankruptcies (not always a deal-breaker), do they have any hint of sexual misconduct with minors (always a deal-breaker).  

And then there’s the “search”, a Google and social media search of the candidates.  What comes up?  Is the candidate an extremist, or publicly uses profane or lewd language?  Would the school district be embarrassed by anything that comes up in the search?  If so, no reason to continue; another addition to pile one.  

Public Persona

Some might ask, why look at the “public persona” of a teacher candidate?  Privacy rights advocates might say it’s “NOYB” (none of your business).  As long as the candidate can do the job, in the classroom, then what happens outside the workplace isn’t a concern.

But the candidate is being hired as a “public” official, in a true sense.  They are going to be entrusted with as many as thirty kids, for seven hours, day in and day out.  Those kids (and their parents) can run the same Google searches.  What happens when they find out that the teacher is also a stripper (that happened), or arrested for drug dealing (that happened too), or has pictures of drunk and disorderly behavior (yep – that one too).  Are those parents willing to entrust their child to that person?  Would you entrust yours?

Imperfect Vessel

Thans goodness Donald Trump isn’t a stripper (there’s a vision you’ll never get out of your head – Hah!!) .  And he doesn’t deal drugs, and supposedly, doesn’t drink.  But he should never had made it to pile two in any public service job, much less on the ballot for President.

Donald Trump is a convicted felon, a documented liar, a businessman who went bankrupt six times, a man who committed sexual battery and consorted with a known child molester.  There are pages of reasons, not even political, why Donald Trump should not be hired as a fifth grade teacher, much less as President of the United States.  And yet, he’s still on the ballot.

I know, I know.  There are a huge number of Americans, over 40%, who give Trump a “pass”.  They see him as the “imperfect vessel”, the damaged goods that still represents their views of how America should be governed.  They have “forgiven him his trespasses”.  As the Trump folks said: all of the “trespasses”, from Stormy Daniels and Access Hollywood, to business bankruptcies and fraudulent college classes; were “absolved” by the 2016 election.  By winning the Presidency, Trump got a “clean slate” according to them.  

Too Busy

2020 was a referendum on Trump’s term in the White House:  he failed.  And since then:  the litany of Trump’s failures, indictments, convictions and “improper behaviors” is even longer than it was before 2016.   The “imperfect vessel” is now leaking like a sieve.  And the question remains, where is the outcry to “get him off the ballot”?

Wait a minute; there’s the media:  The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, all the mainstream news organizations.   Are they leading the way in calling out the complete fallacy in letting this man run for President?  No, they are too busy deciding that the other candidate, one of the most successful Presidents in modern history, is too old for the job.  (This just in, the New York Times editorial board must have read my mind, they are calling out Trump – about time!!).  

Geese

My London-born Mom used to use an old English expression:  “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.  Here in America we say it a little different, “What’s fair is fair”.  I watched the Trump-Biden debate a couple of weeks ago.  I think there is plenty of room for question about President Biden’s fitness.  But for sure, Trump’s performance also raised a lot of questions.  

And with his record, there needs to be another old American concept – equal time.  With all of the scrutiny of Biden, where’s all the outrage about Trump?  Just because he’s been “absolved” by his MAGA following, it doesn’t mean that his record, and his actions, are now just “forgiven trespasses”.  

So worry about Biden, talk about Biden, even do those ugly things some of my Democratic compatriots are doing:  hand wringing, bed wetting, pearl clutching (I hate all of those terms).

But sure as Hell, don’t let Trump off the hook.  He couldn’t get a job as a teacher, or, even nearer to my heart, a dog catcher.  That headline on the Front Page needs to be just as big as Biden’s.

Non-Objective 

Data drives our society. We are computer driven, and it’s impossible to “crunch” non-objective sources.  If  something can’t be boiled down to numbers, then it can’t be understood.  So everything:  children’s learning, Presidential candidates, calling plays in the National Football League; are forced through the “black-box” of data collection.

We saw it happen in public schools in the late 1980’s with the beginning of statewide public school testing.  I remember committees of teachers taking days out of the classroom, away from their kids, and working on curriculum to “pass” the tests.  Those scores became the primary source of data on educational progress; honestly, more important than student grades.  Get a ‘C’ or ‘D’ in a class, the kid still passed.  Fail the “Student Achievement Test”, and regardless of grades, the kid might be held back, or at the high school level, not even graduate.

And since there was all that “objective data”, the Achievement test results soon infiltrated into teacher evaluations.  If kids did well on the tests, then the subject teachers were obviously “good teachers”.  And if they did badly, regardless, then the teacher’s “need improvement”.   Teachers wanted to keep their jobs, so not surprisingly, they taught kids to do well on the tests.  It was in their best interest, and the kids.  But was it the “best” way for students to learn; did it prepare them for their future in life work or higher education?  It really didn’t matter; the “data” was there, regardless of whether that data was a valid measurement of education or not.  And that “data” drove everything else.   

Garbage In

It’s still the way public schools work. (Here is Ohio’s “interactive page” with my school district’s “report card”).  In most schools, high stakes testing still drives education, even though the ability to pass a test doesn’t necessarily apply to success in future employment.  There are a few courageous school districts that “opted out” of the tests, but they took their chances on losing state funding. Because the test results can go on a “spreadsheet”, because it’s easy to see, the “data” becomes the most important “evidence”.  What really “good” teachers do, is get the kids through the tests, AND teach them what they need to know for the future.  But it’s a lot, and forces them to teach in ways that aren’t necessarily in the kids “real” best interest.  

Sabotage

We crave for a way to make decisions based on “data”, rather than experience, or non-objective factors. Football coaches use “data analytics” to decide whether to run or pass, go-for-it on fourth down or punt.  Someone, even during the game, is “crunching numbers” in the stadium.  

I’m not a “Luddite”. (Named for the bands of workers who broke the machinery that was taking their jobs in the early 1800s.  Some workers in France threw their wooden shoes into the machines.  The shoes were called “sabots”.  Thus came the modern word, “sabotage”.)   

And I’m sure that NFL coaches use any way they can to get one-up on their competitors.  But it’s important that the “data” that goes into the crunching is valid.  Back in 1974,  I was taking computer programming, tapping out programs on green screens in “Basic”.  We had an expression:  GIGO.  It meant that if your program was garbage, all you would get was garbage results – Garbage In, Garbage Out.  So if the data isn’t valid, or really doesn’t measure what it’s supposed to measure, then it’s GIGO.

Garbage Out

So let’s look at a modern “polling” question, asked quite frequently to provide the “data” to drive who should be the Presidential candidate:

“On a scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree, respond to the following question – Joe Biden is just too old to be an effective President.” (NYT).

Joe Biden is eighty-one years old.  He has all sorts of physical problems that old men have, including spinal arthritis, acid reflux, A-Fib, peripheral neuropathy, and seasonal allergies (WH).   He looks, walks, and talks like an old man.  Certainly all of those issues impact his ability to be President. But does that mean he is or isn’t “effective”?  That’s a totally different question.

If I were taking that survey, I would “mildly agree” with the question.  But the answer to that question doesn’t “drive” my answer to the decision all Americans have to make:  Trump v Biden.  Yes, Joe’s old, and he’s for sure going to get older.   But it’s Biden versus Trump, and I’ll take Biden every time, even if he’s “too old”.   There’s no other practical choice to stop Donald Trump; only a couple of years younger, and already exhibiting his own symptoms of old age.  

Who’s Talking

And there’s a lot of other questions about the “polling” that’s driving the argument to “drop Biden from the ticket”.  As Biden himself reiterates, the polling has been wrong, over and over again.  In the past the polls under-estimated Trump support.  But they also under-estimated strength of pro-choice voters. And since polling is not just counting numbers, but  “crunching”  them through a model of what the pollster “thinks” the electorate looks like, it’s easy to miss “closet” Biden or Trump voters.  

In today’s highly polarized society, where even a casual overheard conversation or a bumper sticker can result in confrontation, how many people are willing to “tell where they stand” to the pollsters coming up on their cell-phones?   How many are keeping their views on the “down-low”, ignoring the repeated text, email or phone messages to “participate in a poll”.  

Sure polling data is “all we’ve got”.  But garbage-in, garbage-out is still true.  Just because we have “data”, doesn’t mean it’s accurate or meaningful, and doesn’t mean we should make decisions based on it.  

This decision is too important. It has to be right.  

Bad Old Days

There is an old saying from the “bad old days” of the Southern Democratic Party.  It went: “I’d vote for an ‘old yeller dog’, as long as there’s a D (Democrat) beside it’s name.”  And, to be honest, I am pretty much of a “Old Yeller Dog Democrat” myself.  I can count on one hand the number of Republicans I voted for in the almost fifty years that I’ve cast ballots.  In fact, I can count on one hand, with three fingers and a thumb to spare.

Why is that?  Why don’t I “vote for the person” (vote for the “man” in the old days) not just the Party?  Because, despite George Washington’s dislike of partisan politics, our Federal and State governments are organized by political party, not individuals.  To get anything done in our current structure it requires a majority:  of the State House of Representatives, or the State Senate, or the House and the Senate in the Congress and now, sadly, even the Supreme Court.   And that majority consists of folks with like-minded ideas organized by political party.

Party not Person

So voting for the “person” doesn’t mean much, if that “person” can’t get anything done.  Or worse, if the person, as wonderful as they may be, still votes to put a political party in power who doesn’t represent your ideas.  Need an example?  

There’s Larry Hogan, running for the US Senate in Maryland.  Maryland is a moderate/Democratic state, and when Hogan was the Republican Governor, he was a moderate, down the middle, kind of leader.  But if he were elected (not likely; the latest polling; down by eight), he would still organize and vote Republican.  He would support the MAGA Agenda in the US Senate, even if that’s not really what he, as a “person” agrees with.  So a vote for him is a vote for that agenda.  

National Agenda

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the personalities of the 2024 Presidential election.  Right now, one side is running a twice-impeached, indicted in two state and two federal courts, convicted of 34 state felonies, seventy-eight year old, former President.  Oh, and when he goes “off script” in rallies, he talks about shark attacks and electric boats, and sometimes can’t remember where his sentence is going.  And when he stays on script, his plans are authoritarian and he wants to be a “dictator for a day”.  And he lies, a lot, factual lies that he pushes out so fast, it’s near impossible to fact-check. 

The other side is running an eighty-one year old current President, finishing one of the most successful (legislative) terms in office since Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.  His problem:  age is catching up.  He walks old, he talks old, his voice is old; and when he gets tired, he acts old too.  When he’s “off script”, he sometimes gets lost (though he doesn’t seem to worry about the shark v electric boat crisis).

It would be easy to say, “a pox on both your houses” (one of Mom’s expressions) and either make a symbolic stand and vote for an “alternative” candidate (Kennedy, Stein, Oliver, West), or simply skip the Presidential vote all together.  But not choosing between Trump and Biden is more than just demanding “better choices”.  It’s not taking a stand; a stand for one political party or the other.  By “dodging” the binary choice, you are simply saying that you’re OK with either party’s agenda being in control. 

It’s About Issues 

As an “Old Yeller Dog” Democrat, I’m not OK with that.  The MAGA agenda, that has co-opted the Republican Party of my father, is not “OK”.   It’s against almost everything I’ve stood for in my sixty-four years of political life (yep, I started young).  They’re pro-rich, against the poor.  They’re racist, trying to maintain white control even as our nation becomes a majority-minority population.  The MAGA agenda doesn’t care about the environment, or the cost of health care, or the rights of those who are “different” than them. 

That’s not the scariest part.  The MAGA agenda would allow Vladimir Putin to conquer Ukraine, and set up a world confrontation of Russian expansionism.  It would allow Israel to suppress all of the Palestinian people, a tactic that will ultimately result in greater bloodshed for both.  And it would ultimately destroy the “Pax Americana” that has kept the world from global conflict for almost eighty years.

And, with the ready assistance of the United States Supreme Court, the MAGA agenda would  weaponize the Justice system against anyone who stands in their way.  You think that Biden’s Department of Justice “went after” Trump?  Wait until you see what Attorney General Jim Jordan (or the like) does against any political opposition to the MAGA views.  As Trump said, “…and when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”  That attitude will be writ large, in a second Trump Administration with practical immunity for every action.

Empty Vessel

And finally, the “smart folks” behind MAGA’ism are making sure they’ll never be defeated again.  You don’t have to read the entire 922 page Project 2025 plan, the executive summary will do.  It’s a plan to co-opt the United States government, to do to the civil service what Trump has done with the Supreme Court:  implant MAGA loyalists at every level.  It’s not about expertise, it’s about ideological loyalty to the “cause”.  And that’s the scariest thing of all.

To be frank, Donald Trump is the “empty vessel”, filled with right-wing idealism that pledge allegiance to his candidacy.  Joe Biden is not an “empty vessel”, he is what he always has been, a moderate/Democrat.  If he were to step away from the Presidential election,  Vice President Harris or others would stand in basically the same place.

But it’s not about the personality or even individual political views.  It’s about the choice between democracy and authoritarianism; about the reality of a Nation where one person is now, in fact, above the law.  As Superman would say, it really is about; “Truth, Justice, and the American way”.    What will we look like in 2032.

Don’t like Biden? Think he’s too old?   Pretend he’s an “Old Yeller Dog” —  and vote.

This is a Sunday Story – no politics today. Just a story about Jeeps!!!!

Watkins Cross Country Team Shirt – 1998

New Jeep

I bought my first Jeep Wrangler (TJ) in 1993.  It was white, with a black soft top and what Jeep calls “half doors”.  That meant that the bottom halves of the two doors were metal, white, actual doors, while the top halves were black canvas on a springy metal frame.  The canvas tops had clear plastic windows set into them.  So you could unzip the window, pull it inside the door in the Jeep, and have an open window; fall, winter and spring.  And the summer, you took the top halves off and set them in the back of the Jeep.  The half doors came off too (as long as you didn’t want side mirrors).  As my Marine friend said, you could hang your leg out like it was an old Vietnam era Jeep.

Now I paid bottom dollar for my brand new TJ.  It cost extra for the rearview mirror and the back “tumble” seat.  There wasn’t a radio, but that was OK.  I put my own sound system in all of my cars anyway.   And what I didn’t realize when I bought it, was that Jeeps came with drain plugs in the floor.  Top off, doors off, windows off; if you got caught in the rain (or tried to drive across a shallow lake – yep!!) then all you had to do was pry the drain plugs out and tilt the car downhill.  The water ran right out.

The Cult

That Jeep was the “bomb”.  Even in the winter, the heater made up for the drafty windows and the four-wheel-drive kept going in the snow.  The only time I really got cold, was when it was twenty below zero with thirty mile an hour wind.  My friend Mickey and I decided to go to a movie since it was a “snow day” from school ( a “freeze day” really).  I will admit, driving around I-270 in the Jeep was a near-outdoor challenge.  

What I didn’t realize in ’93 was that buying a Jeep put you into a cult, sort of like when we bought the camper twenty-five years later.  Jeep folks (that’s Wrangler-type Jeep folks, not those Comanche, Wagoneer or Liberty drivers) recognize each other, especially back in the 1990’s when there weren’t so many of us.  It was an insider code:  see a Jeep coming, give the “peace sign” above the steering wheel.  Kind of like the Harley motorcycle guys and their clenched fist, but more subtle.  

You could tell who had been in the club the longest.  Those CJ people (Jeeps of the 1980’s) called the windows “side curtains”, and didn’t mind that their Jeeps only had three speeds.  And they might never put a full top on their Jeeps, just a “bikini” top to keep the rain off of the inside of the windshield.   Jeeps were more like four-wheel motorcycles then, good for three-season driving. 

Four Wheeling

Getting caught in a rain storm without a top was one of the “funnest” things to happen in a Jeep, as long as it wasn’t too cold.  You drove fast, that way the rain swept over the windshield and not down on you.  It was only when you stopped that the “drenching” would begin.   Of course, there are no “inside” windshield wipers.  You had to have a towel ready to clear your view.

 And the first time I hit a giant puddle at fifty miles an hour (on Palmer Road) without the top – I was more than surprised.  Oh, the Jeep handled it fine, but the water went over the front, over the windshield, and right on top on me, just like those wet roller coaster rides at the amusement park.

I did off-road the Jeep, but I wasn’t into the crazy “rock climbing” kind of stuff.  After-all, the Jeep was my day-to-day vehicle.  I couldn’t risk flipping it over, or breaking an axle.  So while I might fly through dirt paths (or no paths) I liked the Jeep because it made driving fun. There was really no where I couldn’t go, no field I couldn’t cross.  And when it actually got “almost” stuck, there was always Four-Wheel Low.  First gear might go three miles an hour, but you could “creep” out of almost any mess.

That is, except for the time I decided to do “donuts” in the school parking lot after a big snowfall.  I was spinning around, having a ball, when the whole Jeep slid on top of the four-foot snow drift.  All four wheels were spinning, four wheel drive or not.  As I was sitting there, contemplating what to do next, a kid from across the street came over with his Massey Ferguson farm tractor: “Mr. Dahlman, you stuck?”  It only took a few minutes to hook up the chains and drag me out, but he got the “honor” of telling the story the first day we were back in school.

Jeep-ese

Speaking of kids, several learned the arcane art of driving a stick-shift, out in the school fields and woods in my Jeep.  One took it to Prom, roof on, of course (wouldn’t want to ruin her prom dress!).  And the Jeep even carried fifteen foot pole vault poles, slung on top of the roll bars.  It looked like some weird missile launching system – but it got us to Cleveland and back for the track meet.

I learned all sorts of new terms with the Jeep.  “Seat belt tan”, was when you drove around too long with the Jeep’s and your top off.  “Bug Destroyer” was the vertical windshield on a Jeep – it killed everything in its path, and often had to be ice scraper’ed off even in the summer – cleanser just wouldn’t get it.  “Cell phone privacy”:  it was near impossible to have a phone conversation with the top off at seventy miles an hour.  “I’m in the Jeep, I’ll call you back later”, was all you could say with a hurricane in the background.

And finally “just a car”, when it came to driving on ice.  Four-wheels spinning on ice weren’t a whole lot better than two.  Ice required an attitude adjustment.  You couldn’t drive like a “Jeep” anymore.

Old Jeep Disease

I drove that Jeep until it got “old Jeep disease”.  Rust ate through the body.  By 2008 I was near “Fred Flinstoneing” it, with holes in the floor and the door panels.  So I began a search for my next vehicle, which turned out to be – a white Jeep with a black top, two-door; this time a 2004, designated by Jeep as a “YJ”.  I sold my old Jeep to one of my best 400 meter runners, who ultimately sold it to the father of another runner, who took two years to completely rebuild it.  I still occasionally see the old TJ on the road, looking proud, better than it did when it came off the lot back in 1993. 

I’m still driving the “YJ”.  It’s summer, the top’s been off for a few days, and the “summer, all canvas” doors are leaning against the fence.  I only need doors if I’m going on the highway, where side mirrors are particularly useful.  Now that its twenty years old, it too is getting “old Jeep disease” and the heater isn’t great.  

But the floors are still intact, and it still drives like a Jeep.  And there’s a new “Jeep thing”; the little rubber ducks on the dash.  The original idea was that Jeep “people” would see another Jeep they liked, and pass on a duck to it.  Some people get completely carried away, with dozens of ducks all over the place.  I’m not that far gone.  But I do have a duck “family”; Mom, Dad, older son and two duckings, “floating” on the dash panel below the rear view mirror.  They all “magically appeared” in parking lots across Ohio.  Some “Jeepers” respect an old YJ, still going strong.   

And I keep my ducks “in a row”.  After all, it’s a Jeep!!

The Sunday Story Series

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

Designated Survivor

Jenn and I have been “bingeing” the TV series Designated Survivor.  The show first aired from 2016-2019, and is kind of a cross between two other shows of the early 2000’s. The West Wing was the political White House drama starring Martin Sheen as the President. The show aired for seven years (and helped me survive the George W Bush administration).  Twenty-Four ran for nine years around the same time. It was an action drama where Kiefer Sutherland was an intelligence agent who broke every rule to save the Nation.  A season spanned twenty-four hours, thus the name.  I was (and still am) a West Wing guy, not a Twenty-Four guy, more interested in Aaron Sorkin’s incredible dialogues, than the Fox explosions.

In Designated Survivor, Kiefer Sutherland returns as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development left out of the State of the Union address, when the Capitol is destroyed, along with the American government.  By default he is the President, and faces all the challenges of rebuilding the federal system, finding the terrorists who destroyed the Capitol, and other crises.  In this drama, FBI investigators work directly for the President, thus “marrying” West Wing drama with Twenty Four action.

West Wing Moment

West Wing quotes are still rife in our political life today.  Forty through sixty year-old politicians and news commentators grew up watching the West Wing, Democrat and Republican alike.   In fact, one of the ways news commentators describe the current Biden dilemma, is that it isn’t likely to create, “… a West Wing moment, when the Democrats come together to pick a new candidate…”.  

But I heard an even more apt quote that applies to Biden on Designated Survivor last night.  The political operative on the show, said that, “A crisis either lasts one news cycle or ten.  If at lasts one cycle, we can move on.  If it lasts ten, it will define your Presidency”.  

Defining Biden

I hoped that the Biden campaign would work past the incredibly bad debate performance of just last week (believe that, it was only a week ago!).  There was a clear strategy:  get the President out; to rallies, interviews, unscripted settings. Prove that he’s not the “lost old man” that we saw on the Atlanta debate stage.  But they didn’t do that.  Biden did a couple rallies, but then “sheltered in place” either at Camp David or the White House.  Is this because he’s developing plans, or because he really is the “lost old man”?  

This crisis lasted more than just a news cycle.  The question of Joe Biden’s fitness even survived Monday’s outrageous Supreme Court ruling that Donald Trump was virtually immune from any criminal prosecution, and the Fourth of July holiday.  Here on the Fifth, it’s still leading all of the news shows, not just on Fox, but on CNN, MSNBC and the big three broadcast networks as well.  It has “defined” the 2024 Presidential race.  

I still believe that this is not “our” decision.  Only Joe Biden and those around him know his real condition.  But they are faced with one stark fact. He’s an eighty-one year old man, running for four more years in the hardest job in the world.  The “prima-facie” case is that he is already too old, and will be far-far too old, by the time 2028 rolls around.  And, even if he just had a “bad night” at the debate, it’s likely there will be more bad nights in the future, not fewer.

One Term Presidents

After the debate, I vowed that I wouldn’t jump on the band wagon of those that want Biden to retire.  But here we are, with a crisis that extends a whole week, and seems to only be growing worse.  I still feel that this truly is Biden’s call, not ours.  But I would be remiss if I didn’t go the next step, and try to “game out” what happens if Joseph Robinette Biden, 46^th President of the United States, determines not to run for a second term.

It has happened before.  In the pivotal year of 1968, Lyndon Johnson determined not to run for a second term in the White House.  We were in the middle of the Vietnam War, with the Democratic Party completely split over the issue.  Johnson was faced with fierce opposition, first by Senator Gene McCarthy and his “Children’s Crusade”.  In the New Hampshire primary, McCarthy came within seven percent of the serving President, sending a clear message to the White House.  A few days later, Senator Robert Kennedy entered the race, further dividing the Democrats.  Soon, Johnson withdrew.

Instead, his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey (of Minnesota) entered as Johnson’s “stand-in”.  The race soon came down to Kennedy versus Humphrey, and was leading to a split convention.  But Kennedy was assassinated in June after winning the California primary, and while the Democrats nominated Humphrey for President, their convention in Chicago was completely divided by both opposition candidates and students marching (and being beaten by police) in the streets.  Republican Richard Nixon ultimately won a narrow victory over Humphrey, and the course of the Nation was altered.

2028 Campaign

Johnson pulled out of the race in March.  If Biden were to pull out, it would be only weeks before a convention.  All of the delegates are chosen, and the vast majority of them are pledged to vote for Joe Biden on the first ballot.  There are several candidates (Moore, Buttigieg, Whitmer, Harris, Newsom, Warnock, Polis, Pritzker, Brashear, Shapiro, to name a few) who might consider running.  Without a primary season to sort this out (our 2028 Democratic future) how would the Democratic Party not splinter by region, race, gender, or view?

The answer is that President Biden would have to “anoint” a candidate, one who would not only win against Donald Trump in 2024, but likely govern until 2032.   And that “anointed” could only be the current Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.  There are several reasons who Harris is the ONLY one.

It’s Harris

First, Biden has already made the decision that Harris is prepared for the Presidency.  It’s the choice he made in 2020, and stood by for the past four years.  And Harris has done everything to demonstrate that she is prepared to be President.  

Second, there is a practical financial matter.  Harris is the only other candidate that could collect on the Biden campaign war chest of hundreds of millions of dollars.  That money was raised for the “Biden-Harris” campaign, not a “generic Democrat” campaign.  Any other Democratic candidate would be so far behind Trump on the fundraising curve, that raising enough money would seem insurmountable.

And third, there is the reality of the makeup Democratic Party.  There are two huge constituencies in the Party, women, and people of color.  For the serving Vice President, a woman of color, to be passed over by a brokered Democratic Convention in August of the election year, particularly for a white male, virtually guarantees a split in the heart of the Party.  At the least it would diminish turnout in this “margins” election.  At worst there could be an actual split or even a walkout.  Like 1968, Chicago could prove to be another Democratic disaster.

America’s Choice

All in the face of the most important Presidential election since the election of 1864.  Like that critical moment in the middle of the Civil War, the Nation is at a turning point.  Will we be a Nation moving backwards (Project 2025) or a Nation moving forward?  Will we turn to authoritarian leaders, or “double-down” on democracy?  What is the future of the American experiment? And even more importantly, will we give Donald Trump, now immune from criminal prosecution as President, the power of the Presidency to alter our Nation?

It’s Joe Biden’s decision, but it will be America’s choice.

America’s Birthday

It’s the Fourth of July, the “birthday” of the United States of America.  And, of course, even that date has some controversy (it is the United States).  The Declaration of Independence was voted on in the Second Continental Congress on July 4^th.  Twelve of the thirteen colonies agreed, but the delegation from New York abstained.  They had no instructions from their legislature, and didn’t join until July 9^th.  

And then there’s the “signing” argument.  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were adamant that most delegates signed the document on July 4^th, but historians argue that other signatures were added on in July and even in August.  It’s hard to argue with the firm views Jefferson and Adams. After all, they were there; historians were not.  And so the Fourth of July is the “accepted” date.

That was two-hundred and forty-eight years ago.  From the very beginning, the Fourth was celebrated by fireworks.  John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail after the Congressional vote:

[This day] ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

Here in my town, Pataskala, we celebrated with fireworks on Sunday, June 30^th.  Jenn and I sat on the back deck and watched the show. It’s not quite like being in the crowd at the park, but, we kept close to our dogs inside. They don’t like booms and whistles.  

Red, White and Blue

It’s been a week of ups and downs for American patriotism.  It started with the absolute joy of American athletes making the Olympic team, proud to represent the USA in Paris at the end of the month.  I watched record performances in track and field, with Sydney McLauglin-Levrone breaking her own world standard in the 400 meter hurdles. And a sixteen year-old high school kid, Quincy Wilson, earned a place in the men’s 4×400 relay.

I also saw amazing feats of skill in gymnastics.  Simone Biles, all  four feet eight inches of her, soared over twelve feet in the air straight from the mat.  The “thrill of victory” was clear. So was the “agony of defeat” outlined in the grim smile of Shane Wiskus, the Minnesota born 2021 Olympic gymnast.  He was relegated to alternate role on the team by a five one-hundredths of a point difference in computer scoring.  The smallest point deduction in gymnastics is one tenth of a point – but the computer model “doesn’t lie” – so Wiskus gets to practice, watch and wait.

Birthday 250

As I watched the fireworks in this small town, I couldn’t help but think what the 250^th Birthday might be like, two years from now.  With so much on the line in this year’s election, it’s hard to tell what the future holds.  Of course we will celebrate in two years, “…from one end of the continent to the other…”. But what will our American government look like.  

Kevin Roberts, the President of the conservative Heritage Foundation made it clear what his vision is.  He hopes to fill a Trump Administration with Heritage members and fundamentally change the American government, much as the Federalist Society took over the US Supreme Court.  The Heritage “Project 2025” would use the Federal government to make fundamental changes in America.  As Roberts ominously  stated:  “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

They certainly have the Supreme Court behind them, and the huge thumb of right-wing media on the scale as well.  It makes the 2024 election feel like so much more than just two old white men running for President.  What was it Superman used to say?  2024 feels like an existential determination of what “Truth, Justice and the American Way” really means.

Roberts laid down his gauntlet:  he will have “his” revolution, bloodless or not.  2024’s not about Trump, or Biden.  It’s about what the United States of America, and in extension, the world, is going to be like.  Will we be celebrating the 250^th anniversary, or will we be in mourning for the loss of freedom Project 2025 promises?  Who will be welcome in the Park to watch the fireworks, and who will be relegated to watching from outside?  

Protect Freedom

It’s almost like “regular” political arguments are no longer important.  More or less taxes, wider or narrow roads, the price of milk and eggs; all those issues seem to pale before the threat to freedom that the Heritage Foundation offers.  Their vision of America is one we left behind with “Wally and the Beaver” back in the 1950’s.  But even worse, they hope to write that vision into stone; in law and practice; to weave it so deeply into our society that it will outlast my generation, the next and even more.  

If you didn’t see fireworks this year, there’s still time.  The Fourth is today, there are small communities all over firing off their salutes to America tonight.  Celebrate the freedoms we have.  But when you see that “best firework”, (for me, the huge gold chrysanthemum blast), and listen to the “ooh’s and awe’s”, remember what we really celebrating – freedom.  

And vow to do something to protect that freedom come November 2024 – and beyond. 

Hard to Say

There is a TV  commercial that aired during the Olympic Trials (Gymnastics, Swimming, and Track and Field; a lot to watch).  It has folks who speak English as a second language, first talk about the “hardest things to say in English”.  Several talk about linguistics, the difficulty of saying the word “sixth”; and the words the sound the same, like “scissors” and “Caesar”,  but mean two different things.  But then the topic changes, to the hardest emotional messages to say in English. “Goodbye”, “I was wrong”, “I am sorry”, and “I love you” are some of the phrases so tough to say.

Well, I need to say something that is incredibly difficult to say; both to you, and to myself.  I was a fool.  I was a fool to expect anything different from the Supreme Court than what we got yesterday. A fool, to believe that this Supreme Court would stick to what they believed.  I thought that they believed in the Founding Fathers, and in the sanctity of what the authors of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights said.  In fact, I thought that was the entire basis of “originalism”. The law: their theory that the law is “as written” with the “original intent” of the authors. For the past fifty years, I believed that was their guiding principle.

No Man Above the Law

And I had a further “foolish conceit”.  I thought that there was a level of our national leadership who understood that MAGA-Trumpism was simply a “story” to gain votes.  I anticipated that the Justices on the Supreme Court would pay lip service to Trump, but would stand with the Founding Fathers, their “original” legal foundation.  But again, I was a fool.

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court, a topic I’ve spent a lot of time on for the past few weeks, ruled that the United States in NOT a Nation where everyone is equal in the eyes of the law.   The Supreme Court created a whole new status of American:  one who is literally immune from the law in his/her official capacity; the President of the United States.  As noted conservative jurist Michael Luttig stated:  “Today our country is changed.  We are no longer a Nation where no man is above the law”.

Founding Fathers

There was no need for this.  The Nation managed to get through two-hundred and thirty-six years of Presidents, from Washington to Lincoln to the Roosevelts to Barack Obama, without criminal immunity.  And we even managed to get through “bad” Presidents;  Hoover, Filmore, Harding and Richard Nixon.  But now, all the rules are changed.  A President is even “presumed immune” in their private conversations and public speeches, even if they are acting in “bad faith”.  

And, looking back at the Founding Fathers themselves, there is no question.  Their greatest fear was the unchecked Executive, the President who “would be king”.  There is absolutely no way that Madison, Washington, Franklin, or even Alexander Hamilton; would have wanted a President to have some form of blanket immunity from criminal responsibility.  Today’s “Originalists” on the Supreme Court did the thing they argued most against.  They “legislated” and created a Constitutional right out of “whole cloth”.

Signs

So how did those six Justices, led by their Chief, John Roberts, author of the decision, find themselves as “living Constitutionalists”, their own arch-enemy?  

This is the center of my own foolishness.  The signs were all there:  Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife was a leader of the “Stop the Steal” movement.  She organized, called, and donated to the attempt to stop the legal transfer of power after the 2020 election.  And Justice Samuel Alito literally flew the flag of “rebellion” outside of his homes during January of 2021.   They are true believers in the fundamental “canons” of MAGA lore:

• The 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump
• The Justice Department is being used to keep Trump from gaining office again
• Joe Biden is an illegitimate President of the United States
• The entire “main-steam media” is arrayed against Trump, and the United States voter
• “The left” is only interesting in using minorities to gain political power, and wants to create a socialist state, antithetical to their view of what America is.

Sure, I figured Thomas and Alito were that way.  But I didn’t think that Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and most of all, Chief Justice Roberts were “all-in” for MAGAism.  I thought, wrongly, that they would stand for their own “originalist” ideology.  I was a fool.

Foolish Ways

And I keep falling back into my “foolish” ways.  After the stunning announcement by the Court yesterday, you would have expected the entire Republican leadership to jump on board, with statements from Speaker Johnson to Chairman Jordan, to Leader McConnell, praising the decision.  But we heard little from them yesterday, and my “head” reasoned that they see the reckless and dangerous immunity decision for what it is. But they don’t.

They’ll fall in line, probably today.  From Johnson to “Old Turtle” McConnell, they too are believers.  And as soon as I get that through my foolish head, then I can think more clearly about the existential threat America faces today.  It’s not Trump:  as the Bible says in Second Corinthians (or, as Trump said, “two” Corinthians) he is “the imperfect vessel”.   But with his victory in 2024, they will “fill” his Presidency with their plans to alter America to some land very different to the one we live in today.  It’s not “just” the 2025 Project, but it’s the alternate vision of America that it represents, a vision so powerful that even the Justices of the Supreme Court are willing to give up their own fundamental principles to achieve it.

Ain’t Your Side

There is no middle ground.  America is so polarized, that even the Supreme Court is now firmly on a side.  Whatever you used to think about America’s leaders standing for something more than “what’s good for them”, stop sharing my foolishness.  There is no center, no Roberts standing in between right and left.  There is only victory or defeat in November for one side or the other.  

Depend on one other thing:  the Supreme Court is not an “impartial arbiter”.  They too are on a side. And, if you’re a Democrat, if you see a future America as a multi-cultural nation; they ain’t on your side.  Don’t be a fool.

Lost Faith

I’ve lost faith in the Supreme Court.  They used to be the final arbiter, who would do “what’s right” for the American people and the law.  Sure, there were the “bad” decisions:  Dred Scott, Plessy v Ferguson and Korematsu, for example. But the Court ultimately rectified them.  And even when the Court split down party lines in Bush v Gore and determined who the President of the United States would be, it was easy to say that they had to make some call, or there would be no President at all.  

But now there’s the actions of Justices Thomas and Alito, flaunting their immunity from codes of conduct and accepting millions of dollars in gifts. (It makes the behavior that caused Justice Abe Fortes to resign in the 1960’s; penny-ante.) And there’s the “deconstruction” of the administrative state by this Federalist Society majority, over-ruling the “Chevron” case this week. Their actions make it clear. 

 This Court has an ideological agenda, beyond and outside the law.  It can be depended on to drive our Nation back to the “bad old” 1950’s in every way imaginable. (Or, perhaps worse, forward to the “2025 Project”).  In the end, the “Robert’s Court” will bear the same stain as the “Taney Court” of the 1850’s; the one that took the wrong side before the Civil War.  This Court (Justices Kagan, Jackson and Sotomayor excepted) is on the “losing side” of the arc of the American moral universe bending towards justice.

Perfidy

That doesn’t get into the absolute lies that Justices Barrett, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch told in their Senate hearings.  They all pledged to pay respect to precedence, to the rule of “stare decis”. But, they clearly do not respect the past, unless “stare decis” only applies to laws passed prior to 1860.  Look out Sherman Anti-Trust Act, they’re coming for you next! 

And it doesn’t include the perfidy of Senator Mitch McConnell, who refused to allow President Obama’s legal nominee for the Court to have a hearing, then rammed through President Trump’s nominee in less than six weeks.  Were McConnell’s legislative machinations “legal”? Unfortunately, they were.  But they were not in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution, or the “norms” of American government and Senate.

Franklin Roosevelt had it right in the late 1930’s.  The Court is stale, dominated by an ideologic legal theory that seeks to undo our modern world.  And every Justice is appointed for life, with no Constitutional way to remove them or force retirement, short of death or behavior so egregious that two-thirds of the Senate would agree to convict on impeachment (something beyond possibility in our polarized age).  

Reform

Federal Judges can take “senior status”, a form of working retirement, at sixty-five years of age with fifteen years of service.  And in the next year, we will have four Justices of the Supreme Court reach seventy.  They are appointed for life.  They can’t be forced to quit. 

 But there is no Constitutionally assigned number of justices on the Court.  Nine Justices is simply a “number”, set by statutory law.    That number has been both fewer and greater in the past (the precedent).  So, the simple answer is this:  for every Justice seventy or older, the current President can appoint an additional Justice to the Court.  The number of nine Justices is just a law, a law that can be changed.   If President Biden could do this – there would be four new Justices on the Court next year, four Justices to balance the Federalist cabal that is now altering our Nation; four Justices to reassert the modern American view of citizenship and personal rights. 

 All it would take, is a majority of the House, a majority of the Senate (willing to break the filibuster rule), and the signature of the President.  And for those who decry this idea as a “politicization” of the Court, that ship already sailed.  It sailed when McConnell pulled his shenanigans, denying Garland a hearing, then rammed Barrett through.  It’s time for Democrats to “ante up”, and get in the “Supreme Court” game.   And it’s not a new idea – checkout the “Judicial Reform Act of 1937”.   In 2025, we deserve a “New Judicial Deal”.  

Just one more reason that the election of 2024 is so important.

This is another in the “Sunday Story” series.  No politics here, just some stories about life, camping, and “Camp Mornings”.  

Dogs

It all starts with the dogs, of course.  I spent a lot of this spring getting up early, travelling to a track meets in New Concord or Dayton or Logan or somewhere.  I got our five dogs in a cycle:  get up by six, the breakfast rituals (meds with carrots and cheese, then breakfast, then the post-breakfast appetizers of more carrots and finally a treat) done by six forty-five.  I’d need to be on the road by seven-thirty or so.  

But now, it doesn’t matter that it’s summertime and we could all sleep until ten.  The exact time is 6:08, that’s when Louisiana lets me know that he’s ready; to go out, to get meds, to eat breakfast, to be warmed up with a big rub and a kiss or two.  6:08, not 6:10 or 6:05:  it’s time to get up – “OWW-ROO!!”.

And after all of the rituals, in the end I’m way too awake to go back to sleep. So in the midst of all of that, I perform the most important act of my day – I make the first pot of coffee.  So now, I’m up.  But today, it was all worth it.  Because when I let them outside for the third time, I went out with them.  And I got to experience a “Camp Morning”.

Scouts

I grew up in the Boy Scouts.  When I first started at eleven years old, my troop went on a campout every month, rain, shine or sub-zero temperatures.  And every morning on the camping trip, I’d wake up, snug in a sleeping bag, to the sound of the “old men” and older Scouts around the campfire, talking quietly about whatever came to their attention that morning.  I could never figure it out back then; why were those guys up so early? 

So like all the other Tenderfoot Scouts, I’d straggle out from our canvas tent, sleep in my eyes, boots untied, and wander off to the woods or the “Kybo” (the outhouse, often with multiple seats, “two-holers” or “four-holers”, just like in ancient Rome).  I knew as soon as I returned my “tasks” would begin:  find firewood, police the campground, help with breakfast, pack up my gear.  The only exception was on the really cold winter camps, then I was allowed to “hang-out” by the fire for a bit, turning slowing like a roasting pig to make sure I re-heated evenly from the bitter cold night.

Woodland Trails

And then there was summer camp, two weeks at a Scout Camp in Western Ohio called “Woodland Trails”. (The Scouts sold Woodland Trails just last year to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  Makes me want to take the Jeep over to Gasper-Somers Road, where I learned to drive a stick-shift).  They let us set up in what looked like Civil War vintage “wall tents”, with painted beer boxes under our cots to stow gear.  We didn’t need too much:  a couple of pairs of Scout shorts, some Troop T-shirts, socks and underwear.  And, of course, a “full dress” Scout uniform for special occasions.  

At eleven years-old, a couple of T-shirts could last the whole week.  And if they got too bad, a rinse and line dry besides the swimsuit would do the trick.  Scout camp at that age was all about the basics:  how to build and start a campfire, discover what plants were edible (and which weren’t – hopefully not be trial and error).  We learned first aid and canoeing and how to lash together large structures that didn’t fall over.  I set the “mile-swim” record and learned “lifesaving”.  We walked everywhere, and when we weren’t walking, we were hiking around and learning the rudiments of backpacking.

Camp weeks became a summer ritual in my life, from eleven until I was in my early twenties.  By then, I was backpacking all over the country, both with Scout groups and with my “packing” buddies.  And one of the things I discovered was the answer to the mystery of why all of those old guys were up at dawn, hanging out by the campfire they quickly built (or re-lit), and making that first pot of coffee.  

First Light

There’s nothing like the world right before it wakes up.  The air is still, not yet filled with the shouts of Tenderfeet discovering a garter snake in the middle of the path, or the inevitable barked orders of that fourteen year-old Patrol Leader trying to figure out how to actually lead.  The birds are chirping, but in that quiet, “hey we’re just getting up too” mode.  And in the right place (like more recent cross country camps we had at nearby Camp Falling Rock) there would be deer grazing just in the field, not concerned yet about the few humans moving slowly about.  

The world is still, the day is all anticipated, not yet started.  It’s the few moments when there’s still time to contemplate, to sip that first cup of dark, black, coffee (no additives for me, I take my coffee “barefoot”, thank you).  It’s just a time to breathe, and let the day come to you, instead of charging out from the get-go.  By the time I was in my late teens, I was out there with the “old men”, hanging by the campfire, joining in that early ritual of adult camping.

The Back Deck

This morning I went out with the dogs.  There was a rain last night, that drove the eighty degree humidity out of the air.  It was cool/comfortable at 6:30 on Sunday morning, sitting on the back deck here in Pataskala.  There weren’t many cars on State Route 16 yet, and Louisiana hadn’t found any squirrels to chase down.  While there were no deer in our backyard (anymore, that would be way too much for these dogs);  I’m sure they were in the field across the road. 

The quiet was there, the anticipation of a good day, the moments when I could just sip my coffee, and let the day come to me.  This Sunday morning I had a Camp Morning, at least for a few minutes.  It’s a great way to start.

The Sunday Story Series

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

Debate Results

Frank Luntz is a well-known Republican pollster.  You can count on him to slant his findings to fit his partisan views.  Last night, after the CNN Presidential debate, Luntz asked his “focus group” the following questions.  “How many think that Trump won the debate?”.  No one in the group raised their hand.  “How many think Biden lost?”   All hands went up in agreement.

Much as I dislike Luntz, in this one case, he’s right.  President Joe Biden had “one job” last night, show America that he was up to the task of defeating Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential election.  We hoped, we believed; that the President would show that even at eighty-one years old, he still has the “juice” to do the “one job”.  He failed miserably. His performance was as bad as I’ve seen from any candidate for the highest office in the land.  In more than a half-century of Presidential debates, the only thing that comes close was in 1992, when Admiral James Stockdale, running as Vice President for third party candidate Ross Perot, could only utter one-word answers – notably the term “gridlock”. 

Liar or Old Man

Trump lied, over and over again.  The CNN moderators determined not to try to fact-check his lies, another job that then fell to President Biden.  No excuses:  Biden looked like a confused “old man” on the debate stage.  He struggled to put a coherent thought together.  The sheer volume of falsehoods seemed to overwhelm him, throw him off message, and sent him searching for responses.  But all that does not “excuse” Biden’s failure.  

What is America left with?  A President who lies so much, there’s no time left to correct him.  A President who made it very clear that he is running to get his “retribution” against his enemies, who demonizes immigrants and cozies up to our enemies.  A President who is a factual felon, a criminal? Or do we elect an “old man”, who seems to be able to govern, but struggles to put it together enough to lead.   

Joe’s Back

California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, is a Democrat who appears to be running for President in 2028.  He is a Biden “surrogate”, going around the Nation in support of the President.  Last night, Newsom made it clear where he stands in 2024:  “You dance with the one who ‘brung’ you.”  Joe Biden had a horrible night, a terrible public failure.  But that one night shouldn’t wipe out his decades of service, his obvious leadership in achieving one of the best legislative histories of an American President, his universal concern for the American people. Newsom said; “Joe Biden’s had our back, now it’s time for us to have his”.  

Biden walked off of the debate stage onto a rally stage – and looked, acted, spoke, completely normal.  He was a “Happy Warrior” in front of the crowd, joking and laughing and making important points clearly.  The choice of what happens next rests solely with him.  If he decides to resign from the job of “running for President” and release his convention delegates, then the Democratic Party has a crazy month ahead of it.  There hasn’t been that kind of “open” convention since the 1920’s.    It would have to unite behind another candidate, one who can lead the existential fight to defeat Trump and MAGA’ism:  Vice President Harris, Governor Newsom, Governor Whitmer, Secretary Buttigieg – who knows.

Or Biden can soldier on, now with one more huge hurdle to clear.  He must convince the American people that he is “up” for both jobs:  defeating Trump and running the Nation.  No amount of reassurance from staff, friends, surrogates, or media will solve that problem.  Biden must “show us”.   

Get It Right

It’s June, four months before the Presidential election.  A lot will happen before November.  Donald Trump, will be sentenced for thirty-four felony convictions in July 11^th.  There will be conventions, there will be daily speeches and interactions, plenty of opportunities for Biden and Trump to show who they are.

I was a coach.  One of the hardest decisions I had to make was when a “star” failed.  Was it time to change, to pull him from the lineup?  Or was it time to “have his back”, depending on him to regain his “mojo” and help our team win?   That decision is far more difficult, when ultimately the “coach” in this situation is also the “star”.  But we’ve trusted Joe Biden with the Presidency, and with the role of saving the Nation from MAGA’ism.  Failure in that task, is not an option, and he knows it better than anyone.  I guess, (and if that sounds shaky, it is), we need to trust him this one more time.  It’s his decision, it’s Jill’s decision, it’s his closest advisors decision.  I’ve got his back, either way.

But they better get it right.

Decision Days

The Supreme Court of the United States released their decisions on two cases Wednesday.  The first is Murthy (US Surgeon General) v State of Missouri . It’s about the Federal Government’s ability to “advise” social media platforms about posts that are factually inaccurate.  The Missouri Attorney General aimed the suit at the Biden Administration’s reaction to false Covid information. But the issue is much broader. It includes the FBI advising social media platforms about Russian disinformation efforts (like those that occurred during the 2016 election).  

The Court ruled that Federal agencies advising the platforms about false and misleading information is NOT an abridgement of the Media companies “corporate” First Amendment freedom of speech.  That’s an important consideration going into the 2024 election cycle, and in dealing with possible future pandemics.

The Court split six to three.  Chief Justice Roberts assigned the opinion to Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She wrote for the Chief, herself, and Justices Kavanaugh, Jackson, Kagan and Sotomayor.  Justices Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas dissented. They claimed the First Amendment right of corporations applies not just to laws, but also to Federal pressure in the form of “advising”.  

The second decision is an issue of state versus federal law regarding state officials accepting gifts. The Court, six to three, ruled that the Federal law on bribery doesn’t apply to “tips” or “fees” given to public officials without a direct quid-pro-quo. I’m sure they were thinking about Justices Thomas and Alito’s actions at the time.

Wrong Button?

Later in the afternoon, the Court “accidentally” released their decision on the Idaho abortion law case. After the Dodds case was decided and Roe was overturned, Idaho wrote the most restrictive abortion law in the nation. It was so restrictive that even women at risk for their health, organs, and even their lives were unable to get treatment.

That violated a Federal law requiring emergency departments to provide life and health saving “standards” of care. Groups sued in Federal District court to stop Idaho’s law. The District upheld Idaho, and the state then asked the Supreme Court to skip the appellate level and hear the case directly.

It takes four Justices to agree to hear a case, but five justices to reach a decision. After all of the hearings, the Court is “enjoining” Idaho from enforcing the state law, then sending the case back to the District court for re-hearing and Appeals. Basically, the Supreme Court is saying – we shouldn’t have taken the case in the first place.

How did this get released? It looks like a clerical error. Someone hit the wrong button. The decision was immediately taken down, so we’ll see if it appears on Thursday or Friday. If it stands, it’s a small short-term victory for pro-abortion folks, but not at all determinative.

Hold Your Breath

What’s missing?  The two seminal cases dealing with ex-President Trump and the Insurrection.  One case will determine if the President has immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. The other will decide whether the law used to prosecute many of the protestors and Trump for disrupting a Federal proceeding is being applied correctly.  They’re both incredibly significant and timely. Both have direct bearing on the 2024 Presidential election, and the multiple indictments Trump faces.  

Both of these cases have been “hanging fire” for months.  Why didn’t the Court see fit to “expedite” these important decisions, and let the legal process continue to play out?  The Federal cases against Trump are stalled, waiting for a decision, either way, from the Court.  And that’s the point.

The Court will release decisions Thursday, and more again on Friday.  I would be shocked if the Court’s decisions on the two “Trump” cases came out Thursday. It’s the day of the first Presidential debate.  I believe the Court is hanging onto these, in a desire to take the Federal Court system out of the 2024 election as much as possible.  Ultimately, the majority on the Court doesn’t want the Federal charges against Trump determined prior to November. They don’t want the Court seen as “making the Presidential decision”.  So posting their decision(s) Thursday, up-staging the Presidential debate regardless of what the decisions say, just seems far too “political” for this divided Court.

Come Friday

Which leaves us waiting until Friday morning (at least) to learn the results of the immunity case.  It’s always dangerous to “predict” the Supreme Court, but after listening to the oral arguments on Presidential immunity, I suspect that the decision will be six Justices to three or even seven to two.  I can’t imagine that there’s a majority of the Court in favor of an unlimited  “get out of jail” card for a sitting President.  If they rule in favor of that, then Joe Biden could do literally anything he wants to do.

I suspect there may be a small, carefully drawn area of foreign policy where the Court might consider some immunity, but beyond that, the majority will vote to hold even a serving President as criminally accountable for her/his actions.  My guess:  the Chief Justice writes the majority opinion, with perhaps a concurrence or two from the more liberal judges narrowing immunity even more.  And then I expect a scathing dissent from Justices Alito and Thomas.  And, my best guess is the Court has waited for that dissent for weeks. That created the delay that served Trump so well, pushing his Federal trials until after November.

Come November

Why has the majority allowed this critical case held so long?  Because, in the end, they see the issue of Donald Trump and Democracy as “too important” to determine by Court or trial.  Instead, they want to allow the voters of the United States to make that final call.  

After the election, assuming Biden is the winner, the Court will move to defend the democratic voting system, and to allow Trump to be held accountable.  (If Trump wins on the votes, there won’t be a need to defend the voting system.  Biden and Democrats will accept the legal results). Until then, I expect the Justices will drop the decision out “the back door” of the Court on Friday morning.  It’s a short hop from the Court Building to Union Station: the Justices will catch the noon train out of town for the summer. 

Modern Journalism

Julian Assange, the very definition of a modern internet journalist, is out of jail.  He flew to the North Mariana Islands.  Why there, a single spec of dry land in the vast Pacific north of Guam called Saipan, infamous from World War II? Saipan has the one thing that Assange needed . It has a US Court. (The US has judicial jurisdiction left over from their World War II occupation).  He made a deal with the US Department of Justice.  Assange pled guilty to charges of aiding an American soldier (Chelsea Manning) to reveal classified documents and received a five year sentence.  And since he’s already served five years in jail in Great Britain, awaiting extradition to the US, he  is now “free” in his native Australia.

Julian Assange, may be responsible for the death of men and women who helped the United States as informants, revealed in his “journalism”.  He published the Russian hacked Democratic Committee computer information in 2016.  So, if nothing else, Assange has some responsibility for the Presidency of Donald Trump.  Assange definitely put US secrets out in public.  Not just a few, but millions of pages of documents.

Assange is a “hero” to those who are against the United States, to Republicans who wanted to embarrass the Democrats, and to Russians who used his material to advance their cause worldwide.  He’s a “maverick”, a man convinced that nothing should be kept secret.  Sunlight cleanses all (or bleaches everything white).  In our conspiratorial world, his view appeals to many.  

Rip it Off

And in his five years in British prison, plus seven years in self-imposed imprisonment in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, he has been a foreign policy thorn in the side of  President Obama, Trump and Biden.  This plea deal “rips off the bandage”, furthering US relations with Assange’s native Australia, and lets the British breathe easier (Assange was popular in the UK). 

Here’s my “dream”. He lands in Saipan, and is “adjudicated” by the Court.  He then gets on a private plane, free to fly home to Australia.  Somewhere over the Pacific, maybe near Howland Island (where Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937) his plane just…disappears…along with Assange.  But dreams are just wishes: Assange is a free man walking in Canberra, Australia today.

I believe in the freedom of the press, and the power of journalism.  And I remember the “Pentagon Papers”, stolen from the Department of Defense and given to the Washington Post to prove that the Pentagon and the President knowingly lied to the American people about Vietnam.  But those papers didn’t get anyone killed.  They embarrassed the government, and furthered  public opinion against the war.  Chelsea Manning is no Daniel Ellsberg, and Julian Assange and Wikileaks ain’t Ben Bradlee and the Washington Post, either.

Anti-Hero

He’s Australia’s problem now.  No doubt, he’ll try to revive Wikileaks, where purloined secrets go to be revealed.  The difference now, twelve years later, is that in our current climate of “alternative facts” no one knows whether the secrets are real, or just some “dream” created to gain clicks and internet sales revenue. 

Assange vows to make every secret public, no matter how he got them.  He takes no responsibility for the consequences; if he gets it, the whole world sees it.  And even worse, he not only published information, but he worked with Chelsea Manning to break the passwords to steal it.  When he crossed over to active espionage, he lost all hope of having “Freedom of the Press” protect him.  He’s just a spy, a saboteur.  Seven years exile in the embassy, and five years in jail,  really isn’t enough.  

Grim Reaper

President Biden was at the Camp David Retreat last weekend.  He took the time to prepare for this Thursday, the first 2024 Presidential Debate.  I know, it’s exactly what we’ve all been waiting for.  The eighty-one year old Biden will debate against the seventy-eight year old Trump, in spite of the fact that neither has been nominated by their Party for President, yet.  It’s more than four months before the election, in the middle of summer and the baseball season.  But it just underscores our reality.  

Barring the “Grim Reaper” making a surprise appearance, both this President and the last one will be the major party nominees come August.  In fact, Biden will be the nominee before the Democratic Convention even begins, thanks to Ohio’s refusal to allow him on the ballot after his formal nomination. There will be a national telephone vote by the Democratic delegates prior to the arbitrary deadline set by Ohio’s Republican legislature.

Binary Choice    

If you didn’t want a rematch of 2020, so sorry.  If you were hoping for “new blood” on either side, you’ll have to wait another four years.  And if you don’t want the “binary choice”; Trump v Clinton, Trump v Biden; too bad.  Two old men are running for President.  Each side will try to convince you that their opponent is “enfeebled” by age.  There will be deep fakes, AI enhanced “proof” that Biden, or Trump, has lost it.  The reality is that both still have their minds.  But, like any old men, there are “gaps”; lost words, and misplaced names.  Hell, I’m fifteen years younger and it already happens to me.  

And what of the “other” candidates?  The third party run of Robert Kennedy Junior hit a little snag.  He can’t get on the ballot in several states.  And besides, ever since Kennedy confessed that a “worm” ate part of his brain, his poll numbers have slithered down.  For those “old folks” with good memories (better than Bobby’s), it’s kind of like when Ross Perot said that black hooded operatives invaded his home and threatened his daughter’s wedding in the middle of the 1996 campaign.  True or not, if you sound like a crackpot, voters will think you’re a crackpot:  worms ate my brain.

Cornell West is still out there, as well as the Democrats least favorite candidate, Jill Stein.  And if you missed it (and you probably did), the Libertarian Party booed Trump off of the stage, then nominated Chase Oliver.  All told, Americans have the right to vote for whoever they choose, or not vote at all, in November.  But our reality is, one of those two old men is going to be the President, and you have a choice, a binary choice, between them.  Any other (or no) vote is simply dodging the question.

Issues

So back to the issue at hand:  the debate on Thursday night.  CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate with strict rules.  There is no audience; and microphones will be turned off when the other candidate is “up”.  Will the mics be turned off when time expires; will either candidate be allowed to “filibuster”?  That remains to be seen.

What can you expect?  Somewhere along the way, Biden will say the words “Convicted Felon”.  And somewhere else, Trump will say the word “Hunter”.  If you have those on your bingo card, it’s a good start.  Trump will claim that the border is out of control.  He’ll insinuate that all of those illegal migrants will rape you daughters, or worse, someday vote for Biden.  Biden will say “come on, man”, then talk about Trump torpedoing the Congressional immigration deal. 

Trump will claim that he could bring peace to Ukraine in a few days.  Biden will say that Trump is just shilling for his “buddy” Vladimir Putin.  And the word “Chiy-nah” will come up, probably from Trump, and the word “abortion” will certainly come up from Biden.

Visions of America

In the end, Biden will try to show that America is moving forward.  Inflation is and unemployment are down, wages are going up, and that he is responsible for the best Covid recovery in the world.  And, in the end, Trump will paint a picture of America in decline, with dangerous cities filled with (dark) evil people, and a disastrous economy that only “he” can fix.   Both will predict the end of the American experiment if the other is elected.  At least one of them will be right.

Not ready for your first dose of binary choice?  Like it or not, they’ll be on your screens come Thursday.  My advice: don’t wait for the late-night talk show hosts (or the morning-drive radio shows) to determine what happened.  Check out the debate, and try to stay awake.  Remember, it’s probably harder for them, than it is for you!

This is a sort-of Sunday story.  It’s the story of why there’s been fewer essays recently here on Our America, and what I’ve been doing instead.

Officiating

“Track season” ended this week.  After over five months of officiating track, and then another month of coaching at pole vault camps, the season finally came to an end.  I put my equipment up in the rafters for a well-earned rest.  The tapes, cones, “measure stick” and level will come back out come next December.  But for now – it’s time for a break.

May and June got pretty crazy.  I officiated twenty-one pole vault competitions in thirty-one days, and served as an official in two other meets as well.  I know it was a lot; Jenn started talking about how it felt like I was coaching again.  Even I started feeling that way – especially when the heat set in.  The first week of May I remember shaking from cold, soaking wet in Lancaster (a total failure of old Gore-Tex rain gear).  But after that, the goal became how much Gatorade I could consume in a competition.  It’s no good if the “official” starts getting dizzy from the heat.  Especially in that last stretch at the State Meet, re-hydration became my serious focus in the hot summer sun.

State Meet

By the way, the state meet was an absolute honor to be part of.  I had the best pole vault officiating crew; everyone highly experienced, willing and able to assume every role in the operation.  They were “assigned” to boys and girls competitions, but they all helped with all six vaults, boys and girls.  We were doing all we could to make the “STATE” the best experience for the athletes and even the coaches.  They earned the right to be there; it’s something I worked hard to achieve in my forty years on the “other side of the line” as a coach.  I wanted to make it special, for the kids, and for those coaches as well.

 Being a part of that ultimate high school track experience, the state finals, is amazing.  Athletes and coaches are primed and focused, dealing with all of the “issues” of competition like crosswinds and delays.  To steal an old Jim McKay line, there’s the “Thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat”, six times over.  Perhaps the best part for me:  escorting the state medalists to the podium for medals and recognition.  The joy, the relief, the recognition that they are literally at the top of the state in their event; it’s always exciting.

Camp Coaching

And two days later, I was working with younger kids; remembering how much I love the profession that I followed for forty years.  Coaching pole vaulting sounds like an “arcane” exercise, a true “niche” in the coaching world.  And it is.  But, like almost all teaching and coaching, the efforts and rewards are the same.  Through a series of words, examples, exercises, drills; trying to advance every vaulter from where they are to where they want to be.  It is the whole task.  You can feel their frustration when they don’t “get it”.  And you can see the “light bulb” come on in their eyes when they figure it out.  

As a coach, I say the same thing in twenty different ways, hoping some way or another to connect with a pattern in the athlete’s brain.  I tell them to “press off the ground, jump longer, drag the takeoff leg, push the back leg back farther, toe-off, get a ‘split’”. It all means the same thing.  Hopefully one of those fits the image in their head of what I want them to do, press the takeoff leg back as they jump from the ground.  And when they do it, the whole vault changes – the light bulb comes on.  And away we go to the next problem.

Archbold

There was a camp at Newark High School, then an “elite” camp at Circleville, and finally the camp at Archbold High School in Northwestern Ohio, just a few miles from the Indiana and Michigan borders.  Archbold is always interesting: on the runway are complete rookies, not sure how to hold the “stick”.  

And along with them was one of the kids I escorted to the state podium only two weeks before.  For him a new visualization:  get completely upside down, inverted on the pole, while the pole is still bent.  That way when it unbent it would “shoot” him vertically, higher in the air.  “Press long, swing fast, invert tight” was my cue.  And he started to get it.  Maybe he can move up those podium steps next year, from seventh to – maybe – the top?  I hope I can escort him there again.

Summer

Track’s over.  There’s lots to do at the house, and, of course, there’s dogs to take care of.  Atticus needs another surgery, to take the metal plates that he no longer needs out of his leg.  Hopefully it’ll go smoother than the operation to put them in.  And there’s more time to spend with Jenn – to take a walk, to go for a beer by the lake, to laugh and have some fun.  It’s summer – the Fourth is literally right around the corner.  Pataskala is getting ready for fireworks; and so are we!

The Sunday Story Series

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

Fixing Education

The state of Louisiana has an education problem.  Their public schools are ranked 40^th out of 51 in the Nation (KTAL).  So you’d expect the state legislature would look for ways to improve their standing:  work on early childhood education, or remedial literacy education in the fourth grade, or alternative mathematics programs for middle schoolers.  Maybe Louisiana should pay their teachers more:  the state ranks 46^th  nationally in average teacher pay (NEA).  The old adage, “You get what you pay for” works in education as well.

But the super-MAGA Louisiana legislature isn’t looking at any of those alternatives.  Instead, they just passed an education bill, signed into law by the MAGA Governor, Jeff Landry. According to the governor’s webpage: 

“Today, surrounded by legislators, educators, school kids, and community leaders, Governor Jeff Landry signed into law monumental bills that will transform our education system and bring back common sense in our classrooms.”  

Too bad the ceremony was marred by a little girl who passed out in the back of the crowd around the signing table (no symbolism there).  The Governor seemed unaware of her condition – probably not “the look” he was going for as a “national leader” in education.

The bill “fixed” such critical education issues as:

• Rescinding Covid requirements
• Allowing unvaccinated kids to go to school
• Requiring parents consent to their child’s pronouns
• Allowing “chaplains” in schools
• Giving scholarships for private schools. (Louisiana.Gov).

Establishment Clause

But that’s not what anyone was talking about.  As part of this package “transforming our education system”, is the requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in every public classroom in the state.  In 1980 the US Supreme Court ruled on this exact point.  In Stone v Graham (449 U.S. 39 1980) the Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law “…has no secular legislative purpose, and therefore is unconstitutional as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.”

So why is Louisiana flying directly in the face of a forty year-old Supreme Court precedent?  And why is the state committing their limited financial resources to a legal fight,  already filed in the Louisiana Federal Courts, that will undoubtedly go to the Supreme Court in a couple of years?  

Well, first of all, it’s easier to go to the Supreme Court than it is to get third graders to pass a literacy test.  And it’s easier to “bring common sense” to education by imposing state-sanctioned Christian symbolism, than it is to pay for the real needs of public school classrooms.  So, Governor Landry and the Legislature made a national “splash”, without really doing anything at all for those kids in the schools of failing Baker City School District in East Baton Rouge Parrish.  

Governor Landry wants to be the “leader” of the Christian Nationalist movement to “retake” American institutions, including public education. That’s a great way to get in the National spotlight. And he might get a leg-up in the post-Trump MAGA-Republican Party; stepping right over the actual fallen body of some poor little grade-school girl.  And with today’s Supreme Court, Hell-bent on remaking America in their own image; Landry might be right.

Teachable Moment

For many Christians, putting the Ten Commandments up in classrooms is a “no brainer”. According to them, it gives children the basic “rules” of life. (I know – many of us kind of remember them, if not from Sunday School, then from all of those Easter Sunday evenings around the TV watching Charlton Heston carry the tablets down the mountain).  So, just as a reminder,  here’s the Ten Commandments:

• Thou shalt have no other Gods before me
• Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
• Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord they God in vain
• Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it Holy
• Honor thy Father and thy Mother
• Thou shalt not kill
• Thou shalt not commit adultery
• Thou shalt not steal
• Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
• Thou shalt not covet.

Let’s look at that “teachable moment”, when the third graders lose focus on the math lesson on fractions, look up at the wall and start asking questions.  It might get very religious – especially when the Hindu or Buddhist or Moslem kids in the class ask about “their” God(s) which can’t be “before” Governor Landry’s God.  What about the whole Christian Sunday versus Jewish Saturday – which is the Sabbath?  And then there’s  that “graven image” of Jesus on the Cross in the front of the church – why is that different?  How about the flag in the classroom, little Suzie the Jehovah’s Witness girl doesn’t even stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Sure, there are the easy teaching points: don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t lie; honor Mom and Dad.  But adultery – really going to go into that with the third graders?  Isn’t there some other Louisiana law that prevents teachers from uttering the dreaded three-letter word – sex – in class?  

Fake History

The Christian Nationalist movement operates on a false premise.  They believe that the United States was founded as a “Christian” nation, and that the founding fathers were using Christian doctrine as the template for American law.  In fact, real history is exactly the opposite.  Many of the American colonies were refuges from religious oppression in Europe.  Sure some had their particular religion; the Puritans and Pilgrims in Massachusetts, the Roman Catholics in Maryland, the Quakers in Pennsylvania.  But they were actually running from Government sanctioned religion in Great Britain. 

The Founding Fathers were well aware of that. They specifically made no mention of a/the “deity” in the Constitution, and in fact, prohibited Government sanctioned religion in the First Amendment (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment religion…” – the first words of the First Amendment). 

Congress is “the government”, and so is the state of Louisiana.  America, the “home of the free”, was founded on the principle (not Christian) that religious belief is personal, not a Government issue.  But Governor Landry and the good folks in the Louisiana Legislature have a different answer:  believe in what we believe in. And more, there’s the unspoken corollary:  if you don’t believe, you’re wrong.  

And that’s not the lesson about America that Louisiana third graders need to learn.

Interpret the Law

The Supreme Court of the United States has a duty to “interpret” the laws passed by Congress. The Court also determines whether those laws are consistent with the United States Constitution.   All of that seems pretty cut and dried – but of course, it’s not.  The “cut and dried” cases are all determined at the lower court levels.  It’s always the hard ones, the fifty-fifty cases, that reach the highest court in the land.

Trying to guess how the nine Justices will come down on any of the “fifty-fifty” cases is always tough.  And one area that is most difficult to call, is the one involving “administrative law”.  When Congress creates laws, they often include creating some agency to figure out the details.  How far can the agency can go, how much authority it has, what limits are applied? What determines the  extent of that agency’s power often is decided by the Supreme Court.  But one thing is sure – normally the Court deals in “law”, not in “facts”,

Last week, we saw two examples of this process.  The first was about the power of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The second is the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

Drugs

It’s actually pretty simple.  Congress didn’t want to be in a position of approving every single drug created in our changing world.  They neither had the time, nor more importantly, the expertise, to make those decisions.  Citing their Constitutional power to control interstate commerce, Congress wrote the Pure Food and Drug Act at the beginning of the 20^th century.  They delegated those powers to the FDA, created in 1906.  The administration ended the era when drugs like cocaine were in soft drinks and “elixirs”: the original “coca” in  Coca Cola.   

So instead of every new drug, cancer treatment, weight loss breakthrough or blood pressure medication going through Congress, decided on by 535 non-experts; it’s the FDA’s job.  Imagine the Pfizer Covid vaccine undergoing the “legislative process”.  Instead, it went through a careful scientific process of evaluation, and final approval by the FDA. 

Judges with Agendas

So it was a shock when “rogue” Federal District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk  in Amarillo, Texas, ruled the abortion drug Mifepristone was dangerous, even though it was FDA approved more than two decades before.  Kacsmaryk is an avowed “anti-abortion” judge, and the only Federal judge located in Amarillo. As such, his is the target court for those trying to get Federal anti-abortion rulings.  And it worked.  The surprise wasn’t his ruling, but that on appeal the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with him. It brought into question the entire FDA drug approval process.

The case went to the Supreme Court, where the majority ruled to keep the FDA decision in place.  If you are in favor of access to Mifepristone, that’s the good news. But, they also based their ruling on a legal technicality, declaring that the group that brought the case in the first place, “the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine”, failed to prove that they should have standing in the case.  That’s the bad news. Practically, this kept Mefepristone on the market for the moment. But the Court did not get to the basic question of the role of Federal agencies, and they didn’t preclude other groups from raising the question (probably in Amarillo) in a different way.  In the end, the decision only decided that “the Alliance” couldn’t sue, not that the FDA could decide.

What’s a Machine Gun

The other question the Supreme Court decided last week is a technical one:  what is a machine gun.  Again, Congress created an agency, the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Administration in 1972, under the Department of Treasury (taxing all three items).  After 9-11 and the reorganization of the National Security agencies, the regulatory actions were transferred to Homeland Security, while the taxing authority remained in Treasury.  

The Firearms division is responsible for regulating legal guns, and controlling illegal weapons in the United States.   ATF defines generally what is and is not a legal firearm.  But it was back in 1934 that the Congress banned machine guns (and sawed-off shotguns).  What is a machine gun or “sawed-off” shotgun?  That was left to the ATF, just as Mefepristone and other drugs were left to the FDA.  And the ATF has a further restriction, the Second Amendment to the Constitution’s mandate to “the right to bear arms”.  ATF balances that “right” with the reality of advancing gun development (and marketing).

Into the Weeds

Unlike the Mefepristone case, in this one the Supreme Court dove into the technical “weeds” of how does a machine gun work, and what is the actual definition.  In fact, the Court majority ignored the fact the “bump stocks” allowed ninety rounds or more to be fired from a supposedly semi-automatic rifle in a minute.  It was the weapon of choice of the Las Vegas shooter, who killed sixty and wounded over 400 more – that’s one man, shooting over a thousand rounds from one window at a crowded concert venue, in less than ten minutes.

The majority determined that since “technically”, the trigger of the gun was being “pulled” multiple times by the bump stock, it was not “fully” automatic, and therefore did not meet their definition of a machine gun as “…a gun that could fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger”.  It’s the kind of “in the weeds” definition that administrative law is made for, and usually made by agencies just like the ATF.  But, because the Court majority seems so deeply wedded to the supporters of the Second Amendment, they became the “fact” experts as well as the determiners of legality.

Way Out

But the Court gave Congress a “way out”.  Re-define a bump-stock equipped semi-automatic rifle as a machine gun; pass a law saying so, and the Supreme Court, for the moment, might acquiesce.  At least until they decided that the whole process violates the Second Amendment.

That’s not going to happen in Congress this election year.  It certainly isn’t going to happen in the  current era of partisan divide.  And it’s not going to happen in a time when we can so quickly forget the death of so many, so quickly.  So bump-stocks are legal – again.  And everyone can have their own “not” a machine gun that fires ninety shots a minute.

Feel safer?