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Sit on the Files

I wrote an essay the other day about the Trump Administration’s efforts to distract from the Epstein “crisis” (Disturbance in the Force).  There’s not a whole lot more to say about the “meat” of the issue, other than a Wall Street Journal article that Attorney General Pam Bondi notified President Trump that his name was in the “Epstein Files”.  Soon after; Bondi, FBI Director Patel, and FBI Deputy Director and noted conspiracy theorist Dan Bongino issued a two page memo.  They said there was nothing to release.  That report lit MAGA-world on fire, a fire that has yet to be controlled.  The “Epstein Files” story, as the newspaper’s would say, “has legs”.

Everyone in MAGA-world got dragged into this.  Speaker Mike Johnson literally sent the House of Representatives home, rather than have votes on releasing the files.  And when a reporter asked Johnson if he was “afraid” of the Epstein issue, Johnson forcefully responded, and deflected.  He claimed that this was all the Biden Administration’s fault.  He said they had the information and “sat on it”, and Johnson wasn’t going to get mired in “their” mistake.

Mid-Year Exam

So let’s look at what the Department of Justice (DOJ) does, and the recent history of “controversial” cases.  The “traditional” job of Justice, is to investigate and prosecute.  For generations, the Department did NOT “talk” about cases.  As we learned through the Mueller and later Jack Smith; the traditional DOJ “speaks” through indictments and charges filed in Court. In fact, there’s a term for that:  a “speaking indictment”.  

But the current issue begins with the “great exception” to DOJ practices; made in the middle of the 2016 Presidential election campaign.  You probably remember;   the “Benghazi Hearings” revealed that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was using a private email server.  The controversy was: did the use of that server violate Federal Law, by avoiding public record laws, and risking classified information on a “home” server.

The Trump Campaign used it against Clinton:  where are the emails?  And the FBI did a comprehensive investigation into the Clinton emails, code-named “Mid-Year Exam”.  The investigation culminated in an extended interview of Clinton herself, over the Fourth of July weekend of 2016, just weeks before the Democratic Convention.

This was during the Obama Administration, and Loretta Lynch was the Attorney General.  That was an inherent conflict.  While the FBI investigates crimes, they do not make decisions about charging crimes in court.  That is the job of the prosecutors of the DOJ.  But because of obvious politics and an apparent conflict of interest (Lynch spoke with Bill Clinton when both were on the runway of an airport), there was no clear line of authority.  If the head of DOJ couldn’t make the decision to charge Clinton or not, who would?

Comey

The FBI Director, James Comey, was a former Deputy Attorney General (in the George Bush Administration), and a career prosecutor.  After looking at the investigation’s results, he determined that Clinton did not “show an intent” to violate the laws, a critical factor in bringing criminal charges.  And he took it upon himself to determine that no charges would be filed.

But he went farther than that.  DOJ policy says when an investigation is concluded, and no charges are going to be made, that any announcement is limited to saying, “no charges will be filed”.  But Comey felt the need to go into great detail to explain, that while Clinton didn’t commit a criminal offense, she was careless with classified information.  So while she wasn’t charged, she was “convicted” in the world of public opinion.

No one was satisfied with Comey’s actions.  Democrats pointed to DOJ policy.  Republicans pointed to Comey’s “careless” statement.  And, later, when further investigation was required, Comey announced that the investigation was re-opened, days before the Presidential election.  Many, including this author, believe that Comey’s announcement cost Clinton the Presidency (and the United States the Trump Presidencies).

What did the Department of Justice learn from all of that?  Mueller, Jack Smith, and even John Durham let their indictments and final reports speak for their investigations.  That continued into the Biden Administration, where Attorney General Merrick Garland required a strict adherence to DOJ policies.

Nothing to See

Back to Epstein:  he was arrested and charged (and died) under the first Trump Administration.  When Garland took charge, there were no charges to be made, Epstein was dead.  But there were charges filed, and a conviction gained, against Ghislane Maxwell, Epstein’s procurer.  She’s serving twenty years in Federal prison.  The indictments and the conviction “spoke” for the DOJ.

And that policy was used by conspiracy theorists to attack Biden and later Kamala Harris.  They “must be hiding” the Epstein “black book”: the list of all the participants in his child sex parties and tours.  (While whoever is on that list may well have committed crimes, the statute of limitations for those crimes has likely run out).  But the Garland DOJ had nothing to say: no charges, no statements.

So when Trump won the election, many conspiracy theorists were excited.  Finally the “theorists” were in charge:  Patel and Bongino at the FBI and Bondi leading the DOJ.   But now:  “There’s nothing to see here, move along, move along”.   

Unlike Star Wars, no one is moving along.

Merrick Garland followed the policy of the DOJ – no charges, no further statements.  Now Pam Bondi is trying to do the same.  The problem is – she “promised” the “Epstein Files”, over and over and over and over again.  And now, promises made, promises broken.

Friday Night Garbage

There is an old Washington tradition, called “Friday Night Garbage”.  It goes like this:  if you have something distasteful, some situation where you need to make a press statement, but you don’t want any attention paid to it; put it out on Friday after five pm.  It won’t make the Nightly News because it’s too late, and besides, no one pays attention to Friday news anyway. There’s too much else to do.  

Perhaps we should now include the entire weekend in the “Friday Night Garbage” routine, at least when it comes to the Trump Administration.  The President is clearly faced by an existential threat, one that non-MAGA Americans really don’t recognize:  the Epstein Files. (And, if you just saw Hamilton, the Musical, like we did for the sixth time, sing “Epstein Files” like the “Reynolds Pamphlet”.   Maybe we need Joe Biden in full King George regalia dancing across the stage handing out file folders).  

Political Physics

How do we know that Epstein is an “existential threat”?  Politics, like physics, has basic laws.  One of those is the law of action/reaction.  The White House “reaction” to the Epstein situation is so extreme, that the “action” of those files must be pretty serious.  So serious in fact, that Donald Trump is willing to risk the support of his most fervent MAGA followers, rather than give them what he promised:  full access to the files.

Here’s a list of “stuff” that’s “hit the fan” since Friday – mostly from the White House:

•  President Obama accused of treason
• Senator Adam Schiff accused of mortgage fraud
•  300,000 pages of Martin Luther King Jr FBI files “dumped” to public
• Hillary Clinton email investigation now reinvestigated
• Trump threatens to take away Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship
• NPR and PBS defunded at White House request
• Trump demands that professional sports teams in Washington and Cleveland change their names back to racial tropes
• Trump sues Wall Street Journal over Epstein related article for $10 Billion

 (thanks to MSNBC’s Morning Joe for help in categorizing this list).

And besides all of that, the First Amendment battle between the Administration and Harvard University opened up in Court, Stephen Colbert was cancelled by Paramount, and a whole bunch of tariffs were instituted (if you don’t know, check your coffee prices). 

Not Treason

Before we go forward, let’s get one thing clear.   The treason accusation against Obama is based on an “investigation” by Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.  After five previous investigations, including a bipartisan report by the US Senate intelligence committee, the Mueller investigation, the Durham investigation, and an investigation by the Justice Department Inspector General; Gabbard discovered something “new”.  She determined that the intelligence professionals didn’t agree that Russia “hacked” the US elections.

Of course, that’s not what the intelligence said.  It stated that Russia did hack the Democratic National Committee (the stolen emails on Wikileaks). And it did make a concerted effort to back the Trump candidacy on social media.  While there were attempts by Russia to hack actual voting machines, there was no proof  showing an actual impact on the election outcomes. But Gabbard took that last point, and built a “case” saying that Obama altered the intelligence analysis to go after Trump.  That’s not what the Intelligence analysis said (the famous report that Jim Comey presented to Trump in New York prior to his inauguration).  But Gabbard needed a way back into Trump’s good graces. This was her contribution to distract from Epstein. 

MAGA Universe

Let’s go back to “physics” for just a minute.  We know that far-away planetary bodies are often discovered not by being sighted, but by the reaction their gravitational pulls create on known other bodies in space.  The bigger the reaction, the bigger the “hidden” body.  Politics is often the same.  If a “story” is small, then it gets “thrown out” with Friday night “garbage”.  But if it’s bigger, it takes a lot of other distractions to create political cover.  So how big is the “Epstein Files”?

What we can surmise is that whatever involvement Trump has with Epstein is big enough that it’s worth all of this effort.  And keep in mind:  Democrats like President Bill Clinton, Ambassador Bill Richardson, and Senator George Mitchell are already implicated in Epstein’s sordid activities.  On the surface, that’s something that Trump would blast to the world. But he’s holding back.  

And the “Epstein Files” have been a pillar of the MAGA movement since 2020.  It’s all part of the “Deep State” conspiracy, as well as the connection to the QAnon “Democrat Pedophile” canon.  When Attorney General Bondi said, “There’s nothing here”, it created a “disturbance in the force” of the MAGA universe, that can’t be undone.

Two Know

We may never know.  The one other person (not Trump) with direct knowledge of Trump’s involvement is in Federal custody in Florida, serving twenty years.  Ghislane Maxwell remains silent; probably a smart move considering the uncertainty surrounding Epstein’s death in Federal custody. Attorney General Bondi is sending Trump’s trusted lawyer, Todd Blanche, to have a “talk”, soon.

And it’s not like Democrats are all lined up.  Hunter Biden is ripping off the Biden dropping out band-aid one more time.  That’s one more distraction, though probably not in concert with the White House.  But the one thing you can be sure of:  there’s a “there, there” when it comes to Trump and Epstein. 

 What other possible reason would he have to cover it up?

Corruption

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a tummy ache.  It’s so bad, his doctor ordered three days of bed rest.  You’d have a tummy ache too: the Prime Minister is supposed to appear at his own corruption trial.  Unlike the United States President, the Prime Minister of Israel can be  criminally tried while in office. 

And, much like the current US President, Netanyahu used the “immediacy” of his office to stave off the trial for years.  Certainly the ongoing “operations” in Gaza against Hamas were a solid excuse.  As a war leader, the normalcy of “routine criminal prosecution” was upended. And the Israeli government was deep in crisis management mode after the Hama’s terrorist assaults of October 7^th.   But, it’s been an ongoing question both in Israel and the United States:  is a ceasefire in Gaza based on some mutually agreed set of concessions, or are there no concessions worth the risk of Netanyahu’s conviction and imprisonment for corruption?  

Find Another War

It’s not all about the trial.  Netanyahu is also held hostage by his own coalition of far-right factions, interested in clearing all Palestinian lands for Israeli settlement.  If the coalition falls apart, then, Netanyahu would face general election.  Should he lose and fall out of power, then the corruption trial would accelerate.

Even as the reality of Hama’s demise in Gaza became clear, Israeli operations in the region continued.  The cold, hard fact was that the goal became kill every member of Hamas, even if the rest of the Palestinians in the region had to go too.  Thousands of regular Palestinians have been killed for the “crime” of waiting in a food line.

And, as things wound down in Gaza, Israel launched their attack on another terrorist group, this time in Lebanon and Syria.  The unique tactic of exploding pagers decimated Hezbollah membership, and preceded a full-on military assault.  And when that proved to be a resounding success, Israel moved onto to bombing Iran. Even the United States joined in, taking advantage of Israeli decimation of Iranian air defenses to drop the “bunker busting” bombs from B-2 Bombers on Iranian nuclear facilities.

It looked like a political “trifecta” for Netanyahu:  defeat of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.  But the trial loomed over him, a Judaic Justice, Sword of Damocles.  So now Israel is attacking the new Syrian regime, bombing Damascus ostensibly to defend the Druse Syrian minority from persecution.  

Shock in the White House

Even the Trump White House was shocked by that attack, as well as the bombing of a Roman Catholic Church in Gaza.  It took the current Administration almost six months to realize that Russia’s President Putin was “playing them” for time with Ukrainian ceasefire talks.  Now they are recognizing the Netanyahu has his own private agenda as well. 

Some Israelis are taking advantage of the situation:  “striking while the iron is hot”.  And the other major “players” in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt; have their own agendas that align with Israel’s attacks on Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.  They’ve stepped aside from those confrontations, giving Israel full clearance.  And while Israel is already on a war footing, why not take care of “all” the problems?

A Single State Solution

Israel is also busy clearing more Palestinians out of the West Bank, violating existing agreements by building more settlements.  The “two-state” solution, the US backed plan for ultimate Middle East peace that dominated discussion  for almost fifty years, is now as good as gone.  Israelis are creating a single state, Israel, and an occupied territory, the West Bank and Gaza, that will remain under Israeli control.  The US President even wants some “beachfront” in Gaza for a personal luxury hotel.  This “single-state” makes Israel an occupying nation in perpetuity, with all of the negative cultural impacts of subjugating another people.  Israel is becoming a democracy for some, and a military dictatorship for many.

But there is still one essential truth.  Netanyahu faces trial.  Attacks on Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and now Syria only delayed the inevitable.  I guess when you can’t bomb something, it’s time for a “tummy ache”.    

• I awoke last night to the sound of thunder
• How far off, I sat and wondered
• Started humming a song from 1962
• Ain’t it funny how the night moves  – Bob Seger, Night Moves

Dogs (of course)

One of the “joys” of dog ownership is companionship.  Our Yellow Lab Atticus is the extreme example of that.  He isn’t happy unless he’s close by.  Like many rescue dogs he has demons, and  Atticus’s is separation anxiety.  If you’re gone, it’s OK, but if you’re here and out of sight, that’s a different story.  He need to see you, to be around you, to be behind you when you turn around, and to make sure he’s “checked in”.

So, not surprisingly, Atticus sleeps with us.  That’s fine.  On cold nights he’s what my Mother would call a “big hot water bottle”.  On warmer nights he takes up his portion of the end of the bed.  But he usually sleeps through the night, and so do we.

So it was unusual that he was up last night, wandering the bedroom about 1:30.  I am attuned to the sound of dog paws on hardwood floors. So I was awake when he went into my office, and quietly, for him, threw-up.

Kids and dogs:  when they throw-up in the middle of the night there’s “things” to take care of.  And by the time I was done with all of that, I was wide awake.  So I did some middle-of-the-night reading.  And I came across an article/opinion on the Fox News app that completely illustrates the central problem America faces today.  

Hit Piece

In the journalism business it’s called a “hit piece”.  There was no real title, but the sub-title is:  Pearl Project investigation exposes 198 Democratic organizations orchestrating Saturday’s #NoKings demonstrations.  The opinion article  states that someone is trying to “fool” the American public, by calling the movement against the Trump Administration, a “grass roots” movement.  The author, Asra Nomani, is the Founder of the “Pearl Project”. That’s her journalism initiative named after the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered by Al Qaeda in Pakistan while investigating the “shoe bomber” in 2002.  

Nomani links three pivotal progressive leaders to the “NO KINGS DAY” marches that brought millions into the streets to protest Trump:  Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, and Leah Greenberg, founder of Indivisible (the major organizing group behind NO KINGS).  She claims that while all three were triumphing the clear success of NO KINGS DAY, they failed to note the underlying political involvement of…wait for it… the Democratic Party!!!!

Tax Exempt

Here’s what she said:

“According to new research by the Pearl Project, the #NoKings protest is being organized by an estimated 198 groups, all of which are aligned with the Democratic Party and many of which claim tax-exempt, “nonpartisan” nonprofit status. Collectively, these groups take in $2.1 billion in annual revenues”.

She goes on to enumerate some of those organizations, dividing them by their tax status.  And Nomani says, over and over again, that many of them are listed as 501c3, the IRS status that allows non-profit organizations to avoid paying taxes.  They are designated “charitable”.  As part of that status,  they: 

 “…are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office” (IRS).  

The article implies that she “caught them” violating the tax code:  GOTCHA!!!

Exception

What the author fails to note, is that there is a second section to the tax statute, the “exceptions” section.  

“Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances.  For example, certain voter education activities (including presenting public forums and publishing voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity.” (IRS).

So, one could argue, that the “NO KINGS” marches were “voter education”, or simply expressing their opinions.  And besides, nothing about “NO KINGS” was a political campaign.  President Trump is the President, until 2028, and will not run another campaign.  In fact, there are no candidates or opponents for 2028, to intervene in, yet.  So, for all those 501c3’s, their tax status remains safe.

Nomani also failed to mention that such familiar right-wing political action groups as the Heritage Foundation, the Claremont Foundation, and Hillsdale College, all involved in Project 2025 and electing Donald Trump, are also 501c3’s.  

Radicals

But she does go on to explain all of her work to link “progressive” groups to radical Islam.

“The groups include several organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace and Sarsour’s MPower Change Action Fund, that represent the unholy alliance of Islamist sympathizers and leftists who have fueled fiery protests against the existence of the state of Israel, following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israelis. I’ve identified 1,500 groups in the anti-Semitism protest industry.”

It’s all an “unholy alliance” of radical groups, trying to upend the Trump Administration.  She even drags in the name of a “tycoon”, Neville Roy Singham, who she says funded Chinese Communist propaganda.  While she can’t find a connection to “NO KINGS” or other Resistance activities, she says: “While Singham doesn’t yet appear to have his fingerprints directly on the #NoKings protest, the ideological DNA is the same.”  Or, another way of saying it is she ain’t got a connection.  His name is just in there to say “Chinese Communist Party!!!!”

Silos

Surprise:  there were lots of organizations involved in the incredibly successful “NO KINGS” marches.  How do you think millions of Americans got the word to go to the streets and demonstrate?  Surprise again:  a lot of those groups were political.  And final surprise (shh):  some of them were Democrats!!!

What’s the point?  If all you read (or see, or listen to) is Fox News, you now have ABOSOLUTE PROOF that this is all a vast conspiracy, of unions, Democrats, Islamic radicals, Chinese Communists, to violate tax laws and overthrow the US Government!!!  No wonder you worry about how poor, poor President Trump can survive.  How can all of the foolish protestors be fooled?  Either Democrats are evil, or they are so, so, naïve.  

That’s what life looks life from the “Fox” silo of information.  By the way, the Pearl Project is a 501c3 as well.

It took quite a while to go back to sleep.  

Take A Hint

Monday, after nearly six months of stalling, President Trump finally figured it out.  All of his “pleasant and wonderful” conversations with Russia’s President Putin failed to move the needle on a Russian/Ukrainian ceasefire (earlier essay; Sir, May I Have Another).  And, despite Trump’s obvious disdain for Ukrainian President Zelenskyy (earlier essay, Stratego or Risk), even Donald Trump got it.  Every time he had his “pleasant” conversation with “dear old Vlad”, it was followed by cities in Ukraine being destroyed by missile and drone attacks.  The “nicer” the conversation, the more severe the attack. 

As the saying goes, “A girl can take a hint”.  And finally, so did Trump.  Monday the President arranged for highly advanced defensive weaponry to be quickly sent to Ukraine.  For the first time, Trump seems, at least a little bit, to be willing to treat Ukraine as an “equal” party in the war, and in his efforts to effect a ceasefire.  

Ukraine Needs

It’s a very, very, Trumpian kind of deal.  He says he isn’t sending the weapons to Ukraine, but to the other NATO nations in Europe.  And he’s not giving the weapons away, he expects full payment:  good for the American defense industry.  But everyone in this “game of telephone” knows who is on the other end.  We sell Patriot Missile Systems to Germany, and the weapons will “skip the middle-man” and go straight to Ukraine.  So the US is charging our own allies for supporting the Ukrainians against Russian aggression.  

But it’s exactly what Zelenskyy needs.  The Russian mass bombing campaign is brutal, targeting mostly civilians.  And the war on the ground is stalemated:  more of a World War I trench warfare situation (As retired Four-Star General Barry McCaffery said, another Battle of Verdun), than World War II’s more ranging tank battles.  As things currently stand; Russia is ultimately the winner in a battle of attrition.  That is, unless NATO, both the European members and the United States, continue to supply Ukraine with offensive weapons, and the means to stop Russian attacks on their cities.

Apple of Putin’s Eye

And that’s what the President of the United States is doing.  Sure, US companies will make their “blood money” in the deal.  And Trump gave Putin a fifty-day grace period to come to “the table”.  After that, Trump promises sanctions designed to wreck the Russian economy, 100% 
“tariffs” on Russian oil (one of the few things they have left to sell).  What really happens in fifty days remains to be seen; after all, there have been tariff deadlines come and go for weeks, and little changed.

But it’s a start, a far cry from February.  It seemed that Trump was negotiating FOR the Russians at that time, and with little interest in the invaded nation.  Except, of course, for Ukraine’s “rare earth” products.  Trump wanted ALL of them.

And for the rest of NATO, it’s a big sigh of relief.  Their greatest threat is an aggressive Russia, pressing borders and demanding concessions.  Trump said that Ukraine is the “apple of Putin’s eye”, but the rest of the former Soviet Union can’t be too far behind.  Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia would be next, with Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe not far behind.  If Putin is willing to start another large-scale European War, the NATO allies would much rather fight it in Ukraine, than on the beaches, streets, fields and hills of their own countries.  

Meat Grinder

Putin’s war with Ukraine just got harder.  Trump, a proven admirer of the Russian dictator, is more than willing to give him all of the “normalcy” he wants:  a place at the table in the world economy, a market for Russian oil and gas, an opportunity to take Russia out of the economic stranglehold the war with Ukraine has put them in.  And, of course, the chance to get out of the bloody meat grinder of Ukraine, already estimated to cost 250,000 dead and another 750,000 wounded Russian soldiers (CNN).

So it all comes down to what Putin really wants.  He can have a “normal” economy, with “normal” trade and a “normal” life for most regular Russians.  Or he can continue to wage this war of conquest, with the specter of World War III lurking in the background.  And his nation will remain an economic pariah, cut off from most of the normal intercourse with the rest of the world.

We will soon see if Putin is the cold decision-making KGB Colonel we all have heard about, or if he is next Czar of a Russian Empire we all fear.  Will he give up his dream of a new “Soviet Union”, for the good of the world, and the Russian people he has fed into the meat grinder of East Ukraine?  Or, now with the US grudgingly picking up its share of the fight, will Putin make the cold decision to do what’s right for his own people, and the world, and come to the table?

It’s the Colonel’s call.

Structural Scheme

So, a long time ago, I promised myself that I wouldn’t get into the Jeffrey Epstein stuff.  It’s too salacious, and too irrelevant to the real damage Trump is doing to our Nation, to spend much time on.  But, from my standpoint, you’ve got to love the imbroglio Trump’s henchmen find themselves in now.  They promised for years to reveal the “Epstein Files”.  They dangled names of Trump opponents like Bill Clinton as “click-bait” to build their careers; podcast flame-throwers like Dan Bongino, Alex Jones, and Charlie Kirk.

The “Epstein rumors” fit nicely into the “structural scheme” of the founding ideology of the far-right QAnon group.  They always “knew” there was pedophilia going on among those “elite” Democrats.  If the kids weren’t in the basement of that pizza shop in Washington, then maybe there were all on Epstein’s island.  And, “of course”, that’s where the “adrenochrome” came from, the magic elixir made from the “stolen blood harvested from youth”.  This all goes farther back then QAnon.  It’s part of the  ancient anti-Semitic tropes, pivoted to attack Democrats and liberals.  Epstein was Jewish, so that all balances out nicely. 

Promises Made

Finally we would find it all out, now that Trump was President, and Bondi Attorney General, and Patel Director of the FBI, and Bongino himself now an FBI Assistant Director.  Trump, Bondi, Patel, Bongino all promised to reveal the “the truth”.  That is — until they didn’t.  On the Saturday evening of the Fourth of July holiday (when they hoped no one was listening); The Department of Justice issued an unsigned memo, saying, essentially, “never mind”.  There is no list, there’s no coverup or conspiracy of silence.  As Obi Won Kenobi says: “There’s no droids to see here, move along, move along”.

We know that’s not true either.  There has to be a file as long as my arm on Epstein.  Interviews, tapes, evidence gathered (like the plane passenger log).  And then there’s Ghislaine Maxwell, the literal keeper of whatever list there is, still alive.  She’s a “guest” of the Federal government, the Justice Department the Trump cohort controls, for the next twenty years.   She’s even in an honors dorm in Tallahassee Federal Prison, with a near-private room (Tallahassee Democrat).  Why isn’t Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, making a “deal” with Maxwell, say a year off for every ten names.  It just seems so logical.

Known, Knowns

There is a list of names, of those who trifled with under-age women provided by Jeffrey Epstein.  The FBI had to compile one to have a case, first against him, then against Maxwell.  We even know some names on it:  like Prince Andrew the son of Queen Elizabeth, and Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Professor and attorney to Donald Trump.  Of course, Dershowitz claimed he “only” got down to his underwear.  No private parts (or under-aged parties) involved with him; just an “old Russian woman” he told us (Above the Law).

Bondi is treating all Americans, but particularly her fans in MAGA-world, like they are stupid.  Trump is letting her do it. And there’s only one logical reason that I can think of for the “Obi-Won treatment”.  Somebody’s name is on that “list”, a named participant; that Trump doesn’t want released. 

Kompromat

Now you can infer anything you want.  Is Trump on the list?  Maybe, though I think he’s smarter than to get drawn into underage kids.  But think of the great “kompromat” (compromising material) the investigative report is to whoever has control of it.  The “302’s”, those written reports by FBI agents, would rival the legendary J. Edgar Hoover files that kept him as Director of the FBI for forty-seven years.  No one knew what Hoover knew.  The inferred power of that information protected his directorship through eight different Presidencies.  Only death itself could remove him from office.

Joe Biden (or Kamala Harris) never promised us Epstein’s files, or who killed President Kennedy, or what’s going on at Area 51.  But Trump did.  And while there probably is nothing new about the assassination, and Area 51 really needs to remain secret, clearly there is stuff about Epstein.  I don’t personally care about it:  any charges against “participants” are far past the statute of limitations.  But  I do think it’s interesting that the “Trump folks” have now decided to pretend there’s nothing to see here.  

They are not very good a governing.  They seem to be even worse at covering up.  

Aliens

“They” say, the United States is being invaded. This isn’t just Trumpian rhetoric. It’s a pivotal legal argument behind many of the anti-migrant actions of the Department of Homeland Security.  They cite the Alien Act of 1798 (the John Adams’ Administration) as the legal basis for rounding up non-citizen documented residents, legally in the US,  and deporting them from the country.  The Alien Act allows the President:

 “…to order all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or shall have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to depart out of the territory of the United States…” (National Archives).

Just a little historic background.  In 1798 the new United States was on the verge of war with France. But, more importantly, it was immersed in internal political turmoil.   The governing party, the Federalists led by President John Adams, favored Great Britain.  They knew that the nation was still dependent on trade with their former King.  The British were already at war with France (again), and Adams wanted to maintain commerce, particularly in New England. 

The opposition party, the Democratic-Republicans led by Vice President Thomas Jefferson, were sympathetic to the republican goals of the French revolutionaries.  After all, a lot of their revolutionary principles were copied from America’s documents, including Jefferson’s own Declarations.   They also felt beholden to the American/French Revolutionary alliance against the British.

Adam’s Critics

Adams wanted to be “rid” of the constant criticism he was getting in the Democratic-Republican newspapers and pamphlets.  And there was also an absolute question for the new nation (born only twenty-two years before): who was a citizen?  

Originally, the Articles of Confederation (the precursor to the US Constitution) “passed the buck” to the states to determine citizenship. 

Article IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different states in this union, the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from Justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states;  (National Archives).

So the states decided, and the Nation accepted the legal actions of each state.  However, when the new United States Constitution took effect in 1788,  Congress passed a more uniform definition of becoming a citizen – the Naturalization Act of 1790 (and 1795):

…any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided withing the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen… (Mount Vernon).

Fourteen Years

But two years wasn’t enough for the beleaguered Adams’ Federalists. They felt that “new” migrants were overwhelming supporting their political rivals, the Democratic-Republicans.  So in 1798, they changed the naturalization rules again. This time, it took fourteen years of residence in the United States (almost back to the end of the American Revolution). 

…he shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, five years, at least, before his admission, and shall, at the time of his application to be admitted, declare and prove, to the satisfaction of the court having jurisdiction in the case, that he has resided within the United States fourteen years… (Naturalization Act of 1798).

That gave Adams a lot more latitude to “remove” (under the Alien Act) those ugly voices who were constantly criticizing him.  He used the threat of war to  deal with his “political” problem. And he used citizenship and deportation as a threat to stifle his opponents.  

What’s the Threat?

It is that same “threat of war”; the so-called “invasion” of undocumented migrants, that the Trump Administration is using to round-up long-time US residents today.   They are also using the Alien Act to remove legal residents who exercise their First Amendment right to criticize the government. The Administration claims that those are,  “…now dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States”.

But what is the real threat of undocumented migrants?  The vast majority of migrants are working, contributing, taxpaying members of American society.  Certain industries, including agriculture, construction, food processing, hotels and restaurants; are highly dependent on migrant labor.  And studies shows that the crime rate among the undocumented is far below the rate of “regular” citizens (US House ). 

Great Replacement Theory

Imbedded deep in the “lore” of far-right America, is the concept of the “Great Replacement Theory” (Forum).  A section of the political right believe that the existence of long-term undocumented migrants in the United States is a mortal “political danger” to the MAGA-Republican Party (much as migrants threatened John Adams’ Federalists).  

It starts with this fact: in the next two decades, white people in the United States will become a minority. (Texas A&M).  This is “exacerbated” by the undocumented migrants. They are living in the United States and having children with what’s called “birthright citizenship”. That is the legal principle (14^th Amendment) that anyone born in the United States is legally a US citizen.  The issue isn’t that the undocumented are voting.  All the legitimate studies of voting show that US elections are incredibly safe and accurate (Brennan).  But the children of the undocumented ARE LEGAL CITIZENS, and can vote.

And MAGA-world thinks they are going to vote for Democrats. (Just like Adams thought new citizens were voting for the Democratic-Republicans).  Put bluntly:  when the Tucker Carlson’s of the world see “brown people”, they see Democrats, and the end of their political power.  And they are doing something about it.

The Cure

Closing the border,  Gestapo-like sweeps of undocumented migrants, mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship and most importantly, terror and intimidation all have a point.  It hopes to stave off the inevitable statistical fact:  white people will soon be a minority in the United States. So, instead of transitioning the Republican Party to be more diversified and attractive to the coming, non-white majority (as was recommended in the Republican “Autopsy of the 2012 Presidential Election”–ABC), Steven Miller and the 2025 crowd want literally to “maintain” the white face of American politics.

All of the heinous actions of the last six months are their “cure” for their so-called “I see brown people” disease.

The MAGA-2025 guys (and they definitely are guys, white “bros”) are standing on a beach, ordering the tide to stop.  And they are willing to change the essential freedoms of America to save their “vision”,  keep their feet dry, and maintain their own political future.  That’s the basic concern too many Americans overlooked in the 2024 election, as we got bogged down in the price of eggs or the mental health of two late septuagenarians.   Too many Americans missed the point – democracy was on the line.

I hope we’ll get another chance to “cure” that mistake in 2026. 

Relax

Last night I came home from a meeting, hungry and hoping to relax before bed.  So, I ate a bowl of Skyline Chili (after all, I am a born and bred Cincinnatian), and sat down to catch up on the world.  First was an hour of political commentary. It explained how the Trump Administration nominated  thirty year-old Paul Ingressia, a  “ride or die” Trumper, to head the Office of Special Counsel.  What does the Office of Special Counsel do?  Primarily, the job is to protect “whistleblowers”, members of the Federal government who call out wrong-doing in their own agencies.

The Trump Administration is on a continual witch-hunt for the self-same “whistleblowers”. They want to silence the consistently critical attacks of Trump’s riding roughshod over Federal law and procedure.  Appointing Ingressia isn’t putting “the fox in the chicken coop”:  this is sending the chickens to the fox for protection.  

So that wasn’t particularly relaxing.

Top Gun

Then, after all of our “usual” Thursday night shows were reruns, I decided to join a movie, “in progress”.  I dropped into the second half of Top Gun, Maverick, the twenty years later sequel to the original blockbuster, Top Gun.  It’s a movie about redemption.  Maverick, played by Tom Cruise, is a hot-shot test pilot whose program is cut.  He faces retirement from the Navy, until he is saved by his friend and commander, Iceman.  The nation needs a special assignment with a special leader, and Maverick is the only man to do it.

The plot line is a variation on the original Top Gun.  But this time, there’s a rogue nation, enriching uranium in a deep, underground facility.  The only way to prevent this nation from gaining a nuclear weapon is to destroy the heavily guarded secret base.  And the Navy is tasked with sending a squad of carrier launched F-18’s to strategically place the bombs down a ventilation shaft. They have to fly an impossible corridor, then hit a target about the size of a refrigerator. But that’s the only way to destroy the complex.

In fact, the first attack opens the shaft, and the second attack drops bombs down the shaft to destroy the facility.  

Precision Bombing

It’s a carefully planned assault. Additional cruise missiles are launched to take out as much of the opposition weaponry as possible.  And it’s a precision strike with special weapons.  If you’re into aircraft carriers, dog fights at supersonic speeds, and Tom Cruise “macho”, it’s a pretty good movie.  But last night I watched it with a whole new perspective.

Do you think President Trump watched the movie?  How about Pete Hegseth, another “Bro” (along with young Mr. Ingressia) who seems to be over his head as Defense Secretary?  Because the attack on “the foe” in Top Gun, Maverick, seems oddly in line with the US attack on Iran just a few weeks ago.

Even the terminology was similar:   size of a refrigerator, two bombs to open the door, two bombs to destroy the facility. The US and a highly organized precision attack.  Sure, there wasn’t the drama of Americans shot down over enemy territory. No one stole an old F-14 (just like in the original Top Gun).  But is fiction mimicking fact, or did the Trump Administration take fiction and try to make it factual?

Drama

We know that Trump and his political handlers are all about “the drama”.  In fact, in my opinion, Donald Trump is the President of the United States because of their adept use of the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. Before that attack, Trump and Biden were “even” in the polling, despite Biden’s poor showing in their only debate.  But, after the drama, the raised fist over the blood-stained face, “Fight-Fight-Fight”, and the carefully staged Trump “resurrection” at the Republican Convention (remember the Trump kiss of the fire helmet?); it was clear the entire Presidential race was altered.  Biden dropped out a few days later.

In fact, the Trump folks were terribly annoyed after the attack, that the media attention turned to whether the enriched uranium was actually destroyed.  I think they were looking for the celebration scene on the flight deck, this time with crowds raising the B-2 bomber crews after their thirty hour mission half-way around the world and back.  Trump followed Director Joseph Kosinski’s lead; from precision bombing (the refrigerator) to the cruise missile distractions, to the most advanced bombers in the real world,“Bat-Wing” B-2.  

Awake

But they somehow didn’t get the popular results they expected.  It wasn’t “just like” the movie.

What really concerns me is this.  If the administration is taking their cues from popular movies, what’s the next “act” going to be?  They already are following the plot of the TV show, Twenty-Four, ignoring the law for the “greater good”.  Are we playing out in real time one of the “middle” Star Wars movies, where the Empire seems inevitable and the Jedi Knights are vanquished?  Or is this some darker sequel, more of a Manchurian Candidate kind of thing?  

I didn’t relax much.  And it wasn’t the chili that kept me awake.

Talk

President Trump had a “conversation” with President Putin of Russia on Saturday.  From what we can gather, Trump tried to persuade Putin to join Ukraine in a ceasefire.  Putin didn’t give Trump a definitive answer on the phone, other than saying Russia hadn’t achieved their war goals yet.  After they hung up the call, Putin launched one of the largest drone and missile attacks of the war on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.  Those attacks haven’t let up.  Last night, Kyiv was attacked again:  700 drones and missiles tried to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.

Trump voiced his frustration with Putin’s actions, but his response to continuing mass attacks on Ukraine is just words.  And when asked why his Defense Secretary held up weapons shipments to Ukraine, he feigned ignorance.  At least, let’s hope he “feigned” it.  Because if the President of the United States really didn’t know that his own military was holding up weapons to the beleaguered nation, that’s a whole different issue.  Trump’s foreign policies are difficult enough to follow, without the inexperienced Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, going “rogue”.  

Bully

For a number of years I was the Dean of Students of a high school.  One of the most difficult parts of the job was dealing with “bullies”.  It sounds like it should be easy:  find the bully, and remove him or her (yes, her, sometimes the hardest cases).  But it was often not that clear cut, with blame enough to go around.  And, the normal “first punch” rule didn’t necessarily apply, since the victim was often the one who finally responded with force.  

Parents expected that their complaints would be immediately resolved. We tried.  We used “progressive discipline”: each offense earned a more serious penalty, until a crisis was reached.  To frustrated adults, all “the talk” was a waste of time. It enabled their child to be bullied even more.  They wanted action.  And they blamed the school if something wasn’t done, right now.  

Sometimes “the talk” really did work, and bullying ended at the lowest level.  But when it didn’t, things often got ugly.  My toughest phone conversations were with parents convinced we weren’t doing enough.  They thought we were “being played” by the bully, or his parents.

Take a Stand

At the end of the “progression”, I had to take a stand.  The “bully” was removed from the scene.  And if it was beyond the school, especially as social media bullying became more prevalent, then the local police and Courts were included in the solution.  When we ended up in Court, it was important to be able to show all the steps we tried, everything we did before we finally removed the bully from school.   

Because for some “bullies”, words were useless.   Whatever made them want to harass another student was so much more important to them than anything the school administration could do. They wouldn’t stop.  And, from the Dean of Student’s office, nothing was more frustrating than “just talk”, talk that didn’t work.  It felt helpless, like the poor fraternity pledge in the old movie “Animal House”, bending over in his underwear, waiting for the paddle, then saying “Thank You Sir, may I have another”.  (An historic note: it was Kevin Bacon’s first movie role).

Leader of the Free World

There’s a vision:  Putin with the paddle, and Donald Trump asking for another.  Every phone call where Trump asks for “peace”, Putin returns with an increased attack on Ukraine.  The only problem is, it’s not Trump that taking the “blow”. It’s the good people of Ukraine.  And instead of the United States, at least, providing more defensive weapons to stop the attacks, our “Defense Bro” Secretary is holding up the shipments.  

And maybe that’s the real Trump strategy.  Let Russia attack and let Ukraine suffer so that their President Zelenskyy will “give up”, and accept both the Russian incursions and US demands for “rare earth”.   I think that’s a terrible plan. It’s likely to give Russia “permission” to bully the other nations that once were part of the Soviet Union. But at least it would be “a plan”. 

Because right now it looks like the Trump Administration is just bending over in its collective underwear, waiting for  “Pledge Master” Putin to give Ukraine another.  That’s an incredibly weak look, for the “leader of the free world”.

Be Afraid

Ask most Ohio public school teachers if they’re worried about  state support for public education, and you’ll get a frightened nod. For those “old veterans” with twenty or more years in the classroom, you might get an even louder “YES”.  And there are good reasons to think the State of Ohio (the General Assembly and the Governor) believe that public education ISN’T the solution to teaching Ohio’s children. They seem to be doing everything to help it fail.

It all starts with Ohio’s State Constitution.  Article VI, Section 2 states:

“The General Assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, as with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state; but no religious or other sect, or sects, shall every have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state” (emphasis added).

Battle Lines

Even in the legal language of the 1850’s the meaning seems pretty clear.  The General Assembly (the legislature) WILL do two things.  First, set up a common (public) school system, or systems, throughout the state.  And second, that system will not be based on a religion.  Clearly while religious schools can exist, they cannot control any part of the public school funds.

There is a Constitutional mandate for public schools, and a Constitutional prohibition against using public funds for religious or “sects” schools.  It’s just that simple. 

The Numbers

But here in Ohio, it’s not that simple at all.  There are 609 individual school districts in Ohio.  The five smallest districts in Ohio have under 200 students.  But  the largest school districts in the state are:

Student Pop.         School District*

• 47000                    Columbus
• 34500                    Cincinnati
• 33200                    Cleveland 
• 24100                    Olentangy  (suburban Columbus – North)
• 22000                    South-Western (suburban Columbus – Southwest)
• 21300                    Toledo
• 20000                    Akron
• 17400                    Lakota (suburban Cincinnati – North)
• 17000                    Dublin  (suburban Columbus – Northwest)
• 16300                    Hilliard (suburban Columbus – West).

            *Source – Ohio Department of Education

Maybe the issue for Republican state leaders is that five of the top ten school districts (and the three largest) are from primarily Democratic areas.  And since the Legislature and Governor are committed to gerrymandering the state as Republican as possible, the students of those districts are dramatically unrepresented.  

Black and White

Or maybe the issue is about “urban” versus “rural”.  The State Assembly is dominated by members from rural areas of the state.  The Governor himself grew up in a rural village.  The problems of urban school districts are “alien” to their “small town” upbringing:  they don’t relate.

And this clash of backgrounds includes inherent racism.  The urban districts, Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron (and Dayton farther down the list) are 75% or more minority.  Even the “suburban” school districts in the top ten are 35% to 50% minorities. (For comparison:  I taught in the Southwest Licking School District, 64^th largest with 4890 students, and 29% minorities, and went to high school in the Wyoming School District, 224^th largest with 1880 students and 25% minority) (ODE).

Most of the decision makers in the Assembly and the Governor’s office went to schools that were overwhelmingly white.  

Follow the Money

88.6% of Ohio’s school children go to public schools.  Of the remaining kids, 8.8% go to private schools, and 2.7% are home-schooled (Policy Matters).   The Ohio state government spends about $8 Billion a year on public schools.  But the State is also spending over $1 Billion for private schools, including religious and “sect” schools, as part of a “voucher” program.  That’s over 10% of the state money that goes to education (Signal).  And if that “sounds” like a violation of the State Constitution, Article VI, Section 2:  it is.  A Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge ruled that a couple of weeks ago (Ohio Capital Journal).

That 10% could make a big difference to public schools. It’s a billion dollars of all Ohio taxpayers money going to private, often religious, schools.  But Common Pleas is the lowest court in the Ohio hierarchy, with the Appeals Court and the Supreme Court to go.  The Supreme Court, now six Republicans (including the Governor’s son) and one Democrat, may ignore the Constitutional language to further their political agenda.  They’ve done it before.

Wild Wild West

Ohio has been called  the “Wild, Wild West” of nearly unregulated private schooling.  There are 1355 private schools, and another 330 Charter schools in the state.  Those schools not only spend private money, now they are using state voucher money without supervision.  The most egregious example was the online school, ECOT, which fraudulently took over $117 million in public school money.  It was closed in 2018. But, the owner of ECOT, William Lager, made large political contributions to legislative leaders. He was never charged with any crimes.

ECOT is gone, (and Lager retired to his out-of-state mansion) but the financial bonanza for private schools continues here.  And state leaders continue to benefit financially from them.  Even the public school teacher retirement system is “fair game”. 

 Elected reformers wanted to change the almost $20 billion in pension investments (out of a total of $96 Billion) going into “private equity” firms to more transparent public investments. But, the State Assembly in a “midnight addition” last month, completely changed the System’s governance board.  The elected seven to four reform member majority, will soon be seven reformers to eight appointees of the state government, and ultimately eight to only three elected representatives of those who paid into the system.   The private equity firms are big political contributors too (The Fix Is In).

Rolling Back

The State Assembly has more “fish to fry” for the public schools. While the state provides a significant amount of public school budgets, most funding comes from local property and income taxes. Republican leaders want to change those as well. In the last state budget, provisions to cut back on the “inside millage”, the non-voted taxes schools could depend on, were enacted. In addition, the Assembly wants schools to stop “saving money” for future years, ordering money in excess of 30% of the district’s budget returned to the taxpayers.

Even Governor DeWine thought that was too much. He vetoed those provisions from the budget. But the Ohio Assembly is so gerrymandered, that it is technically “veto proof”. The Republicans have enough votes to override DeWine’s objections, and are seriously considering doing so. That’s just another “hit”against public education.

What’s Going Down

And all of this doesn’t include the innumerable legislative mandates placed on public education in the past two decades.  State mandated testing superseded grades as the prime determinate for graduation, and now is a critical part of teacher evaluation as well.   Do teachers “teach to the test”?  They sure do, because their jobs depend on it.  Is that “good education”?  Of course not, but it is an artificial measure that schools with lower economic students are likely to fail.  And since they don’t “pass the tests”; well that’s a great reason to stop spending money on them, according to the Assembly. Send it to the private schools.

And what’s really happening in the private schools?  They can teach what they want, whatever religious regulations they believe, because, after all, they’re private.  And since many of those schools align with the Christian conservatism of the legislative and executive leadership of the state; that works out fine for everyone.

Except, of course, for most taxpayers, public schools, public school students, and public school teachers.  They’re left “holding the bag” as money and power flow to the influential few who control the purse.  Public school teachers aren’t “paranoid”, they aren’t “making it up”.   Ohio is a state that finances private education.  Ohio spend taxpayers money, mine and yours, to further religion.  It’s leaving public education, and educators, behind.  And the folks in the State House want it that way.

Story Time

It’s been a while since I’ve written a “real” Sunday Story.  Over the eight years of “Our America” there’s been literally thousands of essays about politics.  But sprinkled throughout those years there have been “stories” that aren’t about foreign affairs or political machinations or Constitutional theories.  They’re just about experiences in my life; what my classes in the “old days” would call “story time”.  Maybe at the end of the tale, I would find  a way back to the “lesson plan”, but often it was just to pull the group together: sixth graders, eighth, freshmen or seniors; to that time when history was simply “his” story (and of course “her” story as well!!).

There’s a long list of those stories at the end of this essay; about dogs, cars, kidnappings, track, hiking, travel and just life.  So, after a long sabbatical (a Sunday reference) from Story Time here’s an actual, non-political, Sunday “Story”. Even more, it’s on an actual Sunday.

Long Covid

Friday was the Fourth of July.  Here in Pataskala, in the “modern age” of unrestricted fireworks sales, our house was in the middle of a “war zone”.  There were rockets to the East, Boomers to the West, Screamers to the South, and even Spinners to the North.  And it wasn’t off in the distance, downtown Columbus fireworks.  All of these were within a couple hundred feet, and all were going off at the same time.

I think that’s a “habit” (or practice) our town picked up during Covid of 2020, when the “4^th of July” was cancelled.  Crowds weren’t allowed to gather, even the local teams played to empty stadiums.  But, the good folks of Pataskala weren’t having it.   And with a Fireworks store just down the road in Kirkersville, many spent thousands of dollars, their “Covid Relief Money”, to put on their own demonstration of Independence.  To be honest, I don’t think it was legal then, but the local police didn’t seem to care.   

And, in one way, that is a great way to celebrate Independence.  Americans, in small family and neighborhoods groups, firing off rockets to proclaim personal independence as well as National “freedom”.  To stand in our front yard and simply “spin” was exciting, as was the smoke of spent gunpowder, and probably the smell as well, though that sense is lost to me – thanks to Covid of 2021. 

Rocket’s Red Glare

But Fireworks, at least close to home, aren’t really enjoyable anymore.  With our four dogs, we always had one or two that got unnerved by the “swish-bomb”, and particularly the  Boomers.  And now, that’s changed for the worse.  While Atticus, our Yellow Lab really could care less (“I’m a gun dog, Dad”), the other three hit panic mode when there’s even a single loud pop.  So Friday night in the middle of the “war zone”, Jenn and I were fully engaged in dog psycho-therapy.  At first, we had the TV up as loud as possible on the New York City, Macys Fireworks.  And even though it was the picture of fireworks over the soundtrack of music (“…It’s up to you, New York, NEW YORK!!”)  they still could hear the “…bombs bursting in air”, just outside the windows.  

Lou was barking, Keelie’s eyes were white-rimmed, and poor CeCe did nothing but shake.  Finally, about 11:30pm, the roar subsided and the dogs relaxed.  We all fell asleep together to old re-runs of NCIS.

Topless

This year, Ohio went from a cold, wet spring, to the height of August Summer.  There wasn’t a lot of “preliminary warmup” days:  it was cool damp sixties one weekend, and mid-eighties the next.  In June that just kept going, with day after day of ninety plus temperatures.  Maybe it’s global warming (whoops, that’s climate change now) or maybe it’s being sixty-eight years old and the heat is more bothersome.  But it’s really hot.

Hot enough that I’ve dismantled the Jeep.  The top’s down, and  the doors, side curtains, and windows are all in the garage.  I even bought new side mirrors so I can actually see what’s happening on the highway when I change lanes!  It’s hot out, but there’s nothing like sixty-mile an hour “air conditioning” in an open Jeep, my foot posted on the door frame.  

Jeep Memory

I’ve been a Jeep guy for thirty-one years, and there’s all sorts of memories around them.  I wanted a Jeep for a long time.  But buying one was always a “luxury” that I didn’t want to afford.  It wasn’t until I was almost forty that I finally broke down and bought one.  It was more the  mid-career paycheck, than a mid-life crisis.  It was a basic Wrangler, the rearview mirror, back seat, and radio all were “extras”.  But once I drove it in the summer with the top off, I was hooked.  That Jeep lasted  fifteen years.  It’s still a “toy” in a garage of a friend now, looking better than ever.

So I’m on Jeep Two, this one now over two decades old, even eligible for “Historic” plates.  And there was one friend who enjoyed that stripped down Jeep even more than I did.  I coached with Chuck Eastham for a decade back in the 1990’s.  Chuck was a Marine Veteran, an eighteen year old who went to Vietnam and came back with a lifetime of memories. As we found out on team “road trips”,  many of those memories still haunted him in the night.  But riding in the Jeep, with his foot on the door frame, always brought back a smile, the skinny eighteen-year old in a government Jeep going where he pleased.

Summer Heat

One last summer heat memory came back in full force this week.  I spent the afternoon cutting grass.  While I do most of the mowing on an old John Deere lawn tractor, there are still sections of the yard that require push mowing.  Jenn wants me to buy a new, self-propelled push mower.  But we’ve got a perfectly fine, old one. Well, not perfectly fine.  The self-propulsion gizmo gave up in the early twenty teens, and the oil drain plug is frozen solid.  But it starts, it  runs, and it cuts.  You just have to do some pushing.

So after a couple of hours of mowing at ninety degrees, there’s nothing in this world like the first sip of a cold beer.  That is, unless the last sip last night was the last beer in the “garage fridge”.  Then, it’s jump in the Jeep, and go find more.

I went across the street to the gas station and walked into their “beer cave”.  It’s a walk-in cooler with all sorts of beer stacked up, a great idea since they need to store cases of beer anyway.  And when I stepped inside, a whole load of memories opened up.

Team Camp

When I was coaching cross country, we took the teams to Camp Falling Rock in August.  It was a whole lot of summer sun running in the hills of eastern Licking County.  The conditioning was important, but the biggest part of the “team camp” was becoming a team.  That happened on the long runs, out on narrow dirt-gravel roads. And it happened as they struggled up “Techniglas Hill”, or the climb on the dirt path from lower camp to our cabins on the upper camp.  

And the team also “bonded”  in the kitchen, as each class prepared their “meal” for the rest of the team.  By the time we left Falling Rock, we all had shared experiences, suffering in the heat, cooking in the kitchen, play “combat” capture the flag in the night, sitting telling stories around a campfire.  It was a “rite of passage” of Watkins Cross Country, from the time we started in 1996.  It still is today.

But one of the “perks” of being the coach, was that  at some point on those hot days, after the tough runs, you had to step into the walk-in cooler to get the food out for dinner.  And nothing felt as good as inhaling twenty-four degree air after sweating through a ninety degree run.  It was an instant of pure relief.  

And that all came back with the first breath,  as I searched for the “right” beer at the Duke and Duchess station across Broad from the house.   It’s summer beer “rules” for us:  Corona for me, Corona Premier for Jenn.  We’ll get back to the heavy micro-brews after Labor Day.

The Sunday Story Series

2021

• Riding the Dog  – 1/24/21
• Hiking with Jack – 1/31/21
• A Track Story – 2/7/21
• Ritual – 2/14/21
• Voyageur – 2/19/21
• A Dog Story – 2/25/21
• A Watkins Legend – 3/7/21
• Ghosts at Gettysburg – 3/14/21
• Lessons from the State Meet – 3/28/21
• More Lessons from the State – 4/4/21
• Stories from the Road – 4/11/21
• A Bear Wants You – 5/1/21
• My Teachers – 5/9/21
• Old Friends  – 5/23/21
• The Gift – 6/6/21
• Echoes of Mom – 6/20/21
• Stories of the Fourth – 7/3/21
• Running Memories – 7/25/21
• Lost Dog of Eldora – 8/1/21
• Dogs and Medals – 8/8/21
• The New Guy – 9/5/21
• Stories of 9-11 – 9/12/21
• The Interview – 9/26/21
• Night Moves – 10/3/21
• Funeral for a Friend – 10/11/21
• National Security – 10/24/21
• Boots on the Trail – 10/31/21
• Taking Care of Mom and Dad – 11/14./21
• Dogs Found and Lost – 11/21/21
• Watching Brian 12/12/21
• Stories from Shiloh – 12/19/21
• Team Trips – 12/26/21

2022

• Uphill, Both Ways  – 1/9/22
• Old Trophies – 1/30/22
• The Last Time – 2/7/22
• Olympic Miracles – 2/13/22
• Mind Numbing – 2/20/22
• Track Weather – 4/3/22
• What’s Missing – 4/11/22
• A Scouting Story – 4/17/22
• Waterproof Paper – 5/8/22
• Origin Stories – 5/22/22
• Origin Stories – Part Two 5/29/22
• Back at State – 6/5/22
• Out in the Country – 6/19/22
• Pataskala Downs – 7/4/22
• Car Stories I – 7/24/22
• Car Stories II  – 7/31/22
• Old Man Experience – 8/7/22
• Cross Country Camp – 8/14/22
• New to the Pack – 8/21/22
• Car Stories III – The Bus – 8/28/22
• A Day in the Life – 9/4/22
• Stupid Human Tricks – 9/18/22

2023

• Fair or Foul – 2/26/23
• Immigrant Story – 3/12/23
• Busy Season – 5/15/23
• Of Jeeps and Bucks – 5/28/23
• A Pole Vault Story  -6/11/23
• End of an Era – 6/25/23
• Paybacks – 7/2/23
• Graying in Pataskala – 7/17/23
• Being a Goat – 7/23/23
• Toy Truck – 8/20/23
• Medical Terms – 8/27/23
• Missing Margaritaville – 9/3/23
• The McGowan – 9/10/23
• Who’s Watching – 10/22/23
• The Saturday Before – 10/29/23
• A Tale of Turkey, and Dogs – 11/26/23
• Bruno’s Story – 12/3/23
• Out in the Country – 12/10/23
• Christmas Eve – 12/24/23

2024

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

2025

• Lost and Found – 2/22/25
• Catching Cars – 3/2/25
• PV Mentor – 3/31/25
• Dogs, Jeeps, Fireworks and Beer Coolers

Tea Party

2010 was the year of the “Tea Party” Revolution.  Barack Obama was in his second year of his Presidency, and the Nation was well on the way to recovery from the Stock Market Crash of 2008. (Isn’t it funny, Obama gets the country going the right direction, and the Tea Party shows up.  Biden gets the country through the economy of Trump’s Covid debacle, and, two years later, Trump wins again).

The Affordable Care Act was finally passed at the end of 2009, and while almost forty million Americans gained access to health care, it was highly controversial.  The Republican Party convinced many Americans that it was a “free ride” for too many who didn’t deserve it, and that it would escalate the “average” guy’s insurance costs.  

True or not, many Americans turned to the “Tea Party”, a Koch Brothers funded “grass roots” movement.  Tea Party members were dedicated to cutting the deficit and debt of the United States.  And when they voted in November, Republicans gained control of the Congress. 

One of the outcomes of that political change was the “Pay as You Go” Act of 2010.  It required that if the debt of the United States grew too big, too fast; automatic cuts in spending called “sequestrations” would go into effect.   It’s a simple concept:  if the debt grows too much, then some of the “big ticket” items get cut.  One of those on the cut-list is Medicare.

Government Health

Just to be clear, there are several government health assistance programs.  Medicare is the best known, a law passed in the mid-1960’s.  It required most Americans to pay into FICA (Federal Insurance) as part of their payroll taxes.  After ten years of paying, they become eligible for health insurance at sixty-five years of age.  Insuring the elderly is the most expensive type of insurance, so now the government assures most of those sixty-five and older that they will be insured.

Medicaid is a different program.  It recognizes that there are Americans that cannot afford insurance, either through their own conditions, or inability to work, or other defined reasons.  These folks are granted government aid for health care.  One of the biggest groups on Medicaid is children of parents who are impoverished.  The idea is that just because the parents can’t afford insurance, the kids should still get health care.

The Affordable Care Act was a bridge between regular private health insurance, usually through an employer, and Medicaid.  Those who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but are unable to get regular employee insurance, could get reduced cost insurance on the “market” created by the ACA.  While it was controversial in 2009, it’s withstood the “test of time” and most of its provisions are assumed to be fundamental today.

Big Beautiful Bill

So what’s all this about?  The “Big Beautiful Bill”, seems doomed to passage this morning at the House of Representatives is poised to take a final vote.  It does a lot to health care.  The ”BBB” directly cuts almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid.  Why are they cutting such a fundamental health program?  Since the “BBB” contains huge tax cuts for the wealthy, there’s less money coming into the Government.  To make up for the loss of income, there needs to be some commensurate cut in spending.  

And since the “BBB” has huge increases in spending for Trump’s attack on undocumented Americans, as well as the Defense Department, something else has to go.  Medicaid is the program that’s taking the biggest hit.

But nowhere in the “BBB” is there a provision for cutting Medicare.  So why are Democrats claiming that it will?

Pay As You Go

The Congressional Budget Office is the non-partisan “score-keeper” for Congressional legislation.  Their analysts determine the financial plusses and minuses, and project the impact of any legislation on the US deficit (spending over income per year) and US Debt (the total amount the US has spent over income).  And the CBO is clear.  The “BBB” will increase the US Debt by $3.5 Trillion in the next ten years (CBO).

Past Congresses are so sure that the CBO is “fair”, that they based the “Pay as You Go” Act on the CBO’s scoring.  Whether the Republicans in Congress or the President like it (and they don’t) the passage of the “BBB” will trigger the “Pay as You Go” Act sequestration.  And what will be sequestered?  $500,000,000,000 (that’s $500 Billion)  over the next ten years that is currently going to Medicare.  That’s more than is actually in the total Trust Fund right now.

The Medicare fund was already in trouble.  The amount that the “Baby Boomers” paid in over their forty-some years of work-life, isn’t enough to cover the current costs of health care.  And the current “contributors” aren’t enough to make it up, plus save for their own future care.  In addition, the Congress has felt comfortable borrowing from the Medicare Trust Fund (and other funds, 20% of the US Debt is from US held funds – Peterson).

Congress can always change “its” mind.  They might add money to Medicare (or pay back what was borrowed).  Or, they might re-write the “Pay As You Go” Act.  But those are might’s and maybe’s.  What is “fact” today:  The “BBB” will cut Medicare – perhaps all of it.  

If you sixty-five or older, better start filling that “penny jar”!!

You’ll need it.

Fuss at Glastonbury

I have questions. Is it possible to be appalled with the fate of the Palestinians in Gaza, and also appalled at the Hamas attack in October 7th?  Can I believe in the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to exist?  And did the Hamas attack of 10-7 give Netanyahu a “Carte Blanche” to kill all the Palestinians to “make sure” he got every member of Hamas?

There is a British punk/rap group named  Bob Vylan.  They’re not “my cup of tea”, but at the Glastonbury Festival (think Coachella here in US) Vylan spoke out for the Palestinians. In fact, they had the crowd chanting “Death to the IDF!!” (Israel Defense Force – the Israeli army). 

That created a big fuss in the UK. The Chief Rabbi in London called them anti-Semitic, and the Glastonbury constabulary is investigating charges. There’s no First Amendment in the UK, though freedom of speech is still a right.  But, it is more limited there than in the United States.  And, the BBC was broadcasting the concert live – the chant went over the air internationally.  The United States response was to  revoke Vylans’ visas.  Their next concert in France was cancelled as well.

The Goose

Is calling for an army’s death anti-Semitic?  If Netanyahu says he will destroy Hamas – is that the same as destroy Palestinians?  It seems so to him. There’s an old English expression – “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.    Looks to me like one bird is going free, and one is getting cooked. 

This isn’t “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea!!”, a chant clearly aimed at removing the Israelis/Jews, in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.   The IDF is the exact agent aimed at the Palestinian people. Are Ukrainians being racist when they hope to destroy the Russian Army?  

The Victims

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an essay about the “appropriation” of the term anti-Semitism, ”Not His Choice”.   There are a lot of folks, many not Jewish, who are determining what is “anti-Semitic” and what is not.  And, at the moment, the term “anti-Semitic” seems to be a cloak of invincibility wrapped around the actions of the Israeli government.  Any criticism by, say; a candidate for Mayor of New York City, or the students of Harvard University, or a punk/rap group in the United Kingdom, are automatically labeled anti-Semitic.   

A lot of the time it seems like “throwing down” anti-Semitism is really more about the political goals of the “thrower”, rather than actually protecting Jewish people from attack.  Does Harvard, and other universities, need to do a better job of parsing free speech and threats?  They absolutely do.  But, for all those American conservatives who complained that they weren’t “listened to” on campuses, it seems like their sudden interest in protecting Jewish students is, at least, convenient. It’s more an intersection of common interest. Actually, it seems more like getting vengeance for their own perceived victimhood.

Friends Tell Friends

It’s easy to attack punk/rappers, and international students, for trying to stand up for the victims they are seeing.  Palestinians in Gaza are starving, mostly because of the actions of the state of Israel, the IDF.  More than 600 Palestinians have been killed just waiting in line for food.  It takes a particular brand of callousness to see their plight as “payback” for the actions of Hamas.  What’s happening to them is wrong,  just like it’s wrong to see criticism of that starvation, as being an attack on “all Jewish people”; anti-Semitism. 

But politically, Israel is the ally of the United States.  We cooperated in the bombing campaign of Iran, culminating in the dropping of more than $3 Billion worth of bombs by the US in one day of attacks three weeks ago.  And, the US also provides a huge part of the defense “umbrella” for Israel against Iranian responses.  

The US has a lot in common with Israel.  But, sometimes “friends” need to tell “friends” when they are wrong – and what Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza is wrong.  And if that makes me, in some circles,  an “anti-Semite” who is 54% Semite; so be it.

Ohio Voters Get the Shaft

The Ohio House and Senate sent their budget to Governor DeWine last week.  There was one, clear, over-arching theme in their work product:  make the rich, richer, and do it on the backs of working Ohioans.   It’s exactly why that same body completely ignored two popularly elected Ohio Constitutional amendments against gerrymandering.  They want unlimited power, unfettered control, and to make sure their “real” constituents benefit.  And this week, they sure used it.

Governor DeWine, unlike President Trump, has one more power over legislation.  The President has a single choice when he gets legislation, he can allow it all to become law, or reject it all with a veto.  But DeWine, and several other Governors, can issue a “line item” veto.   Portions of a bill can be rejected without rejecting the entire project.  Those vetoes are subject to override (just like the President).  In fact, it’s easier to do in the Buckeye State. It only takes three-fifths of the legislature (both the House and the Senate) to override the Governor’s line items.  For the President the Congress needs two-thirds vote of each House.  

Veto or Not

Gerrymandering guarantees that the Ohio Senate has twenty-four Republicans and nine Democrats.  Three-fifths means twenty votes, so it’s easy for the majority party to override DeWine’s objections.  The Ohio House is even more lopsided, with sixty-five Republicans and thirty-four Democrats.  It takes sixty votes for an override.  So while DeWine vetoed some of the most egregious budget items, particularly ones that will have drastic impacts on public school finances, the fight isn’t over.  

DeWine accepted parts of the budget that will make sure that, here in Ohio, “the Heart of it All”, the rich will get richer.  The biggest is the “flat tax”, requiring every Ohio taxpayer to pay the same percentage of their income in tax.  While that may sound “fair”, in reality it shifts the tax burden from the wealthy (now paying a higher rate in a “progressive” tax) to those with less income.  And since that means less money to the state, the legislature has cut money for health care, education, and other items that “regular” citizens depend on.  

Oh, except for the $600 million for the Browns new stadium.  Ohio has the money for that, and even exempted the Browns from the “Art Modell Law” which kept them from leaving the city of Cleveland.   So a new “dome” will go out by the Cleveland airport, and the renaissance of downtown Cleveland will take a huge hit.  But I’m sure the legislators will find it easier to find parking in Brook Park.

Liars Figure

And if this effort to make sure the “rich get richer” sounds familiar:  check out what’s going on in Washington, DC right now.  President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” is currently dragging through the US Senate.  Ultimately there will be a very narrow vote for or against it. (Though if you’re betting, bet that it will pass).  It’s the biggest income “redistribution” legislation in US history. It moves more money to the wealthy, and leaves regular Americans “holding the bag”.  Sure, everyone’s income tax might be reduced a little bit. But the rising cost of health care, and the ultimate cost of huge increases in government deficits, will wipe out the lower and middle class reductions almost immediately.  

Of course, the folks in the White House say that’s “a lie” (White House).  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), as unbiased a group as the government has, reports that the Bill as proposed in the Senate will raise the US debt by over $3.3 Trillion in the next ten years.  The White House argues that the CBO isn’t “figuring” it right.  Here’s the deal (as in, “figures lie and liars figure”).

The CBO uses a simple process: they look at the taxes that the “Big Beautiful Bill” doesn’t bring in, and the spending that the bill doesn’t cut, and come up with their debt figure.  It’s called a “static estimate”.   The White House uses a different process.  They estimate how much the money that doesn’t come in as taxes will stimulate the economy.   That stimulation will create “new tax money” , according to them, and offset the tax cuts to reduce the debt.

Trickling Down

For those of us who were around, it sounds a lot like the Ronald Reagan, “trickle down economics”.  Let the rich keep their money and they’ll spend it, so that everyone has more money.  Of course, that didn’t work out in the 1980’s.  Anyway, the White House calls it a “dynamic estimate”,  and tries to ignore the CBO.

So the rich get richer, both from Washington, and from the Buckeye State. Meanwhile programs that feed hungry children, provide health care for the poor, keep rural hospitals open, support public education, and a whole raft of other programs get cut.  Something had to go, or the future debt would be so high that no one, not even the US House, could swallow it.  

But the Browns get their stadium.  And President Trump gets $1.2 billion to rebuild his “gift Air Force One” from Qatar, a plane he’ll never get to use as President.   Wouldn’t want  either of them to “suffer”.    As for the rest of us, President Bush said it best:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.”

Bush fought to lower taxes for the rich.  And, he increased the United States debt by $4.2 trillion: No Foolin’.

Pataskala

The Fourth of July hit early in Pataskala this year, almost a week early.  Central Ohio’s celebrations are driven by the big fireworks show downtown, “Red, White and Boom”, scheduled for Thursday July 3^rd.  So all of the smaller shows try to find a date other than that one, and the City of Pataskala chose Saturday, June 28^th.  

Of course, here in Pataskala, it’s more than just the fireworks.  Mayor Compton made this his signature event – and he does a great job.  There’s an entire community “festival” built around “the Fourth”, with music, a car show, vendors and street food.  And it’s on a Saturday because we live in Ohio, and the weather is completely unpredictable.  So if there’s thunder storms all Saturday afternoon, Pataskala moves to Sunday. This year, we did (have the storms and move the date), and then we moved it back. Fireworks went off Saturday night.

The town’s fireworks are pretty good.  And the guy who lives across the street from Foundation Park where the festival is held, puts on almost as good a show on his own, before the “main attraction” begins.  He’s done it for years, even when setting off private fireworks was illegal.  But, here in Pataskala, the police didn’t care about “fireworks” folks anyway.  And now, it’s completely legal to fire off pretty much anything, anytime.  So the “Fourth of July” started last Friday, and you can be sure there will be random shows from now until long after the Fifth!!  

The Dogs

Jenn and I used to go to a friends’ house to watch both the official and “across the street” fireworks shows. But, with four dogs, and living within a mile of the Park, it’s safer to hang out at home.  Atticus (our Lab) doesn’t seem to mind, but Keelie (our Aussie) completely freaks out to booms, and Lou (he’s part dog, part deer) gets very uneasy.  CeCe (our Baby Yoda) takes her cues from them; so being close by is just a good idea.

Besides, lots of folks walk down our street to get a “view”, and that sets the dogs off almost as much as the “BOOMS”. We see a lot of the show from our own backyard anyway; even more now since “straight line wind” came through the neighbor’s yard couple years ago and took out some big trees.  And, when CeCe and Lou went into full panics: we were right there to calm things down. We watched three incredibly violent movies on TV. They don’t mind those “booms”.

Patriotism

I have always been a “patriotic” guy.  Part of that is my Boy Scout training, learning the Flag Code and the history.  It’s hard not to feel patriotic hiking through the mountains along the trails of the Civil War, or visiting our Nation’s landmarks from “sea to shining sea”.  And I am a “Boomer”.  My parents both fought in World War II.  They knew exactly what our Democracy was worth, and they were well aware of the high price  paid by those who defended it.  Celebrating the Fourth, even for my British citizen Mom, was important. (For a series of essays about the Fourth of July – see the list at the end).

There’s a “Resistance” group trying to use the Fourth of July as an opportunity to express disapproval of the current US government.  They are calling on folks to boycott the Fourth, to make that point.  I don’t agree. It’s kind of like folks who don’t fly the American flag now, seeing it as a symbol of oppression, not freedom. 

My Flag

I’m not giving either the Flag or the Fourth away to any “side”.  To me, they represent the hope of a future America; not based on cruelty, but kindness; that doesn’t oppress, but lifts people up; that doesn’t exclude those who are different, but includes all. I didn’t attend the Pataskala fireworks last night, but it isn’t because of my incredible disappointment in America today.  Those fireworks, seen from afar over the backyard fence, represent my hope that our country can be so much better than we demonstrate right now.  

It’s my Fourth, and my Flag, just as much as any other American’s. It’s even for non-citizens; here to live the American dream, like Mom did.  I’m tempted to adapt Charlton Heston’s NRA speech quote, “I’ll give you my Flag when you pry it from my cold, dead hands”.   There is still hope.  

The Serpent

This current abomination of American belief is part of the “dirty underside” of our history.  It’s always been there. As author John Jay Chapman described it:

“There was never any moment in our history when slavery was not a sleeping serpent. It lay coiled up under the table during deliberations of the Constitutional Convention.”

Like any snake, this serpent may have shed its skin, but snake it still remains.  We aren’t talking about the enslaved today. But we are still dealing with race and color, and those who do the manual labor to keep our Nation alive.  The United States is denying our fellow humans the right to a decent and humane life.  It’s a part of our history.  Today’s national dilemma is as old as the Fourth of July itself.

So celebrate what America should be this Fourth of July week, not what it is today.  Take the Flag, take the Fourth, and march with it proudly.  It is ours, not the oppressors.  America shows its ugliness now, but the “shining city on the hill” still can be achieved.

“Whose Flag? Our Flag!” “Whose Fourth? Our Fourth!”

Enjoy it:  and keep your dogs inside for the fireworks!!!

• 2017 – Patriotism
• 2018 – It’s the Fourth of July
• 2021 – The Fifth of July
• 2023 –  Stories of the Fourth
• 2024 – The Fourth, 2024

Dark of Night

You don’t have to go to Washington DC, or New York City, or even to Mar-a-Lago, to find government corruption.  Just take a drive west down Broad Street from here in Pataskala.  When you reach “the end”, Broad and High in downtown Columbus, Ohio, look to the left, at the State House.  Because it’s right there that the “fix” is in.

It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out the legislators know what they are doing is “shady”.  When you slip in a major change and take away representation for 500,000 some Ohioans in the dead of the night (approximately 1:13 am), you know that they know: their actions won’t stand the light of day. 

But that’s what happened in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

The Ohio Legislature, both House and Senate, really don’t give a damn about the will of the voters. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact.  Look at their blatant defiance of two separate Ohio Constitutional amendments passed by the voters to curb gerrymandering.  Add to that, the current discussion about banning abortions (making it criminal murder) despite the overwhelming majority of voters approving a Constitutional Amendment protecting abortions rights just in 2023.  And they are “tinkering” with the marijuana legalization law passed by referendum as well, finding ways to make more money from this newly legal vice.

So what happened in the dead of night Wednesday?  At the final moment, when no one could object, the leaders of the legislature placed an amendment in the omnibus state budget bill.  That amendment changed the makeup of the governing board of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS).  

The Board

Currently, the Board that controls the pension fund, consists of Five representatives selected by active teachers, Two representatives selected by retired teachers, and an Appointee from each the Governor, the Legislature, the State Treasurer and the Department of Education.   But Wednesday morning, in the dark, without debate or discussion, the Five active teacher representatives were cut to Two, and the Two retired representatives replaced by One. Those four were replaced by four more appointees of the legislature and executive.  

The powers-that-be in the legislature don’t want what’s going on at STRS to see the light of day.  So their answer was to make sure the “owners” of the pension; the teachers, professors, and administrators whose hard earned money make up the pension fund, had their voice stripped away.

Ride the Wave

What’s going on?  Like any pension fund, STRS has to “ride the wave” of economic ups and downs.  But, if you look at the long term performance of the fund, it has failed to keep up with even a simple “index” of the stock exchanges.   STRS spends hundreds of millions of dollars on  in-house investors, and it also invests billions of dollars with private equity firms.  Those “private” investments are “secret”.  The “owners” of the money, teachers and retirees, are not allowed to see what the cost and benefits of those investments are.  Meanwhile, their retirement benefits have been cut back, year after year, since 2013.  

Retirees were told over and over that they were in the “Premier Retirement System in the Nation”.  But, they found that the promised cost of living adjustments were cut, and that the “wonderful insurance plans” cost more and more.  And active teachers were told they had pay more into STRS, teach longer, and get less retirement benefits.  They all asked why, after the stock market more than doubled, there wasn’t enough money?  They were told, “That’s just the way it is”.

All About the Green

Over the past several years, groups of retired  and active teachers organized.  They defeated the Ohio Education Association endorsed elected board members, and replaced them with reformers dedicated to transparency and improving benefits both for active and retired teachers.  Just last year, the “reformers” achieved a majority of the Board.

First the Governor, then the Attorney General of Ohio threw legal road blocks up to stop the reform board. And, now when the courts cleared those hurdles, the Legislature stepped in to “change the rules”.  

Why does the legislature care about all of this?  It’s simple:  private equity firms are huge financial supporters of politicians (on both sides).  If the STRS pension fund is taken out of private equity investments, then the legislators will lose a large source of their financing.  It’s all about “the green”, not in the pockets of teachers or retirees, but in the pockets of the “suits” in the State House.

Where is the outcry against this power grab?  The media is mixed:  the largest “voice” in the state, Gannett Media, has a financial stake in the pension fund.  They don’t want changes, and their reporters continue to repeat false accusations about the reformers.  On the other hand, Nexstar’s WCMH in Columbus, led by Colleen Marshall’s reporting, continue to be strong investigators on the STRS story, as does the Toledo Blade newspaper.

Angry Teachers

And the Governor could veto this item in the budget – but don’t count on it.  His hand is in this financial cookie jar as well, and he’s already shown his “colors” in this effort.  He’s likely to go along with disenfranchisement.  After all, he’s retiring to Cedarville soon.

There is one “mistake” that the leaders of the state legislature made.  Since 2009, the legislature has been “cushioned” from changes in STRS.  They gave up their direct control of pension funds. It was all about “the Board”, not the “suits” in the State House. Now, after this move, “the suits” directly face 500,000 teachers and retirees. For them, it’s “all about” the Legislature.  And, as any fourth grader can tell you, there’s nothing worse than a whole lot of angry teachers.

More to come.

Taxes

Look:   Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, MAGA, Socialist; nobody likes taxes.  But reasonable people understand that there are tasks better handled by the Government than by “pay as you go” private industry.  It’s “No Taxes” until your house is on fire.  Then it’s how quick can the fire department get there to put it out. 

So when the Republicans in the Congress look to “cut taxes” by cutting Medicare and Medicaid, like they are doing in Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”; on the “surface” it might sound OK.  If you’re not sixty-five (or you still have employee insurance), or your family of four makes more than $78000; those cuts are “no skin off your nose”.  Or are they?

Care

It would be easy, at this point, to give you my “standard”, Democratic/Liberal rationale for why health care ought to be a right, not a privilege.  I would tell you that any modern nation that fails to take care of the health of their citizens is failing as a society.  I would point out that every “first world” country on Earth, from Canada to Germany to Japan, sees healthcare as a basic human right.  And you might respond that in those countries healthcare is “rationed” by waiting:  waiting in line for an appointment or an elective surgery.  

I would respond that here in the United States we also “ration” our healthcare.  We do it by the capacity to pay for it.  So, instead of “all people are created equal” for healthcare, it’s a “cash on the barrelhead” system.  Don’t have the cash, well, as Iowa Senator Joni Ernst said, “We’re all going to die”.  You go first.  

No One Dies

We know that.  Go to the doctor’s office, or for a test, or for a procedure in the hospital.  The very first thing you do, is make sure the bill will be paid.  I remember when I was coaching middle school wrestling by teaching kids on the mat, and a young heavyweight countered my move with an elbow to my mouth.  My tooth went through my lip, and I needed stitches.  As I stood before the counter at the emergency department, the attendant took my through all of my insurance coverages, making sure I could pay.  When she couldn’t understand my answers (after all, I had gauze compressed against my mouth), I finally had to just bleed all over the desk, and give her the “correct” responses.  It was my proverbial “cash on the barrelhead”, my admittance to get care.

But, your response should be that “no one dies”.  If someone shows up at an Emergency Department with a life-threatening condition, they are treated no matter what.  And I’ll drop my head, and agree.  But that stills leave the question – in our “cash on the barrelhead” system, who pays for them?

The Bill

Well, Medicaid does right now, for those under a certain income level.  And Medicare pays for most of those over the age of sixty-five.  But for those who don’t qualify now, or for all of those millions (10.9 million according to the Congressional Budget Office) who won’t have insurance after the “Big, Beautiful Bill” passes; where’s their “cash on the barrelhead” coming from?

The answer, just like taxes, is from you and me.  While most of our hospitals are considered “non-profit” organizations by the IRS, they are in fact, more business than fire department.  They need to cover their costs.  And when a patient doesn’t have the capacity to pay their bill, then the rest of us “chip in”.  Of course, no one passes the hat at the hospital to pay for them. 

The “business” of the hospital simply raise all of the prices for procedures, medications, “room and board”, and service.  So each of our medical bills (paid by our insurance), increases to cover the cost of “indigent care”.   Those costs go up, and as everyone with health insurance knows, so does the cost of that insurance.

Out of Our Pockets

So cut Medicare, cut Medicaid, and what happens.  Well, those folks without insurance will go to the “back of the line” for most healthcare.  They won’t be able to get preventative care, or “elective” procedures.  Their lack of “cash” to put on the proverbial “barrelhead” puts them last.  And when those medical conditions that could have been prevented become life-threatening, then they end up with the most expensive care our medical establishment offers:  emergency care.  

And we all pay for it.

If you look at what’s gone up more in the past decade, taxes or health insurance, my bet is you’ll find that insurance is the “winner”. And when we take millions out of the “already paid for” column, and make the hospitals ante up for their costs, whose really eating that?

We are.

For many, the cost of insurance is in the “top five” annual expenses, along with housing (mortgage), food, and taxes.  What good is a $1600 a year tax savings by the “Big, Beautiful Bill” (per the CBO), if health insurance will eat that and more? 

 It’s bad medical care and health policy.  And, it’s just more of our money out of our pocket and on the medical “barrelhead”. 

Shock and Awe

Don Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under President George W Bush, would be pleased.  President Trump’s attack on Iran, using highly sophisticated B-2 bombers combined with submarine launched cruise missiles, is exactly the kind of operation Rumsfeld would have proposed.  He was the ultimate “Neo-Con”, a true believer that US military might could alter the world.  Not only would it be safer for the United States, but “regime change” could improve America’s economic standing as well.  

The ”Rumsfeld Doctrine” was based on the military concept of “shock and awe”.  Rather than the long-term concentration of forces used in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, with 40 some countries allied against Iraq and months of preparation, Rumsfeld wanted to use an overwhelming force strike to topple the enemy leader immediately – shock and awe.  

In 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq, 160,000 troops marched in following massive airstrikes, including specifically targeted attacks on the Iraqi Dictator, Saddam Hussein.  In less than a month, US forces were in the streets of Baghdad.  Not only was Hussein deposed, but he was ultimately captured, tried, and put to death.

Don Rumsfeld died in 2021.  But using massive American armaments, the “Bunker Buster” bombs, with a targeted airstrike launched around the world from Missouri with stealth aircraft would have been right up his alley.

What’s Next?

The “flip side” of the Rumsfeld Doctrine was the answer to the question:  “What happens next?”  In Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States coalition deposed the existing governments, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.  But once that leadership was gone, who would govern?  That turned out to be a much thornier question for the US.  In both countries, the “stood up” governments failed to survive.  In Afghanistan, the Taliban waged a twenty-year war to regain power.  They are in charge today.

And in Iraq, the power vacuum created by the removal of Hussein, led to three actions.  First, it allowed a huge increase in Iranian power.  Iraq and Iran were at war with each other for a decade before, and taking Iraq out of the equation let Iran focus its goals on effecting the rest of the Middle East.  Second, the ineffective government in Iraq allowed the extremist ISIS movement to gain momentum.  ISIS ultimately became a prime target for US troops, with the worse fighting of the war occurring years after the first “shock and awe” shots in the battle, against ISIS, not Hussein’s Iraqi Republican Guard.

Bunker Busters

Saturday the United States launched an attack against Iran, an act of war.  The goal was to destroy the ability of Iran to develop nuclear weapons, something that was a huge point of contention in the world.  No one (other than Iran, North Korea and maybe Russia) thinks that Iran should have a nuclear weapon.  

The US attack definitely did damage.  The main area where Iran enriches uranium, refining it to the 90% level needed for nuclear weapons, was the target of six “bunker buster” bombs.  Certainly that site is damaged, perhaps destroyed.  The whole thing is hundreds of feet under a mountain, and it’s going to be difficult to get accurate damage assessments.  Whether the uranium on site, already at 60%, was removed prior to the bombing is unclear.  And, whether Iran has other alternate sites for the enrichment process is unknown.

Three D’s

This weekend, I listened to a reporter describe an interview he did with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, years ago.  Israel has been worrying about Iran’s nuclear capacity for decades, and had the capability of disrupting it for most of that time. Barak described the Israeli dilemma as “The Three D’s”.  Israel, like the United States today, were confident that they would win the “day of the attack” ‘D-One’, and disrupt Iranian nuclear development.  And they were confident that they could survive whatever the Iranian immediate response would be, the Day-After, ‘D-Two’. 

Barak said the problem was ‘D-Three’, the decade after the attack.  What were the long term consequences of attacking Iran?  What would happen if the Ayatollah was removed, a “decapitation” strike.  The United States in both Afghanistan and Iraq showed the dangers of trying to change leadership from the outside, euphemistically called “nation building”.

Unknown Unknown

Don Rumsfeld may had said it best: 

“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.^”

The “unknown unknown” today is what Iran’s response will be to what likely was a devastating United States attack.   But the one thing we know for sure is that the next step is out of the control of the Trump Administration.  They’ve “played their cards” (as the President likes to say).  Now we are waiting for the “known and unknown knowns” of the Iranian response.  Will they negotiate?  Will they launch missile attack and US bases and ships?  Or will Iran use its remaining Hamas and Hezbollah cells to attack?

Vice President JD Vance exuded confidence (hubris?) on the Sunday news show, Meet the Press.  When asked why Trump launched this attack now, when prior Presidents determined not to do so, he said: “Back then, we had dumb Presidents.”  Don Rumsfeld sounded just as confident as the bombs fell on Baghdad in 2003.  We do know our Nation is preparing for Barak’s Day Two.  The “unknown unknown” is, what about Day-Three – the next decade?  Is there a “plan” from the Trump Administration?  

Or will Trump be another relegated to the JD’s “dumb President” list?

Note: The United States committed an act of war last night. We don’t know how successful it was, and we don’t know the ramifications, either for the world, or here in the US. I’ll definitely write about it in the upcoming days.

Time

It’s day 151 of the second Trump Administration.  We face 1,310 days until the end (barring unforeseen circumstances).  It’s 1,235 days until the 2028 Presidential election.  Hell, it’s 505 days until the 2026 election, when, at least, Congressional control might change.  We’ve got a long way to go.

Democrats are demanding that their political leaders do something about Trump.  But, what can they really do?  They don’t control the House, or the Senate.  Without control, they can’t call Committee meetings, demand investigations, issue subpoenas, or pass legislation.  In many ways, all Democratic Leaders can do is try to shine a spotlight on the corruption, the ethical violations, the inhumanity, the inequity, and the idiocy of much of the Trump agenda.  

Take a Stand

They can stand up and speak, on the Floors of the House and the Senate, or on the steps of the Capitol.  They can ask questions in committee, questions that get answered with snark or obfuscation by Trump’s appointees. And some try to take action.  Senator Alex Padilla demanded answers from the Secretary of Homeland Security in a press “event”. He was thrown to the floor and handcuffed.  Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey demanded to see an uninspected facility in his city where migrants are held in custody.  Instead, he was placed in custody himself.  And the Congressman who tried to defend him in the “scrum” of Federal agents? She’s now facing obstruction charges.

Federal judges appointed by Obama, Biden and Clinton; and Reagan, Bush and Bush, and even some appointed by Trump himself; stand up to Trump’s illegalities.  (If you don’t know, the President really can’t create a “Federal Law” out of thin air and a scribbled signature on an Executive Order).  But we really don’t know how that will all turn out.  What will the Supreme Court do?  This same Court recently declared that a President is immune from criminal liability for any “official act”.  Maybe that’s why all those “executive orders” with the Magic Marker signature are so “important”.  

Speak Your Mind

And the American people, “in their righteous might”, as Franklin Roosevelt put it, are doing their best to “resist” Trump and MAGAism.  Last week, more than five million marched on the “No Kings” day protests.  They “stood up” in Blue cities and in Red towns. They demanded that the rule of law and the standard of American humanity be enforced.  

And local authorities did exactly what they were supposed to do.  They protected the First Amendment rights of the protestors. Many called out “Whose Streets?  Our Streets!!”  And the streets were theirs, with public permits and acceptance.  The police protected THEM, and nationwide millions protested with almost no incidents.

Some Americans are doing their best to stand up to the authoritarian, arbitrary round-ups of migrants.  Some of those “arrests” are made outside the courtrooms of our government, as migrants obey the law.  And some are taking place at the local hardware store, or Mexican restaurant.  Citizens, regular folks, are trying to block ICE operatives (who are acting like no Federal agents I’ve ever seen).  But they too risk arrest and punishment.

A Story of Hope

So what can we all do?  Here’s a story that might give you hope.

In July of 1943, in the depths of World War II, the Allies were bombing Germany.  Americans were flying daytime raids against Nazi factories in B-17 bombers, called “Flying Fortresses”.  The problem was that while the B-17 could fly to the target and drop their bombs, American fighter aircraft didn’t have the range to stay with them.  So for a good portion of the flight, the most dangerous part over Germany itself, the bombers were without protection.  The “Flying Fortresses” were swarmed by German fighter aircraft, as well as attacked from below by anti-aircraft fire.  Bombing raids averaged 30% losses.  One hundred planes took off from England, 70 came back.

The “tour of duty” for American aircrews was twenty-five missions, so it was often just random chance who made it back “this time”, and would they survive the next attack.

Tondelayo

A B-17 named the Tondelayo was on a raid to bomb the air-engine shops in the German town of Kassel.   The crew was under constant attack, both from fighters in the air, and anti-aircraft on the ground.  The two “waist-gunners”, standing in open windows firing fifty caliber machine guns, were killed.  The plane was hit multiple times from all directions.   

But somehow the Tondelayo dropped its bombs on target, and made it home to England.  When they landed and inspected the plane, they found eleven unexploded shells penetrated the gas tanks.  Had any of those actually worked, the plane would have been destroyed. 

As maintenance carefully removed the shells, they discovered that they were without any explosives.  Inside one of them, instead of the charge, there was a rolled up piece of paper.  Carefully written in Czech was the following message:

                                      ” Tohle je vse, co pro vas ted’ muzeem udělat”

 “This is all we can do for you now”.

What You Can Do

The German war machine ran on forced labor from conquered countries.  The laborers knew that their products were used to defend their captors.  Some took a chance to do the only thing available to help the Allies.  The made shells without explosives, and one had a message inside. 

In the worst conditions possible, forced labor under the Nazi regime, some found a way to “protest”.  They risked all to try to stop their oppressors and aid their ultimate saviors.   (This story is from an article in the Military Times).

What can we do against authoritarian change in America?  We can speak out, we can protest, we can stand up against injustice, we can organize for change.  We can do “All we can do, for now”.  And we can prepare for tomorrow, and 2026, 505 days from now, and 2028, 1,235 days away.  We can stand for America by doing whatever we can do, even if it’s small.  When our kids look back at this time with the perspective of history, the question will be: what did you do?

The answer must be:  Do what you can do, now.

The crew of the Tondelayo. (U.S. Army via American Air Museum)

On the Verge

We are on the verge of another ugly Middle Eastern war   It’s not like we don’t know it:  after twenty years in Afghanistan, ten years in Iraq, and a decade before that entangled in Middle Eastern military adventures after the Persian Gulf War, we’ve “been there, done that”.  In fact, we never really left.  There are still US bases in Turkiye, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.  And there is a US military “presence” (troops) in Iraq, Syria, Cyprus, and the Sinai (Al Jazeera). (If you are wondering where we “aren’t”, the answer is:  Iran, Yemen and Israel.)

The United States is already engaged in a “shooting  war” in the Middle East.  American forces are sparring with the Houthi rebels (supported by Iran) in Yemen, over access to the Red Sea.   Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth bragged about the attacks launched on the Houthis in the infamous “Signal Chats”.  While millions of dollars of munitions were used against them, it doesn’t seem to have done much damage to their attack capacity.  

There is an older lesson to be re-learned here.  The US dropped more bombs in Vietnam than both sides used in World War II, but the North Vietnamese simply adapted their war-fighting capacity to the bombing.  It didn’t work in Vietnam, and it doesn’t work in Yemen either. 

Proliferation

We are hearing that old “nuclear boogeyman” of the twentieth century raise its ugly head again.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning of Iran getting a nuclear weapon.  The world, he says, will be a different and more dangerous place, if Iran gets “the bomb”. 

The United States has a policy against “nuclear proliferation”.  We’ve done a great deal to keep the invention of the Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico during World War II from becoming a “common weapon”.  Today the nuclear “club” is still limited.  The United States, Russia and China are the main “members”; each with thousands of nuclear war heads on missiles and in “bomb” form.  The United Kingdom and France also have smaller nuclear arsenals. Then there are the nations that weren’t “supposed” to get the bomb:  India, Pakistan, and North Korea.  And, of course, there’s Israel, who refuses to acknowledge they have nuclear weapons, even though the whole world knows it’s true.

Two nations had nuclear weapons, and actually gave them up.  Ukraine had a large arsenal of weapons when the Soviet Union dissolved, but agreed to give them up in return for assurances from the United States and Russia that their borders would be honored. We see how that worked out for them.  And South Africa developed nuclear weapons (and helped Israel do the same) but dismantled them at the end of the Apartheid era in the mid 1990’s.

Enrichment

Just to be clear, Iran can have a nuclear weapon if they want one.  The key to having working nuclear bombs is to have uranium enriched to 90%.  Currently, Iran has lots of uranium, but its only at the 60% level.  It would take  further refinement to get it bomb-ready, a simple and straight-forward process.  The “refinery” is the facility that the US is threatening to target with the “Bunker Buster” bomb.  What Iran does not have is a proven delivery system, missiles that could carry an effective nuclear warhead.  That will take more time and experimentation.

India developed an atomic bomb in 1974. Pakistan, India’s arch-enemy, started a crash program to match them.  It took twenty-four years, but ultimately Pakistan got “the bomb” as well.  So when Israel developed nuclear weapons in 1968, it’s enemies in the Middle East also felt the need to “catch-up”.  Iraq and Iran both began nuclear development projects.  The United States has done everything possible to prevent either from actualizing nuclear weapons.

Hussein and the Bomb

After the attack on America on 9-11 in 2001, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan.  It was clear that Al Qaeda, the attackers, were headquartered there.  It was over a year later that America launched the invasion of Iraq, in March of 2003.  Why Iraq?  Because, as President Bush and General Powell and the rest of the US Government intelligence establishment told us, Iraq was building a nuclear weapon.  We could not tolerate the idea of Saddam Hussein, the brutal dictator of Iraq, with “the bomb”.

There were lots of speeches about “yellow cake” from Nigeria, and aluminum rods and centrifuges.  Colin Powell made the US case to the United Nations, echoing Adlai Stevenson’s presentation during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962   It was a compelling case, and the Use of Force resolution passed the United States Senate 77 to 23, and the House 296 to 133.  We went to war.  And we were wrong.  We turned Iraq literally upside down, but there were no nuclear bombs. 

Decapitation

What we did discover was that “decapitation”, removing the leadership of a nation, does not necessarily mean the replacement will be “better”.  In fact, the US created a power vacuum in the Middle East, that expanded the power of Iran, and created a whole new evil force, ISIS.  

So here we are again.  Trump is no George Bush, and JD Vance isn’t Dick Cheney.  And certainly the whole intelligence community is riddled with fear of the MAGA world.  No one here has made the “case” that Iran is on the verge of nuclear “clubdom”.  Trump is basing his decision on Israeli intelligence, and his own “gut”.  

And, would a nuclear Iran be so terrible, worse than a nuclear North Korea?  We (Americans of all political sides) let Kim Jong-Un build his nuclear force, and test out all sorts of delivery systems.  But little was done to stop him, and the world hasn’t ended, yet.

What we can see from experience is this:  starting a war with Iran might stop them from “going nuclear”, but it might open another “Pandora’s Box” of extremism in the Middle East.  “Nation-building” didn’t work in Afghanistan or Iraq.  There’s really no reason to believe it would work in Iran either.  But here we are, on the same well-travelled path, using the threat of “nuclear devastation” to justify “doing Iraq” all over again.  

We all know the old saying:  “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it”. We’ve been there – done that.