April 29, 2026

Trump put his ballroom back in play after claiming that it was the only way to keep Presidents safe from the hostile, left-wing, fake media and Communist, violence-endorsing, gun-hating Democrats at future White House Correspondents’ Dinners. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is still saying not so fast, and a federal judge has stopped the construction pending Congressional approval, but the ballroom seems as inevitable as death and taxes.

In the spirit of the Parthenon built by the Athenians in 432 BCE as a monument to the gods, and Versailles built by Louis XIV, the Sun King, circa 1710, Trump is building what will be a historical and everlasting monument to his own ego and vanity. The New York Times called it “unscrutinized.” Architecture critics say it should be stopped as an offense to good taste. The problem becomes what do you with a 90,000 square foot edifice complex once it is built. Even though it should be razed, it’s seems like that would be a waste of the hundreds of millions of dollars that billionaires looking for favors have poured into it. Here are some possible appropriate uses for the space.

Trump sent in ICE to clean up the streets of Washington, D.C., but what do you with the thousands of criminals they rounded up? Let’s repurpose the Trump Ballroom (TB) into the Trump Immigration Detention Center (TIDCDC.) Rather than building detention centers in remote parts of the United States, the Department of Homeland Insecurity could probably squeeze 10,000 or more detainees into the TIDCDC.

Trump is constantly complaining about what a Democratic hell hole Washington, D.C. is. Homelessness is a problem. There are approximately five thousand homeless people in D.C. Despite recent federal efforts to clear encampments, homelessness remains a persistent issue with a high concentration among Black residents. We could turn the Trump Ballroom into the Trump Shelter for the Homeless (TSH.) It could also double as a walk-in drug clinic for all of the fentanyl addicts in D.C.

Or maybe it could be a school for the disabled like the people Trump likes to make fun of. You know, for people like Serge Kovaleski, the reporter who has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that causes joint contractures, affecting the movement of his right arm and hand. Or for people dealing with dyslexia like Governor Gavin Newsom of California, who Trump likes to call “Newscum.” Clever. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my president. I think a president should not have learning disabilities.”

Or it could be used to help veterans, who have been injured in war like the ones Trump famously wants out of the frame. Trump may hate these ideas, but it might earn him the much-coveted Nobel Peace Prize from the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee. Pope Leo XIV might even confer sainthood on him.

Rather than putting the Trump Library in a bathroom in Mar-a-Lago, we could turn the Trump Ballroom into an actual public library, and call it the Trump Library (TL.) All of the books that Trump has read could have their own special shelf. The library would be free of any books referencing slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, freedom marches, the Civil Rights Act, DEI, or Barack Obama. Another good use for the space would be to create a museum of all of the great Americans that Trump has defamed…John McCain, Robert Mueller, any number of Supreme Court Justices, Obama, Clinton, Bush, Carter, Comey, Powell. And all of the women that he has insulted and abused… Hillary Clinton, Stormy Daniels, E. Jean Carroll, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Carly Fiorina, Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley, Megyn Kelly, Mika Brzezinski, Katy Tur, Arianna Huffington, Maureen Dowd, Kaitlan Collins, Rosie O’Donnell, Heidi Cruz, Cher and Kim Kardashian among others.

Being the religious guy that he is, I don’t think Trump would object if we turned the Trump Ballroom into the Trump Christian Nationalist Mega Church (TCNMC.) Jerry Falwell, Jr. may be still looking for work after his sex scandal at Liberty University. Trump could get on his knees everyday, and thank god and the Supreme Court that he wasn’t in jail.

The TB could be a multi-purpose facility occupied by Planned Parenthood, PBS/NPR, and USAID. Lastly, it could be a home for wayward young girls where Trump could keep an eye on them from the Lincoln bedroom.

April 23, 2026

Here are some sayings that I have fashioned over the years.

Life is like a pebble in a turbulent stream. It starts out rough, but smooths out over time.

It is what it is unless it isn’t.

Great minds think alike. Greater minds think independently.

When in doubt, go out. Even if there is no doubt, still go out.

Golf is a good life spoiled.

Don’t count on the hare stopping.

Shoot first and ask questions later is protected by the Second Amendment.

It takes two plus a dance teacher to tango.

If two is company, and three is a crowd, what the hell is four?

It’s mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

Greater fools have theories?

When the going gets tough, men still don’t ask for directions.

If records are made to be broken, what about iPods?

All that glitters is not gold, but I’ll still take the gold.

I think animal testing should be left up to local school boards.

Politics is too important to be left to people.

Going to the dogs? You should be so lucky.

Looking at a menu online is like learning the sex of your baby before birth.

If you flatulate with headphones on, does it make a sound?

Every time you fail, you are one step closer to slitting your wrists.

I am a Latin lover, but nobody understands me.

You can seize the day as long as you leave me the night.

Creativity is the dreams you remember.

Before getting a tattoo, go to a fine arts museum to see what art really looks like.

Plagiarism is the sincerest form of floutery.

Perfection takes way too much time.

It takes a lot of hard work to be a genius.

Never look at a menu until you have finished your first drink.

If it wasn’t for the weather, Florida would have no reason to exist.

The rules of golf are difficult to understand, but easy to ignore.

I was dreaming about blackjack so my wife hit me.

If you want a friend, get a friend. Don’t get a dog.

It’s almost impossible to be original and be on the internet.

I don’t have all the answers, but I do know most of the questions.

Mens sana in corpore insano.

Golf is like a bad marriage. It breaks your heart, and takes all your money.

I killed two birds with one stone, and got arrested.

If it’s so damn easy, why can’t I make a pie?

The acorn doesn’t fall far from the apple tree.

A rolling stoner gathers moss.

Step on my foot, and my mouth opens.

A bird in the hand is very messy.

I just got caught in the “likability” trap. It can be spelled two ways.

Photoshopped pictures are fauxtography.

Two lefts don’t make a right.

Outer space is over my head.

If the shoe fits, buy another pair.

April 17, 2026

Much like the Trump’s administration’s undeclared war against Iran, the Republican Party and the members of the radical right have been waging a long time, undeclared war against science. It is not totally clear when the war started, but some observers trace it to the infamous Scopes “Monkey” Trial. The Scopes Trial of 1925 was a legal case in which a high school teacher was accused of teaching human evolution in Tennessee. The trial set progressives, who believed evolution could be consistent with religion, against fundamentalists, who believed the word of God as revealed in the Bible took priority over all human knowledge. Famed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow argued the case, which was overturned on a technicality. Regardless, the battle was joined, and continues to this day in one form or another.

For some unknown reason, the MAGA right is openly hostile to science. Trump and his followers are applying a chokehold to academic research. Trump’s attacks on universities like Harvard are well-documented. His point of leverage is federal funding of research grants where the federal government and research universities had shared a productive partnership for decades. Per Nobel laureate and economist, Paul Krugman, large numbers of existing grants have been frozen or terminated, especially in the study of infectious diseases. The United States is already lagging both China and Europe in the publication of articles in highly ranked scientific journals. This, when combined with the sharp drop in visas issued to foreign students who play a direct role in research, are doing immediate damage, and there will be lasting damage well past the time that Trump’s term in office is over.

Climate change may be the most serious scientific issue facing the United States and the world, yet Trump is still saying “burn, baby, burn” and let’s dig for more “beautiful coal.” One of his first acts as President 1.0 was to pull us out of the the Paris Agreement, which had been negotiated by the Obama administration. He withdrew again in 2025 after the Biden administration rejoined in 2021. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 195 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015. As of January 27, 2026, there were 194 parties to the Paris Agreement. It’s goal is to hold the overall increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees centigrade or below.

The second Trump administration has aggressively rolled back federal clean energy support, aiming to hinder wind, solar, and electric vehicle projects through regulatory hurdles, funding cancellations, and massive payouts to terminate offshore wind leases. The administration prioritizes fossil fuel, particularly natural gas and coal, while eliminating tax credits for renewables. 

The administration has initiated a near-complete shutdown of new offshore wind projects. They have made drastic funding cuts at the EPA and the DOE for clean energy programs. They have instituted a nearly complete moratorium on new solar and wind projects. Federal support is being redirected toward expanding oil, gas, and coal even as AI data center demand for energy grows. States are trying to fill the gap, but it’s an uphill battle. Trump’s policies are projected to increase electricity costs and increase air pollution at the same time that he is driving up the cost of oil with his war in Iran.

China is the world’s largest producer and installer of renewable energy, exceeding 2.34 TW of installed capacity by end-2025, with wind and solar driving rapid growth. China accounted for over 30% of global clean energy investment in 2024, spending roughly $625 billion. China dominates the global electric vehicle (EV) market through massive, state-supported, AI-driven automation, with BYD overtaking rivals as a top producer with over $230 billion in government subsidies.

In 2025, Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. His father must be rolling over in his grave. His Wikipedia page lists him a “conspiracy theorist” and “anti-vaccine activist.” Critics and health experts have described Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership of HHS as a “wrecking ball” for the U.S. healthcare system. Kennedy oversaw the firing of approximately 10,000 employees across key agencies. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reversed long-standing recommendations for the Hepatitis B birth shot and declined to recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. He canceled billions in scientific research grants, including $500 million for mRNA vaccine development. He used the official CDC website to promote debunked links between vaccines and autism, while also pushing unproven connections between Tylenol and autism. His tenure has coincided with major measles outbreaks in states like Texas and South Carolina.

To put a cherry on the cake, science education under the Trump administration has made efforts to change curricula, targeting topics like climate change and evolution. Trump is drafting your children and grandchildren to help wage his war on science.

April 12, 2026

According to Donald Trump, there are millions of undocumented immigrants planning on voting illegally in the next mid-term elections and beyond. He is essentially saying that these people left all manner of deprivation and fear in their home countries to come here on a perilous trip, get a job, maybe buy a home, pay taxes, and send their children to school. And, after going through all of this, they are willing to risk losing it all so that they can cast an illegal vote, possibly get caught, be deported, and maybe be incarcerated in a hell hole somewhere like Florida. Trump wants us to believe that these people are willing to lose it all to do something that even 40% of naturalized Americans are not willing to do. Sadly, way too many supposedly smart people are willing to buy into this ridiculous theory.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “Politicians at all levels of government have repeatedly, and falsely, claimed the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections were marred by large numbers of people voting illegally. However, extensive research shows that fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators. The same is true for mail ballots, which are secure and were essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic. Noncitizens are not permitted to vote in state and federal elections. It’s a federal crime for noncitizens to register or vote in federal elections, and it’s a crime under every state’s laws, punishable by a $10,000 fine, five years in prison, or both. So it should come as no surprise that every legitimate study ever done on the question shows that voting by noncitizens in state and federal elections is exceedingly rare.”

Now comes the SAVE Act. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act is a proposed United States law that would require “documentary proof of United States citizenship” to register to vote in federal elections.

According to the radical, left wing, anti-American League of Women Voters, citizens, instead of simply needing a driver’s license to register to vote, will instead need an “enhanced” driver’s license or their US birth certificate. This requirement makes it extra difficult for people of color and individuals with name changes (women) to register to vote. Additionally, the SAVE Act would also impose an effective ban on both third-party voter registration and online registration. The bill’s requirement of a document, such as a passport or birth certificate, to prove American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections is unnecessary. It creates one more barrier to the voting process, as many eligible voters do not have easy access to the necessary documents. Legislation like the SAVE Act is another in a long list of tactics, like strict voter photo ID requirements, which seek to make it more difficult for voters of color and naturalized citizens to vote. More than 21 million Americans will have difficulty in accessing these extra documents, which may lead to a decrease in the size of the eligible electorate. Ultimately, Americans do not need more obstacles to vote. In fact, we need to make it easier for citizens to vote.

It’s not like Trump wants to bring back poll taxes, literacy tests, and property requirements, or wants to disenfranchise women and blacks again. If people, regardless of their status, are not voting illegally, then what is Trump’s motivation? According to the New York Times, President Trump has deemed this bill to tighten voter identification and registration rules to be essential to his agenda and the future of the Republican Party.

The Supreme Court has done immeasurable damage to voting rights in this country. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to ensure state and local governments do not pass laws or policies that deny American citizens the equal right to vote based on race. On June 25, 2013, the Supreme Court swept away a key provision of this landmark civil rights law in Shelby County v. Holder. Now, the Supreme Court appears ready to overturn a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by, and then received within five business days of, Election Day. A majority of justices seemed to agree with the challengers that the Mississippi law conflicts with federal laws that set the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the “election day.” For the record, Donald Trump votes by mail.

The United States ranks approximately 31st among 50 developed countries in the percentage of our citizens who vote. We hover around 60%. Why is Donald Trump trying to make it more difficult for people to vote? I think we know the answer, and Viktor Orban does too.

March 28, 2026

As I begin this column, Spring has sprung, the first robins have arrived, and Red Sox won their opening day game. I leave for a golf vacation soon, which assumes that one can actually take a vacation when retired. More accurately, I will be traveling. I have a side hustle as a panelist for Golf Digest magazine, which affords me the opportunity to travel, and evaluate some of the best golf courses in America and abroad, if I ever get there. After all, someone has to do it. The trip, not by design, is an ode to blue state America. I leave my home here, drive to Bradley, catch a flight to JFK before making a connecting flight to one of Dante’s rings of progressive hell called San Francisco. After two days visiting with my college roommate in Bezerkley, I drive to Pebble Beach for five days of golf. From there, I will fly to blue state Mecca known as Hawaii for even more golf. Given the fact that I will be spending some twenty four hours on airplanes, I thought it would be a good use of my time to jot down some random thoughts as a form of mental Spring cleaning.

I just had my six month COVID booster, which seems to be an act of political courage these days. Ironically, five conservative talk show hosts have died of COVID.

Speaking of vaccines, I wish RFK, Jr. would allow the NIH to come up with a vaccine for Obama Derangement Syndrome because Trump has a lethal case. In 2015, President Obama, along with the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, negotiated the Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which limited Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. One of Trump’s first official acts as President in Trump 1.0 was to walk away from the agreement just because Obama burned him at the Washington Correspondents Dinner in 2011. Trump needs to learn to take a joke rather than just being one. And I am not even going to mention Trump’s unhealthy obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to Obama.

A friend of mine often quotes a famous maxim from the Thucydides’ Melian Dialogue (c. 416 BC). “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” It describes the Athenian ultimatum to the neutral island of Melos during the Peloponessian War. Or, as Donald Trump might eloquently say, “What are ya goin’ to do about it?”

One of the major issues that was the undoing of President Johnson during the Vietnam War was “Guns and Butter.” Despite increased military spending, Johnson refused to reduce spending on domestic goods and services and/or raise taxes. Trump wants another $200B to pay for his war in Iran, but he doesn’t want anyone to pay for it. By the way, if someone murdered your father, mother, wife, and son, what would you do? I am just asking the question. This is not over by a long shot.

We are about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Rather than military parades, fly overs, and ceremonial arches, Trump should ask everyone to read it. He should read it on a nationally televised broadcast. Every student should be required to read it, and then write a one page essay in class (with no AI) about what the Declaration of Independence means to them. Maybe we could set a national goal of 90% voter participation in November, up from 60%, rather than trying to pass the SAVE Act in our race to the bottom.

I agree with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that abortion is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. However, it is also a procedure not prevented by the Constitution. It is tough being an Originalist.

Dinosaurs failed to adapt and died. Now, current day dinosaurs are failing to adapt to climate change as they encourage the burning of fossil fuels, and the killing of renewable energy projects. Ironic.

Slavery, the Jim Crow laws, and Plessy vs. Ferguson were affirmative actions.

Donald Trump has lost a step to first base, and has lost the zip on his fast ball. The Yankees could probably use him.

The NRA has a mental health issue when it comes to guns.

Is Richard Nixon’s secretary responsible for destroying 7 hours of phone logs during the January 6th excursion, and misplacing the Epstein files related to Trump?

When I get back, there will unfortunately still be a lot of stuff to write about. It looks like Iran, affordability, immigration, voting rights, abortion, Venezuela, Cuba, Ukraine, fraud, waste and abuse, and personal enrichment are issues among others that are not going away anytime soon. “I’ll see you in the funny papers.”

A Question of Immigration

Donald Trump set the world record for the longest State of the Union address at one hour and forty-seven minutes, which is about as significant as Joey Chestnut holding the world record for eating 76 hot dogs in ten minutes. At least the hot dog record was a lot shorter and a lot more entertaining. Speaking of dogs, one of the most prominent aspects of the SOTU speech was, in the words of Arthur Conan Doyle, “the dog that didn’t bark.” There was no mention of ICE. Coincidentally, in a recently released e-mail provided to the House of Representatives, Jeffrey Epstein referred to Donald Trump as “the dog that hasn’t barked” because Trump’s name had not surfaced publicly in connection with Epstein’s trafficking network despite Epstein claiming that Trump had spent hours with one of his victims. The other dog that didn’t bark was the silence surrounding the Epstein victims in the audience. Now we learn that the FBI memos involving one of Trump’s accusers have miraculously disappeared. Nixon’s secretary would be proud.

Immigration did come up. In a childish and premeditated maneuver, Trump asked everyone to stand if they favored protecting American citizens over illegal immigrants. It was a set up, and a no win for the Democrats. Either way, the Democrats were going to be called out. You might as well have asked everyone to raise their hands if they had stopped beating their wives.

The reality is that the question Trump asked is not the question that the American people are asking. Republicans have been very adept at framing the argument. However, no one is in favor of the immigration system as it is presently constructed. Everyone is in favor of catching and deporting the criminals, drug dealers, gang bangers, narco terrorists, and rapists that Trump warned us about in 2015 as he came down the Golden Escalator. The salient question that people are asking is are we in favor of the way Donald Trump, Steven Miller, Kristi Noem, and ICE are doing their jobs? Are we in favor of illegal enforcement in the pursuit of illegal immigrants? Is it okay to kill Americans, who make it inconvenient? The polls say no.

We are not just rounding up the worst of the worst, which constitute a small percentage of the apprehensions. As an aside, a quick Google search of America’s top ten serial murderers doesn’t show any illegal immigrants or people of color. We complain about immigrants taking advantage of the benefits meant for Americans, and maintain that they are just bad people. But where are we finding these bad people? We are capturing these lazy people at their places of employment where they do the jobs no one else wants, and they work for less, which we are okay with. By and large, their employers face no consequences for hiring these people. We are capturing these godless people in places of worship. We are capturing their unmotivated children at their schools where they are trying to learn English. We are capturing these people at stores where they are trying to support their local economies. We are not capturing illegal immigrants loitering on street corners selling drugs, or in pool halls, or in casinos, or in meth labs, or in welfare lines.

What are we really dealing with, which is another good question? I have redacted a portion of a blog that can be found at World Politics News as follows.

Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote an opinion in an immigrant case in West Virginia. The petition was for a person who was detained by ICE officers. Goodwin’s opinion began with this paragraph:

“Antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening. Across the interior of the United States, agents of the federal government— masked, anonymous, armed with military weapons, operating from unmarked vehicles, acting without warrants of any kind—are seizing persons for civil immigration violations and imprisoning them without any semblance of due process. The systematic character of this practice and its deliberate elimination of every structural feature that distinguishes constitutional authority from raw force place it beyond the reach of ordinary legal description. It is an assault on the constitutional order. It is what the Fourth Amendment was written to prevent. It is what the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment forbids.”

I

The real question becomes who do we want to be when we finally grow up? The man-child in the White House asks a lot of dumb questions, but he has no smart answers. Donald Trump, “Raise your hand if you have stopped molesting children.”

February 15, 2026

I am a lifelong resident of Massachusetts if you don’t count a period of time encompassing New York City, Pittsburgh and Winter Park, Florida. I grew up in Melrose, and bleed for the Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots. I stopped bleeding for the Bruins when Bobby Orr retired. I am proud to be a resident of the Bay State. I take umbrage when fellow residents cast aspersions on a state that is arguably the cradle of freedom and democracy as we thought we knew it.

I know that Massachusetts is not perfect. The population is shrinking for a combination of reasons including high taxes, affordability of housing, availability of employment for young people, and inadequate transportation. People complain that we are a Blue State even though we keep electing Republican governors. In my lifetime, we have had Christian Herter, John Volpe, Francis Sargent, William Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, Mitt Romney and Charlie Baker. But we have a lot to be proud of.

If you have a health problem, you don’t get helicoptered to Orlando. You are flown to the best doctors and hospitals anywhere because we have some of the best in the world. Mass General, Brigham and Women’s, Beth Israel, Baystate Medical and U. Mass Medical are just a few, not to mention Dana Farber. Also, we have some of the best medical schools in the world. Harvard Medical, Boston University, U. Mass. and Tufts are here, and we have world class nursing programs. If you want state of the art medical treatment, the medical science behind those treatments often originated here. Boston and Cambridge are major incubators. The state has dozens of biotech companies. Not coincidentally, we have a longer average life span than almost any other state in the country.

Massachusetts has some of the best universities in the world right at our doorstep. Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Northeastern, Tufts, Brandeis, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Simmons and the Berklee College of Music call Massachusetts home. I apologize for leaving out many other institutions of higher learning. Massachusetts boasts one of the best educated workforces in America. Our public education system is second to none. The quality of education that our children receive in public schools often exceeds what many students get at private schools in other states. Massachusetts consistently ranks #1 in the United States for public education, recognized for top-tier academic performance, high funding, and strong student outcomes. It leads in National Assessment of Educational Progress scores for 4th and 8th graders, and boasts high graduation rates.

Our cultural assets are second only to maybe New York City. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Gardner Museum, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, and the Arnold Arboretum are all world class attractions. The western part of the state boasts Mass MOCA, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Clark Museum, Tanglewood, and Jacob’s Pillow.

Massachusetts has sane gun control legislation. We require a License to Carry. Key regulations include mandatory, secured, locked storage for firearms, assault weapons bans, and restrictions on high-capacity magazines. “Ghost guns” are restricted. As a result, our rate of firearms deaths per 1,000 is 3.7, which ranks us 49th out of fifty states.

Massachusetts is home to many, major financial institutions. Boston is ranked among the Top 25 Financial Centers in the world. State Street, Fidelity Investments, John Hancock, Liberty Mutual, Mass Mutual, MFS, Wellington, Eaton Vance, and Bain Capital are here. It is also home to 350 cutting-edge, FinTech companies.

Massachusetts ranks as the second-best state in the U.S.

to start, grow and operate a business, according to a new report from an international immigration and business law firm, Davids and Associates. The ranking put Massachusetts at No. 2 in the nation, citing the Bay State’s best-in-the-nation, workforce-college degree rate, patents per capita and venture capital funding. Its heaviest-weighted categories included state GDP growth rate, employment growth rate, broadband connectivity and venture capital investments.

Finally, we are a diverse community. Immigrants constitute approximately 22% of the Massachusetts workforce with high participation in sectors such as health care, software development, and specialized services. They have an estimated $51.8 billion in spending power and contribute $20.4 billion in taxes.

Yes, Massachusetts can be expensive, but we get what we pay for.

It is certainly appropriate to ask our leaders to do better, but we don’t want to be Alabama or Mississippi.

Una Lettera d’Amore all’Italia

With the closing of the Italian Cultural Center on Margaret Street in Springfield, I thought it would be appropriate to write an love letter to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. I originally started writing a column about Obama Derangement Syndrome even before Monkeygate, but Maureen Dowd beat me to the punch. News events and commentary travel at the speed of light these days. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a member of the FBI…Full-Blooded Italians.

The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony featured extensive tributes to Italian culture, history, and icons, including artist and polymath Leonardo da Vinci, poet Dante Alighieri, and opera composers Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi and Giaochino Rossini. Michelangelo received the silver medal once again, and Donatello got the bronze…appropriately. Andrea Bocelli sang “Nessun Dorma” (Let No One Sleep), an aria by Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini. This was the same song that was sung by Luciano Pavarotti in his final public appearance at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. Also, in 2006, who could forget the Formula One driver doing donuts in his Ferrari on the stadium floor? Maserati, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Alfa-Romeo must have been red with envy.

Fashion designs by Giorgio Armani were showcased. Prada, Versace, Gucci, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, and Ferragamo wound up on the cutting room floor. Cultural highlights referenced “La Dolce Vita,” the film directed by Federico Fellini and starring Marcelo Mastroianni. Pinocchio was also alluded to. Iconic athletes like Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni took part. Stanley Tucci continued his love affair with Italy and Italian cuisine and culture. One of the highlights of the opening ceremonies was the noted opera singer, Mariah Carey, singing “Volare.”Personally, I was hoping for an appearance by Il Volo, the operatic, international superstars. Hopefully, they are being saved for the closing ceremonies.

Speed skater, Francesca Lollobrigida, the great niece of the famous film actress, Gina Lollobrigida, won Italy’s first medaglio d’oro in the 3000 meters. During the fifties and sixties, Gina had a highly-publicized rivalry with Sophia Loren as the country’s top sex symbol. If college posters were any indication, Sophia Loren won.

Giorgia Meloni, the conservative, female Italian Prime Minister, was there. She received a warm welcome from the crowd. Congratulations to J.D. Vance for bringing the crowd together in universal condemnation when his image appeared on the Jumbotron. It may have had something to do with the anti-ICE protests going on outside the stadium. ICE was there to provide security, which is as rich as a good tiramisu. Fortunately, almost everyone at these Olympics is Scandinavian white. Meloni was preceded several years ago by Silvio Berlusconi, a latter day Machiavelli, who was Trump before Trump, only with a lot more class. As an aside, Greg Bovino, the former head of the anti-immigration surge in Minneapolis, should be an embarrassment to his Italian ancestors unless they were fascisti. I hope Trump doesn’t get the idea to start deporting third generation Italians. I am not sure where my papers are.

The unsung hero of these Olympics is the setting itself. Cortina d’Ampezzo is a famous, upscale ski resort known as the “Queen of the Dolomites” for its stunning scenery, luxury shops, and vibrant après-ski scene. It hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. It is a year-round destination for skiing, hiking, and climbing, set within a UNESCO World Heritage site. A World Heritage Site is a natural or cultural landmark, building, or area recognized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as having “Outstanding Universal Value” to humanity. These sites, such as the Pyramids of Egypt or the Great Barrier Reef, are protected under international treaties to preserve them for future generations. The natural scenery is awe-inspiring. It provides an amazing backdrop for the male and female downhill skiers as they embrace gravity. They descend the mountain at speeds approaching 80 miles per hour.

The 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony will take place at the historic Arena di Verona. The ancient Roman amphitheater, built around 30 AD, will be transformed into a high-tech stage where history will intersect with the future at an event that combines sport, art and culture in a celebration of Italian beauty. The ceremony will highlight the “Italian spirit” and connect the Games’ final moments with the historic city of Verona. The city of Verona is the setting for Shakespeare’s plays “Romeo and Juliet,” and “The Two Gentlemen from Verona.”

Every American of Italian heritage, whether we have an Italian Cultural Center or not, should be proud of their ancestry, and the spectacle that is the 2026 Winter Olympics from Milano-Cortina. Every American should be proud of their history as well regardless of where they or their ancestors came from. Let’s celebrate our origins, not demonize them. The U.S. flag is red, white and blue. The Italian flag is red, white, and green. We are not so different. The same is true for peoples from all around the world.

February 6, 2026

It’s seems like a political lifetime ago since I wrote my R&R (Revenge and Redemption) column two weeks ago. There is so much going on these days that it makes it difficult to decide what to focus on, and what is truly important. Trump decided to close the Trump Center for the Performing Arts because too many performers and patrons considered that an oxyMORON. The Trump Center Honors achieved its lowest TV ratings in history. Trump decided to not go to the Super Bowl even though I don’t remember inviting him. I am sure it had nothing with the fact that the blue region Patriots were playing the blue city Seahawks in blue state California. In a Profile of Courage, President “Bonespurs” decided to send sacrificial lamb, J.D. Vance, in his place. Trump announced that he was extorting $10B from the IRS, and $1B from Harvard. When Trump whisperer and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman was asked why Trump does these outrageous things, she said it was simply because he could. ICE was guilty of the “Minneapolis Murders.” Nothing funny there. The Trump Ballroom keeps getting bloated like it’s eponymous namesake. The documentary movie, “Melania,” for which theTrumps received at least $35,000,000 in protection money, opened to sitting room only crowds. Trump went after Venezuelan oil fields, and Secretary of War and Ken doll look alike,Pete Hegseth, went after military hero, astronaut and Senator Mark Kelly. There was a lot about islands…Greenland’s and Epstein’s. These are all topics worthy of discussion, but I am going to ignore them at my peril, and discuss a topic that we can all rally around…municipal golf.

I grew up caddying at a small, private, nine hole golf club near my home, but I grew up playing golf at the local muni, Mt. Hood golf club. It wasn’t quite as infamous as Ponkapoag in Canton, MA, but it was every bit as public. A junior pass for the year was $25. The tee boxes were made out of horse hair, and the fairways were made out of cement. The flora and fauna were skunk cabbage and mosquitos. However, with all of that, that’s where we played, and we loved it. Andy Brickley of the Boston Bruins grew up five minutes from me, and he did what we all did. He would sneak under the fence on the second hole, and tee it up.

With that as a background, I was horrified and chagrined to read that Trump was canceling the leases of the three municipal courses in the District of Columbia as a prelude to a takeover. The National Links Trust, responsible for rehabilitating the three courses, received a formal notice of termination from the Department of the Interior. Top golf course architects Gil Hanse and Tom Doak had already committed pro bono hours to direct restoration efforts. It would be like Trump coming into Springfield to take over Franconia, Veterans, and Westover. Trump is currently discarding dirt and debris from the possibly illegal demolition of the East Wing of the White House onto one of the courses in violation of the Clean Water Act.

If you are a muni golfer in Washington, this is bad news. The fact that the majority of DC is black and Hispanic is probably not a coincidence. The average cost of a round of golf at the three courses is around $42-48. The average price for a tee time at Trump’s public golf courses is $300. Trump is trying to extract financial resources from these venues in the same way he is trying to extract resources from Venezuela, Canada, Ukraine and Greenland.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Several years ago, the Donald Ross Society partnered with city of Boston to rehabilitate the George Wright Municipal Golf Course. As a result, George Wright has gained notoriety for being chosen as Golf Digest’s Best Municipal Course in Massachusetts and the 14th Best Municipal Course in the U.S. The weekend fee at George Wright is $55-57, which is an absolute bargain for this Donald Ross gem. I have played the course a couple of times, and can’t wait to go back. Similarly, Franconia, which some people call the Augusta of the north, offers weekday rates at $28. Veterans and Westover are a little more expensive. Regardless, Donald Trump is not interested in you as a golfer, and, if I might add, a voter.

Trump is insistent on putting his taint on as many things that he can in the short amount of time he has because he knows that no one else is going to do it. Future Secretaries of Defense are not going to commission a USS Trump. Local school board heads are not going to suggest Trump elementary even though that would be appropriate. Trump won’t even get a highway cutting through the “Hillbilly Elegy” regions of Appalachia named after himself. If you play your golf on a municipal course, you should be offended by what the “Commander in Cheat” is doing.

January 23, 2026

Donald Trump just announced that he is suing Jamie Dimon and J.P. Morgan for $5B because they “debanked” him and his businesses after the January 6th insurrection for being a reputational risk. I wrote about the concept of reputational risk in 2023. See below. For the record, I worked under Jamie Dimon during my employment at Smith Barney.

We seem to be wasting a lot of time, money and energy trying to figure out which of our government officials are innocent or guilty. I think we can agree that there are bad people on both sides, and that they represent a reputational risk to the institutions they represent and work for. George Santos is the most recent example of Congress looking the other way, but he is certainly not alone.

Reputational risk is something that every organization has to concern itself with. Reputational risk is a threat to the goodwill and name that a company or organization has built up over many years. Reputational risk can come from the actions of a company, the actions of its employees, or even the actions of its customers. Companies have to decide whether the benefits that an employee, a client, or a customer provide outweigh the potential liabilities. In my previous life, I was faced with this decision often enough. At times, I had to call clients to tell them that we could no longer do business with them. For many reasons, they might have had a public persona that we could not or would not be associated with. They may have been accused of or convicted of a crime. They may be associating with unsavory characters. They may have taken a public position that was particularly controversial or distasteful. Regardless, we didn’t want to be known as a company that would do business with such an individual.

Just as seriously, I had to deal with employees, who we could no longer have represent us because they had created a history that made them indefensible. If a client were to lodge a complaint against the individual, whether he was guilty or not, we would have to settle. The individual may not have committed a crime, but his reputation was suspect, and this presented a major risk to the organization.

As we all know, reputation is everything unless, unfortunately, we are talking about Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House. Current and past members of these organizations present a reputational risk, which should be recognized and dealt with. Each body should take actions to protect its own reputation whether certain members are guilty or not. The fact that the public has serious questions about certain individuals should be enough incentive for the good people to act. That is not happening in any kind of expeditious manner, however.

George Santos (R-NY) is the latest and one of the more egregious examples of Congress eschewing its responsibility to protect its own reputation. He is the subject of numerous state and Federal inquiries. While he hasn’t been proven guilty of anything, yet, it is clear from the public record that he is a liar and grifter of the first magnitude. If Congress were a business, Santos would have been gone a long time ago. It recently voted not to expel him. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has been credibly accused of looking the other way at Ohio State while its athletes were being sexually abused. If that weren’t enough, he helped organize the overturning of the 2020 election. Senator Robert Menendez (D- NJ) is on the hot seat again for financial and other improprieties. He avoided the first round of accusations, but Houdini would have trouble escaping his current situation. I don’t know if he is innocent or guilty (he’s guilty), but he has damaged the reputation of the Senate, which makes him an ongoing liability. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has a laundry list of things that she has said and done that would disqualify her from most jobs, but groping and being groped by her date at an event with children in attendance should cause her fellow Representatives to say enough to the gentlelady, who espouses family values. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been accused of consorting with underage women. Charges were not pursued, but the appearance of such a thing should be a death sentence for anyone in Congress.

The Supreme Court has been hit with a number of unsavory stories regarding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Leaving Anita Hill to the side, his wife, Ginny

Thomas, was actively involved in trying to get the 2020 Presidential election overturned. Justice Thomas has admitted to accepting numerous gifts totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars from Conservative donors, and he incredulously doesn’t see this as influence pedaling or outright bribery. For these and many other reasons, polls show that the favorability ratings for the Supreme Court are historically low. The Thomas’ so far are not guilty of anything, but, for the sake of the reputation of the Court, they need to go.

Which brings us to Donald Trump, the twice impeached, four times indicted former President, who is facing ninety-one felony charges. He has been found guilty of rape, and guilty of falsifying financial statements. He faces charges for making hush money payments to a porn star. He faces Federal charges for withholding and distributing classified information, and attempting to overturn a Presidential election. He faces charges in Georgia for election interference. He has done more to hurt the reputation of the U.S. Presidency both home and abroad than any other President in U.S. history. Whether he is guilty of additional Federal and state crimes is not the point. He has already done enough to disqualify himself from any future office.

To paraphrase Donald Trump, there are bad people on both sides. My list is certainly not complete. Regardless, they all need to go.