April 3, 2023

With the Easter season fast approaching, it is a good time to revisit the teachings of the Catholic Church. One of its foundational concepts is that of original sin. Adam took a bite of the apple, fell from grace, and we have been paying for his transgression ever since.

Similarly, Donald Trump took a bite of the apple, and it looks like he may be paying for it for a long time. While paying hush money to a porn star is not the worst thing he has done, it is his original sin. All his other sins were made possible by this one. It made his election possible, which led to two impeachments, an attempted steal, an insurrection, and the stealing of classified documents.

If he confesses his sins, the judicial system might grant him absolution. Otherwise, he won’t be rising from the dead.

March 27, 2023

The John Birch Society is arguably the grandfather of today’s MAGA movement. It was founded in 1958 by Robert Welch, and is headquartered in Ron Johnson’s Wisconsin. The John Birch Society is an American right-wing political advocacy group. It is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ideas. “Birchers” by Matthew Dallek discusses how the JBS set the Republican Party on its long march to extremism. My only contact with the JBS came in an uncomfortable freshman year when I was assigned to live with a student from Wisconsin, who was steeped in JBS philosophy.

The virus that has infected Donald Trump’s version of America has been with us for a long time, preceding even the JBS. The America First movement during WW II, eerily similar to Make America Great Again, is a perfect example. America First was populated by Nazi-sympathizers. MAGA has a fawning attraction to Vladimir Putin and other autocrats. Unlike JBS, however, MAGA has no overriding philosophy other than grievance and revenge. It has no agenda. It wants “redemption” in Trump’s own words. Trump’s indictment with more to come is a life saver for the Republican Party. It will distract its followers from its bankruptcy of ideas and programs.

March 29, 2023

For the record, I love my wife’s meatballs, but not enough to affectionately label someone else a meatball as Donald Trump has done in calling the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, Meatball Ron. I guess WOP, Dago, Spaghetti Bender and Guinea were already taken. No one ever accused Trump of being woke or politically correct, which seems to me to be a distinction without a difference.

Trump seems to have a fascination with all things Italian. He juts his jaw out just like Benito Mussolini. Maybe it’s a Fascist thing, or an old man with a triple chin thing. Ironically, Ron DeSantis, who’s grandparents came from Southern Italy, is claiming that the big difference between him and Trump is that he actually keeps the trains running on time. Trump could be the reincarnation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, but without the bunga bunga sex parties. Then again, I have never been to Mar-a-Lago so who’s to say.

Trump has had more than a passing relationship with mafia figures like John Gotti and Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. Now there is a nickname. Trump enjoys imitating tough guys like wrestlers and gangsters in the same way he impersonated a successful business man on The Apprentice. He even pretended recently to be a baseball player when he threatened the Manhattan D.A. with a baseball bat. Trump’s personal attorney before Giuliani was Roy Cohn, who also defended the original Teflon Don and Tony Salerno. I guess with Trump all roads do, indeed, lead to Rome.

March 16, 2023

A major talking point of the MAGA-Fox wing of the Republican Party during the last presidential election was that Joe Biden had lost his fast ball, which I guess is as bad as losing a step to first base. The fact that Biden has been flummoxing his opponents with change ups, sliders and curve balls since then has gone unrecognized. Based on recent appearances, it is clear that Trump has clearly lost his fast ball. There is no zip on his heater, and this is a problem for a one pitch pitcher.

Gov. Ron DeSantis played baseball at Yale like George H.W. Bush. He was recently interviewed on Fox while the interviewer literally lobbed softballs. The difference between the two Elis is that Bush the Elder played large ball on the world stage while DeSantis is clumsily playing small ball in Tallahassee. DeSantis has been waiting on Trump’s diminished fast ball, but he still can’t catch up with it. Medicare and Social Security…whiff. Ukraine…whiff. One more strike, and he is out.

March 14, 2023

Governor Ron DeSantis famously said that Florida is where wokeness goes to die. Apparently, Florida is now where democracy goes to die. Trump from Mar-a-Lago was already on record for saying how savvy Putin was for declaring Ukraine an independent state. He mused that the U.S. should consider doing the same thing to Mexico. He had no quarrel with Putin because many Ukrainians already speak Russian. Canada better be careful. He was impeached over a “perfect” shake down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

DeSantis has said that the Biden administration had “no clear, strategic objective identified” in Ukraine and that it was not in US interests to get involved in a proxy war with China there. He is calling it a territorial dispute, which is a Russian talking point. Clearly, both of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for President are willing to cede Ukraine to Russia to advance their political ambitions. They are giving aid and comfort to the enemy. In the immortal words of Mike Pence, “History will hold them responsible.”

March 9, 2023

What do the following political parties have in common? Federalist, Whig, Know Nothing, Free Soil, Greenback, Labor, Socialist, United Christian, Communist, Progressive, Boston Tea, Marijuana, and America First. You probably guessed correctly that they no longer exist. Political parties are not entitled to existence. They have to earn their right to exist at every election. Parties can come and go depending on the fashion of the day. The venerable Republican Party is trying its best to join this illustrious group of parties that came and went.

Rather than putting forward a conservative budget that can be debated on its merits, it has gone down the rabbit hole with Tucker Carlson of reimagining the January 6th insurrection. Over a hundred members of its party refused to certify the last election. It wants pardons for those who confessed to their crimes on January 6th, and were convicted. It agreed to allow a known liar and worse into its caucus. It wants to make Dr. Fauci the fall guy for a leak from a Wuhan lab. It wants to uncover corruption in Ukraine via Hunter Biden’s laptop. It has a cynical agenda. Political parties have become extinct over less. The symbol of the GOP is not the elephant. It is Tyrannosaurus Rex.

March 5, 2023

Here are some of my takeaways from the recent CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) held at the Gaylord Hotel, which I find to be ironic .

The attendees want to take away your Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and healthcare.

They want to take away your right to vote

They want to take away your right to control your own body, and make your own health choices.

They want to take away your right to read what you want to read, learn what you want to learn, and say what you want to say.

They want to take away your right to be whatever it is you want to be.

They want to take away your right to be safe in school.

They want to take away your right to breathe clean air.

They want to take away your right to know the facts.

They want to take away your right to hold public officials responsible for their actions.

They want to take away your vaccines.

They want to take away the separation of church and state.

They want to take away our defense of democracy and Ukraine.

They want to take away the blue states.

March 3, 2023

During WW II, the defeated French adopted a policy of collaboration with Nazi Germany. The seat of government relocated to Vichy, France. Similarly, the Republican Party and the conservative movement have been defeated, and have chosen to collaborate with Donald Trump. To paraphrase the immortal words of Captain Renault in the movie, “Casablanca,” “The Republican Party has no conviction, if that’s what you mean. It blows with wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Mar-a-Lago.”

The Conservative CPAC confab has become obsequious. It is a Trump rally in drag, which is ironic. It’s pro-Putin agenda revolves around laptops, the deep state, CRT, and book banning. Can burning witches at the stake be far behind? Kevin McCarthy and his minions are collaborators. Will someone create an effective resistance that can eventually defeat the insurrectionists and quislings? At the moment, no one other than Liz Cheney is willing to take on the occupying forces head on. Unfortunately, there will be no assistance from the allies this time. They are going to have to do it themselves.

March 1, 2023

The toxic wreck in East Palestine, OH is a perfect metaphor for today’s Republican Party, which has gone off the rails. The Trump administration deregulated commercial train traffic. It is arguable whether its actions were directly responsible for this accident, but it certainly was not working to make train travel safer.

The conductor of the Republican train is Kevin McCarthy. He has no idea where the train is going because the party has no agenda other than to defeat Biden and troll the Libs. As someone once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road (or rail) will take there.” He is being assisted by his firemen Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz, who are happily stoking the fires of the culture wars. Unfortunately, there are no brakemen left in the Republican Party to slow down this out of control train, which is transporting its toxic ideology around the country. Ron DiSantis may be offering himself up as a new conductor for the GOP train, but he has no interest in changing the cargo. He may be able to keep the trains running on time, but that is about it. Trump is vying to be the Republican Conductor-in-Chief once again. What could go wrong there?

February 25, 2023

Tour de Golf

I am sitting at home enjoying the NetFlix golf documentary, “Full Swing,” and the PGA Tour event in Florida while I nurse a cold I got on a golf trip. I am not watching LIV golf on the CW network whatever that is. Far be it from me to get political, but LIV golf is not my cup of tee. However, they have been trying ways to make the game of golf more entertaining for more people by playing music, allowing players to wear shorts, and promoting team play.

I think the PGA Tour could take a few ideas from the Tour de France. There is only one winner in the Tour, and winning has not been cheapened, but there are other opportunities for the pros to make money other than finishing on the podium. Riders can earn stage money, sprint money, and climbing money.

The PGA could pay money for low gross each day, and pay the leader in the club house after each round. Money could be paid for most birdies and eagles. There could be a skins game. Golf, as is every sport today, is stats driven. Money could be paid for strokes gained driving and putting. Sand saves and recovery shots could be rewarded. Money could be paid to the player who makes the most feet of putts. There could be payouts for longest drive and straightest drive.

Lastly, a prize should be given to the group that plays the fastest.