July 25, 2019

Sports writer, Rick Reilly, recently published his book “Commander in Cheat.” It documents Donald Trump’s uneasy relationship with golf and the truth. If the 448 page Mueller Report is too much of a slog for you, read this book, which is much easier and just as damning. After reading the book, I am not sure if I should be more upset as a golfer or a citizen.

The book chronicles his chronic lying about everything. He lies about his physical abilities; he lies about his manhood; he lies about what his courses are worth; he lies about his club championships; and he lies about the quality of his courses. It is all too familiar, but Trumpicans just wink. The book describes how Trump stiffs vendors, and attacks anyone, who has the nerve to oppose him. “Golf like bicycle shorts reveals a lot about a man.” We are all now members of a club we never wanted to join. At least we have undocumented workers to serve us.

July 21, 2019

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

July 21, 2019

The FBI found Donald Trump’s name in Jeffrey Epstein’s client book according to the New York Times. Donald Trump is considering dropping Mike Pence, and replacing him with David Duke. Melania Trump has told confidants that she will divorce Trump after the 2020 election. Rush Limbaugh says that Donald Trump Jr.’s Fox girl friend had a previous relationship with Trump, Sr. Xie and Un were overheard laughing and saying that Trump was a total fool according to the AP. Donald Trump’s former White House physician says that Trump had Type II diabetes. Donald Trump was recorded saying that he would like to have a private moment with AOC. Trump has been sending secret messages to white nationalist organizations encouraging them to engage in acts of violence according to Breitbart News.

These are all lies and fake news you might say, and you would be correct. Do these lies bother you? They should. Lying should bother you. The President’s 10,000 lies and counting should bother you. His most recent lie about not encouraging a crowd to chant “send them home” is his most recent and maybe most virulent. When is enough enough?

July 16, 2019

If you are a progressive liberal socialist, you probably believe in the concept of Darwin’s origin of the species, natural selection, and the history of human development. If you are such a person, you believe that we all have descended from Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. When you tell someone to go back to where they came from, one could legitimately take that to mean that they should go back to the cave they came from. Donald Trump, you are a caveman, and you should go back to the cave you came from. I would say go back to Germany, but what have the Germans ever done to deserve you.

Defenders of the President have used Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation, as evidence that he is not a racist. That is pretty weak Chinese tea. What would his measured and calculated response be if Trump told his wife to go back to where she came from? My guess is his response would be totally different. What would Trump say if his wife was told to go back to where she came from?

July 10, 2019

Or is it “better red than dead?” It works either way. Regardless, in a recent spin class, I asked the ten riders present if they were familiar with the phrase. The context is not important. Not a single person raised his or her hand. When I mentioned that it went back to the Cold War, one young lady said, “What was the Cold War?” I referenced Russia. She said, “Oh yeah, I saw “Chernobyl” on HBO.” This is a long about way of saying that maybe The Mueller Report and Russian interference in our elections does not resonate as much with younger people as it does with Cold War warriors. For people of a certain vintage, Russia will always be the enemy. For others, maybe it is a giant “whatever.”

I think it is clear to anyone paying attention, however, that Russia is still the enemy. Putin seeks to disrupt our democracy, expand his borders, and see the dissolution of NATO. Russia is the 400 pound guy sitting in his bed. It behooves everyone to watch Bob Mueller’s testimony this week. It will be the civics lesson that too many never received.

July 9, 2019

Joe Biden has received a lot of attention from the media recently about his past positions on bussing. I don’t mean the “Creepy Joe” kind of bussing that has been way overdone. He hasn’t been accused of rape, sexual assault, preying on underage girls, or paying off porn stars after all. I refer to his 1970’s position about mandatory school busing.

For those of us old enough to remember, mandatory school busing was an intensely unpopular proposal. Who can forget Louise Day Hicks? For many educators, the issue wasn’t school busing, but, rather, how do we make education fairer and better for all. Busing was a means to an end, but there were other means.

Magnet school programs were introduced. These were programs open to all students in an area that promised to provide superior, specialized educational opportunities, and would be the kind of programs that students would want to be bused to. The International Baccalaureate program in Orange County (FL) is just one example.

School funding has always been the third rail of educational reform. Schools are not funded equally because they are dependent on property taxes. Educator Jonathan Kozol once said in a Springfield Public Forum that money was the dirty little secret in education. We blame teachers, students, and parents for failures, but we never blame a lack of funding.

School busing is complicated, and it is problematic to go back five decades to sort it out. I would not judge any candidate about how they dealt with busing in the 70’s without knowing their entire educational agenda.

July 7, 2019

“Wisdom is wasted on the elderly.”

July 5, 2019

Now that we can move on from the hijacking of the Fourth of July celebration in Washington, DC, we can once again focus on dysfunctional politics. Rep. Justin Amash quit the Republican Party. My question is why more GOP’ers have not done the same thing? George Will and Bill Kristol are regular contributors on MSNBC, a show hosted by former Republican representative from Florida and self- described conservative, Joe Scarborough. MSNBC’s panels are filled with defectors from the Republican Party. Steve Schmidt, Michael Steele, Susan Del Percio, and Rick Tyler are just a few. Nicolle Wallace, former Communications Director under George W. Bush, has her own show.

I suspect my question needs to be rephrased. It is not why have more Republicans not abandoned the party? Rather, it is why the Republican Party has abandoned Republicans? The Republican Party has given up on free trade, being strong against our enemies, fighting deficits, and keeping government out of our private lives. The Republican Party has sold its soul in order to prevent women from getting an abortion, and prevent people from becoming Americans. Tanks for the memories.